I think that both Derrida and Foucault are theorists that put forth very interesting and groundbreaking ideas that relate to my life. It is easier for me to understand their theories when using examples of things in my life, especially about surveillance and how that plays into what we all do, not only on the Internet, but also when we simply walk down the street.
I think what I really grasped from the reading on Derrida was the concept of erasure and the gap that we have talked about since day 1 in this class. I am aware that we have a very unsteady relationship with history and what is real.
I really liked how we played telephone today. We saw how easy it was to completely mix up the original message. What we could not hear from the whisperer before us, we filled in the gap of what we thought we heard. In the end, we ended up with "Brown nosed pandas," which had nothing to do with the original message.
I think Foucault was a theorist that I found most interesting so far this year. One quote we talked about in class that really helped me make a connection to my own life is, "Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance." We talked about how we are conscience about what we write on Facebook. Even if we choose to be careful about what kind of information we put on the Internet, we are still under the power of influence of knowing someone, such as an employer, may see it and make the wrong judgement about us even though it may be a performative act we present ourselves in.
No comments:
Post a Comment