Monday, December 22, 2008
Wal-Mart Stampede Reaction
To be honest, I was very disturbed that this could actually happen, but it didn't surprise me too much.
Buy Nothing Day Reflection
When we had been talking about Black Friday in Andy's class, it really made me think.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Meaning? In Thanksgivng?
This past week(end) we had Thanksgiving. I was really looking forward to it for over 3 weeks. I was going to see my cousins, my aunts, my uncles, and my friends. But mostly I was looking forward to eating. I had been ready for a week to eat alot. I could already see it: the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, desert. I seriously couldn't wait. So I get to the party and after a little bit of shmoozing the food comes out. I really wasn't thinking about if it was meaningful or not, I was just stuffing myself. After about an hour, after the food settled in we started playing music, and I thought back to what we had been talking about in history class. How we sort of have this ritual. We say hello to our family, all the guests who are there, hang out for a little bit, eat a lot of food, and play some music. I knew what was coming up next, it was when we all went around and said what was meaningful to us. I decided to bring up the genocide topic. We all went around and said that we were thankful for family, and for good health, and for food etc. and I was thinking 'this is all really nice, but no one really knows the true meaning of this day', and I was actually excited for my turn to come up. It finally did and all of a sudden I got nervous. I realized that by bringing up the genocide topic, I was kind of giving the middle finger to all the people who had showed up today who actually had stuff to be thankful for, so all i said was "I am thankful for school". The night after Thanksgiving I threw up about 15 times, losing all the food that I had eaten, and a good memory. I took it as God's punishment for being thankful.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Dominant Corporate Messages Analysis
In our time, a ”meaningful” life has become only superficially meaningful, as our values are so greatly conditioned by the media, popular culture, and the premium placed on success and sex appeal. With the tremendous concern for materialistic things such as monetary gain and social status, physical appearance, and power, the core from which we derive “meaning” has become warped and depleted. The truly “meaningful” life, it would seem would comprise of peace, love, happiness, community, friendship, family.
Sarah Palin symbolizes the death of the in choosing Sarah Palin as the representative of the Republican Party, we see that a telegenic candidate is more valued over a competent one. She was miss Alaska back in (get year) and she was the Governor of Alaska. She could have been the vice president of the Untied States of America. Who are we to even judge a woman on her looks.
Sarah Palin symbolizes the death of the in choosing Sarah Palin as the representative of the Republican Party, we see that a telegenic candidate is more valued over a competent one. She was miss Alaska back in (get year) and she was the Governor of Alaska. She could have been the vice president of the Untied States of America. Who are we to even judge a woman on her looks.
Exhibition Type Paper
People are so blinded by what mainstream media tells us is a good and meaningful life, that we can’t even see the real meaning in our own lives.
In our time, a ”meaningful” life has become only superficially meaningful, as our values are so greatly conditioned by the media, popular culture, and the premium placed on success and sex appeal. With the tremendous concern for materialistic things such as monetary gain and social status, physical appearance, and power, the core from which we derive “meaning” has become warped and depleted. The truly “meaningful” life, it would seem would comprise of peace, love, happiness, community, friendship, family. Corporate media such as Rap music, Reality shows, and Commercials, warp reality to the point in which you don’t even know what YOU want. You know what the media wants you to want and you end up getting sucked into that idea of a “good” life.
Sarah Palin symbolizes the death of the conservative intellect. In choosing Sarah Palin as the representative of the Republican Party; we see that a telegenic candidate is more valued over a competent one. She was miss Alaska back in (get year) and she was the Governor of Alaska. She could have been the vice president of the Untied States of America. Who are we to even judge a woman on her looks?
In mainstream media—the premium placed on good looks and wealth as the basis for the “good” life.
Music—rap music; good looks, money, sex
Lip Gloss: Lil Mama
I believe that the song is saying that to live a good life, you need to have good looks. As soon as she put that lip gloss on, she was part of the "cool crowd". The boys wanted to hang out with her, even the principle wanted to know where she got the lip gloss.
