Nacirema

1. What happened yesterday? Why couldn't we recognize our own culture?

Yesterday we read the Nacirema article. This article was a description of our American culture based off of what would be an outsiders view if they were totally unaware of anything American. I had read this article previously to this class and so I had a different reaction then the rest of the class. However the first time I had read this I found the culture very very strange and defiantly did not realize it was our own. Since it was presented in a different way that we would normally view our culture we were unable to recognize it. The wording and different views of how our normal day activities are presented us made us look at the culture as if it was privative.

2. What does your answser say about the the strengths and weaknesses of the Social Sciences like Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology?

My answer shows that there is a huge amount of weakness to anthropology. By not being used to something the anthropologist in the situation has a personal bias of seeing the situations as odd and abnormal.

Brave New World #4

Part 1
1. What puzzles Lenina about Bernard Marx's behavior?

Bernard Marx was very puzzled about Lenna's behavior because she was so forward about the whole arrangement. He had asked her so many times and had only ended up being rejected. She had come up to him in a public place and accepted his offer out loud, louder enough for the surrounding people to hear, making it public. It upset him that she made it such a public event. She also did not understand his behavior "he couldn't of been more upset if i'd made a dirty joke, he asked him who his mother was, or something like that."

2. Please provide examples of Lenina using what she learned from hypnopaedia.

"What a hideous color khaki is"

"I'm glad I'm not a gama."

3. Where are Lenina and Henry going?

Lenina and Henry are going to StokesPoges to play obstacle golf. Its their form of a date.

Part 2:
1. What makes Bernard Marx distressed? Why?

"Those who ment well behaved in a same way as those who ment badly." (pg 65) Bernard Marx is upset over the fact that everyone acts exactly the same as everyone else. He does not like the fact that nobody has any individuality to them. It distresses him because them is no emotion to anything, no real feeling, nothing for him to connect to. He is also distressed over the fact that Lenina is constantly referred to like a piece of meat. This distresses him because it is just another example of how people are not treated like people but rather as something to own or to have.

2. Where does Helmholtz Watson work? What is his job?

Helmholtz Watson works at the College of Emotional engineering. He works as a lecturer. He also works as an Emotional Engineer.

3. What does Bernard have in common with Helmholtz Watson?

Both Bernard and Helmholtz were born as individuals. They are looked at as different from the rest of society. Helmholtz was born with some sort of mental excess, while Bernard was born with a physical defect, he is shorter then the norm. Both seem to view the world differently, Helmholtz feels as though something is wrong, and he has something to say but does not know how. Bernard does not like the way society is set up, but can not place his frustration clearly.
4. What is troubling Helmholtz?

Helmholtz feels as though he has something to say, and the power to say it, but he does not know what it is he needs to say. He wants to be more violent, more real, and have more importance to his life. He wants to find a way to write with piercing words but can not figure out how to say something about nothing.

Brand New World #3

In Chapter 3, we begin to learn about how the World State. Please explain how the following areas are different in the World State as compared to our world in 2009.

A) Sex, Monogamy & Romance

In the World State it is socially acceptable for little kids to involve them selfs in sexual activity, modern day these things would not be allowed, and extremely frowned upon. In the World State these 'games' are just looked upon as normal childs play, while childs play to us would be playground play, barbies, or sports. Dating is really open, to the point that it is encouraged to be with more then one person at once. There is no Monogamy and Romance, one of their proverbs is 'every one belongs to everyone else.'
B) Sports

There was no sports introduced in this chapter. In fact when the children are playing in the beginning of the chapter the people found it weird that children used to amuse themselves with sports like they do now.
C) Entertainment

All entertainment is in forms of 'dating' or flying or 'obstacle golf', things like reading for fun are frowned upon. Entertainment now has many many forms including reading and sports.
D) Parenthood

The children did not live with their families, they couldn't imagine what is was like to live with a mother or farther. "Try to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother." "try to imagine what 'living with one's family' meant." When asked what a home was none of the people could respond. This is extremely different from life in our world. Not only are most children raised by their own parents (or some type of parent like guardianship) but family time is something is extremely important now a days. Constantly on TV is their ads for having 'family game nights' or making sure to have a sit down family meal. Also anybody could define what a home is.
E) Materialism

