“There are things we keep hidden from one another. Things we hide from ourselves. Things that are kept hidden from us. And things no one knows. You always learn the damnedest things at the worst possible times.”
– Dresden Files, Changes
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(This picture belongs to someone on Tumblr, not me.)
Please ignore the Slytherin Thing... I couldn't find a way to remove it without damaging the animation
This morning I stumbled across a blog belonging to one of my peers, awesomepaste, and I noted a topic that I thought was most interesting. Without copying directly from it, she discussed the concept of Masks and the roles they play in our lives. This got me thinking about how this is illustrated now in our current situations and lives. One thing led to another and now here we are.
Some of you may recognize the gif. as a scene from a past summer movie called Inception. For those of you who are confused, the two people in the top frame that keeps changing (the woman and man) are the same person. The “real” character is the man, a forger named Eames. His job is to literally become someone else (the woman we see on the outside). If you’re still confused, know that this takes place within a dream and that it would make much more sense if you watch the film. Without the chance to do so, I will explain it the best I can. What everyone else in the dream sees is the woman, but the mirrored walls of an elevator show a phenomenon referred to an endless reflection in which the two images echo each other in what looks like an unending tunnel. There, in the echoing reflections, the real person is revealed at last, having been buried under the ‘mask’ of whomever he was trying to be. Since I worried this would be difficult to imagine, I found the only visual image I could that depicted this scene and borrowed it.
Now what does this have to do with my peer’s blog? Well, she discussed how we use emotional masks for each day and each situation, sufficiently covering up or even erasing our real selves in order to fit in with society.
It is a fact of life that we often sacrifice who we think we are in order to blend in. We change our hobbies. We change our looks. We change our hair. We’ll even change our beliefs so long as we are able to belong to a group. Humans are social creatures and we need that interaction, but when we don our masks, we can only hide so much before our real selves shine through.
It is a shame, really. People will lose friends because they lied first to themselves about who they were.
The moral of this story? Be you. If you wear the masks for too long, you’ll lose sight of who you are…
“I’m so pretty, it’s hard for me to think of myself as intelligent.”
– Dresden Files, Dead Beat
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Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? If we were to look at today’s standards for beauty as depicted by the media, a good many of us would find our reflections answering back “Not you”, and it isn’t just because we overly criticize ourselves either. Some of the “beauty trends” make even some of the prettier people I know doubt their own appeal.
In one of our lectures, Professor Lee showed a video about Heidi Montag and her surgical transformations. During that class, we touched briefly on the effects of ‘beauty’ on society – how our need to be seen as beautiful could change us. It left me thinking and led me to look a bit closer at this subject, which has been the cause of great frustration throughout my life…
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Some of our biggest indicators of “beauty” come from the pictures we see in magazines, movies, and television shows, so I will be using these as the basis for my analysis.
The most common, stereotypical beauty trends for women are as follows:
Skinny (Size 0)
Tanned
Make Up worn at all times
Large busts
Thin waists
Long legs (often wearing heels)
Flat Stomachs (you can be skinny without this, believe it or not)
Plump Lips
For men, the same categories of “beauty traits” are:
Tall
Tanned
Washboard Abs
Muscular/Athletic
Sexy Smiles
Well dressed (Be it a dress shirt and slacks or a full-blown tuxedo)
Granted, the photos we see in magazines are often more Photoshop than real. Unfortunately this knowledge does not seem to penetrate the minds of those of us viewing these unrealistically beautiful chimeras. Why do we think we should look just like these images when we are told repeatedly that these images are a fantasy at best?
Part of the answer lies in what these images represent to the reader. The people we see in magazines or in movies are actors. They have money, prestige, and fame. For those of us who were not graced with such talents, becoming an actor is a common dream. They represent what we wish we could have. It is not necessarily that these people are any more beautiful than the rest of us, but that they look nice enough and were given ungodly sums of money because of it. Suddenly, that guy you might not have looked at twice on the street becomes a god-like figure on a pedestal for you to worship, loathe, and strive to imitate. But how far will we go to change who we are? Some will starve themselves. Others pump themselves so full of steroids they grow as big as a barge. There is, of course, another option. With the advent of Plastic Surgery, we can alter anything – if our checkbooks are deep enough.
