Sure every time I go out I spread a little bit of myself on those that I interact with. And I really spread it on thick when I share my opinion and life story with someone. But the idea of a jar of peanut butter makes it sound like when I take some of myself out and share it with another person, I am losing that part. I know that I am constantly filling my jar, but do I have to be constantly emptying it to take more in? I also feel that I can share the same thing more than once, spreading myself even farther, but I can't do this if I already took that peanut butter out. I just don't feel that a jar of peanut butter is the best way to describe the way we take in our experiences and share those with others.
One way that I think makes it easier to understand, especially in this generation is texting (please don't think of me as a huge texter, I don't even text everyday, it's just the first thing that I thought of). Okay, here goes: For texting there is an inbox and an outbox and a phone saves all of the texts you send and recieve. You can then forward previous texts you have sent or recieved. You always get new texts and you keep your old texts, at least for a period of time. After a period of time or when the inbox and outbox get too full the oldest ones will be deleted, just like memories. But if a text really important you save that one and it will always be there, until you delete it. I just feel this is a better way to describe how people share themselves with those around them, but yet are ableto keep some of themselves.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Doppleganger
When I was younger I always thought someone out there in the world exactly like me. I 100% believed that the world is so big and there are so many people out there, that there were two of everyone. Part of me thought there was someone that looked exactly like me out there or someone who thought the same thoughts as me. This seemed like a definite possibility to me and it was comforting to me, I believe it was comforting because when your younger it feels good to know that you're not different than everyone else and there's someone you can relate to. Now I think to see someone who looks exactly like me would scare the sh*t out of me, even to think that there is someone who thinks the same things as me is frightening. To think that I am not an individual, that the way I look, the things I have done and gone through, and the way I look at the world can be reflected in another person, makes me feel like the way I have affected those around me is not as important or meaningful as I thought.
The idea of the evil side of me expressed in a doppelganger is even scarier. I know I have demons inside of me, as well as any person does (even the happiest and friendliest person I have met), but what makes me a good person is my ability to keep those demons under control. Some of the demons I know of include a bad temper (commonly known as the infamous "Duffy temper gene"), holding grudges, being judgmental, and anger. These are the ones that I consciously have to battle with, I know that deep down that there are even more demons (hey I'm human) that I don't have to consciously battle with often, but there still there. It would be frightening to see a doppelganger of my self that expresses these traits and keeps my good traits held under the surface. It sure would make you question who you really are, if someone who is essentially you could act that way, it would make you think about the possibility of you showing these horrible characteristics to others. Do we sometime unconsciously do this? I don't want to see my bad qualities, give me a doppelganger of all my good qualities.
Thinking about my evil doppelganger makes me want to be a better person, just to prove to myself that these qualities of my evil doppelganger are not me. The biggest problem I want to face with my doppelganger is not an emotional one, but the fight for survival when my friends can't tell me apart from my doppelganger, case in point: http://www.hulu.com/watch/1588/saturday-night-live-doppleganger.
The idea of the evil side of me expressed in a doppelganger is even scarier. I know I have demons inside of me, as well as any person does (even the happiest and friendliest person I have met), but what makes me a good person is my ability to keep those demons under control. Some of the demons I know of include a bad temper (commonly known as the infamous "Duffy temper gene"), holding grudges, being judgmental, and anger. These are the ones that I consciously have to battle with, I know that deep down that there are even more demons (hey I'm human) that I don't have to consciously battle with often, but there still there. It would be frightening to see a doppelganger of my self that expresses these traits and keeps my good traits held under the surface. It sure would make you question who you really are, if someone who is essentially you could act that way, it would make you think about the possibility of you showing these horrible characteristics to others. Do we sometime unconsciously do this? I don't want to see my bad qualities, give me a doppelganger of all my good qualities.
Thinking about my evil doppelganger makes me want to be a better person, just to prove to myself that these qualities of my evil doppelganger are not me. The biggest problem I want to face with my doppelganger is not an emotional one, but the fight for survival when my friends can't tell me apart from my doppelganger, case in point: http://www.hulu.com/watch/1588/saturday-night-live-doppleganger.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Religion in everything?
After watching the last part of Technocalyps I began to think about all the other places we can find religion and faith. I don't think of myself as a religious, but I also don't think I am without religion or faith. I think it is impossible to live in the USA (well, anywhere) and not be affected by faith or religion. The video proved that religion is apart of science (or is it science is apart of religion?), religion can be found in the government, schools, economics, restaurants, hospitals, banks, and the list goes on and on.
