Our language is full of overused sayings that we here all the time in everyday life. Sometimes they may seem appropriate for a situation, but other times they may seem to be contradictory or have negative implications. For example, Ronald Pies notes that the saying "go with the flow" can "become an excuse for apathy or indifference." In order to counteract this sense of the saying, in this essay from Tuft's University's Magazine, professor of psychiatry Ronald Pies analyzes the meaning and origin behind the concept of "going with the flow" to discuss how it applies positively to our lives.
Pies first explores the themes of going with the flow emphasized in ancient traditions such as Taoism and Buddhism. He quotes a Taoist name Elizabeth Reninger who defines the central concept as "'“a state of being in which our actions are quite effortlessly in alignment with the ebb and flow of the elemental cycles of the natural world.'" What this saying really means is that we should live in harmony with the natural order of things. This idea is spiritual in nature but has been secularized in our society today as the cliché "go with the flow."
Pies then applies this idea to real life by presenting a personal anecdote. He writes about a time when his mother was seriously sick and he needed to take care of her. The uncertainty of his situation was difficult as he didn't know when he would be needed. Pies uses this situation to show how the idea of "going with the flow" can be applied positively to our lives. During the time when his mother needed him, Pies just went with the natural order of his life; a child cares for his sick parent. This helped him to be flexible and adapt to the uncertainties of the situation.
But Pies explores the idea further by asking rhetorical questions. He began in the introduction of the essay by asking "How can we apply this phrase wisely?" As his personal anecdote showed, the idea can be encouragement in times of uncertainty and struggle to help oneself be flexible and do what needs to be done. But Pies recognizes that this saying can be used to support inaction where action is necessary and he asks, "But what does a morally responsible person do when confronted with prejudice, injustice, or hatred? Should one go with the flow, saying 'Oh, well, that’s life'?" These questions serve to stimulate the readers own internal contemplation of the idea before Pies gives his own answer. Pies then cites examples of nonviolent resisters such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi who may have went against the flow of injustice but by resisting injustice were going with the flow of order and reason and human connection. Ultimately Pies concludes the essay by answering his first question but in a way that leaves the readers minds wide open to consider the implications of the idea of "going with the flow" in their own lives.
Article: http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/winter2014/think-tank/mind.html
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
IRB Intro Post: Fourth Marking Period
For my last and final IRB I have chosen to read When Languages Die by David Harrison, which explores the human knowledge that is an integral part of language and how that knowledge is lost when languages die out. I came across this topic when my eye was caught by an article about endangered languages in the April edition of American University's magazine. The article mentioned David Harrison, who is a linguist and professor at Swarthmore College, and described his work through the Living Tongues Institute to preserve languages who have few speakers left. As someone who is passionate about foreign languages, the idea of endangered languages intrigued me and I decided to pursue the topic further by selecting this book as my IRB.
TOW #24 IRB Post
Reading goal: understand how the arrangement/progression of the book helps tie the message together
Writing goal: effectively and cohesively explore both overarching strategies used throughout the memoir as well as specific devices used in specific instances
When I last posted about my IRB Dreams from My Father, I had only read the first section, titled Origins, in which Obama describes his early life with his mother and maternal grandparents in Hawaii. By now, I have finished the book, which consisted of two more sections called Chicago and Kenya. As in the first part of the book, Obama continues to explore the family history that played a role in developing his identity as well as the social relationships he experienced in the beginnings of his career as a community organizer in Chicago.
By arranging the book in three parts, Obama reflects the progression of his personal journey. First comes Origins, introducing Obama's family history and heritage, the influences on the development of his identity. Next is Chicago, in which Obama decides in college that he wants to become a community organizer and moves to Chicago to work in the lower-economic African American communities on the South Side. In this section, Obama shows how his struggles with his identity were influenced by the issues the African American communities he worked with faced: the discrimination, the poverty, the lack of means and opportunity. The last section, Kenya, brings the book towards its culmination and Obama's realization of the meaning of his connection to his family in Kenya. Obama describes his visit to Kenya to meet his father's family and how the relationships he developed and experiences he had with his relatives allowed him to come to a point of acceptance of his families past and his identity as a part of that story. Thus the arrangement follows Obama's journey from the joy and confusion of childhood to the frustrations and dreams of becoming an adult to the acceptance and realization of coming to his family.
