Humans are the most sophisticated creatures on the Earth. The main difference which sets humans apart from other species is the brain. Our brain has a more complex part called cerebral cortex which is not as developed in other species' brains. The cerebral cortex, especially the frontal lobes, enables us to develop our own unique set of personalities and to think logically and more abstractly. In general, we have got more intelligence to control, overpower, and to a certain take responsibility in protecting other species of the world.
In the past, we can see the early mankind making use of animals to do work. For example, the use of shephard dogs in farms, elephants for logging and horses for transportation. In my view, because of our higher intelligence, we want to be efficient and productive. Once we have a goal, we will be motivated to achieve it.
Not satisfied with just being able to take control of simpler species, man start to have the desire to empower the people around him, and on a larger scale, other countries. THis has led to countless wars, regardless of the place, culture and time. This can show that man has an unconcsioucs thought of having the desire to control people's lives, thus giving themselves power. This power acts as a positive reinforcement and it leads to the person wanting even more. Power and status is an insatiable appetite for most humans.
In modern times, countries cannot simply engage in wars to gain power and stability within their societies. This is especially so for small countries which obviously lose out in numbers. Thus these countries cannot afford to fight wars. Their leaders have to find alternatives to achieve their aim of gaining power and stability. This can be done financially whereby trade can be done between countries which will lead to win-win situations.
A country can come up with 1001 plans for the future. But the issue is how to get its people to cooperate and work together. One way is to do it the authoritarian method. It is a restrictibe, punitive style in which the people have to follow orders and to value hard work and effort. The parent, firmly limits and controls the child,which is the people, with little verbal exchange. Now let us explore some of the limits and controls and their means a parent can place on the child.
Such an authoritative parent will want to control their children's lives. From their birth, the food they can or cannot chew, their thinking, their education, their marriage and even to their death, the parent wants to take control. This is the closest one can get to obsession over another person's life.
THe parent decides what the child can eat. If the food is unhealthy or is a menace to the overall society, it is taken away by the parent, never to be seen by the child. To appease the child, the parent might give the child some sweets.
Propaganda. It is a powerful tool to influence a child's thinking. It can come in the form of medias such as newspapers, radio and of course television which i am sure the child wil love watching. Being the parent, he or she has the power to control what the child read, hear and watch. By controlling the media, the parent can expose the child to what the parent wants for his or her child. However, the parent must be tactful enough to not irritate the child by not making it too obvious. The child is easily impressionable and over time, past experiences and learnings get assimiliated into their schema. OF course, one can say that every parent wants the best for his child. That's an easy excuse.
Talking about marriage, the child will want his 'smartest boy in the world' marry the 'smartes girl in the world'. This is because the parent firmly believes that this will lead to equally or smarter offsprings. Even as ridiculous as it sounds, the parent bets his or her life on it to be true.
A child growing up under such a parent will probably grow up to be a person of poor initiation and communication skills. However, this is not the case for every child. There will be exceptions. Such a child might think and do things differently as the model child which the parent wants. Naturally, the parent will wnat to block their own child from other 'evil' influences. Again, this can be done by controlling the media. Those negative things being said about the parent are being blocked out, thus leaving the child to hear good and positive things about their parent. Not giving a chance for the 'alternative' child to make his or her point is a way for the parent to remain in power.
It is amazing to the extent of what the parent does in order to remain in power. Being the parent, naturally, he would want his children to listen to his orders and directions. Using the fixed interval schedule of reinforcement, the parent tries to keep his children happy and contented by offering some incentives such as sweets and toys, etc...and of course at the same making use of the media propaganda once again.
Such methods of limiting and controlling might prove useful for a child who is still in his or her pre-operational or concrete operational stage. However, did the parent think of what will happen after the child enters the formal operational stage whereby the child can reason logically and have his own set of principles and thinking. Does the parent think that he or she can still apply the same methods.
Perhaps in the past, the child might feel afraid to OPPOSE his parent for fear of no shelter, food and overall well-being. But once grown up, the child is able to think and even see through what the parent has been doing all these years. There is a chance that the child might think differently and not conform to the parent's way of doing things. Although the possibility of such a situation happening is small, there is still a chance of it occurring.
Of course, not everything the parent has done is wrong. Most of the things are correct. THe parent has provided the basic needs such as clothings, food and shelter. The parent has also given proper education and financial benefits. But, there is one thing lacking- the child's rights. THe child has no say in how he wishes to lead his own life. He cannot speak for himself and can only learn to say YES and not NO. If he were to say NO, he will be awarded punishment. FOr example, money will be taken away.
One solution is to learn from an authoritative parent. At times, we have to place limits and controls over the child's lives. BUt we also have to let them operate and think independently. We should cut down on biased external influence and expose the child to a more neutral environment.
In conclusion, in order to develop to an even higher level of thinking, we have to expose ourselves to different scopes of views for us to see the bigger picture. We cannot simply have so many restrictions and bans just to force another person to think alike. We have got to give each other respect and the freedom to say what we like and think is correct.
