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Who Are Your Role Models?

5K views 34 replies 27 participants last post by  DemonD 
#1 ·
Real or fictional. Past, present, future or imagined.

Edit: Or parts of role models.
 
#3 ·
Growing up I never really had any role models, mostly because public school doesn't teach you about Nikola Tesla, and I always thought that people who idolized Einstein's super-brain were tools.

Nowadays, I think Tesla and Einstein were pretty cool guys, but I still don't have any "role models" per se.


This might be why I grew up to be such a dysfunctional adult...
 
#5 ·
Artosis - for pursuing his dream and committing to it, and for being polish
Gordon Ramsay - for his passion and dedication to his craft of cooking
Patrice Oneal - for saying whats on his mind and being a true comic who's on a completely different level
Sun Zhong Shan - for his persistence in the face of failure and cool mustache
Darren Brown - for his ability to help people through entertainment and revealing psychological tricks that are used to exploit people daily

NO WOMEN
 
#9 ·
I do have some role models, I guess. With certain things at least.

First would probably be the Italian tourist who was executed in Iraq, when the people who did it were videotaping their executions. This guy said something like "This is how an Italian dies," and tried to take off the hood they had on him before he was killed, instead of pleading for their lives like the other people.
If I'm ever in some bad situation like that, or something else, I hope I can be brave like that. I don't want to be the coward who breaks down and begs, or panics and tries to save my own skin only to leave my friends or family to fend for themselves. I want to be the one who can stay strong, who could risk my own life for, say, my little sister's if it came down to that (obviously if there's a choice to take a third option I'd do that, but I'm talking about if there isn't a choice).

In that same thread, a lot of fictional heroes. Frodo and Sam, one who went through hell to do something that had to be done and the other who followed him there (and for that matter, Gandalf and Bilbo as well). Kip Russell from Have Space Suit-Will Travel. The Doctor, of course.

Another one is Galileo, as a scientist and defender of the truth.
 
#22 ·
I asked a friend who his role model was a while ago and he gave an answer similar to you. Something along the lines of looking up to the image of his future self, the person he wants to become. His logic was that if he continued to behave as the person he wants to be, eventually that will be the person he actually is. It's a point of view I hadn't considered until he said it.
 
#11 ·
I don't really inspire to anyone but myself--it is just much more healthier that way.

However, there are a couple people who I admire for certain attributes they posses.

Crono--the big guy in my avatar--for his unquestionable choice to fight and save others for no reason other than it should be done, and he never says a word when doing it ;]

Bill Cosby--he is just a well-rounded guy: a man of great faith and a man of great parenting love.
 
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#12 ·
The closest I have to a role model is Napoleon Bonaparte. That guy was a just a winner.

I also like Ip Man (Bruce Lee's master) as portrayed in the movies.
 
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#15 ·
Ok, I've been thinking.
The closest thing to a role model I have would probably be Sherlock Holmes(been a fan my entire life) & I wouldn't really call him a role model, more of some one just to admire their skillz. I think the fact that one of him is comming to Oklahoma might've had a little bit of a role in my choice. :tongue:
 
#16 ·
Socrates- had a brilliant mind and was completely unafraid of death
Louis C.K.- comedic genius
Carl Jung- best psychologist that ever lived in my opinion
Hunter S. Thompson- badass
Tupac Shakur- pure honesty which is reflected in his music
 
#17 ·
Some more people I admire(but don't consider a role model) are

Tesla- Is there a reason not to like him?
Elon Musk- He has Telsa Motors
Edison- Deaf like me!(too bad he screwed over Tesla)
Teddy Roosevelt- Who doesn't like presidents that ride moose through rivers?
Britney Spears- She knows what she wants
Marie Curie- Her life, her death
 
#18 ·
Ron Paul. I don't want to discuss politics online but the man has character. He does what he wants, says what he wants and makes no excuses about it because he believes it is the right thing to do. He doesn't hide the truth and lets his actions speak for themselves. For a man in power, those are exceedingly rare qualities.

A relevant quotation by my favorite U.S. president:

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." — Abraham Lincoln
 
#19 ·
There are people I admire. At various points in my life, the more I admire somebody, the more I will think about them to understand how they think. My first role model would be my dad, who was basically a mentor for me. I've retained much of what he taught me, even when I don't know I'm doing so. He acted in such unusual but intelligent ways; he was the kind of person who never ordered me to behave in a particular way but rather set an example by living his life courageously and intelligently.

