Alterity may be a new term to me, but is far from a new concept. Any minority identity will tell you they know all about the “other.” Socially othering is something that any minority must face at a young age. We have to deal with the fact that there are few that understand us and few that care to understand us. It seems as though the need for humans to fit in creates this intense other factor. The best way to show that you are like everyone else is to point out those who are not.
Radical Alterity truly explores the concept of the other and alterity. It does this on a less social aspect and has really opened my mind to “othering” by means of vacation or “escaping reality.” It is an intriguing obsession that humans have with vacationing or drug use in order to escape reality. I never thought about that as the other before. We view our lives as this stuck reality that is unchanging. Vacations, drug use, theme parks and media are our ways of escaping this reality. We want to get out of the ordinary. Why is this different from reality? What makes vacations “other” and a trip to the store routine? This is what Radical Alterity has done for me.
I question the other much more than I use to. We are so bored with our lives. This is why it’s so important to do what you love. The other won’t be as important or even an other if you enjoy your work like a vacation. Although Radical Alterity’s main influence was opening mind to the need for otherness, it also made me even more aware of social otherness.
The blog entries really helped me to develop my ideas about otherness and connecting it to our reading and class. Being able to write down my ideas as well as read others is extremely helpful. I was able to concretely explore my own thoughts and feelings about the discussions in class. Plurk was another useful tool for this. Glimpsing everyone’s ideas and discussions sparks my own curiosity. People are forced to be pithy in Plurk. Make every word, letter and symbol count for as much as possible. This forces a creative exploration of our readings and discussions.
It is intriguing that social otherness is such a problem in America with our need to be special. Wouldn’t we value these differences? Wouldn’t we praise the other? America has values that are oxymoronic. We all want to fit in yet we all want to be different.
Alterity is a means of control. Show people that otherness is bad and they will stay in line. Different values are scary. Different behavior is evil. Different religion is terrorism. We see it constantly. In order to succeed and live a happy, fulfilling life in America, one must do their best to stay in line. We live in a democracy controlled by propaganda and alterity. We learn in school less about the world than about how to fit into the world. We learn about white history and claim it as universal history. We say “under God” in our pledge of allegiance because it has “always been there” when it was introduced in the 50’s. We use the word equality and nation of the free as if it applies to everyone, yet we teach our children there is only one way to love. If we teach that alterity is bad, we can create a nation of easily controlled doppelgangers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment