Symbols Are Arbitrary

This chapter explained that words are not intrinsically connected to what they represent. There is no real reason to call what we read books or our pet a dog aside from the fact that those who started the language agreed it was acceptable. The symbols or words we use have no true connection to what they are trying to represent and as such their meaning can change. Fifty years ago, the word gay referred to being lighthearted. Today, gay is commonly used in regards to homosexuality. It’s almost funny how the meaning of certain words can change given time or having them placed in different societies. We like to think the things we say are constant but in reality, a profound statement said now could seem like nothing more than gibberish to someone who heard it hundreds of years from now. I guess words aren’t quite as powerful as we would like to think they are. In truth, the power comes from the meaning behind them.

Question 2 (Hate Speech)

Hate speech is generally defined as being any sort of communication that disparages a person or group of people based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion. The Free Speech Museum described it as being speech that is racist or anti-Semitic. There have been suggestions to censor hate speech on the web and though I see the value in keeping people, particularly children, from reading such ignorant words, I don’t think it would be right to censor it. It would go against this country’s first amendment right which entitles all of us to freedom of speech. No matter how ignorant or misguided a person’s words might be, they are still entitled to express them. I think the best way to deal with hate speech is to talk to and hopefully enlighten those who would consider it to be acceptable. Keeping people from saying such remarks isn’t a real solution to the problem. We need to find a way to change their way of thinking.

Question 1 (Metaphor)

I like Reverend Jesse Jackson’s rainbow metaphor for America. I think it does a good job of describing the diversity of this country without diminishing any culture. It illustrates that it’s the union of all of the different cultures and people that makes this country beautiful. However, that’s not to say that I’m against the melting pot metaphor that has been used so many times before. I don’t think that it is really implies that we should all forget our roots but rather that we should remember that we are all Americans, no matter what we look like or where our families are from. If I was to describe America with my own metaphor, I would describe us as being an orchestra. Each ethnicity, each culture would be represented by a different instrumental group and while they could just as easily make music separately, it’s theunited harmony that makes it beautiful. It’s all of the instruments playing together in synch that makes it an orchestra.

Particular Others

A concept that I found interesting in this chapter was that of Particular Others. The chapter explained that as we grow we learn to see ourselves based on how other significant people in our lives see us. These Particular Others can be, and are often, our parents, teachers and friends. I thought it was interesting how much of what we are told and how we are treated as a child can affect how we see ourselves as adults. My parents and teachers had always praised and encouraged my accomplishment. I guess I never really realized how much that made me want to try harder and be better. It’s funny to think that if they had responded differently to my accomplishments, I might be a different person today. It really is the responsibility of adults to make sure that children understand how special they are and how proud we are of their every achievements.

Question 1

I spoke to both a man and a woman who were forty years older than me and asked them how men and women were supposed to act when they were twenty. The woman said that, when she was my age, women were starting to work, have jobs and go to college more than in earlier generations. They were still expected to one day have a family and take care of their children but they were also allowed to have their own personal ambitions as well. However, it would’ve been considered inappropriate for her to let those ambitions interfere with taking care of her children. The man I spoke to said he was expected to have a family and accept that his wife might work too, but he was also expected to make more and provide for his family. It wasn’t appropriate for him to still be acting irresponsibly at that age or let his wife make more than him. A man and a woman twenty years older than me told me that, when they were twenty, men weren’t really expected to make all the money for their family and it wasn’t negative for him to have a wife who made as much or more money than him. Women were still expected to one day have a family and to take care of their children but men had a more active role in it. It was more acceptable for men to express their feelings than it had been generations before. I am twenty years old and it seems to me, based on what I’ve heard, that gender roles haven’t changed that much in the last twenty years. However, they seem to have changed a great deal from the way they were forty years ago.

Question 2 (What is Race?)

Race is used today as a way of classifying people into certain groups by ethnicity. Although I see the risk for prejudice and stereotypes a division such as this can cause, I also understand that classifying people based on their race is unavoidable in this day and age. I think it would be difficult if not impossible to look at someone today and not take into account whether or not they are of a different race than you. Although we are all human and therefore should be equal in each other’s eyes, I would be remiss to say that we are all exactly the same. There are different ethnicities in this world and I don’t think that acknowledging this fact should be frowned upon. Furthermore, I don’t see why the Census Bureau would not want people to check multiple races in order to describe themselves. It’s not uncommon for people nowadays to have mixed ethnicities and I think it’s a little unfair for them to be forced to choose which of the many races in their background describes them the best.

Question 2

A relationship in m life that has become closer over time would be my relationship with my best friend. We met sophomore year in high school. In the beginning, we talked only about neutral topics such as how much homework we had to deal with or whether we liked our teachers or not. I think we both consciously avoided topics that we thought were too close to us. We didn’t want to say anything that could be used against us later. It was an I-You relationship from the beginning. There was a connection but we weren’t quite ready to let our guard down. However, without either of us realizing, our conversations started to become more personal. We started talking about our family, friends and past experiences as if we had known each other for years but in fact we had only met a couple months ago. The two of us have been friends for about four years now and there isn’t much we keep from each other. We talk about our families, friends, ambitions, political views, religious beliefs and anything else that might come up in conversation. Although I’m truly amazed by how our bond has grown over the years, I’m even more amazed by how much we’ve affected each other. I’m a different person from who I was in high school and it’s largely in part to my friendship with him. Our friendship and past experiences have challenged me to be a better man.

Question 1

Linear communication involves a message being sent from the sender and to the receiver. It can be seen as a one way conversation in which the sender is speaking or communicating but the receiver is giving no response. Linear communication is meant to be direct but, when noise or any other sort of distraction is introduced, the message can be interrupted. On the other hand, interactive communication is when a message is being sent but there is in fact a response from the receiver. I believe an appropriate example of linear communication from my life would be my history class. There are seventy students in my class and our professor doesn’t appreciate being interrupted, thus each class often breaks down to him going over his lecture and sending us his message while the rest of us listen and receive it without giving feedback. However, there is the occasional noise such as a cell phone ringing or a late student entering the classroom that interrupts the message he is sending.

Introductory Post

I'm a sophmore at san jose state and I'm majoring in art. I haven't quite decided what I want to do with an art major but I'm focusing on graphic design and animation right now. They seem like the best options for me because I've always loved to draw and I'm fascinated by the way technology can bring that extra bit of life into my artwork. This is the first online class I've enrolled in since starting college and this is also my first time using a blog.