Man[goes] to Discord

Discord is one the most popular group chatting apps and possibly the most popular communication app among "gamers." But it isn't just for gaming, a lot of people use it for just casual conversation and chilling. And when I talk to people, I like learn about their how they have lived and such. Because it lets me put on their shoes and understand what they have been through and their past in the sense. It also helps in what I am allowed to talk about and what I am not allowed to talk about. But, it is really hard to ask these question to people just by talk, but in mind needs to be asked to allow for a real connection.

People don't realize how often offensive jokes/dark humor is used and many times this dark humor mocks certain groups or targets them. For example a lot people make Holocaust jokes. But imagine if they were said when a Jewish person was in the call. I have seen this happen quite a few times actually, especially one of the people that I have played with online for quite a while is Jewish. Another example might be the fact that I talked to a person who was in foster care and then somebody said something that was supposed to "funny" about parents. My immediate reaction was to ask the person indirectly if it was okay and the response was "Yeah, it's alright, I don't care."

But the thing is I don't want to hurt some people due to some unintentional talk/banter. So I have been trying to discern their culture through their accent and deepness/raspiness of voice, for example a past smoker would probably have a more deeper, raspier voice. But I haven't always been correct, so when I ask a straight forward question, I often am asked "Why?" It makes sense, because many times it may seem like I am racist, sexist, etc.

Man[goes to "The Future"

 The episode of  "The American Life" podcast was called "Escape from the Lab" which conversed about how many creations have unintended creations which are not necessarily good, to say the least. And really went through many of the podcast descriptions to find something that would interest me since I do not want to sleep in these boring and dark times, especially since many of the more recent podcasts are related to coronavirus or the scuffed election.

One of my main concerns always has been the misuse of "new" things, for example, the movie Gattaca really displayed the fears of genetic engineering. But it doesn't even need to just be technology. It could just be new ideas or processes. For example the idea of The Bachelor impacted Colton's life quite significantly. Humans are not perfect. They are not always good or something, that is why there are debates on things like genetic engineering. 

Humans have prejudices and unconscious thoughts. They have imperfections, such as shown in the revoke of the award for the "Jose" (nsfw). While more developed, humans are still animals and as such, they have primal instincts such as greed and tenacity and tenacity to satisfy this greed. And with the cunning brain of ours, we try our best to either survive or satisfy our greed. And this is how some of these "unintended consequences" occur, like the dropping of the atomic bomb, might add: twice. Add this to how we are brought up and the opinion of the people in our environment and environment itself seeping into you. I feel so bad for some people who live with people with utterly stupid opinions. Man!

Man[goes] to Visit Story Characters

One of the major purposes of stories throughout humankind’s history has been to pass knowledge/morals between each other. And these morals are often the backbone of a story. As such, even in more recent times storytellers use their writings as a way to convey a message of advice. However, the need for this advice would not be represented correctly if the means through which it was represented, a story,  was not realistic, which includes the characters themselves. This method of developing characters to make them seem more “real” could be said to be what is known as complex characterization.

Science of Storytelling

First, let us understand what are considered as signs of a character’s realism. These are what define a person as “complex” in a story: changes in the character due to experiences, variety of traits and different sides to their personality, possible conflict in the character, displays a full range of emotions, has an impact in the story.

What is a Complex Character?

Unsurprisingly, one of the major aspects of complexity is the act of learning. It is one of the few things that makes a human, human. As said earlier, one of the main purposes of stories were/are to spread knowledge, showing humanity’s continuous focus to learn. That is what makes the human race so wise: “A wise man knows a wise man knows nothin’ ” (Royce da 5’9”). Similarly, authors develop their characteristics by showing change through experience, adapting to situations like how Sourdi accepts and adapts to her new life of being married. And to complement this, Nea adapts and learns of Sourdi’s new opinion and acceptance of the marriage. Not only does Nea accept Sourdi’s new stance, but Nea also realizes the limiting nature of how much power one human has, in sense of having “no magical powers.” As shown, with learning sometimes comes changes in character or/and behavior. Another such example would be in the play Oedipus where the king Oedipus is shown to be narcissistic/very arrogant, possibly due the fame after solving the Sphinx’s riddle after no one else could. This development is then developed even further when Oedipus realizes that following his curiosity had led him astray by leading him to destiny. Oedipus realizes how his current mannerism is not flawless, dimming down his arrogance. The whole story only starts because of Oedipus learning about his destiny, changing his path and actions to take caution to avoid his destiny. This really reflects the realistic world in which there are many changes occurring continuously since life is continuous.

