You know, it is weird how sometimes comedies and comedians tend to capture the real world with a blown out-of-proportion piece on what the real world is. Take for example the case and lifestyle philosophy presented in the show 30 Rock, where in one episode they start describing certain people as living "in the bubble". For those that have no seen the episode about living "in the bubble" or have never heard the idea, the bubble is a place where beautiful, handsome, and just abnormally over-respected people live their blessed life. They tend to be handed things their entire life, given opportunities that normally would not exist because they live in a superficial world where they already have good looks and so others tend to focus on them more. And the worst part about being in the bubble is that they cannot see that they are in the bubble, but instead wonder why others outside the bubble are treated differently without connecting the two. Like I said, a strange philosophy, but the bubble is actually a real world thing that happens all the time.
The Obvious Bubble
What I have also noticed is there are different types of bubbles that people live in, but the most obvious one is the type I have already described which happens with rich, handsome, and the abnormally over-respected people. This is by far the easiest to see, because most people are not rich or beautiful and thus do not get the same treatments others get. And beyond that, these "beautiful" people tend to have the same features which are not prevalent in the common populace. Blond hair, blue eyes and tall, the Hitler heritage as one might call it, are actually the usual culprits of living in this extravagantly fake world. But do not let my description discourage anyone from what they people are, for they can be really nice, uplifting folks that walk among us and also just so happen to meet the same criteria. I will not go into this anymore about what makes a person handsome, it obviously goes beyond just these basic looks, but these tend to be the most basic describers of "beauty" in our American culture.
Now let me give an example of someone who I know that actually lives his life in a bubble, my best friends. He has lived such a bubbled life that I think he fails to see now where the bubble ends and reality begins, and in that effect it really has shaped him. Now, I did not meet him until College, so I cannot speak of anything before that time in his life, but from what I get it seems like the bubble sort of grew as he got older, by which I mean it acts much like ego in how it grows until it bursts. Anyway, he went to college and worked every day on his homework and kind of kept to his own world. Yet with his positive attitude, a side-effect that normally follows bubble children when they are happy, he ended up making friends because the friends were drawn to him. He was never really the outgoing type to try and find friends, instead his friends just were. That is sort of how I ended up meeting him, fate drew us together (because I am naturally charismatic in a completely divergent manner) and we became best friends.
Over the years that I knew him, he had a loving family that was not his own family, but rather his at-the-time girlfriend's family (they recently had what one might call a nuclear meltdown of a break-up). They took him in, cared for him, and made his life into what he had been missing before. No more crazy Christian Christmas', no more holidays without loved ones, and above all else they gave him a place to call home. Again, I never saw this because I did not meet him until college and I never actually went to his girlfriend's (and subsequently also my best friend) home until after college was over for both of them. But what I learned was that he was invited into their family, they took him in like a son, and he never actually repaid the manners. They would give him gifts, he would forget, they would give him things to help him get through school, he would never repay them, and in the end much more.
And one such experience that I actually can reflect on first-hand was back in March of this year where his girlfriend and one of my best friends was having a birthday. Now, I was offered way back when to come out and visit them in San Francisco which was an opportunity I could not pass up. So I arranged my flights for Spring Break of the school year and then noticed it happened to fall on her birthday. Perfect, I can be out there to help celebrate her birthday and share a moment, along with a lot of coffee. My main gift was coming out there and having adventures with her around the city (which turned out fantastically because we had a cloudy, overcast day so we did things she had never done before). Anyway, he totally blotched her birthday, forgot to get her a present, and pretty much got somewhere between tipsy and wasted the night before (I cannot be sure where exactly, because I have never had drinks with this friend). This was his fiancé at the time, which leads to the basic question of who forgets their fiancé's birthday?
But even on a different set of terms, he lives in a bubble where things are handed to him and he never really can relate back to other people because he never had to go through the stress they are going through. Take for instance my efforts to get a career started and running. Back in graduate school he received a job offer just by putting his credentials up online and a nice picture. No joke, the companies called him and asked him if he wanted to come out for an interview and NOT the other way around. A lot of people in today's job market would be pissed at him if they knew he got his job on the easy, and in fact I do not think he ever really applied for another position because they just offered him this. So now when I am out searching for jobs, he tells me it cannot be that hard. I get a little upset, but I do not throw the book at him because as it stands he is my best bet for getting in at a company. I am just using this more as a point of the bubble he lives in.
