Welcome to Johnny Knuckles. Chances are you are here because Google has deemed this site a worldwide authority on personality vs. character.
Now, the content here will be update slightly. Originally, there was an awful lot of profanity and obscenity. But in the interests of education vs. entertainment, this post will undergo a bit of wiping and cleaning and updating.
That said, here is the original post:
Alright, today’s sermon from Father Knuckles is the confusion between personality and character. It’s important to know the difference between the two. Especially during times of war and when you’re dating.
Personality traits are individual, subjective, and vary widely.
Character traits are objective, constant, and timeless.
Character traits include honesty, trust, respect, responsibility, leadership, loyalty and courage. One’s character can be objectively judged.
Character is defined as right or wrong.
Character, despite its detractors, can be taught.
However educators are bypassing the difficulty of teaching character and have gone directly to self-esteem, the reward of strong character. But without character, self-esteem is a hollow, free-floating concept.
And while character traits are universal, each individual has the choice to accept or reject them.
One of character’s best features is that you can mimic them without conviction and the end result is the same.
For instance, a coward can recognize he’s a coward yet still perform an act of bravery and no one will fault him acting out of character.
Personality is subjective.
Personality includes your sense of humor (or lack of), whether you’re outgoing or shy, friendly or stoic, your interests, passions, and the list goes on.
While some people have well-developed personalities, their character sucks and you eventually avoid them even though “they’re a lot of fun.”
Taking the historical big-picture long view, personality is neither right nor wrong.
Some people will like any particular personality and others won’t.
(You might think Knuckles is trying to justify his crappy personality. But you would be wrong. Knuckles is a pantload of fun.) And while someone’s basic personality never changes, it can be improved with exposure to the arts, people, travel, reading, hobbies, and pilgrimages to the holy site of this blog.
Please take care browsing through the rest of this blog. The language and politics are quite extreme.
Father Knuckles
Bartender-in-Chief
Thursday, June 03, 2004
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9 comments:
Great piece and not boringly formal.
Bush has character?
Working in the psychology field I won't do any better differentiation between personality and character. Thanks a lot!!!
good post. put so simply.
Bush has only behavior, not character or personality.
I must say, in an age of political correctness writ large, where neutral statements and platitudes create more confusion than clarity, this frank message (even with its over-simplifying), is a welcome relief.
We DO need more objectivity in education, and I do believe character can be taught, either directly or indirectly.
On the other hand, a big question to ask is, Who gets to set the norm? And, is character synonymous with morality? If so, who gets to govern "universal" morality?
Good post.
Your post was just what I was looking for (in war and in dating--love that!) I always wanted someone to expand on the phrase "character is who you are when no one is looking". It is the core of who you are and what defines you. It is the reason why I can love someone, but not trust them farther than I can throw a stick. Despite someones great personality, if they have lousy character, they cannot be trusted. Thanks again for deliniating between the two. It is very wise to understand the difference.
Quite informative :)
"Personality can open doors but its character that leave them open" I heared this on tely and then I went to google to understand the rationale behind the statement. You made it crystal clear!
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