The lyrics that i thought spoke to that perspective were how Lil Mama said to her mom at the end "Yo ma, this lip gloss is Poppin', Look at me! ". Also throughout the whole song, after she put on the lip gloss she was like "My Lip Gloss is cool, my Lip Gloss be poppin', I'm standin' at my locker, and all the boys keep stoppin". Those quotes show that all she needed to do was change her appearance, and her life improved dramatically.
A reoccurring image in the video is the Lip Gloss shining on her lips. It wanted to reinforce the fact that all of this happened (the dancing and the boys and the popularity) because of the Lip Gloss; because she changed her appearance. I notice that there is a lot of dancing and that no one in the video is "ugly". there are only two people in the video that are old: the principle and the mom and you don't even see her face in the video, and the principle is all disoriented and in need of the lip gloss.
Magazines+Fashion
Consider the fact that fashion is an industry, or the development of cosmetic plastic surgery—suggests that natural physical appearance is a commodity worth paying for to enhance
The distinction between good and meaningful.
“Good”
cheating on a test, compromising work ethic, compromising creativity for money—artists, musicians and the like often themselves in conflict between perusing their creatively creative or intellectual goals, and having to please their audience sponsors.,
vs
meaningful
How do maintain a life that is both good and meaningful?
Do the things you love, sincerely
Compromises can bring meaning to one’s life
Sometimes people have to give up doing one thing that they love doing for another.
How does one maintain a balance between what one “should” do and what one “wants” to do,
Wal-Mart incident.
Human life devalued entirely, in favor of consumerism
Thanks giving anecdote
Colonialism, Genocide
Family
The media presents two things
The perfect family, a happily married couple, a couple of kids, its nice
On the other hand, the less marginal message is the fucked up family, where the dad is having an affair and the kids are fucked up.
Why do people desire to emulate what they see on tv? Plus, tv is not even about you! Why would you want to watch something so much about other people’s lives that you don’t even know and have never and most likely will never meet. Why do you want to be like someone else? The principal that advertising is based on is that people are not happy, with what they are doing, eating, look like.
Why do we want to be like celebrities? They themselves are not who w think they are. Why do we want to emulate ACTORS? They are fake. People who should be commemorated-heart surgeons, astronauts—people that are shaping our world. The average teenager knows who Paris Hilton is and wants to be like her.; ask them to point Australia out on a map and they have no answer.
Love
People seek affection, attention, intimacy. Everyone want to be cared for, and care for.
Instinctual?
Sexual
Platonic
Professional Life
Education
Why is it cool not to care about school and doing homework? Does it not make perfect sense that one should be enthusiastic about school given that one’s education is for none other than oneself?
Why is school so much more about one’s social life than one’s education
It seems counterintuitive to resent learning. Yet I too sometimes hesitate to answer a question in class, or appear interested in my homework because I think I will seem uncool.
Career
Money, greed
Body Image
Girls are supposed to have big breasts and big butts and small figures and look pretty, while boys are supposed to be tall with big muscles and good athletes. Little do people realize that outside the photo shop-ed, video-edited, spray-tanned images off silver screen or the glossy pages of a magazine, people do not look like that. Yet young people are tremendously insecure about how they look. Girls always think they are too fat…..
In mainstream media—the premium placed on good looks and wealth as the basis for the “good” life.
Music—rap music; good looks, money, sex
Lip Gloss: Lil Mama
I believe that the song is saying that to live a good life, you need to have good looks. As soon as she put that lip gloss on, she was part of the "cool crowd". The boys wanted to hang out with her, even the principle wanted to know where she got the lip gloss.
The lyrics that i thought spoke to that perspective were how Lil Mama said to her mom at the end "Yo ma, this lip gloss is Poppin', Look at me! ". Also throughout the whole song, after she put on the lip gloss she was like "My Lip Gloss is cool, my Lip Gloss be poppin', I'm standin' at my locker, and all the boys keep stoppin". Those quotes show that all she needed to do was change her appearance, and her life improved dramatically.
A reoccurring image in the video is the Lip Gloss shining on her lips. It wanted to reinforce the fact that all of this happened (the dancing and the boys and the popularity) because of the Lip Gloss; because she changed her appearance. I notice that there is a lot of dancing and that no one in the video is "ugly". there are only two people in the video that are old: the principle and the mom and you don't even see her face in the video, and the principle is all disoriented and in need of the lip gloss.