The government may claim to be separate from religion and God, but in reality it is very much apart of the government of today, yesterday and will continue to be there. Just being considered conservative almost always means you are Catholic or a "hard core" Christian. One of the major controversies around the election this year was based on the question of President Barak Obama's religion. Was he a secret Muslim or a true Christian? Depending on which religion he is made a big difference to people, this was a big factor as to whether they would vote for him or not. Of course no true American wants to vote for a Muslim because those are the people that attacked us (I don't think this, just in case you didn't get the sarcasm). This is the type of thought that goes through a lot of people's head in the United States, this is just evidence to the fact that religion does matter in voting for our representative. God is present in our pledge of the allegiance, "One nation under God" and the original lyrics of our national anthem, "And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'" These are engraved into every American's head, from the moment they enter school, it is impossible to escape the reach of religion.
Faith can even be found in economics, it's hard to hear an economist talk about the current market without using the word faith. Economists believe in an invisible hand, that will hit down the greedy, according to Adam Smith (I guess we got a little too greedy). Some people may say that faith has nothing to do with religion, but faith by definition is a believe in a power beyond oneself.
Everywhere we go we see religion, at restaurants, hospitals, and banks. When I go to Italian restaurants I see pictures of beautiful churches and when I go to Red Robin I see pictures of the pope (even if there is a cartoon of red robin with his arm wrapped around his shoulder). A The bank there are tens of thousands to even millions (depending on the bank) of reminders of God, every single bill and coin has "In God we Trust" written across them. Ever single hospital has a chapel to pray for a miracle or for God to help heal people, hospitals are even ran by the Catholic Church (Providence across the western states), or named after saints (St. James Hospital in Bellingham). We are surrounded by religion, so why was I shocked to hear it had so much to do with science.
I went to a Catholic school my whole life (until now) and as surprising as it may sound they actually encouraged the learning of Darwin's theory of evolution. So I always knew that they encouraged the learning and understanding of science. But I never knew the degree to which the Catholics Church and other religions went to to research, understand and discover the mysteries of humans and Earth. I find it interesting that religions that rely on mystery put so much energy into figuring out the wonders and mysteries around us. I guess even the human need to acquire knowledge over throws or equals the need to have faith in something beyond us. I thought that religion would almost put limits on the development of Technology and have certain morals as to the development of artificial intelligence. But this video made it sound like most major religions support and encourage the development of technology without.
Religion has a hand in all aspects of our lives and now it seems that it will have a hand in our future. Does this mean that if religion has control over technology that it will once again have a larger role in government and in how we live our lives, like it once did in the past? Faith in a higher power, turning into faith in a higher technology, who would have thought? Oh boy do I love these Technocalyps videos ;).
The government may claim to be separate from religion and God, but in reality it is very much apart of the government of today, yesterday and will continue to be there. Just being considered conservative almost always means you are Catholic or a "hard core" Christian. One of the major controversies around the election this year was based on the question of President Barak Obama's religion. Was he a secret Muslim or a true Christian? Depending on which religion he is made a big difference to people, this was a big factor as to whether they would vote for him or not. Of course no true American wants to vote for a Muslim because those are the people that attacked us (I don't think this, just in case you didn't get the sarcasm). This is the type of thought that goes through a lot of people's head in the United States, this is just evidence to the fact that religion does matter in voting for our representative. God is present in our pledge of the allegiance, "One nation under God" and the original lyrics of our national anthem, "And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'" These are engraved into every American's head, from the moment they enter school, it is impossible to escape the reach of religion.
Faith can even be found in economics, it's hard to hear an economist talk about the current market without using the word faith. Economists believe in an invisible hand, that will hit down the greedy, according to Adam Smith (I guess we got a little too greedy). Some people may say that faith has nothing to do with religion, but faith by definition is a believe in a power beyond oneself.
Everywhere we go we see religion, at restaurants, hospitals, and banks. When I go to Italian restaurants I see pictures of beautiful churches and when I go to Red Robin I see pictures of the pope (even if there is a cartoon of red robin with his arm wrapped around his shoulder). A The bank there are tens of thousands to even millions (depending on the bank) of reminders of God, every single bill and coin has "In God we Trust" written across them. Ever single hospital has a chapel to pray for a miracle or for God to help heal people, hospitals are even ran by the Catholic Church (Providence across the western states), or named after saints (St. James Hospital in Bellingham). We are surrounded by religion, so why was I shocked to hear it had so much to do with science.