Following the idea of a return to origins, reflected in the title of the first part and the stories of Obama's visit to his family in Kenya, throughout the text Obama uses a number of images and allusions that reference the beginnings of humanity and human community. For example, Obama writes of the pastor of a Chicago church who watched wealthier African Americans move out of the inner city communities. With the loss of these people "the link to the past would be finally broken, [the reverend feared] that the children would no longer retain the memory of that first circle, around a fire..." (Obama 274). Obama watches the struggles of a community in which the wealthier members move, leaving the community to the poor and unprivileged, perpetuated in its troubles. He faces the frustration of the conflicting interests of people who are essentially brothers and sisters, who come from the same ancestors way, way back, the first humans who sat around a fire together. Later, describing a safari trip during his visit to Kenya, Obama writes "There in the dusk, over that hill, I imagined the first man stepping forward... If only we could remember that first common step, that first common word - that time before Babel," (Obama 356). Examining himself in a divided world, Obama refers back to the idea of a time of unity, a state from which everyone originated with the same needs for life, the same dangers to face and the same joys.
Following the idea of a return to origins, reflected in the title of the first part and the stories of Obama's visit to his family in Kenya, throughout the text Obama uses a number of images and allusions that reference the beginnings of humanity and human community. For example, Obama writes of the pastor of a Chicago church who watched wealthier African Americans move out of the inner city communities. With the loss of these people "the link to the past would be finally broken, [the reverend feared] that the children would no longer retain the memory of that first circle, around a fire..." (Obama 274). Obama watches the struggles of a community in which the wealthier members move, leaving the community to the poor and unprivileged, perpetuated in its troubles. He faces the frustration of the conflicting interests of people who are essentially brothers and sisters, who come from the same ancestors way, way back, the first humans who sat around a fire together. Later, describing a safari trip during his visit to Kenya, Obama writes "There in the dusk, over that hill, I imagined the first man stepping forward... If only we could remember that first common step, that first common word - that time before Babel," (Obama 356). Examining himself in a divided world, Obama refers back to the idea of a time of unity, a state from which everyone originated with the same needs for life, the same dangers to face and the same joys.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
TOW #23 "Multicultural President Should Be Celebrated, Not Investigated"
Reading goal: read for the purpose
Writing goal: use effective organization
Since the presidential campaign of 2008, some people have challenged the fact that President Obama was born in the US. A poll from 2011 showed that one in four Americans believed that he was born outside the United States. So that year President Obama addressed these rumors by releasing his full birth certificate, proving that he was in fact born in Hawaii. Denizen, an online magazine for Third Culture Kids, or kids who spend a significant number of their developmental years outside their parents culture, presented their views on the issue in the article "Multicultural President Should Be Celebrated, Not Investigated". Denizen writers Steph Yiu and Suzanne Leung argue that whether Obama was or wasn't born in the US should not be a big deal and that a president who does have experience of other cultures and countries should be valued as one who is better equipped to lead a country in our increasingly globalized world.
A lot of this post's argument rests on the assumption that the audience shares most of the writers' points of view. Yiu and Leung write that this controversy "reveals a disappointingly narrow-minded way of thinking and, in our opinion, veiled racism. To us, one’s birthplace is really just that — a geographic location, and one of many that one will live in throughout life. True allegiance and love for a country is so much more sophisticated and complicated than a birth certificate." Denizen magazine is created and consumed by a community of people who have spent parts of their lives living in multiple different countries. They presumably feel the same way about a birthplace and understand that you can love a country (or multiple countries) no matter where you are born.
