What We Love Will Ruin Us

I remember seeing a picture on iFunny awhile back that said something along the lines of, What would be the hardest thing about modern society to describe to an alien and the answer was, That I posses a device that can access almost all the information in the world, yet I use it to watch kittens yawn. This post was funny at the time but had no real impact on me till we read the essay question about Aldous Huxley in the novel Brave New World (1936). He feared that future society would be oppressed by the the excess of information. That people would, "adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think." For the most part he was accurate, society has become obsessed with technology that was created to inform, but now is used to entertain. In gaining access to infinite knowledge we give up the determination to obtain knowledge on our own. We allow ourselves to fall into the oblivion of entertainment and fake statistics since we at least know its false, and are forced to question the validity of everything. For example several times in Ap Biology the notes start getting very precise with so many specific details that I start questioning why I need to even know this. How do people even find this anyway? Who even cares what type of bond hold adenine and thymine together? This is exactly what Huxley feared. Since we are given so much access to knowledge we don't care enough to actually study it and instead fail to find the significance in it. This form of oppression is very effective as the truth is hidden in a bunch of lies making everything seem questionable. Huxley also predicted that, "what we love will kill us."  With the abundancy of aimless entertainment present in the many Tv series/movies, YouTube videos, and apps like iFunny, there is an abundant amount of time wasted. Aldous Huxley was absolutely right in his assertion of the future of society.

Technological Support

Technology is such a big part of our lives nowadays. It replaces many objects in our life like books, movie theaters, and even pencil and paper. Since it replaces so many objects many parents are starting to argue that it has become too powerful and that we should refrain from letting it keep replacing commodities in our lives. However, they are looking at this problem from the wrong way. Instead of limiting its influence on our lives, we should let it reign and superintend the constituents that it does not already have jurisdiction over. Who should find the energy and transportation to attend school when your very own laptop could educate you in a much more efficient manner. Why have to schedule time to frolick with friends when your iPhone could transport an almost lifelike image of them right to you. There are so many possibilities available when we let go of our inhibitions toward electronics. These possibilities are endless and one day we might even be able to create an app that could sustain and support a child all on its own. Imagine that! No more waking up the middle of the night because of a crying, whining baby. No more frustration in trying to teach that infant the alphabet. No more having to attend annoying choir and band concerts associated with that nuisance. Also, no more driving that child around to different locations because of his/her new hobby. This one app could handle it all from basic needs to education and parental love. All that you would have to do is watch the baby grow up through high definition screens that make it seem as if you were really there but without the hassle of course. And that's only for the most dedicated parents, the rest can just be content knowing their child is in benevolent hands. Letting technology take its rightful place can benefit in so many ways that the pride and joy associated with raising your own child right won't even be missed.

Okefenokee Hotel Room

The short excerpts about Okefenokee Swamp demonstrate how influential diction and tone are to convey images to an audience. The first passage is very informative, relying heavily on measurements and locations, but it also focuses on the positive aspects of the swamp: "exotic," "rare," "floating hearts." On the other hand the second passage relies heavily on descriptive adjectives project the tone of the author. The purpose is revealed through the word choice that evokes disgust ,"biting", "hell",and "festering." The author intends to reveal the horrid side of the swamp and maybe even exaggerate it. These two passages invoke two very different images in a readers mind; it seems as if the passages are talking about two different swamps. My parents and I had a very similar experience with hotel rooms. While we were vacationing in Canada we stayed in several hotel rooms that ranged widely in quality. Some were very spacious and furnished beautifully while others were cramped and didn't even provide free breakfast! Yet all the descriptions online used the same diction, depicting the hotels as an unique and comfortable experience. Well some were unique all right but not in a good way. This proves how words are deceptive as they can be chosen precariously to change the appearance of a place in a readers mind. In this case to attract more customers but in other passages, like in Okefenokee's case, to illustrate the authors personal view of the swamp. Photography also allows perspective to change but instead of using diction and tone it uses lighting and angles. These deceptive photos were also online next to the descriptions and while some captured the place exactly, many others altered the place and made it look better than it was. These two forms of art are very similar in that they can alter reality depending on the writer or the photographer.