The other major aspect of a complex character is the rounded personality and various traits. This means that a person has some skill in many fields and also has multiple attributes and emotions, such as kind, caring, hot-headed, etc. This shows a 3-D character of a person, meaning he/she has multiple sides to his personality, showing in-depth complex combinations of emotions, like the dejection and satisfaction of Oedipus when he finds out the truth. Similarly, while Oedipus is shown to be overly arrogant, he maintains his pride and his desire for justice by taking his own two eyes. This is a strict contrast to the childish desire that he has to unearth a mystery. And he realizes this as a flaw later in the story, leading to the next point of having an internal conflict, regretting his steadfast attitude for everything. An internal conflict is basically an easy way of identifying the inner thought processes or atleast identifying the possession of inner thought - one of the main ways humans develop themselves and change themselves. And an internal conflict is exactly what Nea has when she tries to defend her sister from sexual harassment but then is told off by her sister who she defended. Nea is so caring as to stab the man who was harassing Sourdi (quite the opposite of caring). And soon, her sister, Sourdi also has to face the question of whether to acclimate her soon to be married life or run away, and chooses to courageously follow her disciplines and marry. As such, it could be said that in the path of Sourdi and Nea are complementary, each providing reasons and causes of change in each, developing each other.

This combination of writing choices by authors, making characters more realistic and whole relatable and visualizable. This allows for a connection to be drawn between the readers and the characters as a real world meeting or actual person that existed. Summing all of it up, the message conveyed by the story to have actual impact in the “real world.”

Man[goes] to His Memories

 

In Switzerland in Zurich (probably taken by me)

In general, they were simpler, funnier times. I didn't have much to worry about. I would just go to school, come home, play some cricket, study for tests, etc. I didn't have the pressure of doing every activity properly either for my grade or do get into a college of high status. It's hard to explain. They were just simpler time. 

You know what, I'll try to explain it. There was just less responsibility. It was a time of innocence. And the picture above was taken during a vacation in which we visited Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

One of the main things was that at that point of time I was still the only child. Is it still a "main" thing? Not really, I guess. But I guess it was easier back then.

I had no worries during that trip except for the cold and snow getting my shoe. But now, every time I am on a road trip or something, I always think about school or something.

The thing is people think I don't care. "Some people" think that I don't really worry about school or any other work. But in reality I am hella worried. But I think I have just become immune to it. I mean I still have stage fright and stuff but a lot of pressure associated with submitted work has gone down.

My goal is to be as cool as the mountaintops shown in the picture when I am faced with a stressful/emotional situation. 

Man[goes] to Hypocracy

The United Kingdom/Britain: A group of countries that ruled one of the most massive empires. And one of the key justifications it voiced for its colonization was the bring of civilization to these "rural, uncivilized" people, but it in reality it used these colonies for its own benefits.

Similarly, now some "developed" countries are portrayed as countries with great opportunities and as role models for other countries. They are shown as enriching and "civilized."

But Banksy brings out the reality in his work. These "developed" countries that have such value and pride should surely make their meaningful flags that they salute to, sing the national anthem to, read the pledge to, etc. in their own country with the help of well-paid workers, right?

No no no! The country is represented in Banksy's piece by an very young child-laborer who is probably very ill-paid and has horrible living conditions, as somber thing. Even with such great wealth of a "developed" country, the role model becomes a role model in continuing wrong practices such as child labor. Instead of supporting upcoming and poverty-stricken countries, the enterprises in these "wealthy" countries go for profit. I guess its all about the "survival of the fittest."

