Saturday, March 23, 2013
Monday, June 11, 2012
Anthropocentric Narcissism
Few people would claim - occasionally due to fear of politically correct repercussions - that they are "better" than someone with, say, Downs Syndrome. Why, then, is it perfectly acceptable to claim superiority to animals based logically in greater cognitive complexity and abilities? Where do we draw the line among sentient beings?
Claiming superiority based on species is a tautological argument, thus the reliance on cognitive superiority, but that claim was once (and still is occasionally) used against black people, women, Jews, etc. So again, where do we draw the line?
When one is simply born with greater cognitive abilities than another, that fact does not connote superiority or greater virtue and certainly does not justify exploitation, abuse, torture and murder of claimed "inferior" beings. There is no "line" that ever justifies such treatment whether based on race, gender, species or nationality. This is why anthropocentrism, and any "centrism" for that matter, is dangerous. There is no "center" of the universe. Centrality of this nature, like dualism, is a construct, and constructs are created and used for individual benefit.
I would suggest that if one must make comparisons at all, such comparisons may only be based on merit. What have you done lately with your cognitive abilities? Ironically, the people who tend to claim cognitive and thus moral superiority to animals are those who a) have the least cognitive ability of the human race or b) are too fucking lazy to use it.
Claiming superiority based on species is a tautological argument, thus the reliance on cognitive superiority, but that claim was once (and still is occasionally) used against black people, women, Jews, etc. So again, where do we draw the line?
When one is simply born with greater cognitive abilities than another, that fact does not connote superiority or greater virtue and certainly does not justify exploitation, abuse, torture and murder of claimed "inferior" beings. There is no "line" that ever justifies such treatment whether based on race, gender, species or nationality. This is why anthropocentrism, and any "centrism" for that matter, is dangerous. There is no "center" of the universe. Centrality of this nature, like dualism, is a construct, and constructs are created and used for individual benefit.
I would suggest that if one must make comparisons at all, such comparisons may only be based on merit. What have you done lately with your cognitive abilities? Ironically, the people who tend to claim cognitive and thus moral superiority to animals are those who a) have the least cognitive ability of the human race or b) are too fucking lazy to use it.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Drones
Disclaimer: The following post, like many/most of my posts, is extremely biased. Also, what I mean by "stupid people" is either people who deliberately or inadvertently forgo "thinking" about their existence in the world or the effect thereof or people who think that their interests/actions are beneficial when in reality (yes, my perception of reality) they are self-serving, ego-driven and damaging to a large portion of the world.
So, I just watched a hair tutorial online...yeah, I did that...and the girl who was giving the tutorial was incredibly ditzy, but she seemed to be a genuinely nice person. It occurred to me, however, that doing her hair and makeup, and talking about doing her hair and makeup, likely constitutes a good percentage of her life. So I started thinking: stupid people are not innately assholes. They may have a negative or detrimental effect on the world around them, but it is generally inadvertent. There are two primary issues at hand: a) because they are lazy (they are not simply ignorant - stupidity is a choice, albeit a subconscious one), they are sheep - they will do whatever the corporate oligarchy wants them to do - consume unsustainably, carelessly compete with their fellow humans for scarce resources, etc. - because to do otherwise would require effort and thought, and b) because they seek only the easeful and pleasurable existence of immediate gratification, they have no consideration for or awareness of the effect that ease and pleasure is having on the world around them. They have no intention of hurting anyone or anything; this effect is just a byproduct of their stupidity and one of which they may never gain awareness.
Further, because they likely come from stupid stock or are rebelling against unstupid stock, and because they surround themselves with a stupid community, they are rarely confronted with the suggestion or option to discontinue stupidity perpetuation. If and when they are, they either shut down (Ugh, thinking!) or get defensive (must maintain easeful and pleasurable lifestyle).
Intentionally stupid people (Republicans, pro-life activists, etc.) genuinely believe they are doing the right thing. For instance, wealth and "progression" over sustainability is fine because the Rapture is about to happen anyway.