Plastic surgery is a wonder and can be used for many beneficial things – correcting the faces of children born with cleft palette for instance. It can also be used to change nearly every aspect of your appearance. This in itself is not a problem. It is the driving WANT for plastic surgery that can be viewed as troublesome, especially when we try to skirt around the costs by going to cheaper ‘private clinics’ with ‘practitioners’ who have not been properly trained. If the person performing the surgery is untrained, the results can not only harm your appearance, but possibly your life. And even if the surgeon IS properly trained, things go wrong, and then you are stuck with the consequences.
Take a look at these blogs for examples of what can go wrong, or go to youtube on your own for videos:
The most frightening aspect of the “ideal beauty” is that to a certain extent we are all hardwired to crave perfection. We cannot ever be perfect, because perfection does not exist, but still we try for that fantasy…
This entry grows long so I will leave you with one final link – it is for a song from a movie called REPO! The Genetic Opera. The song, 21st Century Cure, is a bit out there so if you do not want to listen to it, you can still see what I am referring to if you scroll down through the lyrics. It may be best if you ignore everything that is not in bold.
Industrialization has crippled the globe (Enjoy GeneCo’s day and nighttime formula of Zydrate)
Nature failed as technology spread (Ask a gentern if Zydrate is right for you)
And in this wake, a market erected (Buying Zydrate from an unlicensed source is illegal)
An entire city built on top of the dead And you can finance your bones and your kidneys For every market, a sub-market grows. But best you be punctual with making your payments Lest it be you on the concrete below.
It’s quick. It’s clean. It’s pure. It could change your life, rest assured. It’s the 21st century cure,
And it’s my job to steal and rob GRAVES!
So why care for these petty obsessions? Your designer heart still beats with common blood And what if you could have genetic perfection? Would you change who you are if you could?
‘Cos it’s quick, it’s clean, and it’s pure (all you really need is) It could change your life, rest assured (all you’ve got to have is) It’s the 21st century cure (all you need is surgery!)
And it’s my job to steal and rob GRAVES!
GRAVES!
(For those who don't get it, the man on the far left is named Will) Curteousy of dark-persian and bdevries on Deviantart.com
Don’t you just love how what you say and what everyone hears tends to get a bit jumbled up?
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Going all the way back towards the beginning of our semester, one of the topics I found to be the most interesting had to do with how we communicate. One of the very first things we were taught was the meaning of ‘information’ and the “Two Lists Theory” developed by Ernst von Glasersfeld, but I’ll get to those in a minute. First let us establish what communication is.
As we are not telepathic beings, we need a way to pass our needs to others who might be able to help us fulfill them. The way we manage to move these necessities out from ourselves is called communication. Communication is the exchange of information from one party to another in the form of language or gestures. As Professor Lee explained it, information is defined as “the difference that makes a difference”. Let us review – in order to communicate our important news or needs to others we must pass on a difference that makes a difference. Well how do we do that? We use a code, language, that we are taught from a young age. This code, as it were, is an agreed upon series of syllabic phrases and gestures that are paired together in order to represent objects and ideas. Professor Lee mentioned something about code and spies… left hand in the left pocket meant all was well but right hand tugging the nose meant abort the mission or something similar. The point was it was a signal that was agreed upon beforehand.
“If I need you I’ll give you a signal.”
“What signal?”
“I’ll imitate the scream of a terrified little girl.”
That is probably the basest explanation of communication, and as we know from our interactions with our families, friends, and possibly even in romantic relationships, communication is often far more complicated. Glasersfeld was aware of this and came up with the Two Lists Theory. The theory was simple – instead of just one form of language, there is actually a second one that works in conjunction with it.The best way to try and visualize it is to think of one list as Language, and the other one as Code.
