Comments to partners #2

To Jace:
Jace,
I appreciate the way you have restated some parts of Mr. Banach's lecture. I like how you said " it's sometimes depressing, sometimes exhilarating" yet I feel like you can expand on this post a lot more. I know from having discussions in Andy's class as well as this class that you're way of thinking is unique and easy to relate to. Yet when I read your blog posts they are short and don't show as much of you as I feel like they should.

What are some of your favorite lines in David Banach's lecture that you agree with and/ or feel like you can relate to? What are some things that you disagree with, and why? Also, if you still have the sheet with questions on it that students and Mr. Manley came up with, try to answer some of them.

Keep up the good work Jace. (Not sarcasm this time I promise). I'm looking forward to reading more of your ideas. Also, if you ever need any help you know you can ask me for it.
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To Kareem:
Kareem,
I agree with and understand what you are saying in your post. Yet what if the people in their point of view are being real, while in other people's views that person is being fake? Do you disagree that people automatically act a bit differently with different people? Like the example that has been used in class,do you act one way with your friends, while you have to act appropriate for a job interview or with your parents? Or do you feel like this is us acting in your opinion "fake"?

In your posts you have discussed being fake, and you have discussed the saying "I feel your pain." Yet you have not discussed David Banach's lecture and how you feel about it. In the future, try to discuss lines David Banach has used in his writing.

Response to Banach's Lecture, Part 2

While reading David Banach's various parts of his lecture, I feel like my mind has been in a tornado. There are many parts that I understand, and many parts that I do not understand. There are parts that I do not like hearing about, as well as parts that I agree with. Yet I believe there are several important questions, all revolving around whether we are as free as we think we are, and what 'absolute freedom' really means.

I believe that everyone has the opportunity to make their own decisions, and that no one else can make those decisions for you. I also feel like everyone is accountable for their actions, and that they should take responsibility for those actions. Something that I really agree with David Banach on is that 'we [all] attempt to deceive ourselves and act as if we weren't free, as if we were really determined by our nature, our body, or the expectations of other people." Some people do let others make the decisions for them, while some are also too weak or scared to make the decisions for themselves. It's like those cliques that have one leader, and the rest of the people follow the leader without questioning anything that the leader is saying. Even though I do not feel this way, some people may feel safer having someone tell them step by step what to do in their lives. Yet life does not come with an instruction booklet, people have to learn for themselves how to live.

At my table we had a discussion about puppets, like how Banach said, "even if I were a puppet, my body and its actions completely controlled by some malevolent master, what I am, my mind's eye would still be free and untouched." I was picturing a person actually tied with strings, and society pulling at those strings. Puppets cannot move their bodies by themselves, they have a puppet master to move them, so I was thinking about people that let others make them who they are. While Jacara was saying how she thinks it's talking about how people think and their actions.

My favorite part of Banach's lecture was where he said "what we make ourselves out of these materials is up to us alone (just as what the artist makes of her subject is up to her alone.)" I really like this quote, because he compares us to artists and discusses us like a big piece of artwork. I can relate to this example because I am a painter, and I often work off of pictures. Yet I take pictures and do my own version of the painting, using different colors and ways of painting what I see. To make it mine. Banach was talking about how we take things that we see, yet we make them into ourselves.

I feel like people act in “bad faith” to try and separate themselves from other individuals. (Mr. Manley’s question.) It’s like when you try to punish a teenager, they sometimes act worse because they were yelled at. Some people like to do things just because others told them not to. This might be a sort of embarrassing example, but I can connect this to an experience I’ve had in my life. One time I was sitting on the train with my boyfriend at the time (who is now my ex) and his best friend. The best friend told my boyfriend to never let me read Twilight books because all of the girly girls read them. So when things were falling apart in our relationship, I started reading the Twilight series just because my ex and his friend told me not to. I was not acting in bad faith, but I was doing something purposely because they said not to.

There is this card in my house that says: “dare to be remarkable” on it, which really reminded me of this whole unit we’re doing on absolute freedom. I think this card is really cleaver, because for some people it is difficult to be out there and noticeable. There was this group of girls that used to go to SOF who I used to call “the rain-boot crew” because they all dressed the same, and on a rainy day they would all wear similar rubber rain boots. I feel like all those girls acted the same, and that they we not trying to be individuals. Groups like the rain-boot crew don't just happen in School Of The Future, there are examples of the rain-boot crew happens everywhere you go. I can even admit to trying to blend in sometimes, even though I think it is much more fun to dress in ways that are out there. Yet on the first day of school I tried to blend, because I hadn’t met any of the people of my class yet so I didn’t know if the people in my class could handle what I wear when it’s not like everybody else. Even if they cannot though, it’s too bad for them. When Banach’s lecture was summed up, the slogan said to “be authentic”, which is a really cleaver saying, which I agree with. People should act real and individual, not just a reproduction of everybody else.

I would continue what I’m saying in even more detail, but I feel like I could be rambling about being an individual for hours and hours. So for now, I’d just like to say not to fall into the cookie cutter mold, but to try and be as unique as you possibly can. Yet if that is not possible, just try to be yourself.

To Jace and Kareem

To Jace:
Jace am I going cray or is this all you had to say about what we were discussing in class? XP Keep up the great work!
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To Kareem: I also agree with what you and Jace are saying. I really hate that saying "I feel your pain" because like you it seems ridiculous to me. People can't feel what you're feeling, they can only observe what you are feeling. I hadn't thought of this when I was writing my post, so I thank you for your point of view. I also admire the title of your post because it sums up the idea of your paragraph.

I suggest you dig deeper on how you feel about individual freedom as well as trying to talk abou Banach's lecture.

Banach's lecture

I think David Banach was saying how in order to be a free individual, a prefect individual, pure.. He was saying how in order to be free we have to be trapped inside ourselves, and that we can only view what we see through our eyes. His wording is really fancy but it also makes sense. With his example about the person next to us sitting down I got to realize how I am not experiencing what they feel, but am seeing them sitting down. I would have to ask them how they feel sitting down in the chair. Human freedom to me is how humans are free. Free to go about their daily lives, free to think how they want, speak how they want, freedom of speech.. The max amount that an individual can be free. Happiness is how one decides to feel, it doesn't always have to b how things make you feel, or people make you feel. When people decide to be free instead of being a follower can be appreciated, even though some people like to know what to do when someone tells you what to do. An example of appreciating freedom can be if you have been in a relationship for a really long time, and you're used to making a loved one happy, but then the relationship ends there is a sad,or happy feeling depending on how the relationship made you feel in the end. Like in a Lily Allen song she says how "[she] feels like she's been let out of her cage". Some couples depend on their other half and spend so much time relying on each other, that they do not learn how to please themselves. We should strive to be our own individuals and decide our own right and wrong for ourselves (within the law of course). I found it weird that I hadn't thought with depth about the topics that I read in David Bananch's lecture beforehand, but that once I was reading I agreed with him. I also felt like the way he was writing about other people's rear-ends was funny and odd, because I was looking at my mom sitting down and trying to just see her and wonder how she was feeling. Sometimes I wonder if we are all on one board game, being moved around by someone more powerful than we are. I'm okay with being quiet and not talking to myself like I was crazy but thinking in my head and creating conversations as if there really were several people in my head. Yet individuals need other individuals, or they get lonely, angry, upset.. My grandpa lives alone, and whenever he is around the rest of my family he talks a lot because he is lonely. Even with a pet, like a parrot to talk to, I think he would be better. Individuals are alone in their experiences and inside their minds, yet they communicate their thoughts and feelings to other individuals.