I went to a Catholic school my whole life (until now) and as surprising as it may sound they actually encouraged the learning of Darwin's theory of evolution. So I always knew that they encouraged the learning and understanding of science. But I never knew the degree to which the Catholics Church and other religions went to to research, understand and discover the mysteries of humans and Earth. I find it interesting that religions that rely on mystery put so much energy into figuring out the wonders and mysteries around us. I guess even the human need to acquire knowledge over throws or equals the need to have faith in something beyond us. I thought that religion would almost put limits on the development of Technology and have certain morals as to the development of artificial intelligence. But this video made it sound like most major religions support and encourage the development of technology without.
Religion has a hand in all aspects of our lives and now it seems that it will have a hand in our future. Does this mean that if religion has control over technology that it will once again have a larger role in government and in how we live our lives, like it once did in the past? Faith in a higher power, turning into faith in a higher technology, who would have thought? Oh boy do I love these Technocalyps videos ;).
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Culture or Politics
What defines us? Our cultural choices or our political choices?
I personally define myself through my cultural choices, more than my political choices. I think the reason for this is because I view my political choices as mostly private and my cultural choices public. On my facebook page I post my favorite music, TV shows and (most importantly to me) movies. I also use cultural choices of others to, in a way, judge them. If I met someone and they said that their favorite movie was "I Know Who Killed Me" I would definitely question whether or not this person would match up with me as a friend. Just like if someone said their favorite TV show was "30 Rock" I would think that it would be impossible for us not to get along. Cultural choices define our personalities, while political choices define our personal beliefs. The personal beliefs of another person is important, when it comes down to it, but in reality they don't define the relationship I share with another person.
Politics just don't come up in conversations I have with other people, the conversation usually revolves around everyday things, but if politics are brought up, I usually feel uncomfortable and don't feel like sharing my opinion (which is extremely rare). I feel that by having a differing opinion about politics is almost insulting to the other person, I don't want them to think that I think my beliefs are more important than theirs because I respect everyone's beliefs and everyone should be able to express them. I just choose not to put the fact that I believe something different out their for someone to maybe judge me because of it, it will always be in the back of their mind. I know some people who don't respect the rights of the gay and lesbian comunity and that fact is always in the back of my mind. So what would stop someone from judging me because I am pro choice, while they are pro life. I just don't believe this should be a factor in the way I interact with another person. Politics just don't define my relationships with another person, the chemistry between us and the way they treat me define the relationships.
Politics and the Media, Where do they converge?
I think this years election had a huge blend between the media and politics, from adding and extra night of Saturday Night Live on Thursday (isn't that a contradiction?) about the election, to celebrities getting together to do stupid videos, trying to be funny about getting out and voting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN8YnX_vjAY). All pretty much pointing towards the same goal of getting people involved in the 2008 election. The part where media and the celebrities in the media went wrong was when they start forcing their opinions as to who should be elected on those who are obsessed with celebrities and don't care about researching for themselves who they should vote for. I understand when they share who they are voting for and why, but when they just make nonconstructive attempts to make fans of theirs vote for who they think they should, it disgusts me. Here's another wonderful video from the very wise and funny Hayden Panettiere (if you didn't get that, there is some major sarcasm in that comment): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uusA9c33LT8. I'm not saying that I voted for John McCain, or even that I smoked cigarettes, because I didn't do either, I'm just saying that how about these celebrities use their influences to point out issues important to them and how voting a certain way will support those issues. It's also very disrespectful to attack John McCain and those that vote for him, people have their resons for voting a certain way, how about they tell us why they're voting the way they are, instead of the generic, "McCain is just another Bush," that doesn't tell me why he is another "Bush". Although I do believe that SNL has helped many people stay involved over the election and continue to stay involved with politics, even if it is with a lean toward the liberal side and of course the comedic side.
As I mentioned in class I find it interesting how well Obama was able to use all the aspects of the media to help him dominate the poles, Hilary never had a chance she was to far behind in technology, the media, and speech giving skills. He was able to connect to so many people using the media, everyone felt like his friend and like they were going to help him make the change. Well now the elections over and I think he's having a little trouble separating himself from the campaign trail. But I guess that's a separate issue...
