The attack of the clones

Hi all.

If the purpose of every living being is multiplication, and then to transmit knowledge to the next generation, I will argue about the actual fact in modern society, the role of parent, is no longer comparable to any other living specie known to us.

The modern society is designed to free parents from the burden of raising a child, this begins many times at age 0. Pre-school, or whatever the name may be, offers, to parents, the possibility to continue their lives, without delivering their knowledge to the children.
Thus the knowledge/values they will recieve will be standarized/cloned from very young age.

We became reproduction machines, without time/desire to make an original individual, reducing the meaning of our live, for our knowledge is no longer passed to our sons. This will, already has, hit the milestone where, the lack of original individuals shows the true result of mass knowledge delivered from schools/tv/internet: standard targets with the same weaknesses (like a clone).

Many parents no longer understand their children, much because they are not aware that they are no longer parents of that children. She/he will grow from a standard base, with values that focus the consumism, generating hollow individuals.

Details like, reality concept, have already been long discussed by Baudrillard and Debord. Society has indeed become a spectacle. Much because of this mass/cloned knowledge, that is being over and over deployed to children, in order to make them the new product consumers. Parents already do everything they can to make children stop screaming in the mall because of a toy, shirt, etc. They do it by the fastest/worst way; they give the children what she asks, just to stop the problem.

The entire scenario may like the ‘Matrix’ vision. The purpose on mankind is no longer to reproduce, support until adult age, and pass life experience knowledge. That is already taken care by others, who are rather inocent.
We are already machines, producing consumists.

Regards.

PS - Forgive any misspelled english.

Interesting and perceptive.

Yet, you see this, which means there is a door or window not yet closed. Such is the complexities of life. Once seen it only takes movement to close the gap between you and the exit. Now in taking that path to the exit one must alway face a guantlet of obstacles so that vision is impaired. Markers are showing the way if perhaps you see them in time.

Humans are not hindered by humans only human’s dependence of other humans is the hinderence. Yet, with out that dependence humanity will be lost.

Tought I may see the reality, I consider an illusion call this door, a solution. This is not by close a crossroad, where my decision will make a diference for the familly I raise.

My post was about, not having control on our lives, we no longer make decisions. Those decisions are implicited taken care by a society which expects high performance from mankind.

And I could spend here billions of examples on how negative, evolution, has been to mankind. Problem is, like you said in another posts, that society does not accept well environment changes, and this is only because progress made us lazy.

What’s my point? I just dont want my son to growup loving Superman or Spyderman, there is nothing more stupid and ignorant than to worship simulacras of heros. I may try to take him with me to meet the world, new places, new cultures, touch the reality. But he will always be caught by is friends, and will choose the path that feeds he’s sences.

I mean, take a look to older people. In the past old people were synonym of wisdom. And they were respected because of the amounth of knowledge the possesed. Now, if their knowledge is no longer necessary because its being deployed thru internet/tv/colledge, tell me, when we die, who have we changed, in life?

Eko,

Our children are little enigmas, we birth them raise them and turn them loose hoping that something of us will help them or survive in them.

Society today has made child rearing a job of society. it causes us to lose touch with what we wanted for our kids.

having raised a son I can tell you this. Quality time and quantity of time spent with your child is very important. I have heard proffesionals say it is not the amount of time you spend with your kid that counts, it is how you spend it. That is flat out B.S. You need to do both.

You can’t change the world but you can set an example. You can influence your son to not be impeded by peer pressure. You are the most influencial person in his life if you so choose to be. Show him the right ways, explain to him whys, talk, play, teach and listen to him. Forget the worlds attitude you cannot change it. You can chip at it like so many of us do by starting at the starting point, with our kids. Time is so important to kids. If you are not spending the time influencing him someone or something else will spend the time.

I don’t think we HAVE to be machines, producing consumists (consumers?). Although much of North American ‘modern society’ encourages people to save time and cut corners, and although a large portion of a child’s education is delegated to those who are not a child’s parents or family, it doesn’t have to be that way. Like Kriswest said, being a good influence and setting a good example goes farther than we think.

I see how precocious young children are today, and how often many of them know how to use technology even better than their parents do… but I don’t see that as dangerous or as a sign of a rift. I simply see that as kids growing up in an age that’s relied on digital technology more than any other generation. What WOULD be scary is if parents ceased to communicate with their children by choice. And I’m of the opinion that most parents still DO want to communicate: they want to impart values, set a good example, be there for their children. Not all parents, but many. Just as not all children want to communicate, but many still do.

I can only hope that families will continue to keep the lines open. It’s so easy to get ‘sideswiped’ these days by any number of activities. I just want, one day, to be able to teach any future children I have that they and others have value, and that thinking for themselves and making their own change in the world is a positive thing.

Histosophy,

I do understand (and agree) that good comunication is important for the parent-children relation. In fact, that is so obvious, that comunication is in fact important for everyone relation.

Pherhaps my lack of expression in english, led this threat into something diferent from what I’m trying to express.

Simply, I just argued that we are no longer in control of our lives, mostly because we dont live a life connected to reality (i spoke about this when refering the superhero & tv/internet).

Then, I got sticked to the children example (my bad) just because I considered important to show everyone that even If we transmit good education (aka good comunication/familiar environment), most of them will be connected to those sources (tv/net) that gets them away from reality.

Sure there’s nothing wrong about that, in the end you believe in what best fits you. Or shall I say, you belive in what makes you feel better.
More and more, people are getting disconected from the source of knowledge, and sticked to the end result of knowledge. And that is happening since you are young. The unger for material pleasure.

To sum up, a parent can try to grow its children like a little ‘buddha’, the problem is that, even those parents that have the time to do that, wont do it because they know that would bring exclusion to their kids.

Oh, and by the way, the biggest pitfall of mankind is thinking that all they need to be happy is to have a little-pink-fluppy familly, a small circle, with golden values.

This post was to be about a the society drift, mostly because of the spectacle, mostly because of a life surrounded by illusion. And how that illusion is passed from parents, to the next generation. And yes, the purpose is to cosume what the market has to offer.