Who am I? What am I? How am I supposed to go out into this world and search for...myself? What has preceded me? What will follow me? What is happening now? What is identity?
Today in class, we discussed the downfalls of modern technology. One strand of our discussion led us to debate the concept of Facebook-the social obsession that has drawn everyone into its grasp. I admit that I have also fallen into this trap; I also admit that I find this trap pleasant. Instant communication. Far-reaching connections. Addicting amusement. This tool befriends you, it learns, it anticipates, and it becomes an artificial likeness of yourself that isolates you from the world. Although we tend to focus on the obvious benefits of Facebook and other social networks, there is also a philosophical imperative we must answer to. In class, we scratched the surface of this topic by discussing how it ruins your identity.
A study done by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/113878.php) explains how today’s newest generation of people are growing up with “a different and potentially dangerous view of the world and their identity.” This generation of people has never known a world without an online world to coexist with it also. Facebook alters the past functioning of the world. We now live a world where everything moves rapidly and constantly changes. We live in a world where relationships are quickly disposed with a click of a mouse. We live in a world where you can delete your profile if you dislike it. We live in a world where we can swap our identity for one that is more acceptable. What Facebook does is it diverts us from enjoying the real world. We come to think the real world is boring and uninteresting. Instead of attempting to buy our own farm in the real world, we resort to creating an online farm where we can grow artificial harvests. This young generation that has no experience of a world without online societies puts less value on real world identities. What is a friend? Someone you share a close bond with who comforts you through your troubles; someone who knows you almost better than you know yourself. No. According to these social networks, friends are generic people. Maybe you know them, or maybe you don’t. Maybe you’ve seen them once in your life, or maybe you’ve known them forever. These social networks make no distinction.
Relationships. What are they? Personal bonds formed over a long period of time. What is Facebook now doing? It is destroying the original purpose it was meant to do- to strengthen social connections. However, Facebook’s constant updates of others’ actions destroys the intimacy, the closeness, the actual relationship we form with people (http://gigaom.com/2009/04/08/facebook-population-200m-faces-an-identity-crisis/). Instead, Facebook floods us with a lot of white noise, with constant updates every second. It is less personal. It is less social.
Facebook includes multiple factors that destroy our identity. It divides us- it forms a gap between this generation and past generations. How important is the past? Should we care to imagine a world without online connections? Should we learn from a world so distant from us? This online world makes us oblivious to the world around us (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20090422/ai_n31577638/). For what used to require outside interaction can now all be done from within the home. Is there a need to travel to malls when we can shop on the Internet? Is there a need to talk to a person in real life when we can chat with them online? The smiles. The sound of laughter. The sarcasm that can only be heard in real life. Do these matter? Where has our personal interaction gone? Where are our face-to-face exchanges? We lose our identity when our Facebook profile is the person we want to be. Not who we are, but what we desire. This portrayal is not you, but someone else.
The class discussion we had matters because it is an ongoing issue. Technology is constantly updated, but do we ever stop to think about these philosophical questions? Yes, this blog refers to Facebook, but it extends beyond that. The knowledge I learned from our class discussion and these articles can spur change in the way we act. It isn’t impossible to change. The only thing that makes it a formidable challenge is it being a shift in our mindset. We must strive to personally interact with people. We must strive to make our identity the one that walks around the hallways at school, the one that converses with friends, the one that defines us. We have to learn that our identity is not our profile. In doing so, we will come to cherish the natural world. We will appreciate what it has to offer.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Best of Week: Macro-Micro Relationships within Literature
In class this week we delved into the topic of macro-micro relationships within books. What are we talking about here? It sounds like something that belongs in the distant world of economics. So what does this have to do with literature?
In The Kite Runner, the events that a character experiences affects his or her actions in a unique manner; thus, an intense relationship is formed between the event on a macro level and the character’s action on a micro level. This relationship is evident throughout the entire story and spills over to other areas of the story plot. For example, we discussed how Amir seems to fear authority. On a macro level are the multiple events in Amir’s childhood that instilled fear into his mindset; furthermore, still on the macro level is this struggle between fear and superiority. When the Russian soldiers stopped Amir’s truck while he was being transported, Amir resisted Baba’s attempts at being a hero. He was a coward. When General Taheri discarded Amir’s novel, Amir took no action to defend himself. Even a minor authoritarian figure triggers terror inside Amir. In addition, this brings up another point that culture has no borders. Even though Amir’s fear began in his Afghani environment, when he travels to America it continues to be attached to him. The relationship between Amir and General Taheri occurs in the United States, yet that cultural fear is one that originated in Afghanistan. In addition on a macro level is the chaos in Afghanistan that is parallel to the chaos in the relationship between Hassan and Amir on a micro level. When the Taliban are present in Kabul, their presence discourages him from traveling to his childhood home.
This class discussion makes me think about broader relationships in literature. It makes me wonder about the actions of characters in other stories. Is that one action just a paint stroke inside the larger picture? Personally, this idea connects to my religious side. I believe in God. I believe that small acts in the world occur in relation to a greater power. But it also moves beyond religion. Macro-micro relationships are present everywhere we look. Nature. Religion. Society. History. Art. The list continues. I feel that as I am exploring the mysteries held within novels, I overemphasize my focus on the micro aspect of this relationship. I become absorbed into the details, the actions, and the individual words on the page. I never stop to unearth the big picture. I never ask myself, “What does this connect to? Why is it there?” I plan to use this idea as I continue to read The Kite Runner and many more stories to come. I will aggressively hunt for the many internal relationships that form the backbone of the book. In every grand story, there is a smaller message to be found.
