How deep are we supposed to be anyway?
Isn’t shallowness a relative thing? For some people talking about beauty and looks is considered shallow, for others it might be their career or how they earn a living. Talking about sports is not so different either: for some people it’s annoying, for others it’s a passion, for some it’s a waste of time, for others, again, it’s how they earn their living.
So who decides what’s shallow? Are the things we’re interested in deep but the rest shallow? Or is being uninterested in what’s going on around us shallow?
Is not looking beyond the exterior shallow? Or is a person supposed to give a good first impression even when it comes to looks? Is it superficial to consider the way someone is dressed for a certain occasion? Doesn’t it show what that occasion means to them? Or are looks very overrated?
This started circulating in my head after the recent events in Gaza, lots of people showed absolutely no interest in what’s going on and instead went ahead talking about things like beauty pageants and singing contests, first I was thinking wow these people are shallow, but then I thought maybe they just have different interests, you don’t have to know everything about politics to be deep, it’s always good to have an idea about what’s going on the world but maybe after all if you don’t care, your knowledge would not make a difference would it?
I still can’t find a real way of measuring shallowness, I guess it can’t be measured; every person has his/her own world, their own life and they only get to live it once, so they might as well spend their time caring about the things they choose.
What do you think?
11 comments:
"gossip is almost exclusively the domain of the shallow" this is very true for me :) check this ==> http://bit.ly/a12XLl
Gaza issue isn’t something we choose to worry about or not.
It’s a matter of our religious, heritage, and after all our existence.
What example we give to others, our kids and the rest of the society.
Shallowness simply: throwing your priorities behind your back.
I came to the realization that physical look has nothing to do with shallowness or deepness. I have seen homeless men read and skinhead with face and body tattoos playing with their kids in the park. I meet college professors who hate international students and high school dropout white Americans from tiny Midwest towns who are friendlier than Arab-Americans.
I don’t think it is an easy answer to measure shallowness. As you mentioned it is relative. People who support something find those who don’t support it shallow. Gaza might not be a good example because the majority of people are against what Israel is doing there. But let’s take Starbucks for example there are people who refuse to buy anything from Starbucks because they believe that every cup of coffee you buy is used to buy a bullet to kill a Palestinian child (according to the many emails I received). On the other hand, there are some Arabs who buy from Starbucks because they don’t believe that Starbucks financially support Israel. Now, some people from each group believe that the other party is shallow. So, I believe that shallowness is being judgmental before we get to talk and interact with the other person. If we found they don't care for the same things we care for we may oppose them but we should not be extreme.
Shallowness is relative. My relatives are shallow. That's why I don't talk to them much. ;->
People are shallow when they don't have the capability to form opinions about things that matter; for example I have no interest in soccer, therefore I don't care who wins the world cup and I do not support any team because to be honest last time I watched a soccer match was FIFA 2006 I don't even know the names of the players anymore, but this whole thing doesn't make me shallow, and it certainly doesn't make soccer fans shallow either.
However, lack of knowledge in world political, social or economical aspects is shallow because these are things that actually matter, eventually these things have strong impact on our own personal lives.
Shallow is when we judge and form opinions without enough knowledge, like hating certain people of their names - associating names with people, hating people for the way they look, the way they dress, boycotting a brand based on an email, racism, sexism, gossip, are all traits and behaviors of the shallow.
I don't think it's relative, think of every shallow person you have met, they all have one thing in common; lack of knowledge in certain aspects of life.
I totally agree with "blabbrgirl"
it's when you make judges without enough knowledge.
BTW, for those people who didn't care about Gaza, they're not shallow, they are ignorant, i don't believe that they "don't know", they know and they ignore
I guess it depends on your perspective of what is shallow and what isn't.
I have friends who didn't even know about what had happened in Gaze and when I told them they didn't care.The sad thing that one of them is Palestinian. Sorry this is beyond shallowness, this is ignorance.
I think its all about interest
There are general interests which usually be major things such as Gaza,not caring or not knowing such a thing as Tamara said is not shallowness its ignorantness , and there are personal interests like the look ,hobbies..etc
God create us - humans - with deferent personal interest in life, and we can't judge by that, unless that effects others rights.
For me shallowness is when a major thing happens, and someone goes deeply into a personal interest at a time.
shallow? That might be a little judgemental.
In my experience, our world's are quite small, and often we fall into the trap of looking at something only from our perspective rather than from the opposite perspective.
I have a new student who comes from Gaza City, has been living in Europe for 13 years now. I look forward to learning from him and his experiences because I suspect he can teach me a lot.
Everybody has their story and usually it is quite fascinating. It doesn't make people shallow - just different.
Shallow water does not allow deep vision, because you hit the bottom quickly. Deep water is black - because the bottom is too far away. In both cases, one needs to ask questions, show interest, to see what is behind the barrier.
But we are so busy today with other unimportant things.......
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