I had a debate with a licensed therapist yesterday. I think she was really playing devils advocate here, but.. We were discussing why family is important. Her view was that families are really just shitty to each other and why do we place such value on them? She further explained it's not like we can pick them as we pick our friends. But I had a different view and expressed it to her.

To start, I consider culture a societies' response to dealing with making life livable given their environment. So it follows that many societies deeply engrained with strong family values often come from sustience based living. The family is paramount for survival, because one cannot farm alone. Every society was once at this level.

Enter the industrial revolution, grocery stores, pension plans and day cares, adoption, foster parenting.... Family values have as a result deterioted for western civilizations because dependence on the family is no longer paramount for survival, at least not for the majority of your life.

But we forget the very young and the very old. I see increased examples of terrible parenting, emotionally neglected children, not to mention the increasing number of divorces that places children in single parent homes, along with all the negatives that comes from that. Children that are with both parents are still often raised by day care centers, taught values through the school system. We outrage over abuses in the systems, chilren who are phsyically mistreated, em111otionally neglected and sometimes even killed at the hands of caregivers who are just doing a job and at times have no emotional investment in these childrens' well-being.

Adults must scrimp and save and invest in pensions and prepare for the future at the expense of their children because no one will be there when they themselves are old. So we've seen the rise of the nursing home industry and all the disgusting abuses that go along with that.

We are raising neglected children who in turn become self-centered adults and neglect the elderly.

I can't help but wonder, what is going to happen to millions of elderly if all these pension plans continue to fail in today's economy. When the shit really hits the fan, we go back to our roots, our family. But can Western families really handle the shit?

My thoughts? Family values are not just some antiquated or patriarchial cultures' viewpoints. They provide a strong foundation to society. I think if Asia can complete it self through development and the demographic transition with it's strong family values in tact, they will trump the West in every area. Hopefully the West will learn before it's too late.

My question is who the fuck licensed that therapist?

Bravo! Mimi! Well said! I agree with you 100%, and some of your points I hadn't even thought of. Thank you for your insight about family values.

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Mimi, I couldn't have said it better.

People who neglect the family are oftenly just too comfortable to handle long term relationships which aren't only funny to them.
I don't wanna judge people who got abused and now split with their family.
I mean the others who just go for the fun factor when being with people.

Just ask that "licensed therapist" if she goes to visit old people in a nursery home or plays with children regularly in her freetime.
I bet she will not do that except people pay for it.
Does anyone have questions on why I don't trust the psycho industry anymore?
I have seen too many of those jackasses who can't get their own life in check and think they should now advise people to make their own miserable life bearable.

I think family values are a good and absolutely necessary element of human ethics AND human instincts and everyone who neglects them has either really bad experiences (those unfortune people exist) or the person is just neglecting a part of human nature.

We are social animals after all.
SOCIAL ... not mainly fun oriented or whatnot but social.

I know some people who talk like this too and for the most I detect a really fucked up attitude towards humans in general in them.
Friends can also someday pick to NOT be with her, did she even think of that?
Friends of the same age will also need help when she needs some in old age.

Yeah, it's so easy and comforting to always be with people who do and say what one wants, but life wouldn't be the same without all the quarrels, fights and learning experiences in a family.

I would say she better gives her "license" back and takes care of animals in future, they don't understand when she talks bullshit.

Lieber stehend sterben als kniend leben!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/lalense/

I'm with LuvMyIS350. Is this the "help" that people are getting when talking to therapists??

Great insight mimi!

Yes, I also agree wholeheartedly.

There are good therapists out there, but so many of them are just as confused about life as we are and even more so.

Anyone know the suicide statistics for those jobs?
AMAZING I say.

Lieber stehend sterben als kniend leben!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/lalense/

well without getting too personal here, I have one of those extremely toxic families, and I've been sensitive to it. She may have just been trying to get me back to my original values. I don't think she really meant that families need to be discounted at all costs, she herself has her grandson living with her.

If she meant to say that you aren't condemned to deal with people you just can't then it has s