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Hrm.
I gotta say, George Kateb is a lot more easier to read than I thought. There're a lot of paradoxes, which I want to discuss in class today. I'm afraid I didn't quite mesh well, on a personal level, with the discussion of individuality within politics. Seemed like these writers were too concerned with individuality, and not enough on community. I understand that the point of individuality (uniqueness) is in complete opposition with the point of community (conformity), but I do think that there is a point where they CAN be reconciled within a single person.
Just because you're part of a bigger thing doesn't mean you can't be your own person too. There's a time and place for everything.
As an example, remember Dogma? There's a scene in Dogma where Bethany's all angsty and shit because she's the last scion, and she says to the Metatron, "then everything I lived was a lie." and the Metatron says "No. No no no no no. You are Bethany Sloan. No one, not even God, can take that away from you. Just... be this other person as well."
Being unable to reconciled identities is a bit like me saying that just because I'm Chinese, I should be in Comemrce, not in Arts, because all the Chinese are in Commerce. That's just silly. I can be Asian AND in the Arts, I can also be Asian AND be dumb.
Just because you're part of a bigger thing doesn't mean you can't be your own person too. There's a time and place for everything.
As an example, remember Dogma? There's a scene in Dogma where Bethany's all angsty and shit because she's the last scion, and she says to the Metatron, "then everything I lived was a lie." and the Metatron says "No. No no no no no. You are Bethany Sloan. No one, not even God, can take that away from you. Just... be this other person as well."
Being unable to reconciled identities is a bit like me saying that just because I'm Chinese, I should be in Comemrce, not in Arts, because all the Chinese are in Commerce. That's just silly. I can be Asian AND in the Arts, I can also be Asian AND be dumb.
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That's really cool to hear you say that because I've just come to discover this more and more lately. Especially since I came to Live Journal, I've found it's really hard to know someone just based on the snippets of information you get in their journal, especially if people post mostly about memes and hobbies instead of their personal thoughts or lives.
When I read my friends' journals, I try my best to "figure them out" and fill in the gaps of information based on my limited knowledge on what they post in their journals. Unfortunately, that means I tend to extend vague stereotypes on people to help me remember who they are and what they're like.
I've learned this works to an extent, but I'm constantly surprised when some new piece of information the person posts in their journal goes against my previous expectations.
For instance, someone might always seem dark and angsty in their journal and I'll get a vague mental image of what that person might be like IRL, but then they'll throw me for a loop by saying their favorite type of music is fluffy pop.
Some of this could be explained by people presenting a different online persona from their real self (like people who are bold and daring online but shy IRL) but a lot of it is just the "paradox" of complex people. It's not that the person isn't dark and angsty, they're just dark and angsty AND like fluffy pop.
Sometimes the stereotype is false, but more often it's true and that's not where it stops. For instance, someone might be a collosal anime geek, but that doesn't mean that's all they are. They could be a bully, a charity worker, a nuclear physicist, or a supermodel as well.
Unexpected layers of people aren't contradictions, they're just complexity.