We came up with several examples of illustrating the theory, but the easiest one for me to remember was the following one:
You walk into a restaurant in a foreign country and are handed a menu. When the waiter comes to take your order, you can’t answer him because to you the menu is covered in unintelligible squiggles and lines that look more suited to calligraphy than everyday use. (That was list 1 – Language – that tripped you up). The waiter translates it for you and you hear something that sounds really good. You order it, but when it shows up you are given something completely different from what you thought you ordered. (List 2 – the Code of that country).
All in all communication is a fascinating thing, and at some point I hope to do another entry to address how communication is being hindered by the inane usage of TXT TLK.
“Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don’t feel it.”
– Dresden Files, White Night
In recent years, some of you may have noticed a rise in the amount of medications in your local pharmacy, especially if one were to take a peak behind the counter. One would likely find bottles of Paxil, Prozac, Celexa, Zoloft, Adderal, Sarafem, and Cymbalta, just to name a few. What do all of these drugs have in common? They are used to treat mental maladies, and for each of those there is usually at least one or two generic brands that purportedly do the exact same thing.
America has one of the biggest psychopharmacological societies in the world, as evidenced in the article Neurochemical Selves by Nikolas Rose, which states that in the past decade from 1990 through 2000, the sales of “prescribed psychiatric drugs amounted to almost $19 billion—almost 18% of a total pharmaceutical market of $107 billion”(pg47). For those of you wondering, a psychopharmacological society is one in which the altering of one’s thoughts, moods, and actions through medication is considered to be commonplace. In just one decade, the value of sales concerning drugs for the purpose of modifications in the United States shot up to over 600%.
Now lets consider the fact that there are multiple medications that work on the same types of “medical problems”. For depression alone, according to WebM.D. there are 4 major types of medications, and at least 26 individual drugs within those types. Why do we need so many? Here are two that I find to be driving forces behind everything. First is the Profit of Pharmaceutical Companies, and Second is Advertising.
Profit - Yes I know, profit is a major part of Capitalism. However, there is a line between decent profit and extortion. Unfortunately, the American health care system is such that the line tends to get lost somewhere, assuming it is even considered. It is a simple fact that a good many medications cost you a small fortune for each dose, some barely stretching through 7 whole days. So what does this have to do with the price of peas in China? (Nothing. If you were paying attention you will notice that I never once mentioned peas OR China until then.) It used to be that the Federal Government would fund the research for new drugs. This meant that drugs actually needed to work, and the government was a bit more concerned with what happened to you – wouldn’t want an angry revolt. However, as the research became more privatized, people wanted to spend less time researching and more time making a profit. Thus, they would essentially focus on drugs they new they had a chance of getting out onto the market quickly. It was preferable to slogging through the arduous and often unsuccessful research towards a cure for something like cancer. In addition, the researchers were more likely to get funding when their projects would guarantee results.
Advertising – On an hourly basis, it is fair to say that there are more commercials about medication than there are minutes of actual programs. The most common ones I noticed were for the drugs Cymbalta and Lunesta. Cymbalta is used for treating symptoms of depression and Lunesta is supposed to help you fall asleep and stay that way. These particular commercials seemed to be on every minute or so, and while I still find them infinitely annoying, I started to notice the way that the advertising companies got your attention. In the case of Cymbalta, the audience is subjected to images that illicit feelings of sadness, pairing the sequences with a coaxing woman’s voice in what some might categorize as a mother’s tone. The commercial chides you by pointing out the obvious. “Depression hurts.” Really? I had no idea. The commercial says that you deserve help, if not for your sake then for the people you love. Does it say that? Not exactly, but it certainly comes across that way. Then, with Lunesta, the audience is shown exhaustion – something we have all felt before. Lunesta promises to send you to sleep, showing you a perfectly perky person as they “wake up refreshed”. We all would love to be as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as that model. Maybe we should consider sleep aids. Logically, more sleep means happier people, so I must need sleep aids.
What this all boils down to is that we buy these mind-altering, behavior-changing drugs because we want to avoid pain and suffering. Here’s the thing we tend to forget – “Life is pain [Highness]. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” (Princess Bride)
As our worlds focus more and more on the success of the individual, we tend to turn our gazes inwards towards our flaws. Where there is pain, we do not want to find the cause. We will treat the symptom until it goes away. Perhaps we should stop throwing pills at our problems so readily, and instead focus on how to naturally adjust ourselves.
