Topics: Style Shifting; Fashion Amongst Teenagers; Miracles
Miracles occur everywhere in everyday lives.
Ask any oncologist, and they will tell you they have often seen spontaneous remissions in cancer patients. Are these miracles? If so, to what can they be attributed? Why does spontaneous remission occur amongst atheists and believers at the same rate?
Why were those three people who were recipients of a Mary MacKillop miracle chosen? What happened with all the other people who prayed to Mary MacKillop, but who died anyway?
Visit Northmead Children’s Hospital and ask why are four year old children dying from incurable cancer, no matter how much their families pray for them? Why isn't everyone who prays to Mary saved?
Asking devout Catholics elicits a response of horror that there can be any doubt cast upon the issue of miracles, especially any questioning of Saint Mary’s miracles.
Teenage Fashion
If you have ever travelled to large cities around the world, you might have noticed that fashion amongst teenagers is ubiquitous.
In Sydney teenagers seem to wear much the same style of clothing as is worn in Penrith, Wollongong and Newcastle.
Broaden that to Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and you’ll see the same teenage fashion.
Now, go to summer in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Rome and even Moscow, and you will see Sydney fashions – almost identical.
There was a time, not so long ago, when parents from Australia would buy up pairs and pairs of Nikes and Adidas shoes when they visited America because we couldn’t get those styles in this country and because they were cheap.. Parents used take traces of their children’s’ feet to select the right hi-tops with a special basketballer’s name branded on them.
Now you can see Quiksilver and Billabong branded fashion all through the big cities of the world. And teenagers are wearing them all through summer.
What does this mean? Probably that teenage fashion in big cities has become so similar because of global expansion of brands, but more significantly, because teenagers seem to desire separation from other generations, but want a visible mark that says hey, I’m a teenager. It’s a declaration of being a part of a global culture – the teenager.
Style Shifting
Think of a waiter who adjusts his or her manner when they are serving you.
The good ones can recognise when it’s important to chat or remain discrete and quiet. They can also tell by the mood of the customer what style they should adopt.
The same sociolinguistics apply to all dealings we have with people. We adjust our speaking voice to fit with the type of person with whom we are dealing, and to test this, would you speak with your boss or client in the same voice you would with your friends in a relaxed environment?
Of course, style shifting does not only apply to voice. It also applies to fashion, style and manner – you dress for each occasion.
Really only people with Autism, psychotics or Asperger’s do not make such style shifts. Psychopaths, on the other hand, often have an acute awareness of the need for style shifting. After all, it is manipulative and self-serving, but it is what most of us do everyday of our lives.
Manipulation is the most significant characteristic of the majority of our dealings with other humans, and we voluntarily adjust that type of manipulation to suit every different scenario.
This should indicate that the word manipulation is not bad, simply the way in which we deal with everyday living. So describing someone as manipulative is unnecessary, because the vast majority of our daily behaviour is just that.