In The Kite Runner, the events that a character experiences affects his or her actions in a unique manner; thus, an intense relationship is formed between the event on a macro level and the character’s action on a micro level. This relationship is evident throughout the entire story and spills over to other areas of the story plot. For example, we discussed how Amir seems to fear authority. On a macro level are the multiple events in Amir’s childhood that instilled fear into his mindset; furthermore, still on the macro level is this struggle between fear and superiority. When the Russian soldiers stopped Amir’s truck while he was being transported, Amir resisted Baba’s attempts at being a hero. He was a coward. When General Taheri discarded Amir’s novel, Amir took no action to defend himself. Even a minor authoritarian figure triggers terror inside Amir. In addition, this brings up another point that culture has no borders. Even though Amir’s fear began in his Afghani environment, when he travels to America it continues to be attached to him. The relationship between Amir and General Taheri occurs in the United States, yet that cultural fear is one that originated in Afghanistan. In addition on a macro level is the chaos in Afghanistan that is parallel to the chaos in the relationship between Hassan and Amir on a micro level. When the Taliban are present in Kabul, their presence discourages him from traveling to his childhood home.
This class discussion makes me think about broader relationships in literature. It makes me wonder about the actions of characters in other stories. Is that one action just a paint stroke inside the larger picture? Personally, this idea connects to my religious side. I believe in God. I believe that small acts in the world occur in relation to a greater power. But it also moves beyond religion. Macro-micro relationships are present everywhere we look. Nature. Religion. Society. History. Art. The list continues. I feel that as I am exploring the mysteries held within novels, I overemphasize my focus on the micro aspect of this relationship. I become absorbed into the details, the actions, and the individual words on the page. I never stop to unearth the big picture. I never ask myself, “What does this connect to? Why is it there?” I plan to use this idea as I continue to read The Kite Runner and many more stories to come. I will aggressively hunt for the many internal relationships that form the backbone of the book. In every grand story, there is a smaller message to be found.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Change of Mind: Beat by Beat- The Rhythm of Great Writing
A former mirage of myself was chained by obscure foes- words. Words? Yes, words. I was incapable of producing the “right” words in my writing. My writing was always forced- never containing a continuous flow. My writing moved like a car with insufficient gas, small spurts of activity trying to utilize what little fuel remains, and ever so slowly reaching its destination. Words and their complications-usage, spelling, finding a place for them amidst other towering enemies- all contributing to draining the life from my writing. Worst of all, was grammar- with its sole purpose to set rules on writing and to punish those who strayed from that path. How is one to find art within this array of horror?
But then, my ears learned of an alternate ego to words- rhythm. Now that’s more like it. I love the enjoyment my ears receive from music, especially hip hop/rap, but not the mainstream rap you hear on the radio that degrades women and encourages the worship of false idols. I enjoy the poetry made with the articulation of various words all finding their place adjacent to each other to form a flow, a rhythm, a piece of art. In contrast, I never discovered this enjoyment in my own writing. My thoughts were always restricted. My voice wasn’t apparent in the typed words below me. This idea of rhythm is foreign to me, yet I like it. No, I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT. I wonder what’s the limit on the types of rhythms that can be used in writing- slow bass drums, sporadic paradiddles, constant snare drums? Using rhythm to express my emotions- why hadn’t I thought of it?
My view on writing took a complete flip. For example, yes, grammar is needed for strict purposes, but it’s there as well for artistic purposes. Writers can intentionally leave out commas and other punctuation marks to create a rhythm that fits their words. They can alter the spacing between words to express hesitance. These tools that we have are there for us to shape and create our own work of art. Since I was in third grade, I’ve always wondered why the grammar topics I learned rarely appeared in the books I read. My mind now knows that beautiful art utilizes these tools that may not follow their designated purposes but are used in a way that elicits a stronger emotional response. Previously, it was difficult for me to find the art in writing and the application of mechanics in that perspective. Now I begin to see that grammar, punctuation, and other mechanics are the brushes and paint for a creative artist.
But then, my ears learned of an alternate ego to words- rhythm. Now that’s more like it. I love the enjoyment my ears receive from music, especially hip hop/rap, but not the mainstream rap you hear on the radio that degrades women and encourages the worship of false idols. I enjoy the poetry made with the articulation of various words all finding their place adjacent to each other to form a flow, a rhythm, a piece of art. In contrast, I never discovered this enjoyment in my own writing. My thoughts were always restricted. My voice wasn’t apparent in the typed words below me. This idea of rhythm is foreign to me, yet I like it. No, I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT. I wonder what’s the limit on the types of rhythms that can be used in writing- slow bass drums, sporadic paradiddles, constant snare drums? Using rhythm to express my emotions- why hadn’t I thought of it?
My view on writing took a complete flip. For example, yes, grammar is needed for strict purposes, but it’s there as well for artistic purposes. Writers can intentionally leave out commas and other punctuation marks to create a rhythm that fits their words. They can alter the spacing between words to express hesitance. These tools that we have are there for us to shape and create our own work of art. Since I was in third grade, I’ve always wondered why the grammar topics I learned rarely appeared in the books I read. My mind now knows that beautiful art utilizes these tools that may not follow their designated purposes but are used in a way that elicits a stronger emotional response. Previously, it was difficult for me to find the art in writing and the application of mechanics in that perspective. Now I begin to see that grammar, punctuation, and other mechanics are the brushes and paint for a creative artist.
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