Murphy, 2/23

(Post-Class from Thursday 2/19)

Continuing our discussion on Habermas Thursday was most interesting to me when we talked about how our actions are based off of conventions. These conventions tell us what is real/authentic. Dr.Rog's example of how racing cannot be a part of educational culture, and keeping them separate is a way of thriving in both environments really made sense to me. Growing up in Indianapolis I lived around the Indy 500, and coming to school in Winter Park the first thing a lot of people ask me when I tell them where I'm from is "You don't like NASCAR do you?"
I think other situations are good example of conventions creating worlds that need to be separated, such as what music we listen to, what clothes we wear, and what types of food we enjoy eating. The idea brought up in class that "we have to take classes/ have an education to tell us what we like", rings true in everyday life. The other week I attended an etiquette dinner. I had to sit and listen to someone tell me how to eat a certain way to be proper and succeed in formal situations. The information was useful, but it is ironic that we have to be "taught" to eat a certain way. These cultural rules and regulations determine the "elite". Something I wrote down in my notes from Thursdays class in regards to elitism was-- Elitism is teaching us to consume these things that we do not necessarily care for.
I think people buy houses, buy cars, listen to certain music, watch certain movies, eat certain foods, and act a certain way all because we feel societies pressure to fit into certain categories.
Another part of Thursday's discussion that I really thought about later was the class exercise we did with the quote, "Does reality actually outstrip fiction?"
I wrote: After reading Baudrillard and Zizek, reality does not seem to outstrip fiction because fiction begins to define reality. Media is the biggest player in this scheme of manipulating images of what is real, into new images that we consume, accept, and for the most part never challenge.
I was specifically referring to the parts of their writings that talked about 9/11. The media plays into the terrorists favor by recreating over and over and over again the same image of destruction that causes the mass hysteria.