Everything we do is a choice...EVERYTHING!!!!! (gasoline, solution, high school)

[Pandamonium]

Originally Posted by jtur88

I rode in a roller coaster once. I chose to be scared.

I had fasting bloodwork done last week. Afterwards, I chose to eat.

This thread was begun at 1:15 AM. Within an hour, 8 people chose to get up out of bed and respond to it. Actually, 9 people chose to get up out of bed, but I did not respond, because I chose to have a leg cramp instead.

My Gawd, what power.

You have made the assumption that 8 people chose to get up out of bed. What makes you think that they had gone to bed? Just because you did?

[Cliffie]

Originally Posted by leaana

yes and no. yes, in context! some people don't have any choices as life isn't dictated just by conscious choice. other's choices affect or limit yours too. also, having bad choices isn't necessarily your fault either so it depends on the context of choice. some people are born into a bad situation and there are some people who are starving. they didn't choose it!!! duh! sometimes people don't even have a choice in certain situations or about certain things so you can't say that the inevitability or outcome of it was their choice!

You also have to bear in mind that many, many choices we make -- especially the habitual ones we don't even see as choices -- are unconscious or preconscious. It's damned difficult to catch yourself thinking, but it's absolutely necessary if you want to make better choices.

[wyoquilter]

So if you are saying that everything we do is a choice, Does that mean that the people that have been shot and killed chose to step in front of the bullet? Wouldn't that absolve the person who pulled the trigger from being charged with murder? Maybe the gunman chose to pull the trigger, but the person who was hit with the bullet should have chose to step out of it's path.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Pandamonium

You have made the assumption that 8 people chose to get up out of bed. What makes you think that they had gone to bed? Just because you did?

I chose to make that assumption. However, I did not choose to have a leg-cramp, which was my point.

[Pandamonium]

Originally Posted by jtur88

I chose to make that assumption. However, I did not choose to have a leg-cramp, which was my point.

Hence, the my gawd what power comment.

[ulnevrwalkalone]

well just to take this in another direction I thought I would chime in with an overly simplistic point about a complex matter.

Nobody ever makes a choice ever, at least according to some neurologists. In studying the brain we discovered that its all comprised of a series of neurons that connect and form sets of chains which send out the signals to do everything in our body. It is believed that these chains fire off based on external stimuli, and that the brain itself is incapable of controlling when these chains fire. It is also beleived the chains themselves are affected by learning, thus we do not have everyone thinking doing the same thing. But learning is also an external stimuli in a sense. So with no control over what we learn (in the sense we personally dont choose) or when our brain fires off these nuerons it is impossible to make any decision ever.

[motoman]

Originally Posted by wyoquilter

So if you are saying that everything we do is a choice, Does that mean that the people that have been shot and killed chose to step in front of the bullet? Wouldn't that absolve the person who pulled the trigger from being charged with murder? Maybe the gunman chose to pull the trigger, but the person who was hit with the bullet should have chose to step out of it's path.

Being shot is not an act on your part, so of course you do not have a choice in that matter.

The point of the original statement was about things we have control over, that we have the ability to make a choice about. Most people say at one point or another, some quite often, things like "I didn't have a choice in the matter", or "so and so made me do it", or "so and so made me angry", etc.

If you are standing face to face with a gunman and he says do this or else I will shoot you, the choice to do whatever he asked you to do or not is totally up to you. If he chooses to shoot you anyway, obviously you have no choice over that because it was not something you could have controlled. That was his choice.

We always have a choice when it is something we can control. No one makes us angry, or makes us not eat, or makes us consistently late to meetings, or makes us fat, or makes us lonely, or makes us lazy, or makes us stupid, or makes us smart. All of these things require effort on our part, they require decisions, made by us, to do or be those things.

If someone is mental challenged, they do not control that, perhaps then they do lack the mental ability to choose what we would consider "normal" things. But of those things they are capable of making a decision about, whatever those things may be, how they choose to do them or react to them is totally up to them.

If I get cancer, I have no control over getting that cancer, unless it was caused by something I did, like smoking. But how I react to getting cancer, how I react to the treats and my possibility of death is totally up to me. Some people take it in relative stride and make the best of the situation. Others create immense drama, adding to the stress of the situation. Either way it's a choice.

Again, the point is that of those things we can control we always have a choice. It may not be the ideal choice we would like to be able to make, but it is a choice nonetheless.

[Pandamonium]

No, the mentally challanged spend an awful lot of time reacting because they do not have the intellectual compacity to critically think. They may often find themselves in situations where they do not understand what is happening and how to process that therefore they react to their surroundings.

But more importantly, what does all of this mean for you? You haven't expressed an opinion that isn't found in any of the 99 other threads.

[motoman]

Originally Posted by Pandamonium

No, the mentally challanged spend an awful lot of time reacting because they do not have the intellectual compacity to critically think. They may often find themselves in situations where they do not understand what is happening and how to process that therefore they react to their surroundings.

But more importantly, what does all of this mean for you? You haven't expressed an opinion that isn't found in any of the 99 other threads.

See my post above about the mentally challenged. I agree with you. I said of those things they have control they can and do make decisions. They are not totally devoid of control, they just can't control a lot of the things we consider to be normal.

I've expressed my opinion by stating that I believe everything we have control over is a choice. A lot of people do not believe that, which is why they say things like "I have no choice but to do such and such" or "they made me do it", etc.

[Pandamonium]

Originally Posted by motoman

See my post above about the mentally challenged. I agree with you. I said of those things they have control they can and do make decisions. They are not totally devoid of control, they just can't control a lot of the things we consider to be normal.

I've expressed my opinion by stating that I believe everything we have control over is a choice. A lot of people do not believe that, which is why they say things like "I have no choice but to do such and such" or "they made me do it", etc.

yes, I saw that and your post on the gun man.

And what does this mean for you and your role in society? Or solving issues in society?