No One Is Perfect

I have always prided myself on being not only politically correct, but being knowledgeable and sensitive to others lifestyles. Despite my conscious effort to always be 'culturally neutral' there are bumps in the road.

My most recent collision happened during my staff meeting a few weeks ago. Every week, for at least an hour and a half all twelve resident assistants, and our two supervisors meet. These meetings are full of information that could have been easily shared through email so it's up to the resident assistants, to make the time go by with jokes. There are many cultural, racial, or socio-economical jabs tossed at everyone but every once in a while some are off target leaving the group embarrased and confused.

This particular staff meeting was actually the entire two hours long. We had to converse about the new resident assistant applicants, to point out the shortcomings of those who wanted our jobs. One of my coworkers became fixated on one of the candidates. I mean every five mintues, though we had moved on in the meeting, he would say something else negative about the candidate. Finally someone said, "What the hell happened in Tobago?", because my coworker and the new candidate had actually grown up on the same island. I replied. "He must have stolen his cow."

The skeptical chuckles that floated around were not the responses I was anticipating when I blurted out my joke. Not only speaking to, but being friends with Trinis and Tobagonians, I'd heard many stories about how country the island of Tobago is. I even knew some Tobago citizens that lived on farms.

My coworker looked at me and said 'What?', like I was the most ignorant person alive. Luckily, my supervisor changed the subject because we had more things to cover.


I've been aware of word usage because of the experience I've had with others. During training one year the group of resident assistants was discussing why prejudice is so common. Someone responded 'Because people do not realize what is being passed on to them and they don't know any better.' Someone else responded 'That's an ignorant way of thinking. Everyone is responsible for their own actions and can't blame 'being raised that way'".

His use of the word 'ignorant', though correctly in context upset the entire group. When I spoke to him later about how to certain words, he responded 'It's not my fault people aren't educated enough to understand the true meaning of the word.' One word seemed to offended an entire group, despite the stories being shared with derogatory terms.

If misunderstandings can be had between people of the same age, socio-economical group, and education of course they can be had across cultures, nations , and continents. Even gestures are considered to mean different things when you go around the world. Everyone has a different context and when two, or more, people come together unaware or unaccepting of this difference misunderstandings and conflicts arise.

Whose Media Is It?

As a busy college student, the biggest reason I don't have a self centered lifestyle is because of my job. I am constantly required to assist, care for, and support thirty-three other individuals while keeping my own life in check. I've become very accustomed and comfortable to my everyday schedule. Each day is preceded by another which was just as or more mundane as the other.

Completing this assignment was more fun than the blackout assignment. Instead of having to grapple with the incessant rambling of my mind I was able to literally, be someone else.
Before this assignment I never understood why people follow television shows religiously, listen to the radio when CDs and MP3 connections are available, or buy the magazines at the grocery store checkout counter. Now I understand the reason is escape.

Knowing the words to every single song in my iPod I fall into a pattern each time I hop into my car; turn car on, plug in iPod, find playlist, hit shuffle, then pull off. My partner divulged that she listens to the radio while driving and I realized how the simple things in life bring happiness. Listening to people be phone pranked offered me the best laugh I've had in weeks.

When I went grocery shopping I bought a Cosmopolitan magazine which opened my eyes to the different things to do to a man's body. Being a VIP member of the 'V Club', I had no use for the sex tips but the Carrie Underwood article was interesting. I dived into a world I shrugged off and passed every time I went to Publix to get food. It was nice to worry about what 'he's really saying in his texts' rather than event deadlines, meetings, or residents pounding down my door at one in the morning.

Sadly, due to my staff meeting, I was not able to watch Lost but during the 48 hours during this assignment I sat down at 6pm to watch cable news. It was hard to stop cleaning, emailing, or social networking for that hour but I prided myself on being able to complete the task.

After returning to my media consumption life I can't keep my eyes of the magazine I wrote, and radio conversations actually interest me. It's amazing how we view information, based on where it comes from. If I felt magazines were a waste of time then I wouldn't value the information within it, no matter how accurate or beneficial.

As news consumers we must be able to evaluate ALL types of media to be able to receive information, no matter what the vehicle.