"I do love new clothes" is whispered in their ears by the sleepers, materialism is extremely huge and is how they live their lives. "Ending is better then mending. The more stitches, the less riches." "...compelled to consume so much a year. In the interests of the industry." Materialism leads their life. People are thought of as 'belonging to each other.' In our world today people are defiantly materialistic but not to the point that it defines us, nor to the point that we classify other people as belonging to eachother
F) Religion

The believe in Ford. He is like their version of God, but not a holy or spiritual figure, and is the only version their is. They have never even heard of Christianity, they do not have a God. They do not believe in heaven, and have never heard about it before. They also did not have an idea of the concept of the soul or imortality
G) Intoxicants

Pregnancy substitutes are something every women takes and they have a "regulation supply". They do not drink much alcohol. However they have this intoxicant called somma, which apparently gives the effects of alcohol without the after effects. In our world 'pregnancy subsitues' are used but not required. Also there is no such thing as soma, and alcohol is greatly used.


Finally, to the best of your ability, provide a brief history (a paragraph) of how the World State came to be.

The world state was founded by T. Ford. It was founded based off of the idea that society should be stable. The DHC hid all books, any thing religious, or anything that would give people new ideas. This way no one would question the way things were, creating social stability. Social stability is the main goal of the World State.

Brave New World #2

1. How do babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop an "instinctive hatred of books and flowers?" Why were Deltas exposed to such treatment?

Babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop and instinctive hatred of books and flowers by placing them in a room that had lots of flowers and books placed in it. It was also a well lit room with a window that the room let in a lot of sunlight. The babies were placed in this room. They then noticed the flowers and books and went towards them excitedly. They all then received a mild electric shock. The babies now connect these things to pain, and would want nothing to do with them. The Deltas are exposed to this treatment because if they spend their time reading books it is considered a waste of the communities time. "you couldn't have lower-caste people wasting the Community's time over books, and that there was always the risk of their reading something which might undesirably decondition one of their reflexes." . In the past Dela's had been conditioned to like flowers in order to let them have the desire to view the country. However this need to view the country became to great of a need and thats all they did. So now they decondition the Deltas from this.
2. What is a State Conditioning Center? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?

The State Conditioning Center is where the children are raised. When they are there and they go to sleep the 'sleepers' whisper things to them. This limit their views and teaches them how to view the world. For example Alphas are whispered different things then the Betas, which helps to separate them in society. This process tends to eliminate any free thinking. This reminds me of the cave idea in Plato's Republic, and how the people in the cave are only shown certain things. They are taught everything from an outside source by a puppet show.
3. What is hypnopaedia? Why wasn't it used for Science? What was it used for? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?

Hypnopaedia is the idea of sleep teaching. It wasn' t effect in the use of science because the children would merely repeat what they had heard in their sleep with no understanding or concept of it. "You can't learn a science unless you know what it's all about." It ended up being used for moral education. Instead of just stating facts the sleepers would act like a conscious and state the views that the children should have and why. This also reminds me of the cave idea from Plato's republic.
4. How does the Caste system work in the World State? What are the similarities and differences between this and the Hindu Caste system?

Like the Caste system in the World State in the Hindu Caste system it is something you are 'born' into. When the eggs are produced in the World State they are specifically designed so that they will fit into their Caste and will have no other want to be in another Caste. Similarly in Hinduism the people accept what they are placed in because of how the way society is set up. Also in both societies the other Castes are accepted by each other, and the system is accepted as being the best way for society to function. The Hindu Caste system has more levels to it then the World State does. Also Hindu people believe in the idea of reincarnation, and they think that their Caste may change in a different life. Since the people of the World State do not believe in this they only feel that they can be what they are determined to be and nothing else.
5. What does the Director mean when he says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax."?

When the Director says that he is talking about how the sleepers effect the children's brains. He uses the metaphor of granite in comparison of the children brains, water (or the Hypnopaedia system) would only create an imprint in the child's brain, but not enough to effect its thinking or actually 'stick'. However the wax (or the idea of moral sleep teaching) sticks to the child's mind and molds with it becoming part of it. This way it becomes a part of them. Just as wax does unlike water when it is combined to any substance.

Brand New World #1

1. What is the World State's Motto?

Community, Identity, Stability
2. Please describe Bokanovsky's Process. Why does The Director call it the "major instrument of social stability?"

