What defines a Role Model?

[Shu]

The literal definition can be taken to heart when thinking of role models, but what do you think it means to be one? In today's day in age we always tend to overly identify with people before us, due to it's our only frame of reference. When we pick a mold, we hang with the folks that are equally as passionate about a certain thing.

Though in life we come across certain individuals who astound us, amaze us, or who fits the mold.

What and who for example would you call a role model and why?

 

[seddy-0]

one of my biggest role models in my life is the founder of tap out charles "mask" lewis. what makes him a role model, is how he talks. he is the most positive figure i have ever come across. when he spoke.. i felt like he was speaking to me. and everything was all about achieving your dreams and never giving up and about being who you are. its everything i talk about when i talk to kids at the bmx track.

here is a link to his tribute video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aH8mMdlHC0&list=FLMAnqpOfNnYFvhQBWfwBMoA&index=13&feature=plpp_video

he died in 2009 in a car accident. but his message still lives on to this day.

 

[Phoenix Rising]

I find it hard to take someone seriously if they say their role model is someone like Snooki or Kim Kardashian, or really any Hollywood phony for that matter.

I have a few role models, such as:
FULL NAME | NATIONALITY | POLITICAL PARTY
Alexander Hamilton | American | Federalist Party
Barry Goldwater | American | Republican Party
Benjamin Franklin | American | Independent
George Washington | American | Independent
John Locke | British | N/A
Jonathan McDonald | American | Republican Party
Nigel Farage | British | UK Independence Party (Europe of Freedom and Democracy)
Ronald Reagan | American | Republican Party
Swede Momsen | American | N/A
Thomas Jefferson | American | Democratic-Republican Party
Thomas Paine | American | Independent
Tin Pei Ling | Singaporean | People's Action Party

 

[seddy-0]

if someone is looking up to a jersey shore cast member... they need to get their heads examined. those people are the worst kinds of people to look up to.. they promote being jerks and partying.. they show no blueprint of how to be a better person. you really can't condemn all of hollywood, there are some actors and actresses that do a lot of good things outside of the camera.

another person i look up to is bill cosby, yes the jello guy. if you have ever hear dhim speak.. he talks about not letting where you come from be an excuse as to where you go in life, but to want to achieve to be better because of where you come from.

 

[Shu]

I find it hard to identify with people in literature or movies, due to most stuff I read is Fictional anyway. I hate auto-biographies and biographies, I snooze. The only time I like a biography is when it's more of an interview-esc type.

Where artists are put on the spot rather. For that very reason I tend to over identify with musicians, due to I feel they have a lot of depth in their soul. The problem with that is, they could be completely fake, and I would never know it. I try to stay away from music which numbs my brain, and go for people who actually speak their mind. Hence why a lot of what I listen to is political rap/ rock/ heavy metal and a mixture of dubstep and other things.

A lot of the folks are in past tense who I look up to. They are dead. They were the speakers of a generation I never knew.

Let's see:

John Lennon
Bill Hicks
Christopher Hitchens

Alive:

Maynard J Keenan - Tool, Puscifer, A perfect circle
Mark from O.A.R.
Scooter Ward from Cold

I have a few more.. but that's just a couple.

 

[Nocturne]

I tend to not see people as role models. I dont think there is any one person that we should look up to, but to look at certain people for certain things they do and try to grow in our own way from seeing what they do. Everyone has their faults, no one is perfect, and trying to make someone out as such just isnt true to them or to yourself.

I actually tend to identify with video game characters or ideals. It's much easier with game characters because you only get a snap shot of what they are like and they are usually idealized.

Looking up to an ideal though gives you something to strive for. Something to try to become. Sure, I respect some people for how they choose to live their lives, everyone does. But I dont think it's smart to look up to a "role model", especially anyone in popular culture today in the US

 

[Valkyrur]

I suppose for me, a role model would be someone that exhibits some desirable characteristic that I think would be useful to have. That being so, I realize that everyone around me is a role model. Because they all have their strengths and weaknesses, I consider them role models for their strengths, and focus on appreciating that strength, and replicating it if necessary. Something along the lines of inspiration, really.

