Speech Comm

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

301--family and the sanctity of the sperm

OK, gang. We've talked about our biological families, and we've talked about families in general, along with the problems that face them. I would like you to be aware that where I'm from, people sometimes shun the sanctity of the sperm and the egg...they cast off all biological ties and create their own family. People latch on to others, that's human nature.

Life can be very hard. Without some kind of family structure, people do not thrive.

Why do we need other people? Why are we not solitary creatures? What does it say about this drive that we will dismiss our bloodlines and pick up on people who offer something we need? And most importantly, how do we communicate this? Is it verbal? Physical? Textual or understood, or perhaps chemical?

Discuss.

Comments

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

*brings coffee for CJ, craddling her own possessively*

*as she sits down and listens to CJ start to speak, her eyes widen* She wasn't at the party, no... But you talked to her, didn't you?

*The second she realizes what she did last night is obvious*

Crap

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

[Looks confused] E, is there a problem? You had so many good things to say yesterday, I thought for sure you'd be comfortable talking about family-type social groups...

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

*she looks relieved* Okay, not checked her messages yet. That is good

*smiles weakly* Sorry, Professor... it was a bit of a late night last night.

*thinks for a moment*

Neolithic activities were amongst the first examples of initiating communication between social groups. Different tribes would trade plants and animals.

The formation of casual social groups provides a stepping stone in the start to forming a family group... many people meet their future spouses at university, for example. In that case, woman are genetically attracted to men who they believe will provide them with the strongest offspring.

With the modernization of societies, the number of specialized goups not based on kin, such as, ah, churches or political parties, are increasing.

Social interactions are found in all animals, and we appear to have taken it to the next step, with the evolution of speech. It's been proven that a child learns a great vocabulary as it grows up with the more social interaction it gets, either through its family or in a social group, like a nursery.

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

It's just common sense to attach yourself to people who... who offer somethin' you need. ::shrugs:: Sometimes people just get kinda...kinda thrown together. And it makes more sense to stay with them instead of..of going off on your own because they have somethin' you need, like protection or safe transport or somethin'. And after a while you can't help being like..like a family because you're around each other all the time and experiencing the same dren that they are.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Excellent, Chiana...you're on to something. Shared conflict, a common foe; tell me more. Who benefits from a group coming together and forming a familial bond?

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Firecracker...I knew you'd have something for me. Tell me about attachment to those groups...like church or party...or perhaps cliques. How does the traditional familial ideal apply to these groups?

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

It often depends on the mix-up of the group. If the group includes a large median of ages, then there's the potential for paternal and/or maternal figures to emerge. They don't necessarily lead the group, but will help provide emotion support, for example. The group is unlikely to be ego-focused

Sometimes the loyalties in groups such as these, especially in cliques, can exceed the family loyalty people have to their consanguines.

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

Well... the, uh, beings in the group for one. You get support and...and a place to belong. If you're lucky and don't frell everything up you might even gain a real family 'cause you might find the person that...that you're supposed to be with that way. You don't havta go through your life alone.

But, uh, I guess you could say that society could benefit too. Being forced to live with other people, tends to make you less selfish than...than maybe you were before that. Makes you more willing to help other people. And I mean, you get a bunch of beings together, who know each others strengths and weaknesses and all that from cycles of experience, it makes it easy for them to...to work together for somethin'.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Explain to the class ego-focused E, for those who didn't do the reading.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

I s it our nature to cooperate, Chiana? In general I mean...I know we do it in the face of a common enemy, but what about on a normal day?

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Ego comes from the Greek, meaning "I"

Ego-focused is used to describe a kindred, meaning that each individual is in the center of his or her own set of relatives.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Humans... and, I would assume, other sentiant beings *nods to Chiana* don't generally like conflict. It's exhausting to go against someone else -- or multiple someone elses -- particularly if there is no useful product at the end of it. It's easier, more satisfying, to be around people who are going to agree with you on a regular basis. People clump into groups based on shared views. They stay in those groups if their views are validated.

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

::laughs:: No, or atleast not in anybody's that I know. Frell, the beings I was with, we tried to kill each other on a regular basis. But, uh, just 'cause you might fight on a normal day ::laughs to herself about the idea that a normal day wouldn't include fighting an enemy:: it doesn't mean that there isn't love there.

It..it's what makes being in that family different, I guess. You may not get along, you may have completely opposite goals, and sometimes you might even be acting in direct conflict with somebody else's goals. But what's different about that and fighting with some random being, is that there's history and caring and all that to fall back on. You know *why* they're being uncooperative...and you usually know *how* to convince them to cooperate.

[wannabelawyer.livejournal.com]

I think we cooperate when it suits us, when we think it's our best interest. But generally speaking...not so much.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Good, Chip. What you've describes is an ethnos [writes ETHNOS on the board]. That's a group of people who come together under shared values, beliefs, or interests.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Why not, Lindsey?

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

And does that take us back to trust and influence, Chiana?

[not-an-ex-demon.livejournal.com]

Anya finds a seat and listens to what the professor has to say. She hopes Jack will show up to class today.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory curls up in the back of the class. Given recent events, she wasn't particularly in the mood to discuss why she needed others.

[wannabelawyer.livejournal.com]

I think part of it, sometimes, is because we all want to think that we can really be independent and not need other people.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Relatives implies blood family. How does it work in socially created families...chosen groups?

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

And is that feasible/ That we are lone wolves in the forest of the world?

Speaking of wolves...what do you think of the analogy of a wolf pack to describe a chosen familial group?

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

It depends on the type of group. A large group, for example, the Democratic party, is focused predominantly around the presidential candidate. Obviously, he doesn't know everyone involved personally, but the reason that this group has gathered together, or even just perephally involved, is to get him elected.

But then you have a smaller scale, like, say, my dorm-mates and me. We all know one another, and the relationship isn't all based on solely one person.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Right. The candidate is the dominant force in that particular example...and extrapolating, most large groups have a central figure.

And in the dorm group you mention...is someone dominant?

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. You get that close to someone, you eventually have to learn to trust them which means you're allowing them to have influence over you. You're trusting that, even if they want something different from you, that they care enough about you not to influence you into doing somethin' that'll... that'll hurt you.