Anti-sociality
In Wesch’s video, he mentions how by doing that which his sister enjoyed, he understood the variable purpose of country music, it is not just a certain genre, though it is, each song conveys a different idea and feeling. He says thus “…I was over-intellectualizing everything, denying the trials of life itself….” This can be applied to sociality in and of itself as-well.
In Adiche’s lecture, she conveys how it was her student’s understanding that Nigerian men were generally abusive; “…he told me it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abusers like the father character in my novel.” Even though it was not necessarily the case, and of course, isn’t the case. I felt similar since Lauren and I are in proximity, and when we were supposed to discuss an idea, I felt as though it was her initiative to converse with me since I am behind her. When we did discuss the ideas, she seemed uninterested, and I figured that may be because of me, since, for one, my ideas may be more outlandish, but also it’s possible that I am just weird. I now know, having engaged with her, she thinks it is the initiative of others to converse with her. She was talking about how her uncle doesn’t talk with her at Christmas (she was explaining why Christmas isn’t her favorite holiday), and I said “Well, you don’t talk with him either?” This was the case, because as she said: her uncle was the adult, so it was his responsibility. However, I think we can probably both agree, that the subjects themselves are uninteresting.
Looking at the other posts, there is a very clear theme of introvertedness. This makes sense with two things, for one, most people seem to have chosen symbolic or object images, only some have chosen selfies. A selfie is obviously a more extroverted thing. This also makes sense since the class is largely quiet, and this cannot merely be explained by the dehumanizing social implications of masks, physical distancing and computers. With introvertedness, there seems to be a kind of barrier, which is hardened by dehumanization and factory-like conditions. It also speaks to a generation which has grown up with computers, in an era of extreme passiveness or over-protection on the part of parents.
The idea is that an introvert may do well in speaking to others, but because he has no personal responsibility to build relationships, he does not. I believe it falls as a responsibility on me therefore, and this of course is a natural conclusion of anyself in understanding of this, to reduce this barrier. As John said “After this time, I learned that the growing environment and the friends around me really make a big difference between people.”
The author maintains a tone as stubborn and dismissive as the phrase she’s talking about, seemingly tired and uninterested but also biased, compare “The old and young are feuding — yet again. Oh bother.” with “They’re right to be angry about coming of age in a world made ugly by selfish choices.” In an attempt to seem objective, but also to take up and justify the phrase without question, or counter-arguments for that matter. One thing I did like was the certainty and challenge, despite the falsehood, in parts like “…the entire episode reads more like an Onion article—complete unintelligent nonsense….” While I did not learn much from the article, it certainly reminded me of the real problem in the world, lack of self-responsibility. Many from Generation Z seek to viciously blame their ancestors, but have no thought as to what they’re doing wrong. It’s like two alcoholics pointing the finger at eachother, whilst the guy who sells them all their alcohol sits in the corner quietly chuckling to himself, that guy being the central bank and bankers in reality.
The author has a semi-cynical tone, which manifests in such sentences like “And truly, who has ever been satisfied by people?” as she compares socializing with addiction to smoking, making a shaky and offensive idea, which may be the purpose of the whole essay. In trying to demonstrate the bad side of socialization, she uses an interesting simile “telling someone about an insult is like telling them about a dream.” She ends it with the take-away that maybe people socialize “in order to fall short”, and that, in the end, one must go about being addicted to people. It seems short-sighted to me, like she’s looking down a cigarette and seeing the smoke but not seeing the bags of cocaine stacked in front of her. What I mean is, it doesn’t address her evident neuroticism, evident in the second paragraph, where she says if she figured out why she was going out, then she might be less critical and suspicious of herself, not realizing that it’s precisely that which is the problem, not the going out part.
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