I view over confidence as a weakness.
This is bizarre. And gimme money.
It is. It’s nothing more than compensating for inner doubts.
I think a lot of people have a pack-animal side to them, in that they want a strong and confident person to follow or associate with. Humans seem to coalesce around leaders (or get forced into someone’s scheme). Weak people don’t fit the profile.
I think people also judge the weak. Not really fair IMHO.
If you are really asking for dating advice, I say to make up your mind about who you think is the most attractive person and then try to date them. It is way easier to date someone you find attractive, and women like to be attractive, so it is win-win. Don’t be creepy of course… I guess it comes down to having some manners while you pay attention to someone. Anyway, I think the ‘not yourself’ thing is some kind of denial about being attracted to somebody or a fear to show it. Don’t do that, consciously try to date the attractive person (note: not necessarily the prettiest person)
That’s a half answer. Why is it good to abandon and victimize them? Surely from an objective viewpoint you can see we are a successful species. We don’t abandon people willy-nilly, certainly less so than many other animals. So why has one of the most successful species chosen to choose against cowardice?
You just get grosser and grosser as a human being the more you post, you know that?
Edit : In my humble opinion.
This whole discussion tends to bring out the worst in people. It turns others into meat, without souls or feelings, and that in turn tends to make us pose as strong healthy tribal providers and growl, “Tough.”
From the POV of the individual, it comes down to acceptance. I have been labeled weak often enough that I no longer much care to prove myself to society. If society is not going to accept me because of conditioning or programming or whatever, I damn well better accept society and myself at the same time. That can be a very narrow window to crawl through. Tough, and hopefully that will settle my karmic debt to the tough ones until I am done with my carcass and they can feed on it.
they don’t. They just make a show of it as a way to demonstrate how much better they are.
peacocking, in other words.
I don’t like using the term “weak” as the opposite of “confident.” Weak is a very broad term. Timid or indecisive may be more appropriate.
I have friends who are decidedly in the timid or indecisive camp. Perfectly fine people to have a beer with, play a game, or whatever. But god help me, actually doing anything is such a goddamn chore. Hey, let’s go out to dinner, where do you want to go? Oh, I don’t know. How about X? Lisa might not like that place. How about Y? Travis lives far from there. How about Z? Maybe we should call the whole group and make sure nobody hates that place… oh dear, oh dear, who should we call and who should we call first? Mein Gott, if it takes this long to pick a place for dinner, how on earth do you do your taxes, which call for dozens upon dozens of decisions!
I don’t say I look down on timid people as being bad people, but when the indecisiveness gets in the way of simple things because of fretting about people’s feelings, not saying what you think, and generally being a complete obstacle to progress, oh man – I have very little patience for that behavior.
Is it? I think people who legitimately can’t work (not necessarily all physically disabled people, and I think people who can work should be expected to) need to be supported. What are we going to do, stick them on an ice flow and walk away?
As for money,I thought you were planning to come and steal my flat screen. The dogs have been looking forward to having a new playmate.
StG
I see that you take my posts too literally…
Do people really despise weakness all that much? How do you really interpet weakness? Animals instinctively know to “pick” their fights less risk injury that would make them vulneralble at a time when they really needed to fight. I have seen loud mouth bold types literaly piss their pants when challenged. I have also seen timid quiet types become heroes when the need arises. Ask a soldier who has been through war about weakness.
Truth is you never really know who you or anyone else is until you have been tested. Many of us like to test ourselves to find out what we are made of, this can be a humbling experience but experience is what makes us stronger.
What, are they in code or something?
I think you’re are just going in circles on the OP. Why do you abandon or victimize them? That’s the same as despising them, not ‘why’. As I see it, you are just rephrasing the OP.
..-. -. — .-. -..
What, haven’t you ever read Ecce Homo? People don’t have souls at all, at least according to Neitzche. I’ll try to find the quote for later.
No, of course I know that your entire persona is meant for entertainment.
A soldier who gets to war has also been through basic combat training, where weakness is despised out of necessity.
Let’s just say that many people nurture basic training expectations of their fellow civilians in peacetime, too, along with a lot of resentment that anyone is cut any slack they didn’t get themselves.
As you point out, there is also such a thing as hidden strength. Despise weakness enough and you begin to count out that possibility in humans. The strong look strong, act strong, play the role of the strong as you see it. All others are trash.
As Ambivalid pointed out, that isn’t what you said.
It applies in peacetime, even though the stakes may not be as high. Sports, work, pretty much any activity that requires a team effort. That is not to say that some people don’t take it to an extreme. But I do feel like a lot of people here are opposed to the very idea of “competition”. What it comes down to is if there are two candidates for one opportunity (a job, a mate, a position on a team, whatever), it should go to the strongest candidate.
Since we don’t really live in that extreme tribal world anymore, why aren’t the instinctuals being outbred? I would think at this juncture, relying on instinct over intellect would be an evolutionary disadvantage.
I don’t think it’s opposition to competition; rather, it’s an oppositon to the limited opportunity; there should be a place for everyone, rather than slots only for the strong.