Further, it is possible that part of the reason my students can't/won't think critically or analyze anything (aside from shitty K-12 education and years of consumerist indoctrination) is because they are not only living solely out of the ego rather than the essential self, but they are even fluttering around the surface of that. Intentionally stupid people are at least aware of their own opinions, motivations and interests, to a certain extent, however ego-driven. Inadvertently stupid people know or think only about what is fleetingly fun and easy. There is little if any thought of where their motivations originate and where their actions will take them.
So, I just watched a hair tutorial online...yeah, I did that...and the girl who was giving the tutorial was incredibly ditzy, but she seemed to be a genuinely nice person. It occurred to me, however, that doing her hair and makeup, and talking about doing her hair and makeup, likely constitutes a good percentage of her life. So I started thinking: stupid people are not innately assholes. They may have a negative or detrimental effect on the world around them, but it is generally inadvertent. There are two primary issues at hand: a) because they are lazy (they are not simply ignorant - stupidity is a choice, albeit a subconscious one), they are sheep - they will do whatever the corporate oligarchy wants them to do - consume unsustainably, carelessly compete with their fellow humans for scarce resources, etc. - because to do otherwise would require effort and thought, and b) because they seek only the easeful and pleasurable existence of immediate gratification, they have no consideration for or awareness of the effect that ease and pleasure is having on the world around them. They have no intention of hurting anyone or anything; this effect is just a byproduct of their stupidity and one of which they may never gain awareness.
Further, because they likely come from stupid stock or are rebelling against unstupid stock, and because they surround themselves with a stupid community, they are rarely confronted with the suggestion or option to discontinue stupidity perpetuation. If and when they are, they either shut down (Ugh, thinking!) or get defensive (must maintain easeful and pleasurable lifestyle).
Intentionally stupid people (Republicans, pro-life activists, etc.) genuinely believe they are doing the right thing. For instance, wealth and "progression" over sustainability is fine because the Rapture is about to happen anyway.
Further, it is possible that part of the reason my students can't/won't think critically or analyze anything (aside from shitty K-12 education and years of consumerist indoctrination) is because they are not only living solely out of the ego rather than the essential self, but they are even fluttering around the surface of that. Intentionally stupid people are at least aware of their own opinions, motivations and interests, to a certain extent, however ego-driven. Inadvertently stupid people know or think only about what is fleetingly fun and easy. There is little if any thought of where their motivations originate and where their actions will take them.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Bewilderment
Normally I am annoyed when students act like morons, but I have a particular student this semester who has behaved in ways that are...well...astounding! I am genuinely baffled. It has gone far beyond mere annoyance because annoyance is usually accompanied by some level of understanding. This student's behavior is so nonsensical that my mind has entered into the territory of utter bewilderment.
To start with, she was approximately 20 to 30 minutes late for (a 50 minute) class multiple times throughout the semester. I should have failed her for excessive tardy accumulation, but I guess I was being pretty lenient about the tardies this semester. Anyway, one day she came in mildly late and didn't sign the roll sheet. I asked her if she had come in after it had gone around the class, and she said that it was still going around when she came in but that it didn't get to her. It didn't get to her. Apparently it was this inanimate object's job to make its way directly into her hands as opposed to the other way around. God forbid she get off her ass and do something for herself. One can surmise that this girl has had trouble signing the roll sheet all semester. I cannot count how many times I reminded the entire class, and then her specifically, that if they do not sign the roll sheet, they will be counted absent. Her response was always, "Ooh," after which she proceeded to...NOT SIGN THE ROLL SHEET.