You know . . . I remember when I was India when I was younger, or even sometimes when I visit to India, we would be surprised that a "white person" is visiting and we would look upon these visitors so highly since they stood for this wealth and so we thought they might bring wealth to us. Ahhhhh . . . Innocence. 

And, Banksy courageously criticizes this publicly this work called "Slave Laborer." With this choice as the title, he shows that we are literally doubling down on our past mistakes and continuing to fund the wrong for the justification of efficiency and thriftiness. 

Man[goes] to Construction

Ahhhh yes, construction! Don't you just love it. Thankfully, it's one of the few things that I love that appears frequently in my life. Sad life . . . Ah well, but construction just makes it better, you know. It frees you from making decisions on the roads that you want to take and also answering questions about the speed limit. And what could be a better example of this than the road construction on Big Beaver.

The majestic merging of 3 lanes into one beautiful crowded lane. This lane is so desired that people lose their sanity and cut off other cars. And to counter this, some people drive in between two lanes, while other people follow the say "if you can't beat them, join them." It is such a sight that psychologists and psychiatrists from all over the world come here to study the human mind at such a time. They want to read how humans react to the abundance of bright orange cones and jackets. They want to seek the true number of epilepsy cases.

Don't you love the confusing signs, too. They give you such clear directions on the wrong way. For highway go this way, and we will put the same sign later for the diversion to the highway and we will make the U-turn's seem like the normal diversion to the other side that continues the road. So then, you assume that the highway sign means that the road only diverts to the highway and the other path is for the normal diversion to continue the road. See, this paragraph is as clear as the instructions that the signs on the road show.

Man[goes] to One's Personality

 One of the most confusing questions this past week was the question of whether Oedipus has a complex character. 

We know that Oedipus was not one of royal upbringing beforehand. As such, he did not have the developed characteristics that are often reared in princes/princesses. This means that he had to have learned these characters after his appointment or rather he had to learn the arrangement of a wise and noble facade. The latter seems likely, since Oedipus is a smart man and he would like to hold on to his power.

This facade would be called a personality would it not? 

The word personality is derived from the Latin word for mask. As such, personalities are just masks? So, "real" people do not have personalities, the ones that show their "real" self. Or is it not possible for one to show their "real" face. Is it such that human thought is not able to be well-expressed enough to not have a mask, that is a personality. Is it impossible to live without a personality? Is it impossible to live without a mask? 

Of course, sometimes it is almost impossible for one to reveal their own face to themselves. I think in such situation, a person has lost their true identity in order to show society what is accepted. 

That is a SIN! It is a sin to lose your true identity. That is what makes each person unique. That is what makes each person, a person.

NEVER LOSE YOUR TRUE SELF 

Man[goes] in Life

One of the biggest questions ever is: "What is the meaning of life?" 

When I think about it, I am just left with a black space to stare into. Is it the pursuit of happiness? Is it the pursuit of wealth? Is it the pursuit of fame? Is it having a happy family?

I think The Alchemist really gives life a purpose through the story of Santiago.

while the moral pretty commonly voiced, sticking to the moral is hard.

What is this moral, you may ask. Well, I think it is the lesson that life is enjoying your pursuit for a goal. It is about learning and experiencing, The joy of success is short lived, but the path is not. The path is ridden with obstacles and events that could define your life. As such, one needs to learn to find a mentality in which one enjoys challenges, or is unbothered by them.

Such a mentality might be that "Life is Life." This is merely and adaptation to constant challenges, but is not a mentality that provides joy, but is just a resistance to worry.

While this ideology does not provide continuous happiness, it can help in providing joy while facing challenges, not joy in the challenges. It is like finding man[goes] in life to find sweetness through these challenges. Finding joy in some challenges is not the real challenge, but it is the challenge of finding joy in all challenges. 