This student and master relationship has lingered to some extent -- toward people I look up to as moral, comedic, intellectual, and social guides. This relationship of the student/master may be an unconscious replacement for what I have lost in the years since my dad's death. There seems to be a pattern to the personality styles of those I admire. People like Frank Zappa, George Carlin, Noam Chomsky, Robert Anton Wilson, and Bertrand Russell, among others, are the ones that inspire me, inform me, make me laugh, and make me think. I think the best role model for me is the one who can challenge me the most, but not for merely the sake of being challenging. There is an underlying theme, a core of moral truth that I am seeking.
 
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#20 ·
In general, the characters that I admire, represents the man I cannot be.
But lets say I am wrong.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be like Vegeta, very much.
//In time, it faded away and I'd begun to change very much.

//I liked many characters and public figures, but not close to role models. Yet, it was enough to shape me, by 'taking' a bit from there, a bit from other.
//Then, with the time passing, getting older and older, I found two role models.
One of them and maybe the head of the list: Gregory House. Deep inside, I believe that he is the one that shaped me in becoming INTP and becoming the person I am today.

//Yet, I don't know what happened, but in the past year I've changed a lot. I am less Introverted. Sometimes I feel so much more Extroverted.

And at the actual moment, my so called role model is Cal Lightman.

//I had no one to follow, on over the years. I had no real models in real life, and so I had 'locked' myself in cartoons, TV show, manga, movies and so on.
 
#21 ·
I used to be a fan of dragonball growing up but the characters are very one dimensional. Take Vegeta for example. His goal in life is to be the strongest. That is an admirable quality and can be compared to the modern olympic, bodybuilding, power lifters. But he takes it too far. Vegeta is willing to go to all lengths to obtain that power including isolating himself from his future son and loved ones to power up (ie. in the hyperbolic time chamber). He gets angry whenever Goku shows more power even though they are fighting on the same team to save the planet most of the time. Anyone that behaves like that in real life would be shunned from society, labeled as weakminded, and most likely ignored by other women. The only reason his behavior is tolerated is that he is a saiyan, a quality he was born with. I personally think he would be the last character I would look up to. He has accomplished nothing and has the mind of a stunted 9 year old.

House is another example of a character that could only realistically exist in a bubble. If you have any friends or family in the medical community, they most likely hate the show because it is a fictitious glamorization of their jobs. They would probably hate the fact that House has that much autonomy from his boss (Cuddy) yet treats her in the same pretentious way he treats everyone else. I was always puzzled by the reason he was able to get away with so much. The shows explanation is that he saves lives. In medicine, they call it rare illnesses "zebras." But in reality, rarely are there so many zebras, diagnostically speaking. To get to that position, he would need a plethora of accolades from his peers to get away with the jackass behavior and mischief he causes. As a fan of the show, I'm sure you don't need any specific references. But seeing how House alienates everyone except for maybe Wilson, it's unlikely he will have developed that reputation for finding zebras in the first place. Cuddy alone would not be able to shield him from criticism. In real life, she has to report to someone as well.

In real life, most men and women have many flaws that are not overshadowed by their entertainment value and don't just go away after the show ends. That's why its exponentially more impressive when those individuals have lived their entire lives without significant faults.
 
#25 ·
In school we used to have to write about our role-models a lot. I spend the entire class time trying to think of one person I looked up to(completely diffrent from admiration, at least to me) while everyone else in the class would be on page 5 of why Lindsey Lohan or Ronaldo or who ever is the greatest person to ever live.
 
#26 ·
Not a single Game of Thrones reference yet? :p

I look up to Jon Snow, everyone who succeeds at meaningful things which I fail at (ie. mathematics, engineering, managing relationships, etc..) as well as Socrates, the giants of science & philosophy or spirituality (ie. Buddha, Wittgenstein, Thoreau, Marcus Aurelius, Daniel Dennett, Tesla) and others such as Bruce Perry or random but surprising "nobodies" I've met at school or elsewhere.

Basically, everyone who has had to fight through severe struggles only to eventual overcome them and come out of it with superhuman amounts of wisdom, love, honesty, creativity, integrity, empathy, intelligence, character, self-restraint and passion.

Also, those people who make amazing music and art; I love them so much and wish I could do the same.
 
#27 ·
As of now, the one I would say is Garry Kasparov.
There are others, but I'm in a hurry and Kasparov comes to mind first.
 
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