Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012

I saw this on tumblr today, and I thought that this really related to what we were talking about in class. I think in our society, a lot of emphasis is put on physical attributes that can be seen with the eye. When we step out of our houses we are constantly put on display by others. People view us, and watch us, and we subconsciously know that we are on display. When we are in public, we are on our best behavior. We do not necessarily look or act the same way we do in the privacy of our own homes as we do in public. This is because we know we are being judged by society. In my opinion, this is conforming to society's norm. We are acting (by either dressing, presenting ourself ect) to conform to a certain norm. Because we are a very visual species, we are constantly looking at others and ourselves. Mirrors have caused us to conform to a societal norm within ourselves. It allows us to look at ourself and identify what might be "deviant" to society. Not only do we have to worry about how people outside will view us, but now with the mirror, we are constantly judging ourselves because we can actually see what might be "abnormal".

I really liked what Brian posted, he said:

As Davis said "the problem is not the person with the disability, the problem is the way normalcy is constructed to create the "problem" of the disabled person." There is a shift of what is viewed as undesirable to now unacceptable and rejected. Instead of having an "ideal person," wouldn't the world be better off having an "ideal perspective" - despite the differences people are equally treated and respected.

I like the idea of the world having an "ideal perspective." However, I do not believe it is going to happen. In my opinion I believe our society strives on hierarchies. Though I disagree with it, our society is so used to have people on top telling others how they should look, act, and be. The people on top are not going to let their position go. It's sad.

Shawna Racino