Thread: Who is/are your idols?

My idols are Dr.Harold Hoffman and Dr. Ben Carson, both world-famous neurosurgeons. Every time I encounter their names, I think to myself: someday, I'll be up there with them. So, as of now, (next to my parents, of course,) they are my idols. Who are your idols? I'd love to know who and why!

Dr. Harold Hoffman - http://www.thestar.com/Obituary/HtoM/article/107953

Dr. Ben Carson - http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/car1bio-1

I don't have any idols.

I see him every morning staring at me from the strange looking glass they call a mirror.

I respect a lot of people all around and I can see where I want to be some day in them but I really don’t have any Idols either.

Uh, maybe "idol" is too strong a word. How about role models?

Nobody. Just live and learn. Better that than trying to get inspiration off someone else and then living that way... Like 99% of society. Their roles models being Jade Goody or some other celeberity... Sheesh... :|

-sigh- Wow, BW, you are one tough nut to crack. I'm seriously wondering if you could be the acme of human evolution or something. That maybe everything in history happened to finally, finally produce YOU.

*clap clap* You're an inspiration to us all.

Oh wait.

Better that than trying to get inspiration off someone else and then living that way

Darn it. Shoot. Well, i guess you're not an inspiration after all. And you were doing so well too.

:wink:

tritai, smh... (I know you like that). He ain' not tough nut to crack. He's just being arrogant, mister im-too-good-to-have-a-role-model. Na..mean? 8) :-D

I can't believe he doesn't admire other people at all. And admiring doesn't necessarily mean that one has to imitate or integrate their behavior.

It's ok, Numii, you kind of get used to the arrogance after a while. Then you realize what an angsty, guilt-ridden, self-pitying, pathetic, undone, and whacked out person he is. :?

But then again, I could be biased. :wink:


Stephen, remember those anger management classes we talked about as you read all this......

I'm not being arrogant, I'm being honest and self confident... What just because other men think the same way and are intentionally that way and I do because I am self reliant that makes me the bad guy?

Lol I know your teasing, so quit it.

Then you realize what an angsty, guilt-ridden, self-pitying, pathetic, undone, and whacked out person he is.

I am that also. Apart from guilt, I don't do guilt. But to have all the positive qualities I also have to have these negative ones also. :P I am the alpha and the omega.. Is that arrogant enough for you?

"admiring doesn't necessarily mean that one has to imitate or integrate their behavior."
I think on a curtain level it does, whether you do it consciously or not is a different matter.

I don't admire people, but I admire admirable qualities in people. I have yet to meet someone who was admirable, I do not think they exist right now.

Yamamoto Tsunotomo one of the last samurai, was ordered by his master not to kill himself when the samurai class was layed off. So he because a budhist monk for the rest of his days. Their culture revolves around self sacrifice on every level of being. To paraphrase: One needs a master to be great. If the times do not cultivate masters, you create a master based on qualities from different people in your life. Take the honesty of one man, the courage of another, the vitality of another, the wisdom of this one, etc etc.

I think this best represents our time. In times of plenty, people are made weaker, in times of less people are made stronger. Then being made weaker, plenty becomes less, then being made strong less becomes more. It is pretty basic, but it all starts in the mind, pure will power.

I don't admire anyone because I have seen the other side of too many good things. And I see how people act towards me, lots of people admire me for being spiritual or knowledgeable, when it fact I am not, and when I say I am not, they assume I am just being humble which only strengthens their belief.

Also, pride only gets in the way of greatness. If you admire someone, don't praise them, it only furthers the gap between you and them. Truly great people want to be treated normally.

For an example, I admire the loyalty, courage and self sacrifice of Bushido, but I do not admire bloodshed. I admire the wisdom of religious texts, but I do not admire the suffering they have caused. I admire the objectivity of science but I do not admire many of the destructive technologies created by it's application. This brings me to my admiration for the secrecy of cults but not their rituals

To sum all of this up Pythagoras is probably the closest thing to an idol that I have.

As far as people still alive, my friends and family all have traits I admire. My mother is courageous and honest although a little dumb and naive, my brother is friendly and intelligent but ignorant and selfish, my sister is like my mom though a little smarter and a lot more arrogant, and they are all control freaks to different degrees. I have a couple friends who are good at guitar though they are both arogant. I have another friend who is good at wrestling, but he is in not very healthy. Another friend is crafty when it comes to fixing stuff, but he is not very knowledgeable, he knows a lot of hystory, but doesn't think criticaly. I have another friend who is very courageous, self seeking and independent, but he is an addict and a womanizer. All my friends are addicts more or less.

So as you can see, my hybrid idol is far from complete. So I come online to fill in the blanks, seeking more critical of thinkers, more knowledgeable people.

The closest thing to a living idol I have is my mom's cat.

that's a long post, sorry for hijacking

Don't apologize for long posts. Some may not read, but I certainly read what's worth reading. And your post is well elaborated and neat. One of the reasons people join forums is to share ideas, right?

I didn't say we don't integrate the behavior, but "not necessarily". One of the MANY people I admire is Marilyn Manson, although, I don't agree with his eccentric way of expressing himself. What I admire about him is his total devotion for being outspoken and wild. His appearance is quite shocking, I certainly don't integrate THIS kind of behavior, as I like to consider myself the opposite [modest, quiet and common looking]. But contrary to people's opinions about him, he stays real to HIS beliefs. Now that I may admire and integrate.

Exactly.

Even if you idolize someone completely, and idealize them as well, you will still only integrate the parts that you like, because you are ignoring all the rest.