Looking back, I realize that we all forget that he lives in a bubble and we need to understand that because of the bubble, he is going to be more forgetful about the happiness of other people and caring for other people. He has a long road ahead of him, but it will be paved with gold for a few years until his looks go out and he balds over.
The Contingent Bubble
I think contingent is a wonderful way to describe this less-known bubble that a lot more people walk around with over their heads. Basically, these are the types of people that have joined a group, a cause that is supposed to help the world in some strange way that is thought out from a single perspective. Some would call this the republican party as one type of bubble, others would call out that the democratic party has their own bubble. Neither is really wrong, both do live in a contingent bubble of sorts. But this one stretches much farther than that to econaughts (fix the economy and everything else will fall into place, for those that do not know), environmentalists, and all those other little groups.
What separates these people into "the bubble" is that they tend to be all for one cause and one idea without thinking about it rom a very rounded, open perspective. For instance, there are environmentalists that believe we should not have factories and they should have the harshest laws to producing goods in a factory. The problem is that if the United States were to put such a ban on factories into the books, all that happens is our economy takes a big hit as every manufacturer moves out of state and into a third-world country for cheap labor and no environmental laws. In other words, their whole solution is actually a step backwards, but they did not think that part out because they would rather view the small sliver of hope that we go back to basket weaving as a society.
I think these bubbles are the most interesting to examine, because usually people that fall into one of these bubbles are stuck for the rest of their life because they do not have the personal experience to examine things from afar. In fact, the only way out of one of these bubbles is to have literally a life-changing event that makes you want to leave the bubble. This life-changing event can be anything too, the birth of a first child, the death of a loved one, and so forth. All that matters is it pushed them out of the bubble to go exploring. The sad part is that a life-changing event is more likely going to push a person into a bubble than out of one. Take for instance the birth of a new child might push a man to think that abortion should be outlawed. In other words, the only real way out of these bubbles is to try and pull yourself back and see what is going on from a third-party perspective.
The Economical Bubble
And finally, there is my favorite bubble of all to talk about, the economical bubble. This bubble is the type of thoughts and perspectives that can be seen among the rich, the middle class, the poor, and ones that are not even privileged enough to be born in a country where certain openly available rights are given. And anyone can easily see these bubbles, because they are so openly casted in our lives. For instance, we have seen all the time when rich folks get on television and start talking about how it is the poor's fault that they do not have money because they are lazy. Then we as the middle class look into the background of the speaker and learn she is lazy and inherited her fortune from her father. By the way, I am very much making a reference to a recent article I read about an Australian woman that made her point of view very obvious that she was oblivious. But more so, the funny fact of this example is that I have actually given two examples. First, the rich think that money is something that comes from hard-work and by no means a matter of chance or a break in the idea of ethics. The middle class see it as a privileged few that think they have worked hard and they still have not achieved what the rich have, thus it is only reachable by a given set of paths or unethical behaviors. It is in this sense of difference that this bubble becomes the most interesting.
Now take for instance the last case I gave of the economical bubble, the case where we examine someone who lives in a country that does not even have the rights most first-world countries have to offer. When they look up the ladder, they see only palaces and emerald thrones because they literally have been living in the dirt and drudge of this world. It is hard to explain to them that they are at the bottom of a ladder and that the ladder stretches so much higher, but then again who would want to break that news to them.
I am not trying to say anything about the types of economical problems that persist in this world, I am trying to show how these differences in thoughts an opinions actually thrust us into our own little bubbles where we are unable to look-out and see what might actually be wrong with the other bubbles. And it is as I said before just a very interesting topic. Hopefully this draws a bit of light, makes people step back, and then think about their own bubbles.
And one such experience that I actually can reflect on first-hand was back in March of this year where his girlfriend and one of my best friends was having a birthday. Now, I was offered way back when to come out and visit them in San Francisco which was an opportunity I could not pass up. So I arranged my flights for Spring Break of the school year and then noticed it happened to fall on her birthday. Perfect, I can be out there to help celebrate her birthday and share a moment, along with a lot of coffee. My main gift was coming out there and having adventures with her around the city (which turned out fantastically because we had a cloudy, overcast day so we did things she had never done before). Anyway, he totally blotched her birthday, forgot to get her a present, and pretty much got somewhere between tipsy and wasted the night before (I cannot be sure where exactly, because I have never had drinks with this friend). This was his fiancé at the time, which leads to the basic question of who forgets their fiancé's birthday?