Magazines+Fashion
Consider the fact that fashion is an industry, or the development of cosmetic plastic surgery—suggests that natural physical appearance is a commodity worth paying for to enhance
The distinction between good and meaningful.
People are so blinded by what mainstream media tells us is a good and meaningful life, that we can’t even see the real meaning in our own lives.
In our time, a ”meaningful” life has become only superficially meaningful, as our values are so greatly conditioned by the media, popular culture, and the premium placed on success and sex appeal. With the tremendous concern for materialistic things such as monetary gain and social status, physical appearance, and power, the core from which we derive “meaning” has become warped and depleted. The truly “meaningful” life, it would seem would comprise of peace, love, happiness, community, friendship, family. Corporate media such as Rap music, Reality shows, and Commercials, warp reality to the point in which you don’t even know what YOU want. You know what the media wants you to want and you end up getting sucked into that idea of a “good” life.
Sarah Palin symbolizes the death of the conservative intellect. In choosing Sarah Palin as the representative of the Republican Party; we see that a telegenic candidate is more valued over a competent one. She was miss Alaska back in (get year) and she was the Governor of Alaska. She could have been the vice president of the Untied States of America. Who are we to even judge a woman on her looks?
“Good”
cheating on a test, compromising work ethic, compromising creativity for money—artists, musicians and the like often themselves in conflict between perusing their creatively creative or intellectual goals, and having to please their audience sponsors.,
vs
meaningful
How do maintain a life that is both good and meaningful?
Do the things you love, sincerely
Compromises can bring meaning to one’s life
Sometimes people have to give up doing one thing that they love doing for another.
How does one maintain a balance between what one “should” do and what one “wants” to do.
Wal-Mart incident.
Human life devalued entirely, in favor of consumerism
On the one hand rich people buy cars that they might not ever drive when the money they spend on a car could feed a village in Africa for months. On the other hand it’s their hard earned money they can do what they want with it. Why spend it on people they have no connection to other than a common humanity (philanthropy). Why are we so keen to buy, and more over to buy for less? People fight over the last item left at a store. We are so eager to purchase things, better still on sale, even better free. So what if we trample a couple of sales person in the bargain, huh?
Thanks giving anecdote
Why do we thank god, eat food, and get together with our family, on a day when a whole race was slaughtered. They were the original inhabitants and we took it from them. Imagine the message we are conveying to kids who find out what really happened on that day. We eat, sing, party, etc. on a tragic day. What is that telling our younger generation? On the one hand we pride ourselves for being so diverse and welcoming immigrants and what not, but at the same time consider the controversy that surrounded the election, thanksgiving, everything!
Ageing;
Why do people fear old age? It's the most natural thing in the world. Although one may look at old age as deterioration, its inevitable.
When do family members start to feel that the "old person" in their lives become a burden?
When is a person considered old?
How do men and women age differently?
what one lives for, and what one is obligated to do in life.
Beliefs:
Religion, Politics, Nationalism Morality
While you may have all the material possessions in the world,
Human evil
Human life-why revered above all other life forms?
Does our universe have an ethical realm built into it? Are certain actions inherently good or evil, or is morality simply a man-made construct that enables society to function? Is morality convenient.
Death
Suicide
While most people try to do all they can to escape mortality—to live, others willfully terminate their lives.
Guilt, feel
Legacy: Martin Luther King. His meaningful life lives on.
What is more important? Other people seeing your life as meaningful or you seeing your life as meaningful?
Everyone seeks recognition, validation.
Contending with Mortality:
Producing offspring is man’s most accessible means of attempting immortality.
Does one have to be a public hero to have a meaningful life?
The creation of art—art lives on
Colonialism, Genocide
What are the aspects of one's life? your role as a member of your family, and ones professional life.
Identity: What is the self? Do we have a soul?
How much of you is nature and how much of you is nurture?