References
“Drugs to Treat Depression”. Webmd <http://www.webmd.com/depression/recognizing-depression-symptoms/antidepressants>
“Age is always advancing, and I’m fairly sure it’s up to no good.”
– Dresden Files White Night
Lullaby – Creed
In one of my earlier entries, Kick My Chair, I stated that I would discuss assisted suicide at a later date. It is now time to focus on this topic – one that is not only painful but essential for us to examine, especially as age begins to creep up on us and on our families. Before we go into it, know that I am in favor of a dignified death and that this entry will likely come across as biased.
I’m sure some of us remember the trial of a Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian. The name ring a bell? If not, perhaps his other title will help. Mr. Kevorkian was known as Dr. Death – a man convicted of at least 130 assisted suicides. Now I’m sure there is at least one reader who might become up-in-arms and automatically condemn the man for essentially committing 130 murders. To this person, I would ask that they calm themselves and just listen – or in this case read – about the kind of work this man did. Dr. Death did not go out murdering people in their beds. He talked with patients extensively, making sure that death was exactly what they wanted, and made them sign a waver if they were certain of their wishes. Further, he said that they could change their minds later if they wanted. He didn’t charge a fee. He gave patients control – something that many of them no longer had.
I did a bit of research on Kevorkian and on PBS.org I found a link to some of the interviews between the doctor and his patients. One that really got to me can be found here. The patient’s name was Thomas W. Hyde Jr. Like several of Doctor Kevorkian’s clients, Thomas had been diagnosed with ALS – sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This is a “progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord… The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.” (What is ALS?) The final stages of this disease leave a person with a functioning mind trapped within a useless shell of a body and patients often choke to death on their own saliva.
To most people, the idea of being trapped within one’s body is a terrifying way to die, not to mention agonizing. Before reaching the final stage patients often experience horrible cramping as muscles lose their control systems. People cannot control their bowel movements, which insults their dignity and sense of independence. It is heartbreaking to see how much they suffer. Could you imagine that sort of torture? To be completely cognitive of everything happening to you and being powerless to do anything about it? Knowing that your family (assuming they are taking care of you) may be struggling financially to try and keep you alive? What kind of life is this?
Dr. Kevorkian and others like him decided that this was unacceptable. If one’s quality of life is so unbearably painful for themselves and others, would it not be better to allow them the chance to exit gracefully?
In the United States only two have legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide, Oregon and Washington, while others have criminalized it – stating that physicians in these situations are murderers. Yes, they are facilitating deaths, which is the definition of homicide, but if the death is agreed upon, consented, what exactly is the problem? When one steps away from the religious aspects in which “We don’t have a right to play God”, “How dare we go against our Creator”, “It is God’s will that they live”, or “suffering is part of life” it becomes an issue known as Quality of Life. We are told that we have the freedom to seek a life of happiness and fulfillment. If we have been condemned to live as vegetables in a sub-human state, it is no longer a life of fulfillment. It is life for the sake of having a pulse.
Now then, there were some concerns brought up in a peer’s blog on this topic, one of which was that people would take advantage of this were it legalized nationally. It is definitely a matter to consider. Like with many things such as welfare or one’s right to bear arms, there are those that would take advantage of the system. With this matter it is especially worrying considering that your family could, in theory, suddenly decide they need that inheritance and try to have you bumped off in the name of a “merciful death”. This is why Kevorkian would interview his patients and document everything to be certain that this was what the PATIENT wanted. So long as safe guards are employed, wouldn’t you prefer that a licensed physician helped you down that road, maybe even in your own home with your family, than sneak around the law?