But even on a different set of terms, he lives in a bubble where things are handed to him and he never really can relate back to other people because he never had to go through the stress they are going through. Take for instance my efforts to get a career started and running. Back in graduate school he received a job offer just by putting his credentials up online and a nice picture. No joke, the companies called him and asked him if he wanted to come out for an interview and NOT the other way around. A lot of people in today's job market would be pissed at him if they knew he got his job on the easy, and in fact I do not think he ever really applied for another position because they just offered him this. So now when I am out searching for jobs, he tells me it cannot be that hard. I get a little upset, but I do not throw the book at him because as it stands he is my best bet for getting in at a company. I am just using this more as a point of the bubble he lives in.
Looking back, I realize that we all forget that he lives in a bubble and we need to understand that because of the bubble, he is going to be more forgetful about the happiness of other people and caring for other people. He has a long road ahead of him, but it will be paved with gold for a few years until his looks go out and he balds over.
The Contingent Bubble
I think contingent is a wonderful way to describe this less-known bubble that a lot more people walk around with over their heads. Basically, these are the types of people that have joined a group, a cause that is supposed to help the world in some strange way that is thought out from a single perspective. Some would call this the republican party as one type of bubble, others would call out that the democratic party has their own bubble. Neither is really wrong, both do live in a contingent bubble of sorts. But this one stretches much farther than that to econaughts (fix the economy and everything else will fall into place, for those that do not know), environmentalists, and all those other little groups.
What separates these people into "the bubble" is that they tend to be all for one cause and one idea without thinking about it rom a very rounded, open perspective. For instance, there are environmentalists that believe we should not have factories and they should have the harshest laws to producing goods in a factory. The problem is that if the United States were to put such a ban on factories into the books, all that happens is our economy takes a big hit as every manufacturer moves out of state and into a third-world country for cheap labor and no environmental laws. In other words, their whole solution is actually a step backwards, but they did not think that part out because they would rather view the small sliver of hope that we go back to basket weaving as a society.
I think these bubbles are the most interesting to examine, because usually people that fall into one of these bubbles are stuck for the rest of their life because they do not have the personal experience to examine things from afar. In fact, the only way out of one of these bubbles is to have literally a life-changing event that makes you want to leave the bubble. This life-changing event can be anything too, the birth of a first child, the death of a loved one, and so forth. All that matters is it pushed them out of the bubble to go exploring. The sad part is that a life-changing event is more likely going to push a person into a bubble than out of one. Take for instance the birth of a new child might push a man to think that abortion should be outlawed. In other words, the only real way out of these bubbles is to try and pull yourself back and see what is going on from a third-party perspective.
The Economical Bubble
And finally, there is my favorite bubble of all to talk about, the economical bubble. This bubble is the type of thoughts and perspectives that can be seen among the rich, the middle class, the poor, and ones that are not even privileged enough to be born in a country where certain openly available rights are given. And anyone can easily see these bubbles, because they are so openly casted in our lives. For instance, we have seen all the time when rich folks get on television and start talking about how it is the poor's fault that they do not have money because they are lazy. Then we as the middle class look into the background of the speaker and learn she is lazy and inherited her fortune from her father. By the way, I am very much making a reference to a recent article I read about an Australian woman that made her point of view very obvious that she was oblivious. But more so, the funny fact of this example is that I have actually given two examples. First, the rich think that money is something that comes from hard-work and by no means a matter of chance or a break in the idea of ethics. The middle class see it as a privileged few that think they have worked hard and they still have not achieved what the rich have, thus it is only reachable by a given set of paths or unethical behaviors. It is in this sense of difference that this bubble becomes the most interesting.
Now take for instance the last case I gave of the economical bubble, the case where we examine someone who lives in a country that does not even have the rights most first-world countries have to offer. When they look up the ladder, they see only palaces and emerald thrones because they literally have been living in the dirt and drudge of this world. It is hard to explain to them that they are at the bottom of a ladder and that the ladder stretches so much higher, but then again who would want to break that news to them.
I am not trying to say anything about the types of economical problems that persist in this world, I am trying to show how these differences in thoughts an opinions actually thrust us into our own little bubbles where we are unable to look-out and see what might actually be wrong with the other bubbles. And it is as I said before just a very interesting topic. Hopefully this draws a bit of light, makes people step back, and then think about their own bubbles.
No comments:
Post a Comment