 

I do believe that it is possible to find joy in all challenges.

At least through a few of the challenges I have experienced and through anime!!!!!

Man[goes] to Speak

The meaning that a friendly phrase carries, whether it is literal intent or politeness, depends on the relations between different parties. It is not necessary that the phrase “How are you?” communicates politeness: maybe a person asked that to his friend, genuinely wondering how his friend is. Maybe you are worried about a teacher that you are not close with because of the Coronavirus outbreak and you need something to be graded quickly, or you need to meet with a tutor or something. I dunno.

Then you might say that between friends, they will say “How r u?” But until about 4ish years ago it wasn’t that popular. I wasn’t using it commonly among closer people until 2-3 years ago. Although abbreviations are getting more common among closer people, meaning that it is more likely than not that their words carry literal intent, many people still use proper formal-ish language, like many parents. And how does one tell the difference between abbreviations and full words while speaking?

As such, I think the human brain is, many times, capable enough to distinguish the meaning of somebody’s words, like how many times we can tell when somebody is being sarcastic. And there are many phrases that can be consider just be used to polite. For example, I use “Hope you are doing well” in the beginning of many of my formal e-mails and messages. Sometimes, I actually mean it and sometimes I don’t. And sometimes I expect people to think of it as literal to start a conversation. As such it is almost impossible to make a list of phrases that only carry politeness and not literal intent and many times that list may be wrong. Even then these phrases could switch between literal intent and just politeness or maybe even be a combination depending on the sender’s mood, the time, the urgency, etc. There are many factors that come into speech and its effect. This is why it is hard to be a great public speaker.
And here’s really bad meme done using photos

Man[goes] to Power

"Janus-faced god . . . wounds and power"

"The ancient Roman god Janus was imagined to have two faces looking in opposite directions."

Without wounds, there wouldn't power and without power, there wouldn't be wounds.

Essentially, they are two sides of the same coin.

 And it's not just having power, but also the pursuit of power. Also vice versa.

Power can be in many forms be it respect, dominance, etc.

Veterans earn respect because they are brave enough to put themselves at risk of wounds (maybe even death) for the protection of the country.

And in the pursuit of the opposite, we can observe the Nazis & Japanese in World War 2.

The wounds that come from the struggle for power is what differs many people from chasing it.

These wounds don't necessarily have to physical or visible. It can be the memories created or the emotions. It will many times be intangible. Maybe it is the "eternal PTSD" (quoted from a song I'm currently listening to) created.

The thing is that many things in life create "warzone[s] in my head" or be it anyone else.

Life is all about the mind

 This is why I love analyzing wars or following Elon Musk. And, also playing strategy games.

In WW2, the two major psychological fights, at least in the European theatre, was between Hitler & Stalin and Roosevelt & Churchill.

Hitler & Stalin were both scared of each other and both knew that the other opposed the other's ideologies. Due them being wary of the other, the German invasion of Russia occurred, even though there was a treaty between the two. The Germans stationed troops near the Soviet border because Hitler was wary of Stalin and his desire for power.

Coupling this with Hess' secret flight to Britian, Stalin thought Hitler was backstabbing him.

And so on . . .

Psychology is very important to survive in the world. 

Man[goes] to Drive Through Chapel

Honestly, drive through marriage ceremonies aren't such a bad idea.

See, this is not my personal experience and I don't have much credibility on this topic. But, eh, whatever . . .

I have hear/read many stories/recollections about the change associated with marriage. Some of them come from manga, but anyway . . . Manga carries, in many cases, good messages. 

They say that after marriage, it became more professionalish or less interactive or something. I feel like this happens due the large scale of many weddings. Yes, marriage is a big step, but doesn't need to taken in a step. It can be taken through smaller steps. I think this could be provided by a smaller scale marriage such as a drive through wedding. It doesn't leave such a big imprint that defined later actions. I think a sudden big step is a problem with arranged marriages. 

Maybe the government of Singapore and Japan should provide free small homes for genuine couples to experience staying together to increase their low birthrates. 

