Friday, October 16, 2009
Silence of the Lambs-
For my essay # 2, I chose to respond to ChaseTheMusical’s Vlog on his idea of “Self-Censorship.” He gets right to the point and asks the viewer what is it and why we do it? His definition of Self-Censorship is when you are in a certain situation whatever it may be and you hold back by not saying something that is on your mind. It may be that you are refraining from being “real,” because you are fearful of hurting the person’s feelings. Or maybe because you are afraid of the ramifications that may soon follow with what you have said to that person. The fact of the matter is that you do not let people know what you are thinking. My question is how does that make you feel? What existence do you have as a human-being on planet Earth if you always mind your P’s and Q’s as some would say. If you are always Mr. nice guy then people will eventually treat you like dirt and take advantage of you because they know that you won’t say anything back. I agree with Chase in that it would be extremely frustrating to never share your feelings and keep them locked up.
It’s not a game; it’s just having the pride in yourself and the willingness to be honest with people. I completely agree with Chase that we do not want to hurt other people’s feelings on purpose. This is not the case. But if you are striving to find something that bothers you and you must make a point by sharing it on Youtube, then to me it sounds like you are attempting to cause a stir. There is something that American’s have the right too which is the Freedom of Speech with good reasoning of course. I know that Chase is simply stating what it is, but I found his argument to be weak. It would have been much more effective if he had been able to share a personal experience as an example with his viewers. He simply just discussed the topic. For one, it would have interested me more, but I see what his message was for his vlog.
Another aspect about this vlog is that it sounded like he was just trying to recruit more subscribers like it’s a popularity contest or something. He says that he is afraid and he is telling the absolute truth. The reason why he declares to share his thoughts on certain “touchy” subjects is because he is protected by his surroundings in his home. You should be strong minded and stand up for yourself with good intentions of course.
Immediately after watching his vlog, I was interested in anything else that he may have discussed concerning touchy subjects. So, I followed up and found one that he did which discussed being 22 years old and still a virgin. To me I think that he is a virgin in a couple of ways. One because he has not yet had sex and two because he still hasn’t found himself and his purpose yet in this world. This may be why he is sharing his opinions to find himself. It all makes sense to me. I too am a virgin in one of these senses.
I agree with his view on how we all have flaws and that by sharing them with others then maybe we can put them out there and find an answer to solving them. I laughed when he said that he can’t dance or sing and then burped. He was being “real” for sure at those moments and throughout his vlog. What is even crazier about this whole thing is that my friend Chris, a student at SSU looks exactly and I mean exactly like him. Minus the longer hair. It is spooky how similar they are. My main thought on this entire touchy subject is that how does someone know who they are if they can never say what is on their mind. There is a time where you have to face your fears and just speak up. Many people did overtime and boy did they make a difference. Names such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Frederick Douglass, and Marshall McLuhan all did it. Trust me; there is a list like this that will go on and on. You have to use common sense in your approach to sharing your views with others. There is no harm done by simply being honest with someone. It might hurt their feelings, but there is no shame on your part. The point is that you had the confidence within yourself to get whatever it was off your chest. This is the most important thing. It is better than lying in my opinion.
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You bring up a couple of important points from the Vlog entitled “Self Censorship”. The first point that you have stated “If you are always Mr. nice guy then people will eventually treat you like dirt and take advantage of you because they know that you won’t say anything back”. The second point that you have stated “I agree with Chase in that it would be extremely frustrating to never share your feelings and keep them locked up”. When you apply these thoughts to censorship, it comes down to one concept and that is the utilization of good judgment. Additionally, always be aware of your boundaries.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to your first point with censorship in mind, while it is okay to be nice, people will take advantage of your niceness. Unfortunately, this is just human nature. Even so, when another does take advantage of your niceness, it is warranted to speak up and tell the other person how you feel. Most importantly, when doing so, always cite examples. Even if the other person doesn’t admit fault, there defensiveness will have to suffice.
In relation to your second point with censorship in mind, “it would be extremely frustrating to never share your feelings and keep them locked up”. This could be kind of a broad statement. However, I think you mean why should you keep your feelings locked up, if another individual has gone out of their way to treat you badly. All I can say is that you have an obligation to tell a person the truth, no matter how hurtful it may be. After all, they have no right to treat you badly. Although I wouldn’t respond back to them by stooping to their level by screaming and yelling at them, I would simply tell them in a nice way that their behavior is unacceptable. If they don’t like what you have to say, oh well, too bad.
As far as utilizing you tube as a source to blog about issues. All is fine, as long as you are not attacking a person or group of persons on the internet. After all, how would you feel if someone was video blogging about you in attack mode? That is why it is so important to keep in mind; treat people the way you want to be treated. You could never go wrong with treating people with dignity and respect. More so, it says a lot about your character. Character is something that you never want to jeopardize.
I like Phil's final point here, that there's a fine line between attacking someone and being honest with them. It's easier to be critical or outright condemn people we don't know or have a stake in then those we do, which is one of the major reasons we self-censor in the first place. Self-censorship isn't necessarily always a "bad" thing---there's something to be said for thinking over our responses before launching into them, considering our thoughts before unloading them on someone, or for reviewing our judgments before deeming them final.
ReplyDeleteThis is where objectivity comes in. It's easy to take our initial responses and run with them, or, in other words, to act on our opinions and judge other people by them. But our opinions are always and only our own; they can never fully account for or envelop the whole picture. We don't know everything going on inside the other person's head, their background, motivations, fears, dreams, inspirations etc. If we leap to too sudden a conclusion, we might be imposing those aspects of our own experience on that person, when they very well might not coincide with our own background, motivations, etc. Objectivity, and self-censorship, to a degree, entail keeping an open-mind about where our opinions end and the other person's experience begins.
That said, there's more to self-censorship than preventing ourselves from hurting other people. I'm interested in the other side of the equation----beyond how we make ourselves "seen" by others, how do we craft, express, and articulate our own selves? Plato would say that we rarely if ever find truth in ourselves immediately: we have to work to get there, constantly be checking our initial instincts (how much are those programmed by others, as shadows on the wall?), learning more about our surroundings (even when out in the sunlight, we have to explore slowly to understand an environment), and adjusting our own selves to that truth (adjusting our eyes to see things as they really are). Parks, MLK, Douglass, etc, weren't visionaries just because they stood by their own principles, but also because they pursued and acted out their life's works in ways that met other people's visions. And, to an extent, they adjusted their visions as they learned from how other people saw the world. An expanded perspective gave their words more power, and legitimacy.
Phil's maxim at the end of his response, to treat people as we want to be treated forms a nice first-step reciprocal ground rule (or "ethic") for ensuring that we're respecting these limits on subjective experience.