Sgt. Pepper, 3/6

Last Thursday was one of those days that's going to make me look at everything through the eyes of "postmodernity." Thanks a lot, Dr. Rog.

Althusser and Marx's main theme discussed ideology, and more specifically, what constitutes ideology. Each author basically explains the effects hegemony has on people every second of every day. Dr. Rog gave good examples of this by pointing out the binary oppositions of the ruling class, and how hegemony (or the norms set by the ruling class) teaches us to prefer 'fast' to 'slow' and 'new' to 'old.'

One of my favorite ideas from class on Thursday was that if you said, "Ideology doesn't affect me at all," then Althusser would most likely respond, "That's the most ideological thing you could say." This idea of someone not thinking they conform to ideology is pretty much impossible*, yet it's so common these days. I actually spoke with Dr. Rog about this a few days ago, and how so many people these days strive to be cut off from ideology and to be "different." We talked about the idea of "alternative" music, and how it's pretty much what's popular, so it's almost like an oxy moron. This behavior of trying to be different than everyone else could be compared to the days of the hippies in the '60s and '70s and their attempts to "bring down the man." But while these individualists try to be different, it's clear (and Althusser would agree) that their behavior is, and forever will be, ideological.

*I was driving to my Grandpa's farm this past week (which is in the middle of nowhere, at least 40 miles from anything that could be remotely considered civilization), and I started to wonder if and how it would be possible to be cut off from all ideologies and to live unaffected by hegemony. The only thing I could come up with, and it still might not work, is that maybe if someone lived 40 miles from any civilization without the government knowing. If they raised farm animals to eat, and drank strictly water from the creek, would they be considered 'living without ideology'? I decided probably not, but they'd definitely be a lot closer to it than any of us.