In an opinion column on the New York Times website, an articel by Maureen Dowd, called "Making Ignorance Chic", had me very worried.
There are two main stereotypes for women (at least, most of the time): the smart ones and the pretty ones. There are, of course, many exceptions to this rule, however the problem seems to be that many poeple don't realize that these exceptions exist. A man sees a pretty blonde waitressing and he might assume that she'll make an easy date (at the least). However, what he might not know is that she's working on getting her graduate degree in political studies and has the highest grade point average in her class.
A really good example of this comes from an episode of Bones that I watched not too long ago. Dr. Temperance Brennan (Bones) and Agent Seeley Booth go to a strip club in order to find out some information and end up talking to one of the lap dancers. As they talk to her they explain they're investigating a homicide and she replies that of course she'll comply and talk to them. Then she mentions that she's going to school and aced her Criminology class. The reaction from Booth is one of surprise, but of course Dr. Brennan is less objectifying and merely aceepts it.
However, it provides the example that you can be smart and still be pretty. Labels and stereotyping started as soon as we started school when we were little. We grew up doing it, without ever truly realizing it. WE are the ones responsible for this idea, not others. However, I think that we can break this habit if we just tweaked our perspective on these kinds of things. So...
Here's to everybody!
The link for the article mentioned above is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/opinion/20dowd.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Cheerleaders in Politics?
Reading an article on the New York Times website, I was slightly frightened. An article by Maureen Dowd, called "Playing All the Angles", gave me a new perspective on the type of women that are now in politics.
Remember that girl in your high school? The one that seemed to have everything? She was head cheerleader, she dated the most athletic guy in school, whether it was football or basketball, or even the swim team captain, it didn't really matter. What mattered was that she was the girl that everyone wanted to know, even though she was probably the worst person you could be around in order to make yourself feel better. She was the one who put down the people who actually liked school and cared about things other than her dating life. The kind of girls that I've always tried to avoid in life.
Well...apparently they're showing up in politics. Is anyone else absolutely terrified? Maybe they've been there for a while, and I just haven't noticed. Cleverly disguising themselves in professional pantsuits and elegantly understated makeup, while at the same time speaking those words that have come from their lips for years, only now they're getting paid to do the only thing that they know how to do: Speaking the same taunting words that gave them their status at the top of the totem pole in high school, and now is giving them their new found position.
The article was a fascinating read, and almost had me grinning in several parts, and I found myself nodding at certain sections, realizing that I knew exactly what she was talking about. Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17dowd.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Remember that girl in your high school? The one that seemed to have everything? She was head cheerleader, she dated the most athletic guy in school, whether it was football or basketball, or even the swim team captain, it didn't really matter. What mattered was that she was the girl that everyone wanted to know, even though she was probably the worst person you could be around in order to make yourself feel better. She was the one who put down the people who actually liked school and cared about things other than her dating life. The kind of girls that I've always tried to avoid in life.
Well...apparently they're showing up in politics. Is anyone else absolutely terrified? Maybe they've been there for a while, and I just haven't noticed. Cleverly disguising themselves in professional pantsuits and elegantly understated makeup, while at the same time speaking those words that have come from their lips for years, only now they're getting paid to do the only thing that they know how to do: Speaking the same taunting words that gave them their status at the top of the totem pole in high school, and now is giving them their new found position.
The article was a fascinating read, and almost had me grinning in several parts, and I found myself nodding at certain sections, realizing that I knew exactly what she was talking about. Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17dowd.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Books...the New Technology
So, in response to what someone said on my most recent post, I would like to address something that is very important to me. The power of the book.
A long time ago (about 9 years ago), I read a book that was done from an alien's point of view. In it, his culture was extremely advanced, but when he saw our books and computers he was confused. He said that we had done everything backwards. With computers there is a load time for a page of information, but with books it was instantaneous. He thought that the book was a marvelous invention, but that we were backwards for thinking that computers were a progressive step forward...to him, it was a step backwards.
This is something that I feel is very true. To quote a dialogue from a favorite show of mine...
"Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?"
"The smell."
"Computers don't smell, Rupert."
"I know! Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences...long forgotten. Books smell...musty and, and, and, and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer, is, uh, it... it has no, no texture, no, no context. It's, it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then, then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um... smelly."
What is spoken here is, surprisingly enough, fact. It has been scientifically proven that the sense of smell is our strongest sense, especially when it comes to memory. Think about it... a whiff of a certain smell, such as oranges, can bring up a memory of maybe a certain teacher who used to eat oranges all the time and you can suddenly hear their voice telling you some particular fact that you never would have remembered otherwise.
Just the other day, I smelled something, not sure what it was, and suddenly had a memory of when I was five years old, running around the back yard. Whenever I smell black walnuts I remember when I was three years old and went to a preschool where I first learned how to tie my own pony-tail and where a friend taught me how to hang upside down on the monkey bars.
Learning from books is more tactile and lets us remember things in a way that we can't with a computer. I believe in this whole-heartedly, which is why I will always have books. In a way, those who learn through reading books are the more technologically advanced.
So, keep reading my friends.
