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I don't think it's education either. How shallow people react to education is just another facet of their shallowness, IMO.
Several people have used the term "vapid" which I think is a good adjective here. Superficial as well. Not deep thinkers. And very focused on self. The 9/11 story was amazing - that woman gets the shallow queen prize.
Here's an example I experienced that I will never forget that is a textbook example of a shallow person.
In 1993, as you know, the World Trade Center was bombed--as a matter of fact, Tuesday will be the 20th anniversary. I worked there. The next night, I attended an annual fundraiser dinner at the local K of C. Most of the people there knew where I worked and were asking me questions about the event. This woman joined the conversation and promptly started to go on and on about how upset she was because all the news channels interrupted regular programming (the bomb went off at 12:18p) and her soap operas were all canceled. To make it worse, she said since there was nothing to do but watch the news, she did, and how funny all those people looked with the black smoke covering their faces as they came out of the buildings. Everyone at our table just stopped and stared at her while she continued to giggle about this. Some of them looked at me with embarrassment, since I had been one of those people with the smoke-covered faces, but I just shrugged. You can't do anything about people like that.
By the way, this woman was in her 30s, married with four children.
I know a lot of people that are of that same caliber. They wouldn't even begin to know how to spell the word "compassion". I can't imagine how her kids will turn out.
To me, a shallow person is just that. No depth. Everything about them is at the surface, is about the surface and what you can see, is about the material things you can lay your hands on and flash around, etc.
Example of being shallow is someone who looks at the outward person.
Not considering the inward. Judging them by their looks.
Another example is a man or woman losing their desire for their partner if they gain weight.
and not realizing that person is the same one on the inside that they supposedly loved before they gained weight.
Shallow people often learn this from shallow parents. Their parents - being shallow - could not give their child the love, empathy, etc that the child needs. The child grows up without this needed aspect from the parent, and then when other peers come into their life, they act just the way their parent showed them. They dont know how to give freely to others because they couldn't get it from their parents, nor were shown how to freely interact with others and they lack empathy needed in many situations.
A person could become shallow if he or she caught hell just for being himself as an adolescent in terms of degree of acting or dressing masculine or feminine, bookish, not talkative or flirtatious, etc. Other people will teach him or her to focus on crap they might otherwise not have focused on until anything that made him or her who they were gets submerged into what their peers in their own little creepy world say is normal.
shallow people tend to relate to others in black vs white kind of perceptions with no shade of gray. they often use what they hear from others as "fact" and can get confused or bewildered when they are presented with alternate ways of looking at things. often they are lacking in basic cultural or political knowledge. some are martyrs who expect payback for everything little thing, some are narcissists. its been my experience that these types will hate you for the pettiest thing, yet at the same time will be dependent on you
histrionic personality disorder is noted for "shallow, rapidly shifting expressions of emotion"
its also been my experience that shallow people love to try to dominate or turn a person who does not totally conform to social standards into a "problem" so they can "help" that person with their "problem" (and of course they will expect things in return for their "help")
when the person who doesn't quite fit in insists that they don't need the help of the shallow person the shallow person can become rageful or inhibiting or undermining
What makes someone shallow? It is just a totally narcissistic outlook? Apathy? It it age related? What do you think?
Those who are acquisition- and materialistic-minded. People who care more about how others see them than what's best for them. Those who go into debt buying everything new and trendy to show off to others. These are just "things." I've never been to tolerate opulence to any degree; I feel it's wasteful and, yes, shallow. People who brag, call attention to themselves, are infamous or notoriously known for things they do, say or what they represent and how they present themselves.
I don't think it's related to age or a certain generation. Basically, I think shallow people are those who need to be surrounded by others who will praise them, can't be alone, and are the first to jump on the latest trends and must have the "best" of everything, even if they have plenty of money. Flaunting and flashing money or those "things" it can buy is ostentatious and vulgar to me.
What makes someone shallow? It is just a totally narcissistic outlook? Apathy? It it age related? What do you think?
To me it means:
Someone with no intellectual curiosity.
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