Education:
In our time, a ”meaningful” life has become only superficially meaningful, as our values are so greatly conditioned by the media, popular culture, and the premium placed on success and sex appeal. With the tremendous concern for materialistic things such as monetary gain and social status, physical appearance, and power, the core from which we derive “meaning” has become warped and depleted. The truly “meaningful” life, it would seem would comprise of peace, love, happiness, community, friendship, family. Corporate media such as Rap music, Reality shows, and Commercials, warp reality to the point in which you don’t even know what YOU want. You know what the media wants you to want and you end up getting sucked into that idea of a “good” life.
Sarah Palin symbolizes the death of the conservative intellect. In choosing Sarah Palin as the representative of the Republican Party; we see that a telegenic candidate is more valued over a competent one. She was miss Alaska back in (get year) and she was the Governor of Alaska. She could have been the vice president of the Untied States of America. Who are we to even judge a woman on her looks?
In mainstream media—the premium placed on good looks and wealth as the basis for the “good” life.
Music—rap music; good looks, money, sex
Lip Gloss: Lil Mama
I believe that the song is saying that to live a good life, you need to have good looks. As soon as she put that lip gloss on, she was part of the "cool crowd". The boys wanted to hang out with her, even the principle wanted to know where she got the lip gloss.
The lyrics that i thought spoke to that perspective were how Lil Mama said to her mom at the end "Yo ma, this lip gloss is Poppin', Look at me! ". Also throughout the whole song, after she put on the lip gloss she was like "My Lip Gloss is cool, my Lip Gloss be poppin', I'm standin' at my locker, and all the boys keep stoppin". Those quotes show that all she needed to do was change her appearance, and her life improved dramatically.
A reoccurring image in the video is the Lip Gloss shining on her lips. It wanted to reinforce the fact that all of this happened (the dancing and the boys and the popularity) because of the Lip Gloss; because she changed her appearance. I notice that there is a lot of dancing and that no one in the video is "ugly". there are only two people in the video that are old: the principle and the mom and you don't even see her face in the video, and the principle is all disoriented and in need of the lip gloss.
Magazines+Fashion
Consider the fact that fashion is an industry, or the development of cosmetic plastic surgery—suggests that natural physical appearance is a commodity worth paying for to enhance
The distinction between good and meaningful.
“Good”
cheating on a test, compromising work ethic, compromising creativity for money—artists, musicians and the like often themselves in conflict between perusing their creatively creative or intellectual goals, and having to please their audience sponsors.,
vs
meaningful
How do maintain a life that is both good and meaningful?
Do the things you love, sincerely
Compromises can bring meaning to one’s life
Sometimes people have to give up doing one thing that they love doing for another.
How does one maintain a balance between what one “should” do and what one “wants” to do,
Wal-Mart incident.
Human life devalued entirely, in favor of consumerism
Thanks giving anecdote
Colonialism, Genocide
Family
The media presents two things
The perfect family, a happily married couple, a couple of kids, its nice
On the other hand, the less marginal message is the fucked up family, where the dad is having an affair and the kids are fucked up.
Why do people desire to emulate what they see on tv? Plus, tv is not even about you! Why would you want to watch something so much about other people’s lives that you don’t even know and have never and most likely will never meet. Why do you want to be like someone else? The principal that advertising is based on is that people are not happy, with what they are doing, eating, look like.
Why do we want to be like celebrities? They themselves are not who w think they are. Why do we want to emulate ACTORS? They are fake. People who should be commemorated-heart surgeons, astronauts—people that are shaping our world. The average teenager knows who Paris Hilton is and wants to be like her.; ask them to point Australia out on a map and they have no answer.
Love
People seek affection, attention, intimacy. Everyone want to be cared for, and care for.
Instinctual?
Sexual
Platonic
Professional Life
Education
Why is it cool not to care about school and doing homework? Does it not make perfect sense that one should be enthusiastic about school given that one’s education is for none other than oneself?
Why is school so much more about one’s social life than one’s education
It seems counterintuitive to resent learning. Yet I too sometimes hesitate to answer a question in class, or appear interested in my homework because I think I will seem uncool.
