marin.ca

No more philosophy ramble...

2006-01-09T11:58:00.000-08:00

Ok so my class is over so my blog will return to random stuff that I put up.

Blog #6: "The black is not a man" (Fanon 8).

2005-11-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

"Today, the Black people of Australia constitute 1.6% of the total population but Black men make up 70% of the prison population. Black women make up 50% of the total prison population. The life expectancy for a Black man in Australia is forty-five years. The infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world." Runoko Rashidi

In Australia, Fanon's view that the "black is a black man; that is, as the result of a series of abberations of affect, he is rooter at the core of a universe from which he must be extricated" has only recently begun to change (8). The current teenage cohorts are the first to learn about the 'real' European history of their country.

Aboriginals did not even exist under the law until recently. "It was only in 1967 that Aboriginal people in Australia were considered human" (Ranhidi). Racism is still rampid against Aboriginals in Australia, even in their largest city, Sydney.

Like Regan's lie that the sun rises on California's coast, John Howard and previous governments of Australia lied about the true history of their country, causing an entire persons and their history to be non-existant. They failed to wipe them out completely, so now they are teaching the correct version to their youth.

It was easy for me to see this as an outsider - that even though the current government is trying to correct its mistakes, there is still a huge population in Australia that does not acknowledge the Aboriginals history. The opening quote shows that there is still major issues regarding Aboriginals life value. It has made me wonder though, what I accept within my own government, without even realizing it. It is amazing to think that government has the ability to cause an entire group of persons to not exist.

"The tragedy of the man is that he was once a child" (Fanon 231)

2005-11-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness I'm female.

Blog #5: "Simone De Beauvoir suggests that gender is a social construction…"

2005-11-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

“In nature nothing is ever perfectly clear. The two types, male and female, are not always sharply distinguished; while they sometimes exhibit a dimorphism—in coat colour or in arrangement of spotting or mottling—that seems absolutely distinctive, yet is may happen, on the contrary, that they are indistinguishable and that even their functions are hardly differentiated, as in many fishes.” (The Second Sex 24).

How can we think that we've made any headway if we still have sexed bathrooms?

First, gender to me is whatever you feel. There is such a large spectrum that I don’t think any individual is entirely gendered male or female. You may have the genitals of one sex or the other, but I do not think that determines anything other than your physical features. Even that may not be "perfectly clear". Here Simone is saying that just because you wear a blue coat and have C-patterned baldness does not mean you have to be a fireman.

When is gender not socially constructed? Doesn't the dualism of "female" and "male" make it easy for us to continue to socially construct what they mean?

In one sense, I believe that strict gender roles are socially constructed, but then they may have evolved from facts. Maybe women are better nurturers for children. Maybe children do get messed up if both parents work full time. Maybe women now just go to University and pursue jobs because that is the new social construction for their gender. It's ironic that today, women who choose to look after their children are criticized. Now the social constructions say women should have a full time job and rear their children perfectly. As if!

How come no one ever talks about the social constructions of the gendered male? The "manny" is evolving, but isn't this a social construction too? Men should feel liberated - they can look after children too! Come on, of course men can look after children, why do we have to create an new word that is gendered? Shouldn't "nanny" be "womanny" then?

In the effort to de-gender gender, I think that sex equality today is going too far. This is on the basis that I don’t think men and women are equal in capabilities, but should be considered equal on merit of their personal achievements. As for equality, the best person should be hired for the job. I don’t want a weaker firer fighter coming to my house, just because there was a mandatory number of women per department. Women have definitely had to prove themselves more worthy then men over the years, which I do not agree with, but hopefully we are arriving at a time when women and men are considered equal when it comes to resumes.

On that note, I hope the best “fish” wins.

"Skin" Project

2005-10-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

I recently went to Seattle to check out Bumbershoot. I went to the literary section and found out about this... it's pretty crazy. Thought some of you might be interested. It's a bit absurd... a bit post-modern... buy very very tempting.

Shirley Jackson's Skin Project

Blog #4: “What About Nothing?”

2005-10-23T14:29:00.001-07:00

What is it about Nothing that Heidegger cares about so much?

I have a hard time grasping the concept of nothing. Maybe my mind is too rooted in science, even though I would say I know very little about science.

From what I understand through Heidegger’s writing is that we should be concerned with the nothing because it is there – so the nothing must have some sort of impact on us (the Nothing nothings, as we discussed in class). Because we grow up in a science-oriented society where “Nothing is absolutely rejected by science and abandoned as null and void” we miss the notion of the nothing, because science is only concerned with “what is”. In other words, “science wishes to know nothing of Nothing”.

