But where do I put my safety line…?

I begin this week’s blog with an unnerving uncertainty. Somehow that seems fitting given all this talk of postmodernism, metanarrative-destruction, and navigating the general nebulousness that is our sorry human existence.

Postmodernism and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship, I’m afraid. One second I’m rejoicing in its recognition of marginalized minorities, and the next I am perplexed by its ability to contradict its own theories. (As in: “But isn’t Lyotard’s story about disbelief in metanarratives just another metanarrative?” Yeah, explain that! Wait, you’re not going to explain it?! You’re just gunna say “Yes.” and move on?!?!?! WTF??!??!)

The entire realm of Postmodern thought seems determined to tear one from his/her mental footholds and hurl one, flailing, into a great abyss of ambiguity and conjecture. It’s rather unsettling, I must say.

Now, I consider myself a bit of a thrill-seeker; few things give me more pleasure than the squirm of my stomach during a drop on a rollercoaster, the cheering of an audience after making it through a live performance in one piece, or even the surprised looks of friends and family after getting an extreme hair cut. ( ;{D ) But even in these instances, I have some sort of safety line protecting me from total desolation; rollercoasters are carefully planned and built so that margin of error is infinitesimally small, performances are preceded by hours (sometimes years) of practice and training, and I had pictured myself with short hair for so long that I wasn’t too shocked by what I saw when it came time for the actual cut. When it comes to my world view, my Christianity is my safety line—my metanarrative, if you will—and I refuse to abandon it for more reasons than I am able to name at this point in time. So where does that leave me in regards to Postmodernism—a way of thinking that demands one leave all the absolutes at the front door?

Vlog Colab >8D

The fabulous Jessica Arnold and I teamed up this week to produce a video discussing the questions Mr. D gave us on BNW.

While we possess many positive traits (ie: beauty, brains, irresistible charm, etc.), staying on topic is not one of them. Due to this slight tendency to ramble and/or digress, the video ended up being 20 minutes long and I had to split it into 2 parts. The 2nd vid can be found on Jessica's blog.

I hope you find this somewhat interesting; it was fun for us at least. :)

EDIT: for some reason the whole video isn't showing up in this window and as a result we can only see half of Jessica's face (you may have noticed that the volume button is cut off as well). I suggest you link to the actual video so that you can see all of Miss Arnold's lovely features. Here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv9wqNq-I14

Let’s see where this road leads…

So, I guess this is my first blog post. (Captain Obvious has reported for duty.)

Does anyone else feel slightly awkward doing this? No? Just me? …‘kay.

Despite spending quite a bit of time ruminating on this subject, I admit to being a little lost for words. (Watch this turn into a 1,000+ word post.) In many ways, I feel as if this topic is rather pointless.

When I say pointless, I’m not implying that the question of how to handle history/education is at all unimportant, quite the opposite in fact. I merely believe that things will continue to go on as they have always gone on. What ever group holds the power will tell the story from their perspective. Who controls the present DOES, in my opinion, control the past. And who controls the past DOES control the future. After all, how better to influence the next generation than through interpretation and/or manipulation of the past?  At least until “[the High loses] either their belief in themselves, or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the Low on their side…. As soon as they have reached their objective, the Middle thrust the Low back into their old position of servitude, and themselves become the High. Presently a new Middle splits off…and the struggle begins again.” (1984 p.166) Gee, thanks, Mr. Orwell!

The fact that further representation of minority groups in history is even becoming an issue is a sign of the shifting of power the world. Through innovations in both transportation and communication, the world is both shrinking and growing. It is getting easier and easier to travel further and further, making the physical distance between Discourses (U C WUT I DID THAR??? ;{D ) shrink relative to time. Conversely, by being able to more easily interact with a higher number of Discourses, our perceptions of the world around us are being forced to expand, or at least acknowledge, the perceptions of others. (The “our” and “us” I speak of are all human beings as a whole of individuals. The “others” refers to the instinctual distinction all human beings draw when encountering someone outside our the Discourse we are intimate with)

If I may be allowed a slight change in subject, I would like to address something I said in class on Wednesday. I have not heard any complaints, but I just wanted to clarify my stance in regards to race relations in history.  I certainly hope that no one inferred from my little shpeel on Wednesday that I believe bigotry and ignorance to be traits especially inherent to those gosh-darn Caucasoids.  I’m not so foolish! Bigotry and ignorance are universal because fear is universal and I know that had African tribes stormed Europe and raped Europe of its resources or Native Americans sailed across the Atlantic and “discovered” Spain, we would be debating similar social/ethical/political/economic gray areas today.  Only the role of the players would be different. If there is one thing growing up biracial has taught me it’s that neither good nor bad is race specific. I just feel that’s it’s important to ask the hard questions like “Who is the ‘us’ in American History?”, to challenge the status quo. Even if a status quo will always exist, i think it’s important that we acknowledge it’s existence.

 

558 words. Not too shabby, wot wot! C];{D

Oh wait. 569.