Career
Money, greed
Body Image
Girls are supposed to have big breasts and big butts and small figures and look pretty, while boys are supposed to be tall with big muscles and good athletes. Little do people realize that outside the photo shop-ed, video-edited, spray-tanned images off silver screen or the glossy pages of a magazine, people do not look like that. Yet young people are tremendously insecure about how they look. Girls always think they are too fat…..
In mainstream media—the premium placed on good looks and wealth as the basis for the “good” life.
Music—rap music; good looks, money, sex
Lip Gloss: Lil Mama
I believe that the song is saying that to live a good life, you need to have good looks. As soon as she put that lip gloss on, she was part of the "cool crowd". The boys wanted to hang out with her, even the principle wanted to know where she got the lip gloss.
The lyrics that i thought spoke to that perspective were how Lil Mama said to her mom at the end "Yo ma, this lip gloss is Poppin', Look at me! ". Also throughout the whole song, after she put on the lip gloss she was like "My Lip Gloss is cool, my Lip Gloss be poppin', I'm standin' at my locker, and all the boys keep stoppin". Those quotes show that all she needed to do was change her appearance, and her life improved dramatically.
A reoccurring image in the video is the Lip Gloss shining on her lips. It wanted to reinforce the fact that all of this happened (the dancing and the boys and the popularity) because of the Lip Gloss; because she changed her appearance. I notice that there is a lot of dancing and that no one in the video is "ugly". there are only two people in the video that are old: the principle and the mom and you don't even see her face in the video, and the principle is all disoriented and in need of the lip gloss.
Magazines+Fashion
Consider the fact that fashion is an industry, or the development of cosmetic plastic surgery—suggests that natural physical appearance is a commodity worth paying for to enhance
The distinction between good and meaningful.
People are so blinded by what mainstream media tells us is a good and meaningful life, that we can’t even see the real meaning in our own lives.
In our time, a ”meaningful” life has become only superficially meaningful, as our values are so greatly conditioned by the media, popular culture, and the premium placed on success and sex appeal. With the tremendous concern for materialistic things such as monetary gain and social status, physical appearance, and power, the core from which we derive “meaning” has become warped and depleted. The truly “meaningful” life, it would seem would comprise of peace, love, happiness, community, friendship, family. Corporate media such as Rap music, Reality shows, and Commercials, warp reality to the point in which you don’t even know what YOU want. You know what the media wants you to want and you end up getting sucked into that idea of a “good” life.
Sarah Palin symbolizes the death of the conservative intellect. In choosing Sarah Palin as the representative of the Republican Party; we see that a telegenic candidate is more valued over a competent one. She was miss Alaska back in (get year) and she was the Governor of Alaska. She could have been the vice president of the Untied States of America. Who are we to even judge a woman on her looks?
“Good”
cheating on a test, compromising work ethic, compromising creativity for money—artists, musicians and the like often themselves in conflict between perusing their creatively creative or intellectual goals, and having to please their audience sponsors.,
vs
meaningful
How do maintain a life that is both good and meaningful?
Do the things you love, sincerely
Compromises can bring meaning to one’s life
Sometimes people have to give up doing one thing that they love doing for another.
How does one maintain a balance between what one “should” do and what one “wants” to do.
Wal-Mart incident.
Human life devalued entirely, in favor of consumerism
On the one hand rich people buy cars that they might not ever drive when the money they spend on a car could feed a village in Africa for months. On the other hand it’s their hard earned money they can do what they want with it. Why spend it on people they have no connection to other than a common humanity (philanthropy). Why are we so keen to buy, and more over to buy for less? People fight over the last item left at a store. We are so eager to purchase things, better still on sale, even better free. So what if we trample a couple of sales person in the bargain, huh?
Thanks giving anecdote
Why do we thank god, eat food, and get together with our family, on a day when a whole race was slaughtered. They were the original inhabitants and we took it from them. Imagine the message we are conveying to kids who find out what really happened on that day. We eat, sing, party, etc. on a tragic day. What is that telling our younger generation? On the one hand we pride ourselves for being so diverse and welcoming immigrants and what not, but at the same time consider the controversy that surrounded the election, thanksgiving, everything!
