We humans are weird..
By vanny
@vandana7 (100282)
India
December 16, 2011 5:01am CST
I was thinking
I know more about wars than I know about Jonas Salk, Jarvis, Dr. Christian Bernard, Hargobind Khorana, Alexander Fleming, ...and even Marie Curie.
I know more about Hitler than I know about Mother Theresa.
In fact, I think more people read about Hitler than they read about Mother Theresa. If I were a movie producer intent on making monies, I wouldnt dream about making one on Mother Theresa. But if you said Osama Bin Laden, I would be ready.
That is because that is what people are interested in..
Are we conditioned to think like that since our childhood? Are our priorities predefined by our history books? Why is it that great contributors to mankind are rarely searched on search engines? May be we have an affinity towards cruelty. We find it thrilling to read it, watch it, and discuss it.
I thought that is weird. On one hand we condemn it. On the other hand we are fascinated by it.
What do you think? Do you any more weird things about human beings to add here?
3 people like this
13 responses
@purplealabaster (22091)
• United States
16 Dec 11
I think that people that do "great" things will always be interesting. Of course, "great" in this instance does not necessarily mean "good".
For the most part, I think that people have more of a curiosity about things that are strange to them than things that are common to them. Most people are not psychopaths or sociopaths, so this sort of behavior is going to be more interesting than a "day in the life of a homemaker or business person". Also, many people do not understand science, especially the technical stuff, so they would not really understand the finer points in the lives of Marie Curie or Alexander Fleming.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
16 Dec 11
I don't think it has anything to do with evil. Human beings are fascinated by charismatic people, and Hitler was one. Charisma is something that we can't explain and scientists are rarely charismatic. Speaking of religious and charismatic people, before mother Theresa in my country is Abbé Pierre -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abb%C3%A9_Pierre --. He has been during ten years the most popular person in French polls : it is an absolute record, never equaled by a politician or a movie star, and two movies were made about his life when he was still alive.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
16 Dec 11
@topffer - but we are emphasizing the negative! Or underplaying the positives. Whichever way you look at it. And what lessons were we able to learn from it? Could we prevent Polpot? Could we do anything about Idi Amin? Or even Stalin? Makes me wonder why such movies are shown without the last hour being devoted on possible solution.
@PA - I do agree that quite of few of them survived - it is not possible to wipe them off completely. And they are in high places. Kurt Waldheim for example. Nevertheless, the world is highly interconnected now for such things to survive.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
16 Dec 11
@vandana: we learn a lot from the past, and it would be wrong to keep only a memory of good people/events. We should not forget anything in History, positive or negative.
@purple: I also think that Hitler was evil, but I just wanted to say that charisma has nothing to do with being evil or being a saint. One can be an obscure or a charismatic limb of Satan/saint.
2 people like this
@bhanusb (5709)
• India
16 Dec 11
Hi vandana,
from the beginning of life children are being accustomed to read thrillers,fantasy or fairy tales. Guardians are not interested to give their children books of great persons life. So their mindset grow like that. So when they become adult to them Hitler is more interesting than Mother Theresa. So we should find out who are responsible for this trend of our character.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Dec 11
but vandy evenif we find ourselves having our thinking shaped by the flagrant ways of the journalists we also have free will so
we can hange the ways we think about things and oppose what
the journalists would have us think about. I do find that now
I tend to forget my deceased hubby's bad traits and make him
almost too good to be true just thinking about all the fun
and good times we had shared.But he really was a good dear
sweet man most of the time. lol lol
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
16 Dec 11
Exactly what I am saying. We grow up reading comics that show a bad man and a good man. So bad man has to be killed by the good man. Automatically we wear the good man tag and start looking for bad. At times we are under illusion about bad as well. But we didnt come to the world that way. When we retire, all we can think of and talk of is our achievements. All the problems we faced with our colleagues are forgotten. That means war is not material, achievements are. Who is listening?
1 person likes this
@allknowing (136446)
• India
16 Dec 11
You are right vandana. Whatever is inculcated in us when we are kids remains. For us is was 'And they all lived happily ever after" kind of stories and such story books were flooding in our libraries. I therefore like happy endings.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
16 Dec 11
I say yes to this. This is weird. We are not told that it is not always "happily ever after" in Cindrella stories. I wonder if she ever asked the Prince to make her bed. And ran away from him because he stank..or had a stub. Realism..so weird.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (136446)
• India
16 Dec 11
But that is life vandana. Even in our real life we never tell the world that we are unhappy. The facade that the world sees is that of us being happy.
1 person likes this
@ladybugr2d2 (575)
• United States
16 Dec 11
They say you should know your history for it is doomed to repeat it's self witch is true. the more you know about history the more you see the pattern. the point is to try to stop the pattern but most people do not pay attention as they should and we end up in wars most of witch are about religion. witch i find funny because all religions have a lot of similarity witch i do find interesting. I think most people do find war way to interesting. I think we are trained to think sertin ways as kids and that thous who think out of the box are the ones who make history what it is. and do the good and the bad. but then again wright and wrong have been set for us who has the right to say what is good and what is bad? we are saposed to think for are selfs but do we rely?
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
16 Dec 11
You said "you should know your history for it is doomed to repeat itself". Are you suggesting that somebody like Hitler will happen again?
I agree that religions become scapegoats. The entire group gets condemned for acts of one or few. We would like to be considered for our merits but we wouldnt like to return that favor. Weird aren't we?
We have not done a splendind job of keeping peace here, and we are looking to inhabit super earths. What if the beings there are smarter than us? Unless we unite, can we really consider moving out? One person from earth there and they would know they have another place to live. Can we take the risk of being eliminated because divided we will be. Wish people would think of things from that angle as well. Have a nice day ladybugr.