We have been teaching ancient rhetoric in place of Freshman composition this semester. Progymnasmatas are ancient Greek exercises for young rhetoricians. We had 3 due this semester, and they were the only major assignments due aside from the final project. They, along with the final project, comprise 50 percent of the students' overall grades. This particular student failed all of them. She either did not turn them in at all or she turned in incomplete versions of them. Each exercise had 3 parts to it. When returning the third and final progymnasmata to her, I noted that she got an F because it was incomplete. It was a third the length it should have been because she only completed one of the three parts. Her response to this was, "Ooh. We were supposed to do the other parts too?" The other parts. Definite pronoun, meaning she knew there were two other parts to the assignment, she just thought they were optional, I suppose. This was the third and final exercise, mind you. I said, "Yes. That was the assignment. It has been virtually the same assignment all semester, all 3 times." Her response, "Ooh."
The students were able to rewrite one of the three progymnasmatas for a better grade by the end of the semester. The only stipulation was that the original grade had to be a D or higher. They could not rewrite any assignment for which they received an F for incompleteness or failure to turn it in in the first place. This student not only turned in a rewrite despite the fact that she failed all three exercises, but it wasn't even a rewrite of one of the three exercises available for rewrite. It was a rewrite of a daily assignment, all of which were COMPLETION GRADES, meaning it was a 100 if they did it and a zero if they didn't. Obviously, if she was rewriting it, the original grade was a zero. Allow me to recap: the rewrite was for an assignment not available for rewrite (as she could not have rewritten any of the progymnasmatas she failed), and it was a rewrite of a failed grade anyway. Double fail. But it gets better. The rewrite she turned in was executed INCORRECTLY. She did not follow the instructions for the original assignment, so she wouldn't have gotten credit for it anyway. Triple fail. She rewrote an assignment that was not available for rewrite on two levels, and she rewrote it incorrectly.
It seems to me that this student's problem is that she is COMPLETELY INCAPABLE of following simple instructions or listening to them in the first place. My instructions for all assignments and class policy was gone over extensively and repeatedly in class and then was posted online at their Blackboard page. I have had plenty of morons come through my classes in the past. It is neither surprising or incomprehensible. The level of which this student has bombed everything she has attempted, however, is amazing to me. I've never seen anything like it. I've had students blame me and/or everything/one else on the planet for their own fuck-ups. I've had multiple students simply stop showing up halfway through the semester without dropping the class thereby failing. I've had students bomb multiple assignments while at least having the maturity to take responsibility for their mistakes.
But this is the first time I've had a student screw up this badly while seeming to be completely unaware that she's screwing up. It's as if there is an incomplete circuit in communication. I provide information, but it's not getting to her just as the roll sheet didn't get to her. But while she's obviously not taking responsibility for her part in this class, she is also not blaming me or anyone else for her failure. She's simply not acknowledging it at all. It doesn't seem that she's apathetic. She is attempting to complete and turn in assignments. She comes to class, late or not. It seems as though she is just incapable of performing the necessary functions to succeed in this environment, and she's so unaware of what that even means, that she is also incapable of acknowledging failure. Unfortunately, the result of that reality seems to be that she will never be able to learn or progress in any environment in which she must perform any function beyond basic motor skills.
Teaching a Freshman level core class at a typical state university has been an eye-opening experience. I am constantly confronted with various levels of intelligence. There are the A students (few and far between, unfortunately) who are bored with the class because of the need to also cater to the students who are struggling to pass. There are the C students who may be amazing mathematicians or engineers but have no interest in the humanities. They pass with a C, and they are happy. There are the students who are simply not ready for college because they are far from adulthood despite their age. They are not unintelligent necessarily. They are just irresponsible. This student, however, is the first I've had who I would actually consider to be borderline mentally challenged. It is the end of the semester, and I still don't know how to communicate with her. I don't know why I am so baffled by her. If I am (rarely) confronted with the highly intelligent, then it makes sense that I would also be confronted with those on the opposing end of the spectrum. Interestingly, I'm not surprised that she got into college. The work that she has completed is not bad. It's comprehensible, coherent and even somewhat insightful at times. It's as if her dysfunctionality exists entirely within the realm of communication. Roll sheets don't get to her. Information about assignments and policy doesn't get to her. Vital reminders to avoid class failure do not get to her even when they are proverbially placed in her lap. This is what I simply do not understand.