Ageing;
Why do people fear old age? It's the most natural thing in the world. Although one may look at old age as deterioration, its inevitable.
When do family members start to feel that the "old person" in their lives become a burden?
When is a person considered old?
How do men and women age differently?
what one lives for, and what one is obligated to do in life.
Beliefs:
Religion, Politics, Nationalism Morality
While you may have all the material possessions in the world,
Human evil
Human life-why revered above all other life forms?
Does our universe have an ethical realm built into it? Are certain actions inherently good or evil, or is morality simply a man-made construct that enables society to function? Is morality convenient.
Death
Suicide
While most people try to do all they can to escape mortality—to live, others willfully terminate their lives.
Guilt, feel
Legacy: Martin Luther King. His meaningful life lives on.
What is more important? Other people seeing your life as meaningful or you seeing your life as meaningful?
Everyone seeks recognition, validation.
Contending with Mortality:
Producing offspring is man’s most accessible means of attempting immortality.
Does one have to be a public hero to have a meaningful life?
The creation of art—art lives on
Colonialism, Genocide
What are the aspects of one's life? your role as a member of your family, and ones professional life.
Identity: What is the self? Do we have a soul?
How much of you is nature and how much of you is nurture?
Education:
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Election Thoughts...
Throughout my life, there has only been two presidents. I can remember only one, and the
only one that I can remember eighty-one percent of 415 historians think is a failure as president. (http://hnn.us/articles/5019.html)
only one that I can remember eighty-one percent of 415 historians think is a failure as president. (http://hnn.us/articles/5019.html) So the winner of this election I was really hoping would be a good one, and according to almost everyone I have talked to in the last 24 hours think that America has definitely made the right decision. Barack Obama is not only the first Black President, but also the first "good" President that I have had in my life.
America made history last night, and I am truly honored that I was alive and that my parents were actually part of history. I wish i could have voted so I could actually be a part of making history but at least I can say I was alive when the first Black president was elected.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Other People's Music Video Analysis
Ian: I agree with the messages you saw in the music video but I think you could have gone more in depth with you analysis. I also think it's interesting how everything he says shows up in the video. It's like he has the money to buy all of these things so he might as well flaunt it. Good job.
Rachel: Rachel, at first i was going to disagree with you about the quotes you used, but then i realized that you're right. The Beatles wanted to keep the message simple. Love really is all you need, they don't need materialistic things. I also really like how you noticed that in most music videos the artist is constantly changing outfits but the Beatles keep the same outfits on throughout the whole video. This reaffirms the notion that you really don't need nice clothes or anything materialistic, Love is all you need.
Marco: Yo, i don't particularly agree that what Kanye is saying is that money, cars, and sex=a good life, i think he's saying that he has all those things and that he's living a good life, but still the best things in life are free. I think if anything he might be contradicting societies ideas of a good life...
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Music Video Analysis
Lip Gloss: Lil Mama
1. What is the song basically saying about how to live a good life?I believe that the song is saying that to live a good life, you need to have good looks. As soon as she put that lip gloss on, she was part of the "cool crowd". The boys wanted to hang out with her, even the principle wanted to know where she got the lip gloss.
2. What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective?
The lyrics that i thought spoke to that perspective were how Lil Mama said to her mom at the end "Yo ma, this lip gloss is Poppin', Look at me! ". Also throughout the whole song, after she put on the lip gloss she was like "My Lip Gloss is cool, my Lip Gloss be poppin', I'm standin' at my locker, and all the boys keep stoppin". Those quotes show that all she needed to do was change her appearance, and her life improved dramatically.
3. How do the images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics?
A reoccurring image in the video is the Lip Gloss shining on her lips. It wanted to reinforce the fact that all of this happened (the dancing and the boys and the popularity) because of the Lip Gloss; because she changed her appearance.