In another sense, I suppose it's right to say I consider a role model an inspiration as well.

Being one, however, seems to be another matter. Honestly, while the idea is greatly appealing, I think it's not so much a personal choice. I tend to think "being a role model" to be similar to "being a leader". Like in the latter case, I believe that role models are made, not born. In that sense, I feel it's what people see in you that makes you a role model.

 

[Catnip]

I think a role model is someone who inspires you, motivates you, and sets standards for the person you want to be. They're more like a guide that drives you. Unfortunately though, more and more people are simply ditching who they are so they can become someone else...who is already taken, so it will never work. This goes for most people too.

Take Disney for example. Miley Cyrus does something wrong and guess what? She gets shit. Because people actually expect these kids on TV to parent America. The definition for what a role model is, in my opinion, is completely lost and forgotten.

 

[ViKtoricus]

The literal definition can be taken to heart when thinking of role models, but what do you think it means to be one? In today's day in age we always tend to overly identify with people before us, due to it's our only frame of reference. When we pick a mold, we hang with the folks that are equally as passionate about a certain thing.

Though in life we come across certain individuals who astound us, amaze us, or who fits the mold.

What and who for example would you call a role model and why?

I have Napoleon Bonaparte's image as my User Account's avatar for my laptop. That way, people will know a little bit about me whenever they use my laptop.



A role model is the one that you feel is your own reincarnation. They never "drag" you to worship them, rather, you pull yourself towards them.

 

[Lloyd]

A role model could be anything. There's no complete way to say if a person is a role model or not unless we look up to them ourselves. Someone can believe one person is a role model while another person doesn't see him as one. I believe a role model is just someone who has garnered success in whatever they do and should be praised for it. I do not however believe in molding yourself after someone because you look up to them. Where do we draw the line when it comes to envy and looking up to someone. Obviously your role model would be superior to you because you believe there's more to be desired when it comes to your life, and such feelings can turn into envy quick.

I think a role model is someone you can respect. Someone you can think of when things get tough and ask yourself how they would feel if something similar came up. If I want to be a director I wouldn't choose Michael Bay as my role model. Obvious reasons aside it's more about the fact that I couldn't completely make my own path and would just be trying to follow his, which could then lead to envy if I didn't succeed in the same ways he did.

 

[Roland_Deschain]

Oh good thread. In my opinion the definition is relatively short and easy.

Role model - Is a person that motivates and challenges another person to better themselves. A person who gives inspiration in any form that captivates another person and in the end plays a role on influencing that person to change in one perspective or another wether its a direct change or indirect.

My role models are few. I look up to many and have a few idols, but very few of them have actually personally influenced or changed me.

Stephen King - Because of this author I have taken upon myself to start my own novels. I will say its a pretty succesful Role model seeing as what started from inspiration has yielded me three full novels all over 110,000 word =)

My father - for my own reasons, he is not perfect and average yet yields an overly exceptional life. Was a world champion skysurfer in the X games (bob greiner), and even though he went into the military he went back to college later in drafting. Afterwards he broke away from his company due to their lack of ethics and started his own similiar company which has now become fairly succesful. I also learn many things from his faults, seeing as he was divorced and I spent a lot of time visiting both parents acrossthe country even when they were still in conflict. In this aspect I learned about not rushing into marriage and also about what I will do differently when I raise children of my own. In my opinion sometimes you can learn more from other peoples faults than their accomplishents.

A role model can be anything. A serial killer even. The definition is an opinion from one person to another. What inspires others can be nobody to some. Everyone can be one, and anybody can become one.

 

[Catnip]

Yeah, nobody can wake up and say "I'm going to be a role model!" because you can't be one unless someone looks up to you. That's why I think it's ridiculous for someone to "be" a role model, and therefor need to act like one. Because that person is just being who they are and living life the way they want - why should they be controlled because someone else looks up to them? Sometimes people don't even asked to be role models, but still end up being so.