Spending some nights could a small step, then starting to stay in the same house (this itself is a big step). Honestly, I couldn't talk about these steps since I am 16 and I haven't been in a relationship. Man, I don't even have proper friends.

On the other hand, anyone want to join with me to start a drive through marriage chain in India. People would be flocking to us. Cheap and Fast! Save so much money and maybe have the marriage dinner in a nearby restaurant or something. Actually, we might have to install multiple drive-throughs in the same establishment.

Man[goes] to Suffer

The question of whether a lobster suffers while being boiled alive is truly a confusing one. Is it based on its action or scientific proof? 

I think its is more about if the being feels like it/he/she is dying. For example, if a person is drowning, that person will thrash around and suffer. The feeling of dying itself is a stimulus and isn't that feeling torturous, even though it is a stimulus. So, the argument that a lobster's thrashing is just a reaction to a stimulus and is not suffering is invalid.

Suffering is not just pain. It doesn't just have to be physical, it can also be mental or emotional. If we bring this as a factor into the treatment of animals, lobsters aren't the only ones being mistreated. What about all the animals being farmed in tight spaces? What about the lack of freedom in zoos?

In that sense, we are weak minded race that doesn't linger to either extreme. We also see this in politics. Most of us linger around being a centrist with many extremist groups being eradicated. This, I think, is the reason of the human survival and dominance. We try to adapt with change, like in the instance of climate change due to our actions. However, we need to make our adaptions faster. For this we need to be more extreme. It is ironic in a sense but it is like math. If velocity is positive then acceleration could still be negative.

Basically, it is good that beliefs of most humans are not extreme however when changing them we need to extreme (faster) to adapter faster.

Man[goes] to Reality

I would like to talk about what I think is the uncontroversial main point in Our Barbies, Ourselves and point out some flaws in the piece.

Well, I completely agree that the Barbie doll might be modeled after the creators vision of a perfect woman which pretty unrealistic. The world is imperfect and so are humans. Perfection is the ultimate desire and so the creator isn't much in the wrong. He did do his purpose of making a popular doll.

While Prager in the right to say that Barbie dolls are instilling young girls with the desire to be perfect, it is not that only women are expected to be perfect. I bet that even male dolls would be unrealistically perfect if they existed. It is naturally common for young boys to not play with dolls while girls do.

This might seem like its irrelevant according to many people, but I think to truly explore the world of seeking perfect, people should explore the library of comics (including mangas, manhwas, etc.), cartoons (including animes), movies, and novels. Many of the characters in these fictional creations are perfectionized, both men and women, be the author/director male or female.

While sexism does exist in the world, I think Prager is not right. Many might argue against me, but it is only an opinion. It may be flawed and I accept that. I am not anti-feminist or anything.

The truth is that women were treated as a valued commodity in some areas of the world. Nowadays, the situation is much better, but it is still not perfect. Gender roles are slowly being erased and hopefully they will.

However, I don't think sexism will ever cease to exist. Our subconscious will always create prejudices. That is the truth about the human brain. It is molded through experience. 

Man[goes] to Analyze

This blog entry is essentially going to be a random jumble of my experience and response to the prompts from the textbook.

To summarize my response to prompt number 4:

The internet does provide platforms with essentially true anonymity. However, the outside world can affect one's words in the chat. The trauma from an experience or something else like the way someone was brought may not allow them free themselves fully. On the contrary, I sometimes go full rage mode if something really aggravates. While this may childish, in the game Clash of Clans, people with no true knowledge about other countries, would talk crap about them and I would get really pissed, especially if it was India.

Focusing on gender roles, girls are often brought up to sweet, caring and soft-spoken. This often allows people to differentiate them from males even if anonymous. This differentiation maybe wrong sometimes, however, many times it is right.

Sometimes, I get pissed when people complain that society drives to not follow their dreams. Then what about all the gamer girls, LGBTQs, a guy who made pads for women, etc. They changed society. Man anyone can do it if they are determined and have the mental power to last. However not everyone has the mental power. I don't, which makes hypocritical. However, atleast I'm accepting it. 