4. What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc.
I notice that there is a lot of dancing and that no one in the video is "ugly". there are only two people in the video that are old: the principle and the mom and you don't even see her face in the video, and the principle is all disoriented and in need of the lip gloss.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Why is Life So Meaningful: Essay
In the world today, there are over 6.5 billion people living. Obviously those people have reasons for living or they wouldn’t still be alive. Whether it’s because they enjoy what life has to offer, or feel that they have a “destiny” in life. Out of those 6.5+ billion I thought that at least some of them would have something to say about their lives and whether they were meaningful or not, so I decided (was told by my history teacher) to do a few interviews. I had a series of questions in mind to ask the interviewees: is life meaningful to you? Why? What are the most meaningful aspects of your life? If those things did not exist, would your life still be meaningful? And do you consider your life to be meaningful to others and why? The results were interesting to me. 100% of the people I interviewed said that Family was one of the most important aspects of their lives.
I thought to myself, why family? What is so important about family that everybody says it is the most meaningful aspect of their lives; I came up with two answers. The most obvious answer is that you came from them, that it’s in your genes to love them, but when I really thought about it, I came up with a more logical answer. From the first day of your life, to until you’re about 14, you spend every single day with your parents, as you grow older you start to drift away a bit, go to college, get your own place etc. but the simple fact is that you’ve spent most of your life with your parents. My theory is that if you spend almost all of your time with someone, you’re going to start to like them. Especially if their the ones caring for you, feeding you, putting a roof over your head, and loving you. Family is so meaningful to people because those people are so meaningful to their families. The people you care about the most are usually the people who care about you the most. Here is one interviewee that had a lot to say about family
Katherine Velasquez
Question: Is life meaningful to you? Why?
Answer: Yes life is meaningful to me because I get to pursue my dreams.
Response: I found this interesting because only a fraction of the world actually gets to fulfill their dreams, but the meaning in life to Katherine is that she gets to pursue them.
Q: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life?
A: Love and mom.
R: A lot of people forget about love when thinking about meaning, because they just think the literal things, but love is probably the most important thing in the world, if their was no love, their would be no family, no procreation. The world would be empty. And if not, everyone in the world would be miserable.
Q: If love and your mom did not exist, would life still be meaningful to you?
A: No, if my mom did not exist I would kill my self; my mom cares the most about me. She got me through life and I could not do without her.
Meaning is always subjective. People don’t say “this is meaningful to you because it’s supposed to be.” You make up your own meanings in things. If you didn’t, it probably wouldn’t even be so meaningful.
I thought to myself, why family? What is so important about family that everybody says it is the most meaningful aspect of their lives; I came up with two answers. The most obvious answer is that you came from them, that it’s in your genes to love them, but when I really thought about it, I came up with a more logical answer. From the first day of your life, to until you’re about 14, you spend every single day with your parents, as you grow older you start to drift away a bit, go to college, get your own place etc. but the simple fact is that you’ve spent most of your life with your parents. My theory is that if you spend almost all of your time with someone, you’re going to start to like them. Especially if their the ones caring for you, feeding you, putting a roof over your head, and loving you. Family is so meaningful to people because those people are so meaningful to their families. The people you care about the most are usually the people who care about you the most. Here is one interviewee that had a lot to say about familyKatherine Velasquez
Question: Is life meaningful to you? Why?
Answer: Yes life is meaningful to me because I get to pursue my dreams.
Response: I found this interesting because only a fraction of the world actually gets to fulfill their dreams, but the meaning in life to Katherine is that she gets to pursue them.
Q: What is the most meaningful aspect of your life?
A: Love and mom.
R: A lot of people forget about love when thinking about meaning, because they just think the literal things, but love is probably the most important thing in the world, if their was no love, their would be no family, no procreation. The world would be empty. And if not, everyone in the world would be miserable.
Q: If love and your mom did not exist, would life still be meaningful to you?
A: No, if my mom did not exist I would kill my self; my mom cares the most about me. She got me through life and I could not do without her.
Meaning is always subjective. People don’t say “this is meaningful to you because it’s supposed to be.” You make up your own meanings in things. If you didn’t, it probably wouldn’t even be so meaningful.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
To me, the meaning of life is something that you care about doing, and is good for you to do. Even though many people enjoy drinking, I wouldn't say its meaningful because its not good for you. In this video you will see me, doing the thing i love most to do (Basketball), that is also good for me to do.
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