A long time ago (about 9 years ago), I read a book that was done from an alien's point of view. In it, his culture was extremely advanced, but when he saw our books and computers he was confused. He said that we had done everything backwards. With computers there is a load time for a page of information, but with books it was instantaneous. He thought that the book was a marvelous invention, but that we were backwards for thinking that computers were a progressive step forward...to him, it was a step backwards.
This is something that I feel is very true. To quote a dialogue from a favorite show of mine...
"Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?"
"The smell."
"Computers don't smell, Rupert."
"I know! Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences...long forgotten. Books smell...musty and, and, and, and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer, is, uh, it... it has no, no texture, no, no context. It's, it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then, then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um... smelly."
What is spoken here is, surprisingly enough, fact. It has been scientifically proven that the sense of smell is our strongest sense, especially when it comes to memory. Think about it... a whiff of a certain smell, such as oranges, can bring up a memory of maybe a certain teacher who used to eat oranges all the time and you can suddenly hear their voice telling you some particular fact that you never would have remembered otherwise.
Just the other day, I smelled something, not sure what it was, and suddenly had a memory of when I was five years old, running around the back yard. Whenever I smell black walnuts I remember when I was three years old and went to a preschool where I first learned how to tie my own pony-tail and where a friend taught me how to hang upside down on the monkey bars.
Learning from books is more tactile and lets us remember things in a way that we can't with a computer. I believe in this whole-heartedly, which is why I will always have books. In a way, those who learn through reading books are the more technologically advanced.
So, keep reading my friends.
Monday, October 11, 2010
"The Social Network" or Not?
So...there have been a ridiculous number of reviews on this movie. I have not yet seen it, but the more and more I hear about it, the more I've felt that I've already seen it.
Unlike many other college students, I only text when I have to, only check my facebook about once a month, and I've never "tweeted" in my life. My mom e-mails more than I do, and I have no desire to take photos of every event that I go to and put them all up on my facebook page.
I do not own an iPhone. In fact, my phone doesn't even have internet, and I have my original ring-tone that I've had since the beginning. I've owned it for four years.
The movie, "The Social Network", seems to merely explain how it all got started, but the truth is there has always been a form of it in one way or another. Instead of listening to the local gossip and knowing who to talk to, now it's just "go on facebook". It's a way of making things worse, I feel, and it honestly scares me as to how much interaction people do over the computer.
My friends and I don't e-mail each other, and we never text each other. Over the summer, we have virtually no contact with one another, but when we see each other again, we get along as though no time has passed. Hard to believe, I know, but none of us like to. We are an anomaly in this generation. All of us prefer face-to-face interaction. And because of the way I was raised, I know, for a fact, that nearly all communication, real and honest communication, is communicated nonverbally. That's right.
By limiting our communication to the computer, we are completely cutting ourselves off and destroying an important part of the human experience. It's called the human experience for a reason. Because we talk *directly* to people. People wonder why marriage is dwindling and divorce is increasing...well, here's one of the reasons.
People think that sending a text to your boyfriend or girlfriend saying that you love them is considered an interaction for the day, so when two people try to actually talk face-to-face they don't know how to act because they don't know what to do. They have no clue how to *read* the other person. My mom has taught me all about this, and I completely agree with her. We are losing something so important, but the sad part is that people don't even realize it. In a few generations, talking will cease to exist, and all communications will be done through computers.
To me, that is absolutely horrifying.
So, my advice is this... TALK TO SOMEONE!! (without using any electronics)
Unlike many other college students, I only text when I have to, only check my facebook about once a month, and I've never "tweeted" in my life. My mom e-mails more than I do, and I have no desire to take photos of every event that I go to and put them all up on my facebook page.
I do not own an iPhone. In fact, my phone doesn't even have internet, and I have my original ring-tone that I've had since the beginning. I've owned it for four years.
The movie, "The Social Network", seems to merely explain how it all got started, but the truth is there has always been a form of it in one way or another. Instead of listening to the local gossip and knowing who to talk to, now it's just "go on facebook". It's a way of making things worse, I feel, and it honestly scares me as to how much interaction people do over the computer.
My friends and I don't e-mail each other, and we never text each other. Over the summer, we have virtually no contact with one another, but when we see each other again, we get along as though no time has passed. Hard to believe, I know, but none of us like to. We are an anomaly in this generation. All of us prefer face-to-face interaction. And because of the way I was raised, I know, for a fact, that nearly all communication, real and honest communication, is communicated nonverbally. That's right.
By limiting our communication to the computer, we are completely cutting ourselves off and destroying an important part of the human experience. It's called the human experience for a reason. Because we talk *directly* to people. People wonder why marriage is dwindling and divorce is increasing...well, here's one of the reasons.
People think that sending a text to your boyfriend or girlfriend saying that you love them is considered an interaction for the day, so when two people try to actually talk face-to-face they don't know how to act because they don't know what to do. They have no clue how to *read* the other person. My mom has taught me all about this, and I completely agree with her. We are losing something so important, but the sad part is that people don't even realize it. In a few generations, talking will cease to exist, and all communications will be done through computers.
To me, that is absolutely horrifying.
So, my advice is this... TALK TO SOMEONE!! (without using any electronics)
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