Obama is a Third Culture Kid himself, as he lived for some time in Indonesia. Denizen argues that even if Obama hadn't been born in the US, it should not be such a point of controversy. Instead of challenged, international experience like Obama had in Indonesia should be valued in a leader. As Yiu and Leung state "We do not live in an one-culture world, and neither should our political leaders who must make decisions that have a global impact." This argument again is held up by their assumption that those reading this post have had their own experiences in other countries and understand that it is important in our globalized world to have contact with and understand other cultures.
Finally, Yiu and Leung support their argument that Obama's birth certificate should not matter by asserting that the challenges to his birth place are not questions of legitimacy for the presidency but are rather attacks born of racism and xenophobism. They cite how Obama's birth was questioned while the fact that John McCain was born in Panama never came up in the 2008 election, and how John Kerry is not examined for spending part of his childhood in France while Obama is for his time in Indonesia. Through this they imply that Obama's US birthplace is questioned because he is African American, and that this is a disturbing and petty prejudice.
Were Yiu and Leung writing to a wider audience, they would need to more strongly support their argument. However, as their post is targeted at a community of Third Culture Kids who relate to the experiences of both the authors and President Obama and to the argument that is expressed, their simple denouncement and call for a greater acceptance of multiculturalism is enough to be effective.
Here is the post from Denizen magazine: http://www.denizenmag.com/2011/05/multicultural-president-should-be-celebrated-not-investigated/
Writing goal: use effective organization
Since the presidential campaign of 2008, some people have challenged the fact that President Obama was born in the US. A poll from 2011 showed that one in four Americans believed that he was born outside the United States. So that year President Obama addressed these rumors by releasing his full birth certificate, proving that he was in fact born in Hawaii. Denizen, an online magazine for Third Culture Kids, or kids who spend a significant number of their developmental years outside their parents culture, presented their views on the issue in the article "Multicultural President Should Be Celebrated, Not Investigated". Denizen writers Steph Yiu and Suzanne Leung argue that whether Obama was or wasn't born in the US should not be a big deal and that a president who does have experience of other cultures and countries should be valued as one who is better equipped to lead a country in our increasingly globalized world.
A lot of this post's argument rests on the assumption that the audience shares most of the writers' points of view. Yiu and Leung write that this controversy "reveals a disappointingly narrow-minded way of thinking and, in our opinion, veiled racism. To us, one’s birthplace is really just that — a geographic location, and one of many that one will live in throughout life. True allegiance and love for a country is so much more sophisticated and complicated than a birth certificate." Denizen magazine is created and consumed by a community of people who have spent parts of their lives living in multiple different countries. They presumably feel the same way about a birthplace and understand that you can love a country (or multiple countries) no matter where you are born.
Obama is a Third Culture Kid himself, as he lived for some time in Indonesia. Denizen argues that even if Obama hadn't been born in the US, it should not be such a point of controversy. Instead of challenged, international experience like Obama had in Indonesia should be valued in a leader. As Yiu and Leung state "We do not live in an one-culture world, and neither should our political leaders who must make decisions that have a global impact." This argument again is held up by their assumption that those reading this post have had their own experiences in other countries and understand that it is important in our globalized world to have contact with and understand other cultures.
Finally, Yiu and Leung support their argument that Obama's birth certificate should not matter by asserting that the challenges to his birth place are not questions of legitimacy for the presidency but are rather attacks born of racism and xenophobism. They cite how Obama's birth was questioned while the fact that John McCain was born in Panama never came up in the 2008 election, and how John Kerry is not examined for spending part of his childhood in France while Obama is for his time in Indonesia. Through this they imply that Obama's US birthplace is questioned because he is African American, and that this is a disturbing and petty prejudice.
Were Yiu and Leung writing to a wider audience, they would need to more strongly support their argument. However, as their post is targeted at a community of Third Culture Kids who relate to the experiences of both the authors and President Obama and to the argument that is expressed, their simple denouncement and call for a greater acceptance of multiculturalism is enough to be effective.
Here is the post from Denizen magazine: http://www.denizenmag.com/2011/05/multicultural-president-should-be-celebrated-not-investigated/
Sunday, March 23, 2014
TOW #22 Visual
Since the horrible shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary a year and a half ago, gun control has been a high profile issue in American society. Shortly after the tragedy, the organization behind this ad campaign, Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America, was formed. I saw this ad a while ago and found it striking. The image combines effective appeals to pathos and logos in order to argue for stricter gun control.