1 person likes this
@ladybugr2d2 (575)
• United States
16 Dec 11
I'm well only state to look at what is happening in the last few years and what has been said by thous who are of government in portents and high ups.
yes we are very weird. we like to punish before truly thinking of the end results.
that i do believe they may be. and you are right we do need to work together or we are doomed to the end. we need to see the big picture instead of small peaces.
i hope you have a good day to vandanna7
1 person likes this
@writersolutions10 (497)
• India
16 Dec 11
You are right and we are totally weird. This is because we trying to win in our life and don't care about others that's the problem.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Dec 11
hi vandy yes its so weird we fasten onto news about say a serial
killer but someone whose contributed to break through in medicine
and make a good difference we will not pay much attention to. I
wonder why this is.I wonder why good and kind people will be fascinated by killers ,it makes no real sense to me and its
weird to say the least but maybe we are conditioned to think
like this by what the jo rnalists hand out to us. maybe if they actually paid attention to people who have done good for mankind we just might listen and pay attention too. I don't think we have an
affinity to cruelty so much as we wonder what leads people to become killing monsters,its curiosity I think.
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
17 Dec 11
Curiosity may be..
But journalists are not the sole culprits even though they do contribute a lot.
Politicians also contribute feeding us with selective information to make us prejudiced. But in a way it is history books as well and even those stories that we hear at bedtimes when we are children perhaps.
Some end up clutching to those good and bad that it becomes difficult to understand things otherwise. We are told good will win over evil. But then, there were several wars that German army won. Was it good at that point of time? Of course not. And history is only about who won over whom. As if Thomas Alva Edison Newton, Einstein, Tesla, etc., were negligible parts of history. We cant really trace the descendants of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, but we still use Edison's lamps, right? So who should be remembered more? Who shaped our destiny more? Obviously Edison and others. Then why should books devote only a paragraph to such people instead of a chapter on them.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
16 Dec 11
No Conditioning. It is mere our desire to know about the negatives than the positives. As on many occasions, I have my own theory to present - I believe that all humans or at least normal humans are born with a positive mindset, a positive attitude. Over time, this finds the negativities more interesting just because of the fact that opposites attract. This is the reason, we normal humans are more interested to know about the Negatives.
As a carry over thought from this belief of mine - Mostly the world is still occupied with More Sane and Normal People (Like Me, You and Not Osama or Hitler). Now if you would ask someone of the sorts of the Negatives, I am certain that somewhere (if that person will be honest) the preference would be to see more of the Positives - like Mother Theresa. Simply because this negative person is surrounded by all the negativities and would be logically attracted to the positive!
Whew! That is my theory of course. Not patented 
And I am sure you would find it weird enough... If not, I have some weird things about humans that I can always share... But I thought to deliver something original and first hand
And I am sure you would find it weird enough... If not, I have some weird things about humans that I can always share... But I thought to deliver something original and first hand
@jennyze (7028)
• Indonesia
19 Dec 11
Well, actually I tried to avoid reading or watching any sad or cruel news. So, if you say most people tend to search for wars news, then I guess I am the one who is weird. I don't want to know all those wars, cruelties and even all those nature disasters. I only want to read or watch something nice and romantic and happy...
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
19 Dec 11
The thought occured to me because the front page had this news about some deaths, and somewhere in an obscure little corner was a small paragraph about our former president Dr Abdul Kalam suggesting that we may be able to harness sun's energies using the satellite. Now, that sounded very interesting to me. We made so much noise about Dr Kalam being frisked. However, his thoughts are relegated to some third or fourth page as if that news doesnt matter, and those other ordinary people do. Hypocrisy, isn't it?
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
20 Dec 11
More than politics - it was the media.... Surely Dr. Kalam's thoughts are important. He was a scientist! And on such a crucial issue..energy crisis. Why push him on third and fourth page..is it not disrespect? But the other disrespect is highlighted..spend two or three days on that issue..sick..
@macayadann (1235)
• Philippines
18 Dec 11
Each and everyone of us are specially created maybe defined as weird or not.They can be defined based on the cruelty or keen fair observation by others, well in fact they are exceptionally gifted wherein their brain is not possible to be transferred to continue what they have started whether good or bad. We act and respond according to the instinct of higher animal level and our genes to the uniqueness of our ancestral history the reason why we corresponds to the weirdness of our actions. More weirdo or exceptionally intelligent people in good and bad thinking are actually undefined and are yet to be born. And observing weirdos are just around and are coming to post their stories.
@vandana7 (100282)
• India
18 Dec 11
Well..I agree.. I am a weirdo..
But you make a very good point about genes. I watched one of those discovery programs in which they showed that when a rat suffers a hardship, genes make a record of it, and relevant solution so that next generation can be better equipped to handle it. Point is, are we equipped to handle another holocaust as yet?
@macayadann (1235)
• Philippines
18 Dec 11
Without knowing,the people are actually guinea pigs of all those acts of trial and errors by these exceptionally weirdos and so we are always surprised once the might be holocaust actually comes in and therefore,we cannot be prepared and horribly unequipped.By the way do not get all the definition of weirdo,leave some for me
@JER616 (545)
• Philippines
17 Dec 11
Yes, indeed, vandana and here it is:
"Man is a fool
When it's hot, he wants it cool,
When it's cool, he wants it not,
Always wanting what is not."
There you go.
@rbjat4589 (104)
• Philippines
16 Dec 11
Yes it is human nature that we are weird in the sense that we are given the gift of freewill and being rational which separates us from the bunch of animals. We are given the gift on conscience to weigh our acts. God created us perfectly and it is up to us to use it properly.