To start with, she was approximately 20 to 30 minutes late for (a 50 minute) class multiple times throughout the semester. I should have failed her for excessive tardy accumulation, but I guess I was being pretty lenient about the tardies this semester. Anyway, one day she came in mildly late and didn't sign the roll sheet. I asked her if she had come in after it had gone around the class, and she said that it was still going around when she came in but that it didn't get to her. It didn't get to her. Apparently it was this inanimate object's job to make its way directly into her hands as opposed to the other way around. God forbid she get off her ass and do something for herself. One can surmise that this girl has had trouble signing the roll sheet all semester. I cannot count how many times I reminded the entire class, and then her specifically, that if they do not sign the roll sheet, they will be counted absent. Her response was always, "Ooh," after which she proceeded to...NOT SIGN THE ROLL SHEET.
We have been teaching ancient rhetoric in place of Freshman composition this semester. Progymnasmatas are ancient Greek exercises for young rhetoricians. We had 3 due this semester, and they were the only major assignments due aside from the final project. They, along with the final project, comprise 50 percent of the students' overall grades. This particular student failed all of them. She either did not turn them in at all or she turned in incomplete versions of them. Each exercise had 3 parts to it. When returning the third and final progymnasmata to her, I noted that she got an F because it was incomplete. It was a third the length it should have been because she only completed one of the three parts. Her response to this was, "Ooh. We were supposed to do the other parts too?" The other parts. Definite pronoun, meaning she knew there were two other parts to the assignment, she just thought they were optional, I suppose. This was the third and final exercise, mind you. I said, "Yes. That was the assignment. It has been virtually the same assignment all semester, all 3 times." Her response, "Ooh."
The students were able to rewrite one of the three progymnasmatas for a better grade by the end of the semester. The only stipulation was that the original grade had to be a D or higher. They could not rewrite any assignment for which they received an F for incompleteness or failure to turn it in in the first place. This student not only turned in a rewrite despite the fact that she failed all three exercises, but it wasn't even a rewrite of one of the three exercises available for rewrite. It was a rewrite of a daily assignment, all of which were COMPLETION GRADES, meaning it was a 100 if they did it and a zero if they didn't. Obviously, if she was rewriting it, the original grade was a zero. Allow me to recap: the rewrite was for an assignment not available for rewrite (as she could not have rewritten any of the progymnasmatas she failed), and it was a rewrite of a failed grade anyway. Double fail. But it gets better. The rewrite she turned in was executed INCORRECTLY. She did not follow the instructions for the original assignment, so she wouldn't have gotten credit for it anyway. Triple fail. She rewrote an assignment that was not available for rewrite on two levels, and she rewrote it incorrectly.
It seems to me that this student's problem is that she is COMPLETELY INCAPABLE of following simple instructions or listening to them in the first place. My instructions for all assignments and class policy was gone over extensively and repeatedly in class and then was posted online at their Blackboard page. I have had plenty of morons come through my classes in the past. It is neither surprising or incomprehensible. The level of which this student has bombed everything she has attempted, however, is amazing to me. I've never seen anything like it. I've had students blame me and/or everything/one else on the planet for their own fuck-ups. I've had multiple students simply stop showing up halfway through the semester without dropping the class thereby failing. I've had students bomb multiple assignments while at least having the maturity to take responsibility for their mistakes.
But this is the first time I've had a student screw up this badly while seeming to be completely unaware that she's screwing up. It's as if there is an incomplete circuit in communication. I provide information, but it's not getting to her just as the roll sheet didn't get to her. But while she's obviously not taking responsibility for her part in this class, she is also not blaming me or anyone else for her failure. She's simply not acknowledging it at all. It doesn't seem that she's apathetic. She is attempting to complete and turn in assignments. She comes to class, late or not. It seems as though she is just incapable of performing the necessary functions to succeed in this environment, and she's so unaware of what that even means, that she is also incapable of acknowledging failure. Unfortunately, the result of that reality seems to be that she will never be able to learn or progress in any environment in which she must perform any function beyond basic motor skills.
