Identity Paper
Identity Paper
Dustin Kuhl
Comp 111
9-27-00
Identity is defined as "The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known" and "The set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group"(dictionary). The first one seems more practical to a person's identity which I will be talking about in this paper. To know the identity of someone, the characteristics must be known of that person. Not just the outside appearance of them but how they think, act, and what they believe is needed if the true identity of someone is to be known.
Many people just look at someone and think that they know what that person is all about. If you see someone in a thug's suit, that person is most likely to be thought of as a thug(contemporary reader 40). There is so much to assume about someone by the way they dress and look. If someone is seen in a very nice suit, that person has a successful job somewhere. If someone is wearing worn out or old clothes, that person is poor. Brand names are another indicator if that person is "cool" or not. American Eagle and Ambercrombie and Fitch are two bigger brand names these days.
If you wear these you are supposed to be automatically "cool" but are really just following the other people who wear them and are popular. I think that all the talk about brand names and which are the best and what you can and cannot wear is stupid. I wear what I want to wear and what I think looks good, or is at least comfortable. If other people think I look good in it, that's great, but if others think I should wear something else because of what they think is the right thing to wear, I'm not going to change. I'm my own person. I'll wear what I want. A simple t-shirt and jeans and shorts is fine with me.
Of course, this does not include everything. Going to church, weddings, funerals, and places like that a person should dress up for it. Wearing nice clothes looking good for these is more a sign of respect. If someone came to church wearing old dirty clothes I wouldn't think to much of them. I would think they didn't have enough respect to come and try to look their best for God and to represent the church in a good way. Even though that's not the main reason for it, it's just a sign of respect I think. Some people might think that just because they're wearing nice clothes and make a hefty donation to the offering plate that they are fine when in reality they are sinners just trying to put a on a good front for everyone so they don't know their real identity.
People try to be something that they aren't, but it shouldn't be that way. Trying to be someone else and take their identity and be and act like them is wrong. Each individual person should take their identity and stand up for it. Too many people look to others to see what they should do and wear and act, when all that needs to be done is to see their own identity and use that instead of acting like someone else and being under a false identity. They think that through wearing the "cool" clothes and acting like the "cool" people that they can become them and nothing bad that had happened to them will happen again. They want to just get rid of their identity and try and get a new one. All of this is done because they want to have a cool identity.
Sometimes it isn't themselves that want to change, but it is the world around them that makes them change their identity. Groups of people are stereotyped and since most people think that way, the stereotyped people hear it, and they think that is how they should be. They might think that way, if they are stubborn, saying if everyone thinks I am like that and act in that way, I might as well become that person. Many people are stereotyped, some are Jews, who are stereotyped as conniving, overly_ambitious and materialistic(multiple self) and blacks, thought to be lazy, overly sexual, and out of control(multiple self).
Is this true? Perhaps of a few, but as for the majority, no. It is the few people that are seen and read and heard about that make the stereotypes. Most identities are formed when people in a society make a relationship between "them" and "us"(Identity Crisis and political instability in Turkey). If you read in the paper that a gang shooting took place and six black people were caught in connection with it, people automatically see blacks as gang members who go around shooting people. Does this mean all blacks go around shooting people or are in a gang? Absolutely not. In my personal opinion with people I've talked to, the only difference between whites and blacks are the color of their skin. Just as many white people go around shooting people or causing trouble, but the blacks are stereotyped into that sort of event. Again, it's just the few people that make the stereotype for everyone.
How are farmers and people who live in rural areas displayed? Mostly by wearing coveralls running around with a shotgun and no teeth. Is this true? Maybe for some people but not all. I know that for sure because I live in a rural community and am the son of a farmer. My grandpa and great-grandpa didn't go around doing that sort of thing either. But through movies and what people see, a farmer's identity is just that.
Identities can change however. No identity is not able to change(Identity Crisis and political instability in Turkey). This is too bad, because it is the cause of segregation, separating different people from one another. Many people change throughout their lives. From when a person is born to when a person dies, they go through many changes. Most people start out their lives searching for an identity. They look at others around them to see what they are expected to do.
Babies are started out by their parents giving them an identity. Depending if they are a boy or girl they get blue diapers compared with pink if it's a girl and then either dolls or action figures. When they get a few years older and go to school, they compare what they are doing to what the other kids are doing. They make friends and take some of their identity because that's what they think they should do. Their friend watches cartoons and talks about them and likes them, so then they go ahead and watch that same show to try and fit in and have something to talk to that person about even if they don't really like it that much. People always look for a model or something to follow(Know Thyself 15). After a few more years, hopefully they try to find their own identity. They see what other people are doing and still might try it out and see what it is, but if they don't like it, they'll have their opinion about it and not watch it. People always look for a model or something to follow(Know Thyself 15).
What makes the person is what sort of image he thinks of himself(Know Thyself 15). Many people get their identities from others. They think that they are cool and try to be like him or her. They can't be themselves because they think that in some way they're inferior to whoever they are comparing themselves to. Comparing yourself to others should not be always done, because some people will always be better or worse. Comparing should be done with yourself for most things. An identity for yourself is needed, not a copy of someone elses identity. If a person has self-confidence in himself he shouldn't need to get someone else's identity because he is satisfied with himself. Even if he's not satisfied, at least to improve himself and not try to or become someone else. A person needs to make himself and choose what he wants to be(Know Thyself 96).
There are all sorts of things that show our identity and how we perceive others. Lots of times, just seeing what that person looks like isn't enough to judge them. Even talking with them sometimes doesn't show their identity if they are trying to show something that isn't their true self. The best thing is to be yourself and have your own identity.
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