Top Five

1. Technologic
Technology--that is, technology in relation to humans or humanity--is another topic that has stuck with me for a long time now. I've worked with and dissected the concept multiple times in classes and random journal writings, but I still can't stop keeping it as one of my "readily accessible" thoughts (hopefully that makes sense). I grew up and am still growing up in the ongoing age of electronic technicians constantly working to technologically/graphically "one-up" each other, so technology and its implications had always been something that I had thought about... but my preoccupation with it faded when I fled the Los Angeles coop to come to college. It was not until about a year ago that I saw something that brought my interest in it back in full force: Four adolescent girls having lunch and a "conversation" at Panera, each with one i-pod headphone in her ear. I feel like people are becoming more and more dehumanized as they become more and more occupied with technology. We're mistaken if we think that these things are a substitute for life simply because we are using them.

2. (other word for feminism)
Something that I've never quite been able to shake off of my mind is the female condition... I suppose you could say "feminism", but that word seems to come with too many social implications these days. I don't agree with the traditional "man-hating" aspects of it, and I definitely don't agree with this new wave of "lipstick feminism". Recently, there have been a series of Burger King commercials in which they take The Whopper off the menu and secretly film their customers' reactions. One of the commercials ended with two hired actors standing in front of the camera, and one of them, in reacting to the "loss of the whopper", says "Well they might as well change their name to Burger Queen". I didn't laugh--not because I was offended, but because the joke was pretty unoriginal and, well, lame. Later, however, I wondered why I had not reeled in horror at the commercials implication that something "female" is lesser than something "male". Why are women not outraged with how we're treated? And why do we think that sexual equality = general equality? As I watch girls imitate the women on shows like "Sex and the City", then cry when they don't get treated well, then refer to women who do the same thing in a derogatory way, then repeat the process, I can't help but look around frantically to see if anyone else is raising a very confused brow.

3. Selfishness
I don't believe I've ever referred to anyone other than ridiculous characters (read: tabloid celebrities) as "selfish", but I've lost track of the amount of times I've heard various people use the word to describe their friends or acquaintances. Actually, I am baffled when I observe how liberally people use the word, and that is what has made "one person calling another person selfish" my number three. Initially, I wondered what, in other peoples' minds, made someone a "selfish person". I realize now that my confusion over the usage of the word arose from a difference in definition. Initially, however, I was stuck on the general perpetuated definition of "selfish": being concerned with ones own happiness while simultaneously disregarding that of others. This definition seemed wrong to me, specifically because such a verbalization of "selfish" in such a way holds negative connotation. When I first began to think about this idea, I defined selfishness as "living for onesself", a characteristic that I thought perfectly acceptable and, well, human. I couldn't accept that doing things to make your life better was a negative thing. The problem I had with the general definition of selfishness was that it implied that doing things that make your life better is a terrible terrible thing if anyone else disagrees or has a problem with it. Something that everyone knows, but few appreciate, is that life is short... and what I've come to realize is that the people who call other people "selfish" are the same ones who's concern with other peoples' perception of them overwhelms them to the point of rejecting who they are and what they want. However, redefining "selfish" in my mind so that it was a positive thing was a fruitless effort; "selfish", no matter how much I fought against it, would always carry negative connotations for me. I had completely given up on the matter until I stumbled upon an Oscar Wilde quote that perfectly redefined the word for me and ended my frustration: "Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."

4. Regurgitation.
“It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it" (Andy Warhol). That quote captures something else that constantly stays in my mind: peoples' tendency to regurgitate dialogue that their hear in movies/television in conversations about their own personal beliefs. I am fascinated by the power that movies and television have on our actions. Why do we use these forms of media as indicators of what is "normal" behavior? Do we do so because we know that most other people are watching the same things, and thus must be forming their behavior around it? We often forget that the things we see on television and movies are only an indicator of the lives of the writers and creators of the shows/movies. I'm concerned that we're losing diversity and originality and replacing it with the comfort of "sameness".

5. Tabloids
With the rise of reality (excuse me, "unscripted") television, I can't help but take note of the parallel rise of paparazzi and tabloid magazines and blogs. In a sense, celebrities, "the celebrity community" so to speak, have themselves become a reality show. I'm wondering where things are going to go from here.

*Jessie