Non-fiction Entertainment Influencing Your View Of the World?

Started by mongers, December 30, 2015, 02:32:04 PM

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mongers

How far has non-fiction entertainment, be that novel, film or other media, influenced your view of the world or how you interact with it and other people?
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Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?


Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

alfred russel

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Martim Silva

Despite the fact that many people *think* they are not influenced by the entertainment media, in reality they are.

They just don't often get it.

One example is the "misfits can be good" concept.

Many times, in movies, novels and other places, we meet the concept of the bunch of misfits/eccentrics that band together and often form *awesome* teams under a good leader. It's even a trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RagtagBunchOfMisfits

This gets used so often that many actually start to think that a very diverse group of odd people is actually *desireable*.

The reality, of course, is quite different: misfits are so for a reason, and they often can't do the job or just go solo. Homogenous teams of competent people are preferable 100% of the time.

But I've seen time and time again companies setting up/hiring these types, with disastrous results (I also fell for this in earlier years). And this is very much due to the subconscious idea we got from entertainment media.

I know this will not be popular with PC types, but I will point out that another is the "genial black", where quite often a black character is an amazing scientist/researcher and can achieve great things. Now, just try hiring one of these science/research graduates in the real world and you will find out that things are not like that (yes, I fell for that one too. Twice.).

Do think well and deeply on how your actions and attitudes towards others are actually influenced by the notions that are trumpeted time and time again on movies/series/books.

alfred russel

Quote from: Martim Silva on December 30, 2015, 03:21:36 PM

I know this will not be popular with PC types, but I will point out that another is the "genial black", where quite often a black character is an amazing scientist/researcher and can achieve great things. Now, just try hiring one of these science/research graduates in the real world and you will find out that things are not like that (yes, I fell for that one too. Twice.).


Don't you think it is more likely that you made two bad hires that happened to be black than black people are unable to achieve great things?
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

Eddie Teach

I think the problem wasn't that they were black, but that they were Portuguese/Brazilian.  :P
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Quote from: mongers on December 30, 2015, 02:32:04 PM
How far has non-fiction entertainment, be that novel, film or other media, influenced your view of the world or how you interact with it and other people?

Difficult to say. There have been many I have considered important to me becoming interested in history but how exactly they have influenced me is difficult to say. I mean clearly they did but no one work had a specific influence that I can think of.
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alfred russel

Quote from: mongers on December 30, 2015, 02:32:04 PM
How far has non-fiction entertainment, be that novel, film or other media, influenced your view of the world or how you interact with it and other people?

After contemplating this, probably the biggest influence is to decrease my interaction with other people as I stay inside by myself to read about history. It has also led me to more solitary pursuits--significantly leading me to play EU, which ultimately led me here where I have spent a zillion hours conversing with you guys who have some similar interests, but ultimately aren't real people for me to interact with. :(

On the more positive side, it has made me a bit more interested and informed about the world, and a bit more adventurous.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

The Brain

Quote from: mongers on December 30, 2015, 02:32:04 PM
How far has non-fiction entertainment, be that novel, film or other media, influenced your view of the world or how you interact with it and other people?

I've read a lot of books on history, it has certainly influenced my view of the world. Also TV documentaries, especially those about plants and animals (they appear more reliable than TV documentaries about history).
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