Blackout

Do we have to stop to think or can we think while we keep consuming?

Solitude: Contemporary Lonliness

When reading the Deresiewicz article I found myself agreeing with all his points, yet realizing I did all those things. One of my favorite artists once said 'It's sad when we have to result to keyboards as a means of making relations', which made me realize how much of my time isn't really mine. I always hear my classmates, co-workers, and friends complaining how there just isn't enough time in the day; however, they send and receive at least a thousand texts a day.

As a Resident Assistant on campus, I have to check my email multiple times a day. When I first began I always missed deadlines or was left out of the loop because I never had a reason to check my email on a regular basis. But now, I can't go an entire two hours without itching to type in panthermail.fiu.edu.

This too has happened in reference to this class. I rarely read a news paper, flipped past television news, or factual spoke about world news. Now, I've gotten used to consuming the New York Times on a regular basis. Once the assignment began I found myself longing to grab a school newspaper on my way to the elevator in my housing hall.

News is a necessary intrusion because it breaks through our mental solitude. As we grow up we are 'programmed' with the beliefs and ideals of our church, family, and culture. We are ignorant to things different from us because we have not experienced them. News pushes past our comfortable barriers and forces information into our faces.

If evaluated properly, this invasion can be used to create positive action. News must intrude, in order to make us think for ourselves.

Aristotle vs Plato: Who Is More Responsible For Contemporary Discourse

As I scanned through multiple scholarly articles about Aristotle and Plato's lives and views I thought I would never find what I was looking for. Many of the articles used jargon I had heard only in high school during my honors philosophy class.

Plato was Aristotle's teacher who felt that "every rational human being, given a choice, will prefer a life that is moderately thoughtful and moderately pleasant to a life that is utterly thoughtless or utterly pleasureless." Plato valued the truth and knowledge in rhetoric. He didn't feel that it was okay to persuade someone just for personal gain but that it should benefit society as a whole. Since truth can not be refuted it helps the argument that is being made. To Plato, you must appeal to beliefs in order to change emotions.

Aristotle valued the truthfulness of the rhetoric, just as his mentor Plato did. He viewed emotion arousal as a technical proof of rhetoric. To Aristotle, "emotions are intelligent and discriminating parts of the personality, closely related to beliefs of a certain sort and therefore responsive to cognitive modification." Facts are facts; however, people have different 'truths' that can be changed. If I feel I've been disrespected, my truth is that I have been wronged, but if I speak to the person that has wronged me and found that there was no malice or negligence on their part, my truth can be altered.

I think Aristotle has the most influence on contemporary discourse due to the emphasize on emotional responses. Right after September 11th Americans were hurt, angry, and confused. Aristotle speaks about emotions having a target, and if done correctly rhetoric will change that target. While Americans were emotionally vulnerable the government used rhetoric to gain support of upcoming wars: the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Once American anger faded and opinions changed Barack Obama's campaign slogan appealed to the change the public wanted to see.
Even if something is completely logical and truthful, if it is not delivered in a way that will eventually affect emotions people will not be moved to act.

Why We Write Things Down

Ideas are in existence but not concrete until they are written down. Information can be passed down in a multitude of ways; however, it has been proven that information that is written lasts longer than when spoken. Once something is printed it can not be altered without destructive measures. You don't see "white out" in any of the holy books or your newly purchase course textbooks.

We write things down because we can always go back to that exact moment in time. Teenagers write in journals to express things they feel can not be said and years after laugh about what seemed so important at the time. Organization construct documents with by laws which would easily be changed or forgotten about if relying only on word of mouth.

A perfect example would be European or Chinese history versus African history. Historical texts allow people to see into a past world. Since African historians handed down information orally, today's world doesn't know as much about the African way of life as we do of the ancient European or Chinese way of life.

We write things down because it makes our thoughts real, tangible. Books are written because someone felt their research or creatively needed to be shared. Written information goes further: a book can be sold internationally; whereas, a spoken story will probably only circulate among friends. Personally, I enjoy reading through my old journals and diaries to see how far I have come. When I'm writing in the journal now I wonder how I'll view myself in the future when I read through it.