References
Articles
Brody, Jane E. “A Heartfelt Plea for a Graceful Exit.” New York Times February 5th 2008: Personal Health D6. Web
“The Death Interviews | The Kevorkian Verdict.” PBS.org <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/interviews/index.html>
“‘Time! Time!’ Toot complained. ‘Is that all you mortals can ever think about? Everyone’s complaining about time. The whole city rushes left and right screaming about being late and honking horns. You people used to have it right, you know.’ “ — Dresden Files, Storm Front
If there were ever a phrase to essentially characterize what seems to be our society’s current mindset, it would most likely be one of these:
“Time is money, money is time”
“I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say hello – goodbye! I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!”
“Seize the day!”
“Who sleeps anymore?”
“There are only so many hours in a day.”
“Idle hands are the devil’s playground.”
The list goes on and on…
While I cannot recall whether or not we spent much time discussing this topic in class, it was one that caught my interest when skimming through our syllabus. For as long as I can remember, I have had a fascination with the study of time. Not necessarily history, mind you, but the fluidity of time, and the subjectivity of its passing.
I’m certain everyone has had days in which the sun crawled across the sky with the enthusiasm of an inebriated snail, where minutes seemed like hours and hours like days. These days were typically ones in which we were involved in tasks that we found displeasing or even dull. Yet when we were to engage in activities that pleased us in one form or another, time suddenly seemed to fly at sonic speeds, ending our activities and even our days far sooner than we would like. How can this be? There are 24 hours in a day, and this is considered a constant. There is no reason for time to suddenly become longer or shorter.
We tend to suffer from what is known as a “time-pressure illusion” (Robert E. Goodin, James Mahmud Rice, Michael Bittman and Peter Saunders; The Time-Pressure Illusion: Discretionary Time vs. Free Time p45). This means that we suffer from “time poverty” and the illusion that we do not have enough time to accomplish everything that we may want to do. Basically, if we are fully engaged in something, time goes fast. If we are disengaged and focused on the ticking of a clock, chances are the day is going to be unbearably slow.
“People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big bowl of wibbly wobbly timey wimey… stuff.” – Doctor Who Blink (2007)
That is arguably one of my favorite quotes from the series and it served as a nice transition into the second part of this entry.
The way I stumbled onto this topic was through a video called The Secret Powers of Time. Yes, I know, another RSA video, but it was actually an interesting topic for me so I am hoping to spread my enthusiasm to you, thus hopefully making these blogs a little less boring for you to read. Moving on – the video discussed an interesting set of views about time in general.
It turns out people have a few different focuses when it comes to examining Time: One may look at it from the past and present, remembering past achievements and focusing on pleasure and avoiding pain. Or, one may be constantly focusing on the future. Naturally the terms for these types of thinking are Present Hedonistic and Future Oriented. What was most interesting was learning about the studies that showed you could pick out a person’s country and even their city based on how fast they mailed a letter or walked by a cafe. (Watch the video to understand that better.) It turned out that people who are Future Oriented tend to be very stressed, while those who are Present or Past Oriented are actually more relaxed.
The final thing though that grabbed my attention occurred about 8 minutes into the video, which was when the topic moved towards the intolerance for waiting. In the current mindset of our society, it seems that one cannot have a single moment when one is not occupied without the time being considered as “wasted”. This is comical in itself because time is not tangible, so in that it can be argued that there is nothing to waste. I saw a quote somewhere once that went along the lines of “men talk of killing time while time is slowly killing them,” and it fit because we can do nothing, really, against the flow of time – the world will keep turning, etc. To complete my growing list of cliches for this entry, “time is what you make of it”.
It is unhealthy to constantly cling to instant gratification. More specifically it is unhealthy to flip out over waiting an extra couple of minutes. Instead we should learn to appreciate the time we spend waiting, and just focus on living. Sometimes a little procrastination is good for the soul…
The talk of Fate and Destiny was brought up as well but those are topics I am saving for another entry. Suffice it to say, my feelings on the two of those are that “time can be rewritten”. Some events may be fixed, but the rest is up to us.
References
Articles
The Time-Pressure Illusion: Discretionary Time vs. Free Time
Robert E. Goodin, James Mahmud Rice, Michael Bittman and Peter Saunders
Social Indicators Research
Vol. 73, No. 1 (Aug., 2005), pp. 43-70
“I try to be cold-blooded and money-oriented, but I keep screwing it up.”
