Hayley:
Hayley,
I really liked your inclusion on song lyrics to help get your point across. Referencing something in addition to stating your argument really helps to solidify it and make the point more solid, or if not, then it adds additional worth to your ideas, which is always great to see.
You seem to believe that we exist before we have an essence, an existentialist view on life. You supported your opinion well, talking about how we get to choose the way we live our lives, for instance, choosing to rebel against society or follow it, but I really liked how you said that people are "stronger and more in control of your life if you create your own ideals, stick to them, and don't allow outside forces to largely change your character." I thought that this was a very well thought out way of explaining how people are more of an individual if they choose to live life their way, and much more eloquently put then my little summary could make it.
To connect your idea to an earlier idea you proposed, that everybody is an individual. By coupling this with your current theory that people are stronger the more independent they try to be, you can see a gradual trend on a way to find individuality.
Those who chose to see the TV screen in front of them and do not rearrange or shift images out of the way, are more likely to share very similar ideals with people like that, and as a result, will be less of an individual. I agree and suggest that the more we shift our views on what we see, the more unique we become and the stronger our sense of character becomes.
This post makes me reconsider my own life and sense of self. I feel that sometimes I can be too accepting of the screen in front of me and don't fight to have a stronger sense of self. At the same time, I take into consideration how often people merely take the easy and popular path and end up as copies of one another, with different faces in different places (Representing slight differences in how they act at different times). I think that your ideas are the kind that are often hidden in plain sight by the world at large and that people become too accepting of things in their lives simply because they are told it is good, or because it is shoved down their throats to the point where they cannot regurgitate it.
Once again, I liked your ideas and I found that I had to do a double-take on my life and view of things, and I think that thoughts like the ones you provoke help lead to a stronger sense of who I am and what my ideals really mean to me.
All the best, keep it up,
Henry
Ali:
Ali,
All it took was a paragraph for you to hook me in. After talking to you in class about some of the ideas Banach has proposed, I found that I was immediately taken aback by your opening statement and I was intrigued to read more.
Basically it seemed that you were questioning the concept of freedom, and by extent, authenticity. You in fact hit this point over the head to a degree, drilling into my skull so that it will haunt me in my dreams that to be be authentic is impossible to truly determine, due to the many different ways that people may interpret the word. Webster defines the word as "being really what it seems to be", but what you are saying that not everybody can reach that same definition and therefore freedom is thrown into question.
Connecting this with the concept Banach proposed earlier in his lecture, that we are in fact watching a screen of images, Banach contradicts himself when faced with your argument. How can one be free if they are confined to their mind, if they have to watch a screen and sort the images, how can that be free OR authentic? I can see where a possible train of thought led from the screen concept to the proposal that we are all free, but there is still quite a strain there.
Doesn't it seem though, that your idea that we are incapable to determine if we are free is also strained? To be fair, Banach proposes that our inner self is free to sort out the images we see as we deem correct, which would be freedom. I feel as though it is impossible to truly know if we as a species are free, or then, if ANY species or being is free or authentic. I think that in order to know what our true nature is in terms of freedom, we would need to be a higher power, which leads to a whole different topic of religion.
End of the day, your questioning of Banach makes me think about my limitations as a person and what I can and cannot do, with society guiding me, with reality restraining me, with my mind limiting me. These thoughts tend to be the thoughts that overload the super-computer in old cartoons, and right about now your questioning makes me think that my head will explode if some steam doesn't start shooting out of my ears.
First time reading your thoughts as you write them, I was caught off guard but very much enjoyed your proposals and how you see the concept of freedom. I look forward to more from you.
Thanks for the knowledge,
Henry
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