I understand that there could potentially be a Nothing; however, in my mind, something is always there. I think I’m in the boat that “[wishes] to know nothing of nothing”.

*All quotes from Luper, 216-7.

Blog #3: “The essence of Da-sein lies in its existence”

2005-10-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

My understanding of the Da-sein stems from a personal experience. When I was in Australia, I ventured out alone to a beach at an isolated place called Cape Tribulations. I was on top of the world. I felt as if I’d accomplished some huge task by travelling to a new country on my own and having all of these new experiences that only I had had. I was somehow special, or better than I had been before I left. I’d seen all of these beautiful natural places that somehow inspired me to see more. I could do anything. So, I went to this beach where you had to pass through a jungle to get to the water.

I got to the waterfront and decided to walk north for a bit. As I’m walking, I get to a river crossing that says, “watch for crocodiles” with a picture of a croc eating a person. Awesome, I thought, not going to cross this river… So I went back toward where I came out of the jungle. I sat and gazed into the distance. I realized that I was sitting on this deserted place surrounded by other beings. Dwarfed by the massive trees, I recognized that there were crocodiles in the river, snakes and spiders in the jungle, and killer jellyfish in the waters right in front of me, and a shark breeding ground not too far away. My existence wasn’t about me anymore; it was about my relation to my surroundings and the “Tribulation” part of this location

I existed, there on that beach, but my essence came from my interactions with the other beings. It did not matter that I felt like I had conquered some huge societal task by travelling on my own. No other human would ever know what happened to me if I were to have disappeared that day.

Blog Entry:

This experience helped me to understand Heidegger’s notion of the “Da-sein”. I was no greater than the trees, but no less than the jellyfish. My so-called “attributes”, whether physical or defining in a human/social constructive manner, were only for “outward appearance”. In a worldly manner, those attributes meant nothing; there were other “possible ways for [the Da-sein] to be”. My understanding of Da-sein is being in the world, whether human, animal or plant, or product. All exististing things are beings, but are as well each unique. To be a Da-sein means to exist and interact with other beings. The fundamental nature of the being, therefore, is in its existing form. As Heidegger said, “The essence of Da-sein lies in its existence”.

*All Quotes from Luper, p. 227-8.

Make Me Mad!

2005-10-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

anger is an amazing feeling. i experienced it for the first time in a long time this weekend... (pretty much in years) like pure, genuine anger. I don't enjoy it... but it sure makes your body feel alive.

Do I Exist?

2005-10-14T00:56:00.000-07:00

So... I am currently in an American Eagle Ad published in the Ubyssey... Apparently I "live my life" the American Eagle way. For starters, I never agreed for my photo to be in this ad, and I'm not sure what the American Eagle Outfitters life style is all about. But, I guess working at LongBoat is a pretty good definition of that. Volunteering at North America's largest intramural activity definitely rings "American Eagle Outfitters! Can we wear their clothes???" to me... doesn't it? On top of them using my photo, they made up an alias for me because they couldn't locate me to get my permission to use the photo. So my name is now Katie. It's in print, so doesn't that make it true? People at work have even started calling me Katie as a joke.

Does Marin still exist?

Absurdity

2005-10-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

I think I just discovered what absurdity feels like.

Driving home from visiting my sister and her new baby out in New West, I witnessed/was in the middle of a high speed chase. If it hadn't of been for a cab driver who saw a silent police car behind us ride up on the side walk, the car I was in would have been smashed almost head on. Instead though, a vehicle with two small children in it were hit on the driver side. Luckily, they were all ok.

The car that was being chased, assumed stolen, came over the meridian taking off most of the passanger side by the lamp post. At least 15 cop cars chasing it from behind, and 2 or 3 from the opposite side - the direction we were going. The young man, I'm guessing about 17, drove the car about 50 feet behind where we had parked - left the car running - and jumped from the side towards the houses. I couldn't see any more after that.

Witnessing this event has left me in a state of shock. Every muscle in my back and neck are tense. My body feels heavy and stiff. My eyes hurt from holding them so wide open for the 30 minute drive home after seeing this kid crash a car, hit a family, and be chased by almost 20 cop cars and not give up. At this moment in time, existing feels like a vomit ball in the pit of my stomach. Emotions from anger to scared take turns overwhelming my body. I would rather this though, however, than experience the impact of a head on collision.

So, the absurd part? This was all probably over a stolen car. If the cops had of let him go, eventually he would have run out of gas and had to park. There has to be another way to deal with this. I was lucky, my family was lucky, and the cars around me were lucky. The kid was lucky too, as he walked out of the vehicle and everyone else lived. It is even more absurd because this has been going on for years. How many innocent people have been killed because of high speed chases? Yet they keep doing it... I don't get it.