I personally define myself through my cultural choices, more than my political choices. I think the reason for this is because I view my political choices as mostly private and my cultural choices public. On my facebook page I post my favorite music, TV shows and (most importantly to me) movies. I also use cultural choices of others to, in a way, judge them. If I met someone and they said that their favorite movie was "I Know Who Killed Me" I would definitely question whether or not this person would match up with me as a friend. Just like if someone said their favorite TV show was "30 Rock" I would think that it would be impossible for us not to get along. Cultural choices define our personalities, while political choices define our personal beliefs. The personal beliefs of another person is important, when it comes down to it, but in reality they don't define the relationship I share with another person.
Politics just don't come up in conversations I have with other people, the conversation usually revolves around everyday things, but if politics are brought up, I usually feel uncomfortable and don't feel like sharing my opinion (which is extremely rare). I feel that by having a differing opinion about politics is almost insulting to the other person, I don't want them to think that I think my beliefs are more important than theirs because I respect everyone's beliefs and everyone should be able to express them. I just choose not to put the fact that I believe something different out their for someone to maybe judge me because of it, it will always be in the back of their mind. I know some people who don't respect the rights of the gay and lesbian comunity and that fact is always in the back of my mind. So what would stop someone from judging me because I am pro choice, while they are pro life. I just don't believe this should be a factor in the way I interact with another person. Politics just don't define my relationships with another person, the chemistry between us and the way they treat me define the relationships.
Politics and the Media, Where do they converge?
I think this years election had a huge blend between the media and politics, from adding and extra night of Saturday Night Live on Thursday (isn't that a contradiction?) about the election, to celebrities getting together to do stupid videos, trying to be funny about getting out and voting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN8YnX_vjAY). All pretty much pointing towards the same goal of getting people involved in the 2008 election. The part where media and the celebrities in the media went wrong was when they start forcing their opinions as to who should be elected on those who are obsessed with celebrities and don't care about researching for themselves who they should vote for. I understand when they share who they are voting for and why, but when they just make nonconstructive attempts to make fans of theirs vote for who they think they should, it disgusts me. Here's another wonderful video from the very wise and funny Hayden Panettiere (if you didn't get that, there is some major sarcasm in that comment): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uusA9c33LT8. I'm not saying that I voted for John McCain, or even that I smoked cigarettes, because I didn't do either, I'm just saying that how about these celebrities use their influences to point out issues important to them and how voting a certain way will support those issues. It's also very disrespectful to attack John McCain and those that vote for him, people have their resons for voting a certain way, how about they tell us why they're voting the way they are, instead of the generic, "McCain is just another Bush," that doesn't tell me why he is another "Bush". Although I do believe that SNL has helped many people stay involved over the election and continue to stay involved with politics, even if it is with a lean toward the liberal side and of course the comedic side.
As I mentioned in class I find it interesting how well Obama was able to use all the aspects of the media to help him dominate the poles, Hilary never had a chance she was to far behind in technology, the media, and speech giving skills. He was able to connect to so many people using the media, everyone felt like his friend and like they were going to help him make the change. Well now the elections over and I think he's having a little trouble separating himself from the campaign trail. But I guess that's a separate issue...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
To not Know
As humans, we have a need to know. But at the same time there are things we don't want to know. We shut ourselves down when something is being said that we don't want to know, we avoid truths that can hurt us. Or maybe it is more dignifying not to know, respecting someone when they tell you to drop it or knowing that not knowing is safer. There is a relief of not knowing or an intense feeling of curiosity. To not know something that can be known is an odd thing to think about, I think to myself, "Of course I want to know what someone else knows," but then I think about all the things that I don't know because I choose not to know them. There are times when I don't press my friends for information because it seems inappropriate (social pressure) and times when I choose not to know because the truth will hurt me. To know or not to know, that is the question.
To not be able to Know
Many people challenge the unknown, while others wait and wait for someone else to figure out the unknown. I happen to be one of those people waiting, especially lately I am curious about the unknown (I think it may be this class), but I have no plans on figuring anything out for myself. The future is something that no one knows what is in store for us. The new knowledge I have acquired about the environment and (lately) the future of technology, has made me realize how much I don't know and what no one knows. It sucks not being able to know for sure, what I can expect in 10 years. There are predictions about what the future has in store for us (Those Technocalyps moves scare me), most of which don't sound all that appealing. I don't want to live in a world that is over populated, the sun could kill us, weather is unpredictable in an extreme way, vegetation destroyed and robots ruling over humans. I can only hope that all these predictions are over reactions and just ways to get us to pay attention to possibilities in the future. Not know the future and having no way to know, except to live until I reach it is frustrating. Certain thing I can easily live, even ignore the fact that I don't know and there is no way of knowing, but I am a little uneasy about the future.