Anyway back to gender roles. I would to mention the James Bond movies. James Bond is always awarding with some woman, making women seems as a trophy, a material possession. However, in this movie, a woman was secret agent or something. So the movie follows and disregards the steretypical gender roles??? I don't being a trophy is female gender role. I think I just made that up. Oh well, guess I am stupid. Man, I am excited to watch some movies with the my new headphones and then analyze gender roles.

Man[goes] to Dressing School???

The opinion that women do not an unmarked fashion choice seems false to me. Or it is that there is concept of markedness and unmarkedness that is false. I do not know.

Or maybe I do not understand the concept.

I understand the concept in 2 different ways:

i) You do not notice the person and proceed to them uniquely at first glance (Unmarked)

ii) You do not judge them after scrutinizing the person for a long time (Unmarked)

Let us look at the first one:

This one seems to be pretty obvious, at least to me. There is always a set of unmarked fashion for both genders. In India, I would say it would say the unmarked color would darker like maroon, dark blue, etc. (Even for women)

Now, let us look at the second one:

Unmarked fashion means that you can't find something about their unique selves through clothing, make-up, etc. However, Tannen ignores the men because they don't appeal to her because they are boring to analyze. Let's just look at the example we formulated in class of an unmarked Troy High male student. Airpods might show that the students follows trends and tries to fit in with the crowd and so on with the other pieces of clothing. This might seem to be exact point that Tannen is trying prove. That, the end conclusion would be that they are trying to fit in with the crowd.

However, what about the color, the haircuts, the shoes, the pants. The type and brand of these pieces of clothing can also be considered. There are basically infinite amount of possibilities. Just because a certain large group is similar in some ways doesn't mean they are the definition of "NORMAL" or "UNMARKED."

It is basically segregation in a sense.

Everyone is marked in someway or another.

For example, let's take my classmate for example. He wears what seems to be the same hoodie (to me) everyday. Then, he finally got a new one for $5 dollars at Target or something. He wore simple "off-brand" clothes. It told me he didn't care so much about his fashion that much. He never wore skinny jeans, so I thought he didn't prefer. He recently confirmed that it was true.

Maybe I am getting the whole concept wrong. Then I'm an idiot. But this is the

THE END

 

Man[goes] to 1988

While reading The Round House, it intrigued me how racism was still so big in America only about 30 years ago. Though racism still persists, even if it in a smaller magnitude, it is only natural via our human brains.(That made no sense, I think)

Anyway, we can infer that Erdrich hinting that even one of the most unfortunate of the white population looked down upon one of so deemed lower class (Red Indians in this case) who, literally, suffered the same - rape. Instead of feeling sorry for the heavily wounded Indian woman, she decides to question their authority to receive treatment from a hospital outside of their own neighborhood even if the emergency ward was "under construction" (in the notes). One would think that a victim would be more passionate towards the unfortunate and discriminated. So, if such person herself is this hostile, what about the more fortunate.

Discrimination will always exist through one difference or the other. For instance, it could be through the "greatness" of one's genes like seen in the movie Gattaca. Discrimination seems to be natural due the human tendency to be with their own - people with similar characteristics. This grouping starts from physical characteristic, then further branches down into other characteristics such as wealth, morals, and family heritage.

Discrimination in its true, untainted form is not evil. It is just recognizing the differences between two or more entities. It is humans created the misinterpretation. Discrimination can always be a blanket for an action. The villain attacks the hero because their morals differ. South Korea fought North Korea because their ideologies deferred. A tiger hunts a deer because their placement in the food web differs.

Last time I said that the Universe's and other universes' existence in relation to the human species is in form of double helix since our species is not ever living. But now seems that the final revelation I had in the blog is some what true. But I do not know if the new spiral is made of the double helix structure or if it is new spirals inside the 2 helices.

 THE END