Teaching a Freshman level core class at a typical state university has been an eye-opening experience. I am constantly confronted with various levels of intelligence. There are the A students (few and far between, unfortunately) who are bored with the class because of the need to also cater to the students who are struggling to pass. There are the C students who may be amazing mathematicians or engineers but have no interest in the humanities. They pass with a C, and they are happy. There are the students who are simply not ready for college because they are far from adulthood despite their age. They are not unintelligent necessarily. They are just irresponsible. This student, however, is the first I've had who I would actually consider to be borderline mentally challenged. It is the end of the semester, and I still don't know how to communicate with her. I don't know why I am so baffled by her. If I am (rarely) confronted with the highly intelligent, then it makes sense that I would also be confronted with those on the opposing end of the spectrum. Interestingly, I'm not surprised that she got into college. The work that she has completed is not bad. It's comprehensible, coherent and even somewhat insightful at times. It's as if her dysfunctionality exists entirely within the realm of communication. Roll sheets don't get to her. Information about assignments and policy doesn't get to her. Vital reminders to avoid class failure do not get to her even when they are proverbially placed in her lap. This is what I simply do not understand.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Live and Let Live
I will fully admit to getting bent out of shape about things over which I have little or no control. I do it all the time. It is, in my opinion, one of my major flaws, one of the main things that keeps me from being content in life, and it is one of my major focal points on the road of spiritual development. It is a hard habit to kick. For instance, I left my apartment today to go meet a professor at his office, and I immediately became nearly enraged by various impediments. For instance, the city does not monitor street parking very well, and there are various areas where cars are allowed to park all along both sides of relatively narrow streets. You can imagine how much this problem obscures visibility at crossroads not to mention causing near collisions daily with cars pulling in and out of parking spots and driveways as well as near collisions with pedestrians and cyclists. Impediment number one. Furthermore, Denton is full of hippie cyclists who think they own the road despite their unwillingness to cycle faster than 5 miles per hour in front of a line of vehicles in a 30 mph zone. Impediment number 2. Denton also seems to be full of pedestrian students who like to stand directly in parking spaces that vehicles are clearly attempting to back into. Impediment number 3. So on. So forth. I'd like to say that it is just the oblivion of youth, but frankly I've witnessed people living in such oblivion straight into their graves.
I am not proud of such frustrations. Not the impediments themselves. Those are not my problem (though I wish I were better at recognizing this fact in the moment). It is the getting frustrated of which I am not proud. However, generally the things that frustrate me despite my inability to control or change the circumstances, are things that directly affect me. This is why I call them "impediments." Many of them literally impede my movement - my ability to get where I'm going swiftly and efficiently. If they do not literally impede motion, they at least figuratively do so.
What I have a difficult time understanding is why people work themselves into piping, red pretzels over things that have absolutely no affect on them whatsoever. I am speaking mainly of the conservatives that have frustrated me (because they, for no clear reason, act as direct impediments by berating and intentionally making life more difficult for me or those I care about), but I'm sure liberals and everyone in between are guilty as well. For instance, I had a student submit a blog entry today essentially bitching at me because of the placement of my tattoos. He claimed that people with visible tattoos are "not smart" about such decisions and that they should not make such unwise decisions because it could ruin future job prospects. My question is, what on earth do my tattoos and my job prospects have to do with this kid? He doesn't know me. He doesn't care about me. His life has absolutely nothing to do with mine outside of the classroom. He's not concerned about my job prospects (his concerns didn't even apply to academia but to the business world where everyone wears dress shirts and suits anyway). His blog entry was a candy-coated way of saying that he doesn't like my tattoos and that he thinks they're inappropriate and that I shouldn't have them. Well, good for him. I still don't see what that has to do with me or what my body looks like has to do with him. That's like saying "I'm offended by the shape of your eyebrows and I don't think they should be shaped like that anymore." Okay. So stop looking at my eyebrows (tattoos) and mind your own business!