To Know but forget that you Know
This is an interesting concept, the only thing I can personally relate it to clearly is my horrible eyesight. I know what it feels like to see in color blobs, extremely blurry, to the point that I have to put my alarm clock two inches from my face to see what time it is. I hate this feeling, waking up or walking to the bathroom blind is not fun, it can even be scary. But at the same time, I don't even think about it as soon as I put in my contacts, that feeling disappears. I no longer know that sensation anymore, it is actually kind of sad, everytime I take out my contacts I realize just how bad my eyesight is. Contacts, even glasses, make it so I can forget how bad my sight is. To feel as if I don't know what it is like to be blind (even though technically I am), I see people who are blind (even those that aren't completely blind) and I feel as if I don't have any idea as to what that is like. But after reflecting on it I kind of do, I know what is like not to be able to see the expression on my friends face when I talk to them, and I know what it is like to not be able to see what is right in front of my face. So, the point I am making is that we experience things, but we don't necessarily relate them to similar things, we forget that we know what something is like.
As far as knowing, I am lucky enough to got to college, so I have been taught more than the average Joe my age, therefore I know more. And I will continue to acquire knowledge, but I will really never scratch the surface of knowledge (as far as human capacity goes). I can easily accept that, not knowing is comforting in a way. The future of technology may change the capacity of knowledge, taking away the not knowing and the ability to forget certain things we know, is this something we want? I kind of think it isn't.
As humans, we have a need to know. But at the same time there are things we don't want to know. We shut ourselves down when something is being said that we don't want to know, we avoid truths that can hurt us. Or maybe it is more dignifying not to know, respecting someone when they tell you to drop it or knowing that not knowing is safer. There is a relief of not knowing or an intense feeling of curiosity. To not know something that can be known is an odd thing to think about, I think to myself, "Of course I want to know what someone else knows," but then I think about all the things that I don't know because I choose not to know them. There are times when I don't press my friends for information because it seems inappropriate (social pressure) and times when I choose not to know because the truth will hurt me. To know or not to know, that is the question.
To not be able to Know
Many people challenge the unknown, while others wait and wait for someone else to figure out the unknown. I happen to be one of those people waiting, especially lately I am curious about the unknown (I think it may be this class), but I have no plans on figuring anything out for myself. The future is something that no one knows what is in store for us. The new knowledge I have acquired about the environment and (lately) the future of technology, has made me realize how much I don't know and what no one knows. It sucks not being able to know for sure, what I can expect in 10 years. There are predictions about what the future has in store for us (Those Technocalyps moves scare me), most of which don't sound all that appealing. I don't want to live in a world that is over populated, the sun could kill us, weather is unpredictable in an extreme way, vegetation destroyed and robots ruling over humans. I can only hope that all these predictions are over reactions and just ways to get us to pay attention to possibilities in the future. Not know the future and having no way to know, except to live until I reach it is frustrating. Certain thing I can easily live, even ignore the fact that I don't know and there is no way of knowing, but I am a little uneasy about the future.
To Know but forget that you Know
This is an interesting concept, the only thing I can personally relate it to clearly is my horrible eyesight. I know what it feels like to see in color blobs, extremely blurry, to the point that I have to put my alarm clock two inches from my face to see what time it is. I hate this feeling, waking up or walking to the bathroom blind is not fun, it can even be scary. But at the same time, I don't even think about it as soon as I put in my contacts, that feeling disappears. I no longer know that sensation anymore, it is actually kind of sad, everytime I take out my contacts I realize just how bad my eyesight is. Contacts, even glasses, make it so I can forget how bad my sight is. To feel as if I don't know what it is like to be blind (even though technically I am), I see people who are blind (even those that aren't completely blind) and I feel as if I don't have any idea as to what that is like. But after reflecting on it I kind of do, I know what is like not to be able to see the expression on my friends face when I talk to them, and I know what it is like to not be able to see what is right in front of my face. So, the point I am making is that we experience things, but we don't necessarily relate them to similar things, we forget that we know what something is like.
