The "Blame the habit" mentality.

Sim Kid · #1

So little Johnny has a problem. He's choosing to let something as minor as a recreational habit become serious business. He's been ignoring homework and ditching school to devote time to his hobby, he's been building models round the clock, racing them, playing games, etc....

So what do his parents do? Blame the habit. As if the industry that creates the stuff he uses is somehow a council of cabalists who have enslaved his mind. Or the hobby is somehow controlling his mind and physically tethering him to it.

I never quite understood this mentality..Mostly because at the same time, if you do stuff like blame the alcohol or car industry for drunk driving, car accidents, or road rage...you get clubbed over the head and lectured about how wrong you were. If you blame a school shooting on the gun the killer had, you'd be given a very stern lecture on why it wasn't the gun's fault. It sounds quite stupid if you say your friend who's so obsessed with their bike that they don't want to do anything to you that the bike is somehow controlling their mind or that they're physically tethered.

Really....hobbies are not drugs. :/ you don't have a physical dependence to play on them. If your friend doesn't want to associate with you because you don't have an Xbox Live account...then they aren't worth your time. Screw 'em. You don't need them and they don't need you. Really, Xbox live is not stealing your friend from you, and neither is any MMOG. :/ or a sports team...

It's one thing if they're in school and try to do something with you but get set back by assignments and sudden tests, or they're in work and call saying "Sorry I have to work overtime"; but another if they keep you hanging at the theatre because "That was a really REALLY good match". :\

#2

Well, not to be contrary, but "addictive personalities" can develop a kind of dependence on activities, etc.

Sure, people can just be jerks about fobbing you off to do something else. They can also just be more interested in other things and genuinely saying, "Sorry, I'm not available" because their hobby is their priority. But some people can be "addicted" to activities, or have a compulsive need to do something.

And you're right, it's hardly the fault of whatever they're doing, if they're just interested in making that their major priority.

Sim Kid · #3

Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds wrote:Well, not to be contrary, but "addictive personalities" can develop a kind of dependence on activities, etc.

Sure, people can just be jerks about fobbing you off to do something else. They can also just be more interested in other things and genuinely saying, "Sorry, I'm not available" because their hobby is their priority. But some people can be "addicted" to activities, or have a compulsive need to do something.

Yes, but that doesn't make it the hobby's fault, does it?

#4

^Only in the case of tiddlywinks. Not many people know this, but the game of tiddlywinks is actually an evil pandimensional entity from beyond our ken, bent on the enslavement of all mankind. Tell your friends.

Deepfake · #5

Yeah, I kind of had this problem with my mother. If I didn't do my homework, it's because I was playing video games. Not because I'm avoiding doing homework.

#6

Booyakasha wrote:^Only in the case of tiddlywinks. Not many people know this, but the game of tiddlywinks is actually an evil pandimensional entity from beyond our ken, bent on the enslavement of all mankind. Tell your friends.

[video]vq_VhQhALWs[/video]

#7

Sim Kid wrote:Yes, but that doesn't make it the hobby's fault, does it?

:facepalm: You quoted two out of my three paragraphs. Specifically, this:

Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds wrote:Well, not to be contrary, but "addictive personalities" can develop a kind of dependence on activities, etc.

Sure, people can just be jerks about fobbing you off to do something else. They can also just be more interested in other things and genuinely saying, "Sorry, I'm not available" because their hobby is their priority. But some people can be "addicted" to activities, or have a compulsive need to do something.

That is DIRECTLY ABOVE the third paragraph, the one you removed from the quote. Specifically, this:

Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds wrote:And you're right, it's hardly the fault of whatever they're doing, if they're just interested in making that their major priority.

Dude, what? Like, intentionally cutting out the very part that answers what you're asking? I don't even. Just... what. Gah. Reading comprehension really helps you understand what others have communicated to you. Because I already said that. Dude.

Deepfake · #8

^ lol