Environment?

What does it mean to be a "product of your environment?" This is something I gave a lot of thought to this weekend. For this to have become such a popular aphorism is disappointing to me, because it enables the shifting of blame. I don't believe something can be a product of its environment, at least not when discussing humans. I don't mean to contend with this phrase to open up the dialectic of "nature versus nurture," but rather because I find it a huge cop-out to claim anyone can be a product of something. Granted, the environment one is raised in and decides to live in has a great impact on you. However, to claim you are a product is to lose any responsibility or accountability. Rather, I subscribe to the idea that you can be influenced by your environment, but never a product of it, which holds the implication that how you act was dictated by your situation, and not you yourself. I believe you can be "enabled by the environment," an equally pithy and catchy phrase (with more assonance too). What's the important distinction in diction here? A product of the environment is something that became the way it is because of its situation, which is out of its control. Something that is enabled by its environment, however, has the motives for action innately, but may struggle to suppress them because of its environment. This is a more realistic way of looking at people, and it demands higher accountability. I also find it interesting that bad actions are often attributed to being a product of environment, while good actions are human nature. I was a "product" of a good environment, yet I find myself delving into evil actions. By common theory, this is inexplicable. The only truth is that I reflect the depravity of man. Environments do not create us. They only enable us to see the true depths of our evil desires.


Other things on my mind that I will refrain from due to my looming 10 page paper:

-Is a win-win situation really just a lose-lose?

-Shouldn't it be birthdate, not birthday?