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Author Topic:   Losing Objectivity
Taz
Member (Idle past 3291 days)
Posts: 5069
From: Zerus
Joined: 07-18-2006


Message 6 of 28 (510597)
06-01-2009 5:00 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Stile
05-25-2009 2:25 PM


Stile writes:
The initial question is "does a person lose objectivity as they grow older?"
Absolutely. I've seen too many examples of the elderly being irrational while being confronted by evidence. It's kinda sad to think I'll be like that one day.
More commonly described as "becoming senile," losing objectivity seems to happen more to the elderly.
You don't need to be senile to lose objectivity.
Let me tell you a short story about my own experience to tell you what I mean. When I was in college, a professor approached me and told me he was going to spend the summer in England teaching a summer class at a university there. His wife, a retired science teacher, didn't seem to like the idea of couple of young people staying in her multi-million dollar home. Fair enough, I thought. My friends and I needed a place to stay in the summer to do our research and save up money. We assured them that we would take care of their home. And we did. Long story short, there was one incident that shows how one could lose objectivty.
My friend, a body builder, and I were cleaning the basement. We thought we'd clean up the place for them. Anyway, while we were cleaning, a big black man busted through the door right in front of us. We stood there for a couple seconds staring at him. He then said "oops, wrong house" and ran out. After the ordeal, we fixed the door and installed a new locking mechanism that made the door 10 times more secure out of our own expense. When they came back and we told them what happened, the wife was furious. She blamed the attempted burglary on our presence in her home.
Let's step back for a moment. If we hadn't been there, that burglar would have cleaned the house out. We tried to explain this to them that the attempted burglary had nothing to do with us being there and that we actually saved the place from possibly being vandalized. They wouldn't hear anything of it.
The point is I've noticed all my life that when an elderly has made up his/her mind about something, it requires an act of god to change his/her mind. It doesn't matter how logical your position is or how much evidence you have, they seem most reluctant to be swayed.
I also fully admit I don't have any number to back up my position. All I have are personal experiences with the elderly.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Stile, posted 05-25-2009 2:25 PM Stile has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 8 by Stile, posted 06-02-2009 7:51 AM Taz has replied
 Message 10 by Blue Jay, posted 06-02-2009 1:59 PM Taz has not replied

  
Taz
Member (Idle past 3291 days)
Posts: 5069
From: Zerus
Joined: 07-18-2006


Message 9 of 28 (510677)
06-02-2009 11:47 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by Stile
06-02-2009 7:51 AM


Stile writes:
This is the exact reason for this thread. I share this fear and I'm for any and all suggestions to help prevent such things.
But, how do you prevent something that (once it happens to you) you don't even acknowledge that it's there?
Well, they say the first step toward solving a problem is admitting there is a problem.
I remember right before I graduated from high school my English teacher had us all write a letter to ourselves 3 years in the future. 3 years later, I received a letter from myself, which was a completely different person than what I remembered. Inspired by this, I did it again right before I graduated from college. Again, 3 years later I received a letter from my former self, and again I turned out to be a completely different person than I remembered.
Perhaps I should do something like this for my old age. I could write something like "for goodnessake don't be a grumpy old man..."

This message is a reply to:
 Message 8 by Stile, posted 06-02-2009 7:51 AM Stile has seen this message but not replied

  
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