Puzzling Speeches

Florence Kelley's speech is powerful and moving, forcing the audience to take action on the issue of women suffrage. She uses rhetoric throughout the speech to gain the empathy from the women audience. Kelley presents many facts with examples to gain logos and pathos at the same time and to clarify the enormity of the issue. This allows her to cause feelings of guilt in the listeners as their own race of children, "little white girls," are permitted to work throughout the night while instead they should be at home hugging their pink elephant stuffed animals while falling asleep. By listing all the luxury items the little girls labor over, for the grown men, Kelley causes the feelings of shame to grow: "Children braid straw for our hats, they spin and weave the silk and velvet wherewith we trim our hats." These revelations are impactful as it makes the audience realize it is their fault their children work such long hours. It is because the audience has not searched for their own voice. Florence then asserts that there is a solution to this problem. The families of the less fortunate were praying to Jesus for the hope of relieving their children of such burdens; however, Jesus is not the only one who can help the little girls as Kelley persuades, the listeners can also make a difference by promoting women suffrage. Florence hopes to further her cause to not only help those "little beasts of burden" but also to fix any other issues that the male audience might have missed. She uses rhetorical questions like, "If the mothers and the teachers in Georgia could vote...," to demonstrate that men are sometimes blind to issues that women could easily fix. Once upon a time, woman and man were separated by power of suffrage, but today everyone is working together to make this world a better place because of speakers like Florence Kelley.

What the little girls should be doing.

Stop Judging Me

The judging glance is used on everyone by everyone . It is used to gain an overall glimpse of a person's personality when you don't want to, or have the time, to get to know a person fully. This is a natural response used when catching the eye of a stranger you will most likely never see again. Or it can be used to asses potentially dangerous situations like in Black Men and Public Space.

Whenever I'm walking home alone the world instantly becomes a place filled with threats in every corner. The slightest breeze or sound makes me shiver and tense up. " In these moments if a person approaches I don't have time to strike up a conversation and so I take what I can get to asses the situation, his/her visual appearance. Its the first thing that is readily available and its statistically accurate in most cases. So I don't blame people for relying on their primeval instincts to judge and if a danger is perceived to flee.

However, appearances can be completely inaccurate since they can be changed (well not in terms of race) and manipulated. They should not be the sole determining factor about a person and in Staples case they are when he is walking down the streets with his hands in his pockets. Since he is a part of a race that is "overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence" he is categorized for convenience. Staples knows he is being judged for safety and convenience but it still makes him feel the "alienation" that should not exist. 

This is a situation that doesn't currently have a solution, but hopefully one will come up later on. Staples does find a temporary solution though in humming classical music he can appear more refined and cultured. Since appearances can work against you having a "cowbell that hikers wear" can assist you into appearing closer to your identity.

Kindly Unspoken

Brad Manning's essay, "Arm Wrestling with My Father" emphasizes a another form of communication other than explicit words that can bond a family together, implicit actions. The narrator recognizes at a young age that his father doesn't bond with him through words but actions, but as a young kid he did not understand that his father was trying to communicate. This essay reminded me of a song I heard a while ago called Kindly Unspoken by Kate Voegele who sings about a lover that showed his feelings through silence rather than words. This apparently baffled her at first, but now she can understand this form of communication, "Its lucky I'm clever, if I didn't know better Id only believe that which I heard." Eventually the song shows how words are more likely to deceive while actions cannot. While this was a negative revelation it turns out to be a positive one for Manning. He figured out that his father was just trying to show him love, through competition, in his own special way. The relationship between Manning and his father embodies the saying, "Silence speaks louder than words."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkqrZ4zoNes

A Joyful Wedding

As the white grains pattered down the woman clenches his hands tightly, this is it.

All the long, numerous days planning and conniving have lead to this. 

She is finally his wife.

Her dress sparkles with the diamonds of wasted money,

some free themselves, plopping on the ground, leaving a trail of wasted glamor. 

