Tuesday, February 8, 2011
"I see!" said the blind man.
Looking at our culture today, one can picture almost our entire society inside that dark cave. Chained together, wild eyed and belligerent with ignorance they are staring at the wall watching reflections of the Kardashians and Justin Beiber prancing across the stage with child like wonder. The ‘Allegory of the Cave’ is a startling looking glass into modern society and its detachment from any sort of reality. Now I know Plato didn’t exactly mean that we are diluted from reality by way of reality T.V. and underage sex symbols but in context the theory sheds light on our own dwindling state of affairs. We seek today not the light shining through the tiny cracks of the dusty cave but within the pages of “Cosmo” and through the episodes of “Jersey Shore”. We’ve become not only accustomed to the falsehood but addicted to it and as the people around me slither away into the depths of the cave, it is my inherent duty to search for that light, the only question I ask myself is whether or not the people down there, in that cozy cave of distorted comfort are worth saving?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
while we may not be able to have a collective utopia in this day and age, these "common" or "white" lies may make it possible for each individual to live in there own perfect world and in turn make the the world a better place. what i mean is, by telling a white lie to your wife about NOT being overweight will make her feel beautiful and happy inside. if we as a people could instill positive thoughts (both truths and white lies) in others there would be less negativity and thus become closer to a utopia. you cant change the entire world and make it perfect all at once, it starts from inside each person individually. of course, many of the people today would not pay any attention to others around them simply because they feel that the "reality" tv they watch and the magazines they "read" is in fact what is real and what is important. it takes them away from their actual surroundings and separates them from from what is scripted and what is actually reality. (family, friends, that stuff). so while not being able to actually answer the question, i support the notion that, no, these people do not want to be saved. they enjoy their fantasy land of beibers and kardashians on the tv's (cave walls) when reality (the puppeteers) pass them by un-noticed and still disconnected and unconcerned. ignorance is bliss.
ReplyDeleteI say a lot of us know the difference between reality and television. We understand it. We say "Yeah i know Kim (Kardashian)doesn't look like that in real life" but we still want her or to look like her because she has something that we think we need. She has what most of us will never have. She has fame which translates to validation. Most of us are ignored. For a lot of us reality sucks! Can you really blame us?
ReplyDeleteA man who is being saved from the danger of a fierce lion won't object, whether this service is performed by an unknown or an illustrious individual. Why, therefore, do people seek knowledge from celebrities?
ReplyDeleteI say leave them down there. I'm not sure they want or are even worth being saved.
The sad thing is Ciara, that they dont know they need to be saved. Pardon my religious reference but I think this quote suits this situation more than any analysis I might give can. While Jesus was being crucified, while Roman soldiers hammered nails into his hands, he pleaded to god saying, "forgive THEM father, for they DO NOT KNOW." Like the prisoners in the cave, these soldiers, these masses of fat, lazy and idle human beings DON'T KNOW. Partly because they choose not to know and partly because of the world we live in creates that realm of a diluted existence so soaked in cable television and fast food and miserably unfulfilling jobs that they simply dont have enough time on earth to realize they are being duped. I for one, thank the most high, or the cosmos or whatever you want to call it that I am here, now and can use things like school and the internet and even better my family to search for that light, to find my place as a human and input some sort of meaning to this confusing existence. I just wish it was the same for us all.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that how we are raised and the values that are distilled in us as young children effect whether or not we grow up being engrossed in reality tv or live vicariously through Kim Karadashian's twitter page? I mean, as a child I was barely ever allowed to watch tv, instead I was handed a book to read or made to do something productive. Now, 12 years later, while people spend their Thursday nights watching the Jersey Shore, I'm still the nerd more interested in reading things like "The Poetry of Robert Frost" then watching Snooky and friends get drunk and fist pump. I don't know whether to thank my parents or blame them for my uninterest in celebritites due to the fact that they kept me distracted from the Justin Beiber's and Kim Kardashian's of my childhood. Ultimately, I think it comes down to the question of, Are we all just products of our environment? Maybe how we are brought up determines whether we wonder into that "cave" to begin with or if we do, whether we ever find our way out.
ReplyDelete@ jay d. you gotta gift my friend. I haven't seen you this passionate about something in all the years I have known you. Your posts are powerful to say the least and I enjoy reading them. I agree with a lot of what your saying, and when you express it in a spiritual manner, it all starts to make sense. The majority of our population doesn't understand what reality is, and with all the propaganda used in our society, commericials, shows, billboards and everything we lay our eyes on has a deep impact on they way we think and conceptualize our ideas. Its advertisement and thats all it is. Some cannot see behind the dramatic escapades that these actors portray. Every show has a script, is written, directed, and produced by a higher authority. It goes to show that these un-talented phonies are slaves and puppets to these companies. Who ever titled this genre of television "reality tv" needs to get his wig split. Because of this, we, the next generation of humanity, architects, who can't afford to develop and design our future based around false hood and non-realistic ventures will do so in a cut and paste manner. Originality has been kicked out the door and off the street of opportunity. We are the minority, shit, I'm just a kid on a quest, a wanderer, who's passion is to find his own ideas, build them or break them, as long as there mine I don't give a damn. I'm not a fame junkie, I don't need to be seen to be heard, and if we are all products of our environment, I guess I must of fell off the shelf. So I say, fuck those in the cave. Their choice and everyone's entitled to one. Their choice of repetition over optimism. It's their make up and their hair gel, so let the fuckers blind themselves with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matt reality stars are puppets to a higher power. But I beleive reality T.V like, "Jersey Shore" can cause significant increase in a viewers personal drive for success in a capitalistic enviroment like America. The general intent of a show like, "Jersey Shore" could possibly be to entertain or drive the American ideal that anyone can be sucessful. On the show The characters of, "Jersey Shore" are shown to be excessively dim witted with very little intellectual goals as their primary drive in daily life. The amount of attention the show: "Jersey Shore" sheds on the cast's intellectual flaws is a blatent highlight of the underlined meaning of reality telvision. which is anyone can live their dreams in The United States of America. If the characters of a show like, "Jersey Shore" that show undeniable traits of Matt's description:"un-talented phonies" can gain success. I could only assume someone who is truly talented would only derive hope and confidence from a show like, "Jersey Shore." Without hope most individuals see the world as narrow and could become trapped by their own perception of themselves like the prisoners in Plato's "The Cave of Allegory." Reality television is intellectually cheap, but it did spark this conversation which has enlighted an understaning of this subject and caused some to seek the truth. So the shadows are the spark to the prisoners flame for the truth.
ReplyDelete(P.S Some mercy towards my grammer I am currently in a prerequisite English class to college english, "English 21A," and Justin you are right blogging can be alot of fun.)