A Rant
I've been wriled up about the world for a long time, but the classes that I've just finished really got me going recently -I definately picked the right courses this semester. I've probably learned more about the world and looked at it more critically in the past three months than ever before. Now that the semester is over, I'm going to do my best to continue on with this current trend, with or without the textbooks and teachers.
This seems to sum up what I got out of the two sociology classes:
The world can really get you down. When you really start learning about it and how incredibly complicated the problems are, it's easy to disempower yourself by feeling so overwhelmed. We live in a society in which our lives become so atomized, we feel like we live in a vacuum. But we don't! Every one of our actions, thoughts and feelings have an effect!
Arrr! It's all ripples in the pond! We need to learn to re-empower ourselves, and realize that we can change the way things are! If there is something we don't like about our society or our culture, we need to work to change things! You can't just sit back and be passive about it (and if you do chose to be that way, you certainly can't complain about it, and if you do complain throughout your passivity, I will have no sympathy for you)!
We are both created by and creating the society, so every one of our actions does have an effect. Because we live in this world WITH OTHER PEOPLE, it's a community! Each one of our so-thought-to-be insignificant actions get added to all the other actions of all the other people around us. Think about the collective power of our actions! It's incredible! We really can make a change, as long as we realize this.
This is why it's so important to have as good of an understanding about the way things work in this world, so that we can choose our actions in a way to best influence the path of society. You can't just run around with your eyes closed and hope that things work out the way you want to. It's time for people to open their eyes and start looking more carefully. As Gordon would say, "you have to be a SHIT DETECTOR!" The world is filled with smoke screens and shit veils. We need to be knowledgeable and critical about the world so that we can first detect the shit, then start to peel it back and see the world with new clarity.
It's time to start smelling the poo!
posted by Darcy @ 5:53 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I hate to be pesimistic, but the problem is that knowledge lies in the hands of the minority. People are mesmerized by the "shit." People are drawn to it, in the case of life as we know it, shit really does smell like roses. Our society revolves around material possessions and people are afraid to give them up. They love the shit. People don't want to get off their asses and learn because the shit is glorious. What can be better than just consuming as much as you want or buying more than you need?! Saving the starving people around the world? Of course.. but nobody wants to do that. More people need to get off their asses and exercise their brains instead of just sitting infront of the television watching Joey or Fox News. Like you said we as a people can cause change. But we have to start with ourselves. I'd say tear down the television networks for good, but that would mean i couldnt watch the O.C...
(sorry for rambling)
You are very right. And your pessimistic perspective is important. Obviously it's not as easy as saying "hey you! wake up and see that that rosey smell is really bullshit!" But I'm not going to let the difficulty of the situation disempower me. I'm only one person and I can only do my best to stir the pot and hopefully through my actions, cause a collective of action and change.
I think part of the beauty of blogs and online journals is that people can raise these issues and start a public discourse. I am part of the minority holding the knowledge, but I'm going to use my authority and situation in society to spread the knowledge as much as I possibly can. It's going to start with this blog (well, hopefully), and if someone randomly comes across is and reads some of what I've written, and it makes the slightest difference, well that's a start. I guess what I'm going to try to do is make the information more accessable. The more times it's out there, the more likely it is that someone will read it and think about it.
Here's to hoping!
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