As far as knowing, I am lucky enough to got to college, so I have been taught more than the average Joe my age, therefore I know more. And I will continue to acquire knowledge, but I will really never scratch the surface of knowledge (as far as human capacity goes). I can easily accept that, not knowing is comforting in a way. The future of technology may change the capacity of knowledge, taking away the not knowing and the ability to forget certain things we know, is this something we want? I kind of think it isn't.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Personal, Group and Societal Pressures
We all live by unspoken rules, which we follow because of the different types up pressures we feel. The main categories these pressures fall under are personal, group and societal.
Personal
We all have different personalities and these personalities come with certain "rules" we live by. I am going to use broad examples of personalities I have encountered in an attempt to make my point clear. I have met people with very high morals they have set for themselves, people that set high academic goals, people with high athletic goals, as well as people that just try to be as pleasing as possible. It can be argued that these standards these people have set are from the pressures they receive from around them, I would partially agree, but I would argue that they still had the choice and they chooses to set high standards to live by and push themselves farther than others with those same pressures push themselves. We all know those people that have set extremely high academic standards for themselves and when they fail, you can't reason with them and tell them that it's not the end of the world. But to them it is, they have pressured themselves into always doing well and they give themselves no excuses. People who are always trying to be pleasing amaze me the most, they have this pressure to make everyone happy, at the expense of their own happiness. These are examples of the extreme pressures some people put on themselves, But I believe everyone else pressures themselves to succeed and act a certain way. We all feel the need to please others, succeed in one way or another, and be happy with our actions. Through these needs we pressure ourselves to act in a certain way, not always in the extreme way as the previously mentioned examples, but in a way we can be happy with ourselves.
Group
While we were talking in class about how we feel the pressure to stand in line and not just cut ahead in front of everyone else I began to think about where we are feeling this pressure to stay in line. I believe this is an example of proximal group pressure, we are pressured by the people around us to act a certain way. During situations where dancing is an option, if no one is dancing we feel the pressure that we shouldn't dance, no one wants to be seen by a group of people out on a dance floor by themselves. But once the dance floor fills up, we also don't want to be the only one not dancing, because deep down we feel that everyone in the group is watching and talking about you. Of course we don't recieve pressure from people that are just in our proximity. We feel pressure from different groups all the time, family, friends, classmates, teammates..., the list goes on. We have to practice and succeed for out teammates, we have to act, dress, and speak a certain way to fit in with our friends and even our family, and we can't mess up in class, say a stupid answer or not partake in a group project. These pressures are from people we see and interact with.
Societal
These are the pressures we feel from places we don't see or interact with. Society tells us how to dress, what we should buy, what we should do, what we should watch, who we should like... and this list goes on and on. Everyone is impacted by these pressures, there are people who try and live outside of these pressures, but no one can completely escape these pressures. They surround us at all times. Society influences by the movies and shows that are produces, the commercials we watch and hear, as well as the products on the shelves when we shop. An example of how good adverising and societies pressure to be up on technology has influenced me, as well as the majority of college students, one word Macs. This generation has switched from a PC world to a Mac world, could this be due to the introduction of the ipod, the carfully placed apple as every cool character's computer in movies and television, those funnie commercials protraying to commputers as actual people, or is it actually the fact that a Mac is better than a PC. It is so easy to be sucked into the newesrt trend by societies pressures. I have been sucked in in the past and I will continue to be sucked in as the future aproaches (I'm only human).
I feel the pressure from all these different levels and I'm not ashamed to say that I use these pressures to influence my life. I believe in most cases it makes me a better person and it sure makes me an American ;).
Personal
We all have different personalities and these personalities come with certain "rules" we live by. I am going to use broad examples of personalities I have encountered in an attempt to make my point clear. I have met people with very high morals they have set for themselves, people that set high academic goals, people with high athletic goals, as well as people that just try to be as pleasing as possible. It can be argued that these standards these people have set are from the pressures they receive from around them, I would partially agree, but I would argue that they still had the choice and they chooses to set high standards to live by and push themselves farther than others with those same pressures push themselves. We all know those people that have set extremely high academic standards for themselves and when they fail, you can't reason with them and tell them that it's not the end of the world. But to them it is, they have pressured themselves into always doing well and they give themselves no excuses. People who are always trying to be pleasing amaze me the most, they have this pressure to make everyone happy, at the expense of their own happiness. These are examples of the extreme pressures some people put on themselves, But I believe everyone else pressures themselves to succeed and act a certain way. We all feel the need to please others, succeed in one way or another, and be happy with our actions. Through these needs we pressure ourselves to act in a certain way, not always in the extreme way as the previously mentioned examples, but in a way we can be happy with ourselves.