The ground is littered with even more rice left discarded,
but more pressing worries occupy her mind right now.

What should I wear after this for our honeymoon? 

What hotel are we going to end up staying at? 

He better have made the reservations I told him to! 

Pasting a smile on her face she disregards those worries, 

figuring she’ll ask him later but right now she has to hold up her appearance

as an innocently joyful wife.

The man is wondering why he even agreed to marry this woman. 

She just uses up his money without regret.

He has just started to unravel the meaning of her traps to ensnare him.

Oh well, it's too late now.

He is trapped. 

The guests' cheeks hurt from all the fake laughter. 

Their dresses and tuxedos digging into their skin uncomfortably,

with the scratchy material leaving a sort of itchy feeling all over. 

They look at the bride and groom envying their happiness, 

while ignoring the plebeians knelt on the ground envying them.

The plebeians pick up what is deemed as trash to the rich, 

but seen by them as another way to put food on the table.

They're the only ones comfortable with what they wear,

since what they wear is practical with every article a purpose.

Hunching over, backs aching, stomachs growling,

the peasants pluck every morsel with care and precision.

Like animals they are forced to live this way because

while the rich keep getting richer,

as the poor keep getting more poor.

 

My Own Place In This Contradictory World

When I first moved to Troy I was astounded by the cultural diversity present here. All different cultures mixing together without reservations. It was like a mini melting pot in the big melting pot of America. The town I had moved from was a predominantly white town which made me feel like my skin color was something to be ashamed of as it stood out and was very different from the social norms there. This caused me to try to shake my culture off and try to assimilate myself into being the perfect American. I tried to loosen myself from any ties to my culture that I still had left, which surprisingly wasn't hard at all. I just gave up trying to fit in with the life of my parents and started to fit in with the life of my peers. However, when I moved to Troy I started to regret my actions. Seeing all of the different, unique people with their own cultures here started making me feel ashamed, yet again. My friends always joke that I'm not even Indian anymore. My tastes, experiences, preferences have all changed since I started denying that part of my identity. Now I regret this decision very much. I can't even speak my language fluently anymore or understand references to the culture. This was a very impactful realization because I realize that I should have tried to be a two in one combo, half American and half Indian. Instead of giving up in the battle against assimilation I should have reached a compromise. Now seeing my brother grow up and face some of the battles I did, I try to help him reach that compromise without completely giving up our culture. Helping him has helped me regain some of pieces I lost but what helped me the most were my parents who reached that healthy compromise without any help. They have found their own place as an immigrant family in a completely foreign country without losing their culture. My story relates to Amy Tan's story in how her family also realizes that the key to living comfortably in a society with a different culture is not complete assimilation, but finding a middle ground between cultures.

Perception vs. Identity

Identity is what a person really is, from personality to behavior, while perception is what another person chooses to see as their identity. From the perception of identity to the actual identity there is a gap formed by the prejudices and past experiences of the perceiver. The gap can be huge or miniscule all the depending on the eye of the perciever. An infant with not much exposure to prejudices or racism has a very small gap and can see the identity almost perfectly, which explains why many believe infants speak the truth. However, an adult with lots of exposure has a bigger gap that shows a bigger deviation from the truth. In the Nancy Mairs piece "Disability" many people seem to perceive a disability as consuming, leaving no time to behave like a normal person, but the actual identity of a disabled person is very normal and almost boring, "I menstruate, so I have to buy tampons, I worry about smoker's breath so I buy mouthwash..."(Mairs 14). This gap in judgement results from not having enough integration of the disabled with the able-bodied as Mairs mentions but also from the constant fear of someday joining the disabled. So in this case the gap serves as a cushion of safety that society places in minds to perceive another as completely different from their true identity, which is almost exactly the same as an able-bodied person. These safety cushions can be dangerous because they are also perceived and are not really in place. So they will not be there to catch the able-bodied person when they fall into the life of the the disabled, which is not made miserable by physical limitations but by mental limitations placed by the media. The world is really how one sees it so try to see the truth in it with no filters of prejudices.