Idolizing just makes it harder to be introspective, which is why I think some people are reluctant to do it, despite probably doing it subconsciously. The less you pay attention to something, the less control you have over it.

If you don't choose your ideals, your passions will control your ideals. Pretty soon you will be idolizing non-idolization, or idolizing yourself with the justification that idolizing is weak. It is hypocritical, but is not wrong, it is self deception, a trick of the mind. There is no you, that is the joke of life, the punchline you get when you die.

Even the idea of not following idols was realized and shared and can be an idol in it's own right. The only way to escape idolizing is to practice, as the Taoists might say, non-idolizing, or idolizing without desire. Not focusing, but also not generalizing, neither apathetic nor empathic towards your goal. Idolizing non-idolization is not an escape but another level in the dungeon that is the mind.

It is hard to explain, but it is easy to understand... like most things

I admire myself for being the greatest scientist currently alive, besides Craig Venter.

Alan guth

whoever came up with the idea of the trebuchet.

marcusclayman:

Very well put! I echo your views on the subject closely. Basically, try to figure out what is good and do what you can to get there. The full tapestry of what it means to be a human is a complicated and wonderful, if blurry, image to behold.

:wink:

I will probably cop it for being so commercial but my idol is David Attenborough.
I just think he has had an amazing life and has experienced so many things, and done so much for nature, and he still does as much as he is physically capable of which I think is admirable. I would be happy if I had a life like his

I don't really have any idols really but thinking about it I thought Albert Einstein would be a good one and maybe some other scientists or mathmaticians maybe Pythagerous or Archemedies but I don't know enough about them to be sure or maybe some inventors such as Edison?
Then I turned to sports but it's hard to think of one maybe Berbatov on a good day and Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Zidane for his head butt alone!
Then I turned to Rugby and I am thinking Brian O'Driscoll, I don't know if he came up with this quote himself bbut if he did he must be quite a Philosopher!

'Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad,'

Actually it turned out that it was not his quote but he got it from the Ireland baggage master! and said it for a bet, and he may not have been the originator of the quote either. So I guess sometime you might be idolising someone who 'stole' someone elses work!! Obviously I was talking about his rubgy achievements not the quote anyway.

Anyway there are loads of people fom other areas, comedy, singers etc who I admire but I would not say I idolise any of them, if pushed I think I would have to go for Jesus.

I have a couple:

• Pussycat Dolls (they inspire me to look good and be confident =P)

• Blair Warldorf (I love what the character wears! She's my muse for fashion)

• My aunt ( she's intelligent and wise)

• My late grandma (she was a great person. always so caring and down to earth. She was gorgeous too)

does anyone think there is any correlation with the lingual similarities of idolization and idealization?

i don't know if there is any etymological connection, but in my opinion where you find one, you invariably find the other.

I dont believe in rolemodels or idols as i dont believe in free will, and that any persons mind switched at birth would produce the very same resulting person. However if i had the choise on who to become. It would be a mix of the following people:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_McKay (Fictional person)
http://residentevil.wikia.com/Albert_Wesker (Fictional person)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpatine (fictional person)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_caesar

Originally Posted by spuriousmonkey

I admire myself for being the greatest scientist currently alive, besides Craig Venter.

I think I sense sarcasm, but if there is none, what makes you think you are the greatest scientist currently alive? (Just curious). Because in all honesty, I think I may be one of the most influential scientists of all time once I release my theory this year.

spuriousmonkey is sarcasm personified, and any of his pronouncements should come with a government health warning : "reading this comment may seriously lower your self-esteem"

Originally Posted by Waveman28

n all honesty, I think I may be one of the most influential scientists of all time once I release my theory this year.

Not even a hint?

Role Models?

My father: who demonstrated how to be a gentleman on a labourer's wages.
Patrick Moore: for revealing that unbridled enthusiasm can be contagious.
Professor Neville T. George: for making scholarly erudition exciting.
My first real boss: For making me believe mere hard work was an underachievement
A later boss: For showing me that you can be positive even when everything has gone to shit.

Not a role model, because I can't aspire to his kind of moral character, but he should be mentioned. Nelson Mandela.

ill say i would take albert einstein, simply because he has inspired me to become a great theoretical physicist like him. and the field he relates also interests me. Thats why i think albert einstein is my not idol or role model but just someone who would inspire me...

Personally, my idols are George Galloway and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. They fight vigorously for what they believe in and they are so right about pretty much everything that I am dumbfounded.

My grandfather, who was everything I aspire to be like as a person. I don't get on with most of my family. So it's not just a case of love/emotional tie. I loved my my granda, so that is there. Even trying to think from outside of that view I have so much admiration for the person he was.

My favourite scientist is Richard Dawkins. I'm not actually aware of any of his work before he bacame well known, but I support what he is doing and bringing to public attention, and share a lot of his views.

My role model is Steve Irwin. I'd really love to live like him. Have a beautiful family, live to help animals and be as jolly as he was.... When I heard the way he died, I cried, which is a very rare thing with me....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin

But besides Steve Irwin, I have to say I love, just love John Lennon and I admire him so much.... I like Salvador Dali because he was this insane genius and I'd give an arm to meet Stephen Hawking So, it would be a wired mixture but, one guy with their qualities would be the perfect man =))

i've always wondered : how can you have someone as an idol when you have no first-hand knowledge of them ?

Originally Posted by marnixR

i've always wondered : how can you have someone as an idol when you have no first-hand knowledge of them ?

Well, I wouldn't say Idol, but, someone to look up to in a certain field of life. Steve Irwin for example was a conservationist, environmentalist, wildlife expert.... Things I'd like to be....