The main device used by this ad is juxtaposition. The two items the children are holding, a Kinder Surprise egg and an assault rifle, are not items that would usually be seen together. The Kinder Surprise egg, next to the large, black, frightening gun, looks completely harmless. And yet the audience knows that the chocolate eggs are banned in the US for child safety while guns are not.
The ad is made more powerful by the fact that the gun is held by a child. The disturbing idea of a little girl holding an assault rifle appeals to the emotions of the audience, attempting to convince them of the urgency of the need for gun control. The serious faces of the children and the familiar but dull, shadowy schoolroom surroundings add to this disturbing atmosphere. Also, the stark text above the children's heads contributes to this sense of urgency with its white and red font and all capitals.
This text points out the irony of the situation by inviting the audience to pick which one of the items has been banned for the safety of children. The creator of the ad can assume that most people reading the ad will know that Kinder eggs are illegal in the US because of their potentiality to be choking hazards for small children. The audience is then forced to look at the much, much more dangerous item and recognize that it is legally sold despite the much more potent danger it poses for children in American society. Making an effective appeal to logos, the ad argues that if we outlaw chocolate eggs because the small plastic toy inside could be a choking hazard, then it certainly follows that we should outlaw assault rifles that can and have killed not just children, but people of all ages.
As a supporter of gun control and also as someone who used to eat Kinder eggs as a kid, I found this ad compelling because it laid out clearly ideas that I already agreed with. However, the logic of this argument cannot be argued even by someone who holds the opposite biases of me, which is what makes it so effective. The idea that chocolate eggs are outlawed for child safety while lethal weapons are not is absurd and cannot be disputed. This ad combines juxtaposition and an ironic situation with visual and verbal elements of urgency and danger to not just call for, but, as it says in the bottom right hand corner, demand action for gun control.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
TOW #21 "The Individual and the Pattern of Culture"
In her essay "The Individual and the Pattern of Culture", anthropologist Ruth Benedict begins by stating that society is not antagonistic to the individual. This idea is a misconception, she argues, because society is built by the contributions of its individuals, and the individuals rely on the society to build their lives. Then Benedict goes on to explore the place of the individual within a society, and how individuals who embody traits not valued by the society function within that society. "The Individual and the Pattern of Culture" is a chapter from a larger work by Benedict, Patterns of Culture, written in 1934. Throughout the chapter, Benedict compares the traditions and ways of life of multiple Native American tribes to each other as well as to contemporary American culture to explore how their is not one set of true normal standards for a society. Ultimately, she concludes that recognition of this "social relativity" as she calls it will help us to better understand and tolerate other cultures.
Benedict describes how individuals who behave in a way that may be seen as unacceptable in one culture may have characteristics that are prized in another. For example, she compares the way people in two different Native American tribes are expected to deal with frustration and despair: "Those who, in a situation in which they are frustrated, naturally seek ways of putting the occasion out of sight as expeditiously as possible are well served in Pueblo culture... On the other hand, those who react to frustration as to an insult and whose first thought is to get even are amply provided for on the Northwest Coast," (Benedict par. 9-10). In the two cultures, it is considered acceptable to react in two different ways, and the opposite behaviors would be unexpected and even shocking to the opposite tribes. Thus Benedict demonstrates how each culture believes their standards for behavior to be universal, and yet there is no single set of "correct" standards.
Benedict also shows how individuals who do not have the characteristics valued by their own culture are not supported by their society. Often these individuals in the end are force to conform. This situation can occur, Benedict notes, as a society changes over time. She cites the example of literary figure Don Quixote, who subscribed to the ideas of chivalry after that era had passed, and this behavior discredited him in the eyes of his society.
Sometimes individuals may be better suited for a culture that is not their own. However, because of distance or the passage of time, individuals can not necessarily relocate to different societies until they find a culture that fits them. Benedict argues that because customs differ from community to community and even individuals within a community differ, we need to accept that there is not one single set of standards that are normal. This recognition will help tolerance inside and between cultures, and will help foster better coexistence.