Group
While we were talking in class about how we feel the pressure to stand in line and not just cut ahead in front of everyone else I began to think about where we are feeling this pressure to stay in line. I believe this is an example of proximal group pressure, we are pressured by the people around us to act a certain way. During situations where dancing is an option, if no one is dancing we feel the pressure that we shouldn't dance, no one wants to be seen by a group of people out on a dance floor by themselves. But once the dance floor fills up, we also don't want to be the only one not dancing, because deep down we feel that everyone in the group is watching and talking about you. Of course we don't recieve pressure from people that are just in our proximity. We feel pressure from different groups all the time, family, friends, classmates, teammates..., the list goes on. We have to practice and succeed for out teammates, we have to act, dress, and speak a certain way to fit in with our friends and even our family, and we can't mess up in class, say a stupid answer or not partake in a group project. These pressures are from people we see and interact with.
Societal
These are the pressures we feel from places we don't see or interact with. Society tells us how to dress, what we should buy, what we should do, what we should watch, who we should like... and this list goes on and on. Everyone is impacted by these pressures, there are people who try and live outside of these pressures, but no one can completely escape these pressures. They surround us at all times. Society influences by the movies and shows that are produces, the commercials we watch and hear, as well as the products on the shelves when we shop. An example of how good adverising and societies pressure to be up on technology has influenced me, as well as the majority of college students, one word Macs. This generation has switched from a PC world to a Mac world, could this be due to the introduction of the ipod, the carfully placed apple as every cool character's computer in movies and television, those funnie commercials protraying to commputers as actual people, or is it actually the fact that a Mac is better than a PC. It is so easy to be sucked into the newesrt trend by societies pressures. I have been sucked in in the past and I will continue to be sucked in as the future aproaches (I'm only human).
I feel the pressure from all these different levels and I'm not ashamed to say that I use these pressures to influence my life. I believe in most cases it makes me a better person and it sure makes me an American ;).
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Class Comment Sparked some thought
Wednesday's class a comment was made about how we have a delayed time for all our senses. Seeing, hearing, tasting, touch, and smell are not processed instantaneously, and in many cases the brain predicts and fills in the blanks of our senses. This raises the question of how often does our brain fill in the blanks with the wrong thing. We can see this when we look at those mind tricks, like the two faces facing each other, or is it a vase? This proves that our sight can be deceptive and same with our hearing, like when we hear a person say one thing when they said something completely different. I am sure this is the case for the other senses too. I wonder how the world would be different, or even if it would, if there was no delay or need to fill in the brains, would this mean no mind tricks? So many questions about how the mind works and how that relates to this class.
With "The Ticket that Exploded" I find my mind doing this as I am reading, filling in the blanks that the cut ups make in the book, my mind tries to make them make sense, then it realizes that these things actually don't work together. My mind was not able to make the book make sense, I'm completely lost as to what the point of this book is or any cut up is. To make new works of literature out of previous literature, just does not make sense to me. Am I missing something, is my mind not doing it's job of filling in the blanks?
The way we perceive and interpret the world through our mind, I believe is different for everyone. I find that in this class my mind does not interpret the material we cover in nearly the same way others do. My mind is not able to make the connection between the material from the books we read and the things we discuss in class. I'm a bit lost in this class to be honest, I'm not even sure what the focus of this class is. Well this post went in a direction I did not mean for it to go in. Anyway those are my thoughts on this weeks class on Nanotexts. Hopefully next week will be more clear.
With "The Ticket that Exploded" I find my mind doing this as I am reading, filling in the blanks that the cut ups make in the book, my mind tries to make them make sense, then it realizes that these things actually don't work together. My mind was not able to make the book make sense, I'm completely lost as to what the point of this book is or any cut up is. To make new works of literature out of previous literature, just does not make sense to me. Am I missing something, is my mind not doing it's job of filling in the blanks?
The way we perceive and interpret the world through our mind, I believe is different for everyone. I find that in this class my mind does not interpret the material we cover in nearly the same way others do. My mind is not able to make the connection between the material from the books we read and the things we discuss in class. I'm a bit lost in this class to be honest, I'm not even sure what the focus of this class is. Well this post went in a direction I did not mean for it to go in. Anyway those are my thoughts on this weeks class on Nanotexts. Hopefully next week will be more clear.
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