The same goes for the homophobe who thinks that an adult individual having sex with another adult individual in the privacy of their own bedroom on the other side of town (or state, or country, or world) has something directly to do with said homophobe. Homophobes have claimed that gay marriage defiles the "sanctity of marriage" in general. But what does one person's marriage have to do with a complete stranger's marriage? Each relationship, each marriage, is wholly unique and autonomous. Yes, there are certain conventions that many people follow, but just as no two individuals are alike, neither are relationships between individuals. The "institution" of marriage is a construct. What is fascinating is that in the recent Republican platform, Republicans actually had the nerve to rhetorically depict gay marriage and the acknowledgment of homosexuality as a valid lifestyle as an "assault" on heterosexuality and heterosexual marriage.
To such unfortunate, delusional souls, I will say this: Live and let live. The people and lifestyles you are ideologically (and sometimes legislatively) attacking HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. They are not impeding your lives in any way. They are not hurting you. They are not affecting you whatsoever. If you feel that you are being affected, that is your choice and that is your problem. Please stop making it everyone else's.
I am not proud of such frustrations. Not the impediments themselves. Those are not my problem (though I wish I were better at recognizing this fact in the moment). It is the getting frustrated of which I am not proud. However, generally the things that frustrate me despite my inability to control or change the circumstances, are things that directly affect me. This is why I call them "impediments." Many of them literally impede my movement - my ability to get where I'm going swiftly and efficiently. If they do not literally impede motion, they at least figuratively do so.
What I have a difficult time understanding is why people work themselves into piping, red pretzels over things that have absolutely no affect on them whatsoever. I am speaking mainly of the conservatives that have frustrated me (because they, for no clear reason, act as direct impediments by berating and intentionally making life more difficult for me or those I care about), but I'm sure liberals and everyone in between are guilty as well. For instance, I had a student submit a blog entry today essentially bitching at me because of the placement of my tattoos. He claimed that people with visible tattoos are "not smart" about such decisions and that they should not make such unwise decisions because it could ruin future job prospects. My question is, what on earth do my tattoos and my job prospects have to do with this kid? He doesn't know me. He doesn't care about me. His life has absolutely nothing to do with mine outside of the classroom. He's not concerned about my job prospects (his concerns didn't even apply to academia but to the business world where everyone wears dress shirts and suits anyway). His blog entry was a candy-coated way of saying that he doesn't like my tattoos and that he thinks they're inappropriate and that I shouldn't have them. Well, good for him. I still don't see what that has to do with me or what my body looks like has to do with him. That's like saying "I'm offended by the shape of your eyebrows and I don't think they should be shaped like that anymore." Okay. So stop looking at my eyebrows (tattoos) and mind your own business!
The same goes for the homophobe who thinks that an adult individual having sex with another adult individual in the privacy of their own bedroom on the other side of town (or state, or country, or world) has something directly to do with said homophobe. Homophobes have claimed that gay marriage defiles the "sanctity of marriage" in general. But what does one person's marriage have to do with a complete stranger's marriage? Each relationship, each marriage, is wholly unique and autonomous. Yes, there are certain conventions that many people follow, but just as no two individuals are alike, neither are relationships between individuals. The "institution" of marriage is a construct. What is fascinating is that in the recent Republican platform, Republicans actually had the nerve to rhetorically depict gay marriage and the acknowledgment of homosexuality as a valid lifestyle as an "assault" on heterosexuality and heterosexual marriage.
To such unfortunate, delusional souls, I will say this: Live and let live. The people and lifestyles you are ideologically (and sometimes legislatively) attacking HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. They are not impeding your lives in any way. They are not hurting you. They are not affecting you whatsoever. If you feel that you are being affected, that is your choice and that is your problem. Please stop making it everyone else's.
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