Benedict describes how individuals who behave in a way that may be seen as unacceptable in one culture may have characteristics that are prized in another. For example, she compares the way people in two different Native American tribes are expected to deal with frustration and despair: "Those who, in a situation in which they are frustrated, naturally seek ways of putting the occasion out of sight as expeditiously as possible are well served in Pueblo culture... On the other hand, those who react to frustration as to an insult and whose first thought is to get even are amply provided for on the Northwest Coast," (Benedict par. 9-10). In the two cultures, it is considered acceptable to react in two different ways, and the opposite behaviors would be unexpected and even shocking to the opposite tribes. Thus Benedict demonstrates how each culture believes their standards for behavior to be universal, and yet there is no single set of "correct" standards.
Benedict also shows how individuals who do not have the characteristics valued by their own culture are not supported by their society. Often these individuals in the end are force to conform. This situation can occur, Benedict notes, as a society changes over time. She cites the example of literary figure Don Quixote, who subscribed to the ideas of chivalry after that era had passed, and this behavior discredited him in the eyes of his society.
Sometimes individuals may be better suited for a culture that is not their own. However, because of distance or the passage of time, individuals can not necessarily relocate to different societies until they find a culture that fits them. Benedict argues that because customs differ from community to community and even individuals within a community differ, we need to accept that there is not one single set of standards that are normal. This recognition will help tolerance inside and between cultures, and will help foster better coexistence.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
TOW #20 Visual
Reading goal: understand what makes the advertisement effective
Writing goal: effectively analyze examples to show how they contribute to the overall purpose
Writing goal: effectively analyze examples to show how they contribute to the overall purpose
This year while watching the winter Olympics, I discovered this advertisement for General Electric, and I think it's probably one of the most effective ads I've seen in a long time. The advertisement is called "Childlike Imagination - What My Mom Does at GE". It features a little girl describing in childlike terms what her mother makes at work, exploring some of what GE does through the eyes of a child. It is also unique as an advertisement because its purpose is slightly different than most; this ad is not trying to get the audience to buy something. Rather, the advertisement serves to promote
General Electric to the wider public audience to generate interest in and support for what they are doing. It does
this by explaining and emphasizing the imagination of what GE creates.
The main strategy behind this advertisement is its child's perspective, as the whole premise of the ad is the comparison of "childlike imagination" to the imagination of GE. The voice of the little girl who narrates the video conveys a sense of innocence and wonder, associating those qualities with the company in the minds of the audience. The whimsical images which are simultaneously described by the little girl and pictured on the screen contribute to this childlike view of the technology GE develops. For example, the images of planes with wings like birds and trees that walk around and wave to trains are fantastical and appealing, yet they represent the real technology that GE actually develops. GE's use of the child's view is effective because the audience understands that what the child describes is not literally true but is an imaginative interpretation. Trees are not literally friends with trains and actual hospitals do not fit in your hand as described in the ad, but using this perspective to show how they develop environmentally friendly trains and hand-held medical resource devices is more imaginative and appeals to the audience.
Another strategy the ad uses is its environmental message. GE emphasizes their environmentally-friendly work by specifically highlighting their environmentally-friendly trains, but also implicitly by including naturalistic themed images. For example, the scenes of the moon powering the underwater turbines, the planes flying on birds wings through the clouds, and the little girl sitting among the waving trees associate GE technology with nature and help them appear environmentally friendly. This helps boost GE's ethos as a company by showing that it cares about the environment, which would help promote the company to a wider audience.
This ad also personally appealed to me and effectively appeals to an audience of mothers and daughters by having a little girl talk about her mom. The ad reinforces the idea that women are just as valuable in the areas of engineering and technology as men, and it helps to promote the company by showing that GE embraces that.
Overall the advertisement is artfully crafted and visually appealing. It effectively promotes General Electric to a wider public audience by emphasizing the childlike imagination of the company.
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