The Bokanovsky's Process is a type of egg that will bud, proliofaye, then divide into a range of 8-96 buds. So ninety-six adults will grow out of what would have normally only produced one adult. This is done by a series of arrests of development. The eggs would have to go through processes of x-rays, chilling, and alcohol. The director calls it the 'major instrument of social stability' because now there can be 96 identical people doing 96 identical jobs. Creating the same people, not having any differences in society to worry about.

3. Why did the doctor wish to keep the Epsilon "embryo below par?"

The doctor wants to keep the Epsilon embryo below par because all people have their set place in society. Since the Epsilon is lower then the Alphas in society they should not have the same abilities as them so that they do not try to 'break the ranks'. "Hasn't it occurred to you that an Epsilon embryo must have an Epsilon environment as well as an Epsilon heredity?"

4. What does Mr. Foster mean when he says: "We condition them to thrive in heat...that is the secret of happiness of virtue - liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny."? How does this connect to what is happening in Rack 10?

Mr. Foster means that they introduce elements to the embryos that they will have to experience in the life they are pre-determined to lead. By introducing them to these things it will automatically make them feel comfortable in their future jobs because they are now surrounded by things that have been with them since birth. Almost like a baby will like similar things to what their mother ate or listened to when they were in the womb. This connects with Rack 10 because in Rack 10 are the next generations chemical workers. They are being trained to tolerate lead, caustic soda, tar, and chlorine. Since they are being trained to tolerate these elements it is also becoming they are something that they are comfortable with. Because they are being trained to be comfortable with these things from before birth they are going to not only be able to tolerate these chemicals but will also automatically like what surrounds them.

Carr What is history?

Positivists- belong to cult of facts, saw history as a science, empirical strain of studying history

Empirical, common sense of history, concerned with facts. As soon as biases come through, it is not history, but it is opinion, reaction, perception is passive

Carr's View-active, not important if it is recorded, is only history when a fact is 'removed from the page' and interpreted

Carr's view basically expressed how facts are useless unless they are evaluated. Also he expresses how perecerption plays a major role in our ability to judge history and say what history is

Essay Question 7

“We see and understand things not as they are but as we are.” Discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing.

THESIS: Due to PERCEPTION, EMOTION, LANGUAGE, and REASON we as an individual view the world in our own distinct way. As humans we connect ourselves with certain groups, or as an outsider. How we are raised, the people we are around, and the environment surrounding us directly effects our views on the world whether or not we are conscious of it. We perceive everything that we see or hear or induce, because of this perception we are unable to see things directly as they are, but an automatically biased view based on past experience that formulates in our minds.

PERCERPTION/EMOTION:

Perception- Interpret sensations, reconstructive process

· Our senses grow less responsive to unchanging stimuli

· We are very sensitive to change

o What is the function of sensitivity to change?

· Deprivation (in an all white building)

o Many subjects felt edgy & grumpy

o Many left

o Is deprivation always bad?

· Selective attention

o Ability to focus on some environmental factors and block out others

Inattention blindness

‘Seeing As’

· Past experiences

· Knowledge by authority

· Innocent eye- doesn’t exist

· Past experiences

· You cant see or know it unless you’ve seen it before

· You perceive things as you have seen before.

Empiricism- Six senses, induction.

LANGUAGE/REASON:

Idea of tourists- ‘us’ and ‘the other’

· Someone we don’t know, they have to have something different than what you have seen or heard from ‘us’

o ‘us’=similarities

· Systems we create to keep ‘the other’ out. Neighboorhoods? Oppertunities?

· What would the system be revised?

Law over Irish Language-

o For:

§ Limits the language

§ Isolates it

§ Language is culture= no language no culture

§ We were here first, nationalistic implications

§ Lose the EMOTION connected to it

§ Tradition lost

o Against:

§ Descrimination, human rights implications

§ Melting pot

§ Preserving culture shouldn’t be forced by government, parents responcibility?

§ Language not equal to culture

Able- “through meanings requires words, they are not identical to words.” (pg. 68)

o To make meaning you need words, but not all words have meaning?

o Words are ambiguous but meaning doesn’t change

o Meaning is the interpretation not just letters

o Words use denotation, reference. But meaning deals with connotation (sense), emotions, and feelings.

o You need words to organize reality, although words are random

COUNTER CLAIM:

o The world understands everything as it is but makes the conscious decision if they may or may not agree with it.

§ Perception

§ People are not effected by outside influences if they do not want to be.

§ Blank slate idea?

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