– Dresden Files, Dead Beat
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You don’t need to watch all of this if you don’t want to, but at least sit through to 1:40.
In case my long title, odd quote, and blatant video have somehow managed to avoid beating you over the head, this entry is about Poverty. More specifically I will be examining poverty in America.
A few weeks back, I remember our class discussing poverty, and focusing on the why – Why are people poor? There were two basic areas of blame, if you will, that our class focused on. The first inclination was to blame the government. The second inclination was to blame the homeless and poor for their own predicament. After a brief discussion of the possible reasons behind these thoughts – which I will detail further down – we watched the following video.
This video prompted me to do some digging about our wages here in California, and so I have detailed a little blurb of the interesting information I found. It turns out that according to theU.S. Minimum Wage Directory, Californians, in spite of the budget issues we are experiencing, have a minimum wage of $8.00 an hour, about 75 cents more than the National Minimum Wage, and the state with the highest minimum was Washington at $8.67 per hour. The state with the lowest one was Wyoming at $5.15 per hour (I am not counting Guam with its minimum wage of $4.10 though it is considered a U.S. territory because I am speaking about states only). For states where the minimum wage is below the National minimum, employees are entitled to the higher wage of the two, and they will always receive the Federal Minimum so long as it is higher than the minimum of the state. This means that the average poverty line for a family of four rests at around $14,500 per year. That is a small sum when one considers the costs of food, fuel, lodging, and god-forbid health care.
Lets circle back now to the original issue – Why are we poor?
The video detailed a very similar viewpoint and underscored the trend I noted before – namely the tendency to blame either the government or the victims of poverty. Let us compare some typical responses for each of the ‘main factors’:
Government
1. Not enough jobs
2. Uneven distribution
3. Racism
4. Sexism
5. Political Corruption
6. General Discrimination
The Poor
1. Lazy/Freeloader
2. Uneducated
3. Unexpected expenses (often medical; according to an article called The Financial Burden of Medical Expenses for Children, a study showed that there were “much larger financial burdens placed on families below poverty” [pg 1114].)
4. Didn’t Budget (lose home/job)
5. Gambling/Drug/Alcohol/Substance Abuse Problem
6. Unwilling to work in areas unfamiliar to them
Now that we’ve gotten through all of that, here is my take on things. I tend to say that the problem transcends both of these categories. Yes, we do have a shortage of jobs. Yes, there are some people who unfortunately prey on our general sense of goodwill towards those less fortunate than us. That said – I don’t think it is solidly one cause or another.
In the words of many people as well as a song from the country band Sugarland, “**it happens”. Life will throw us curve balls at the worst times and sometimes we just can’t dodge them in time. People lose their homes through no real fault of their own – yes the mortgage was steep but it likely wasn’t so dire when they originally signed the dotted line. Most people don’t anticipate a family member suddenly dropping from an illness that lands them in a hospital for weeks. New pets suddenly need surgeries or they’ll suffer (this one is especially bad because we focus only on saving our ‘family’ and it is often much later before we find out exactly what the value of their lives is going to be).
So how are we going to “fix this”? Well, I agree that we need jobs, however we can’t just wiggle our noses and make new positions open up. There are only jobs available where there is a need, and right now with the comparably mild recession we are experiencing there just isn’t as much need because people are more focused on saving (for the most part) than spending.
If you want to help change this, try volunteering in your community with local soup kitchens. Donate money to charities. Take the time to get to know the homeless and poor in your community and just offer some time. If nothing else you can carry cans of soup and water in your car. Then if you see someone on the side of the road – don’t just drive by. Give them something to get them through the night – they are all people too.
Wouldn’t you want someone to show some compassion if you were in their place?
Referenced:
Articles
The Financial Burden of Medical Care Expenses for Children
Paul W. Newacheck and Neal Halfon
Medical Care
Vol. 24, No. 12 (Dec., 1986), pp. 1110-1117
