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The Effect of Birth Order on Personality
First-borns, especially first-born sons, like to be described as successful, conscientious and tough-minded. They are natural leaders who tend to gravitate toward jobs where these qualities are useful: bishop, general, dean, chief executive officer, supervisor, king. First-borns like any kind of job where the word first, head, senior or chief is part of the title. An inordinate number of prime ministers, presidents and dictators are first-born sons.
Is it any surprise in a world owned and operated by eldest boys that we don"t hear much about the flip side of the first-born: little adjectives like controlling, conventional, vengeful? Some people would say that first-borns are not much given to ever admitting mistakes or trying new things.
Neither do we hear a lot about the many attributes of middle or youngest children. Middle children, given short shrift by elder siblings as lacking ambition, are adept at mediation and innovation. They often hold families together socially or emotionally. They possess a gift for empathy. This is no wonder since they get lots of practice at being boss and being bossed.
Later children score higher on measures of creativity, and are more popular with other kids. And youngest siblings, while maligned for being indulged, have an aptitude for carving out a comfy niche for themselves in the family.
In that niche, little sisters form a cozily subversive subset. Little sisters must be as persistent as mosquitoes. Little sisters don"t usually get to steer the boat, sit up front, get the top bunk or be a sixer in Brownies. Being a little sister of a big sister is a special kind of torment. My own sister was almost a teenager when I was born and, therefore, was serene and secure in her superiority. As to my brother, who"s two years older, I have come to understand that he was only trying to teach me courage when he pushed me down the hill on the bike with no brakes.
1. What is your birth order in your family and are you satisfied in your birth order? Do you think it affects your personality ?
2. Do you think the first-born son should take care of his parents ?
(Let"s discuss about the obligations about the first-born sons.)
3. Are you going to consider about the birth order when you choose your spouse?
(There are some youngsters who are reluctant to marry a first-born son or a first-born daughter, especially first-born son.)
4. Do your parents advise you not to marry a first-born son, or a girl?
(Tell us about you and your parent"s prejudice about the birth order. Parents sometimes may show their favoritism to a certain child)
5. Do you know, or did you hear any cases around you that the first-born son or a daughter became famous or rich since they are the eldest ?
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8 Out of 10 Internet Users Prefer Real Names
Eight out of 10 users of the Internet (netizens) support use of their real names instead of using identities such as nicknames when they make posting on the Web.
That finding, announced yesterday by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), reflects growing concern over cyber criminals using false names on the Internet.
The ministry and Yahoo.co.kr, one of leading Internet portals in Korea, conducted the online survey jointly.
“The same survey, conducted with another major portal Naver.com, showed a similar result, with 65 percent of those surveyed preferring to use their real names on the Web,” a ministry official said.
In the survey with portal Dreamwiz.co.kr, which has the most opponents against using real names on the Internet, 57 percent of respondents advocated the adoption of using real names, while 37 percent resisted using their real names.
Those survey results came after the ministry announced last Friday that it will take measures to crack down on cyber crimes through the introduction of an Internet real-name system by October.
On the day before the announcement, Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan also raised the question of adopting the real-name system in a debate over policies with government officials.
The controversial system requires netizens to display their real name, as well as to resister their citizenship number, when they make postings on the Web.
The government’s determination to adopt the Internet real-name system is strong because the number of victims who fall prey to cyber crimes is rapidly increasing.
Cyber crime has emerged as a key social issue in Korea, the world’s most wired country.
According to the police, the number of cyber crimes reported surpassed 2 million in 2004, up from 1.65 million in 2003 and 1.19 million in 2002.
The nation's entertainment industry was shocked last January by the release on the Web of a confidential report containing unconfirmed allegations about the sex and drug habits of top movie and TV stars.
The 113-page document, written by top advertising agency Cheil Communications for internal use, was believed to have been released on the Web by an employee of Cheil's research contractor.
Immediately after the release, the documents were rapidly disseminated or shared over the Internet.
The celebrities mentioned in the report were outraged, but countermeasures have yet to be taken.
In another disturbing incident, an unidentified woman in mid May gained the attention of millions of Internet users after a picture of her failing to clean up her dog's feces in a subway train was posted on the Internet.
Her photo was immediately ranked as the most searched item on major Web portals such as Daum and Naver. Many anonymous Internet users accused her of ignoring public morality and made inappropriate comments about her.
Despite these recent controversies, the government will face difficulties in pushing ahead with the introduction of the Internet real-name system because it is opposed by privacy advocates.
The government-affiliated National Human Rights Commission said in an official report to the National Assembly that the real-name system should not apply to Internet boards.
"This system presupposes that all citizens posting their opinions are spreaders of false information or slander; thus it clearly qualifies as pre-censorship and restricts freedom of Internet-based expression rooted in anonymity," it said.
"The real-name system would be broadly applied without obtaining individuals' consent before collecting their personal information, thus it could violate privacy rights guaranteed in the constitution," the commission said in the report.
Chae Seon-joo, a spokeswoman of NHN, the company running naver.com, also said it is not realistic for users of the Internet to use their real names for every posting they make on the Web.
"The online survey results came mainly because of a series of recent problems triggered by cyber violence," she said by telephone.
"If we think about another situation in which privacy issues are raised, I think the result may be different," she added.
In a related development, outside Korea, Georgia, a state of the U.S., allegedly legislated a similar Internet law that criminalized the use of anonymous messages in online communications, but the Federal Court ruled it unconstitutional.
- QUESTIONS
1. Do you have any experience to be damaged by the anonymity of internet?
Or your friends have it?
2. What do you think about the incident '개똥녀' - the woman who didn't clean up her dog's shit?
- Someone uploaded her picture on the web, and Most people got to know her.
Do you think that person who upload her picture is right? He would not have uploaded that picture?
3. What are good things and bad things in the real-name system?
4. Do you agree with this real-name system on internet?
5. Do have any better solution to keep damages from anonymity of internet?