Blog #2: Passion

2005-09-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

As pointed out in class, Kierkegaard’s writings show evidence that belief in God is actually a belief in passion. As an atheist, I stopped to ponder this point (and it has been on the back of my mind since). Almost everyone I know is passionate about something – whether it is a passion for religion, for work, for family, for teaching, for studying or even a passion for being passionless, people always find a reason to have a passion. Can people find themselves, their individuality, in any passion or does it just have to be a passion in religion? And specifically in Christianity? If this is so, then for me, Kierkegaard’s finding of the ‘individual’ seems more like a collective thought process - as it seems to promote a collective belief in one subject, not an individualist one.

Blog #1: The Individual Process...

2005-09-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

This whole idea of Kierkegaard's 'process' has been on my mind since we spoke about it in class.

I like the idea that we are becoming something, a sort of personal evolution towards some greater end. But who are we processing into, and what does it matter if it is just on an individual basis? The process to become an aware individual seems to be for the purpose of community. Has the push of individualism caused our culture to turn all of the apparent altruistic things that we do (volunteering in hospitals, going to Third World Countries, etc) into a means to show the community how great of an individual we are? After all, you are a rather useless individual – no matter how far in the process you are -without some sort of community.

And what value does Kierkegaard’s work actually have without a community of readers?

Jackson's Story...

2005-09-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

The Jackson story was mentioned in class. Then we were told we were having a lottery of our own. Fear set in. I did not want to be stoned to death in front of my class (or ever, for that matter). I’ve never had a problem with public speaking until I realized that I was in group one and was potentially the first martyr of Philosophy 385 2005.

The Lottery

2005-09-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

I was playing dodgeball the other day and someone broke their nose. He just shook it off... "that's okay, it's just part of the game." Meanwhile his nose was bent and blood was everywhere.

I started to wonder, what is the difference between rocks and dodgeballs?

Happiness...

2005-09-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent 8 hours with my 6 amazing volunteers to put together a Ball Hockey league for UBC. It wasn’t exactly fun, but we made it entertaining and I'm sure we'll have a few inside jokes from the night to last us all year. We have all put in countless hours to get this league off the ground and running. Why? So we can be happy when the league runs and we see how much fun the participants have when they are out there playing. It is actually quite an amazing process – it makes me happy because I develop this amazing sense of accomplishment because I have put together a league, but also because I get to bond with my volunteers. That’s happiness for me right now.

Sickness...

2005-09-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, once again I have been attacked by a vicious cold. this has given me time to ponder over the many diversions I have encountered while sitting here trying to recuperate..

television... man those people on Passions are crazy, but somehow addicting.
sleep... now is this a diversion? or a means to get better?
eating... definitely a diversion... at least now that I can eat without getting horrific stomach pains. especially the chocolate bar, I mean cold medicine, that i have sitting here.
writing useless crap on my blog...

Blogging for Class...

2005-09-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

This is where I will post some existential stuff.

Good thing not too many people read this, they all might think I'm crazy.

Bruce already thinks I'm crazy, he can't understand my fascination with I (heart) Huckabees and now I'm taking a class on the subject. I just want to be an existential detective. Really.

It's funny. Bruce also thinks I'm crazy for having a blog. Now I have a blog for my existentialism class...

Maybe this is how America takes over...

2005-04-21T10:10:00.001-07:00

One thing I noticed in Australia was the abundance of MacDonalds (or "Mackers") Look, even in the Outback!

Mackers is Taking Over!

2005-04-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

Mackers really is taking over Australia! Ok, so this isn't quite accurate. But within 2 minutes from the Opera House, guess what! McDonalds!

I should be studying...

2005-04-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

However, I've discovered this blog and cannot pull myself away (thanks Ryan!!). So, I don't really know what I'm going to do with my new found space, but I'm pretty creative so I'm sure I'll think of something!

Right now I'm just going to be posting pictures from my year abroad - I went on exchange to the University of Sydney. I'll probably throw a few in from Fiji and New Zealand, as well as some from my four months back in Vancouver. I'm sure some sort of theme will develop as the time goes by...

Random photo....

2005-04-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

This was me back in Sydney... oh I miss it!

Me, Tam and Jess in our Sydney flat.

I'm not sure what I'm doing, but...

2005-04-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know that lamb and sheep together spell BLAspheMe?

and if you rearrange silent you can spell listen?

Now you do...