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[enlightenedconorworld-blog]

Enlightened

During my workout this morning, I was thinking about the semester and all the things I learned in my different classes. A huge takeaway from the Enlightenment is the understanding that every piece of our culture says a different thing about us. Our professor briefly touched upon the topic of cultural studies (cultural criticism), and I never got the chance to study this topic in depth during college, but I hope to take a deeper look at it over the course of my life. It’s so interesting that all these things we do mindlessly make up our identity. The face that I was working out at 7:00 p.m. on a spinning bike that probably cost $1,500 days a ton about my society. We have enough time and money to get up early and exercise. I imagine that people’s exercise used to come from laborious jobs, but I’m in a class of people that don’t have laborious jobs. (Unless you count the kid I went to HS with who is a SoulCycle instructor. I don’t count him.) The fact that we have created expensive exercise equipment for people to take time of their days to work on their bodies seems crazy when you think about it. I wonder what the writers of the Enlightenment would think of this. My point is that this class opened my eyes to the ways that our identities construct our culture (and vice versa). I am grateful to have had this experience, and I will take my new outlook on culture onto my next stage of life. 

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Voltaire or Veep?

As a diehard Veep fan, it’s difficult not to find similarities between the styles in Voltaire and Veep, the HBO comedy series. Both are satire and use humor to comment on the current state of our society. Candide pokes fun at the institutions that people spend their whole lives worshipping, such as the Church, and Veep similarly pokes fun at the way our government runs. Both the Church in Enlightenment England and the government in today’s United States assert major control over people’s daily lives. In challenging the validity of their power, Voltaire and the creators of Veep make people question their priorities. Both take these seemingly God-like institutions and humorously undermine their power and make them human. 

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Still Becoming Enlightened

It is so surprising to me that the themes of popular culture and entertainment don’t seem to have greatly changed since the Enlightenment. In this class, we looked at works involving so many different things that are still pertinent today. For example, Wollstonecraft’s Vindication on the Rights of Woman is rooted in equality and social justice, specifically gender equality. We have come so far towards attaining gender equality, but we still struggle each day to achieve it. Women still fight for equality; it’s just a different type of equality. Now, women fight for equal pay, paid family leave, and the right to choose. Robinson Crusoe’s themes pervade popular culture, as well. Robinson Crusoe is greedy and self-obsessed. He is like the original Wolf of Wall Street. His struggle to work with and understand people different from him is also a theme in movies, books, and film. I just read Coates’ Between the World and Me, and much of it focussed on the inability of races to communicate with one another, a theme shown in Robinson Crusoe. The things that people thought were important enough to write about are still on the minds of writers and artists today. 

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Under Pressure: Mary Wollstonecraft and President Obama

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The Luxury of Starving

Marxist critics claim that much can be learned by understanding a society’s economic model. For example, people in agrarian societies have different ways of life and priorities than people in industrial societies. This course has helped me understand that a similar exercise can be done with food. What does a person’s diet say about their ideologies, socio-economic status, and priorities? Everything.

A McDonald’s hamburger represents more than a sandwich. It’s an inexpensive, stereotypically poor man’s meal. It is not particularly healthy, but it helps poor people get the most calories for their buck. It’s also fast and easily accessible, so a person from the lower class who needs to work more hours during the day and can’t afford to hire a nanny to work with the kids can quickly feed themselves with a McDonald’s hamburger. 

A quinoa salad also says a lot about a person. Quinoa is expensive, so the person has a lot of money to spend on food. It takes a long time to prepare, so the consumer has a life that gives them ample time to cook. The salad is healthy, so the person has the education and awareness to focus on their health when deciding what foods to eat. 

The rise of Halo Top ice cream also says a lot about society. It’s $5.99 per pint. Each pint is a decadent flavor, such as chocolate, vanilla, birthday cake, or mint chocolate chip. Each pint contains only 240 calories, and other than a few extra grams of protein, there are not clear nutritional benefits to the ice cream. People with means have a dessert option that lets them feel like they’re indulging but it’s low in calories, which helps them maintain the slim figure that society encourages them to have. Today, people with means literally pay extra money to consume fewer calories, while other people in the world are starving. This is not a criticism (I love Halo Top). Instead, it’s an observation of the variety of things we can learn about our society by taking a second look around the grocery store. 

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A Vindication on the Rights of Woman and the Egos of Men

The argument that women need equality and better treatment because they teach young males is both progressive in its time and bizarrely still sexist. I understand its a small component of her larger argument and she's limited by social implications of her activism, but it's still a depressing argument. Women deserve equality because all humans are equal. To argue that women should have better treatment to further the development of men is certainly not feminist by today's standards.  Again, she's writing to appeal to men. If men ignore her arguments, she will not make a difference, but's a shame that she has to appeal to sexist forces and standards to make her argument. I appreciate that her argument is more logical than ethical. It's more challenging to disprove a logical argument than an ethical one. Her piece is a reminder of how far women have come in the last few hundred years, but they also have much further to go.

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The United States: Liberty for All (White, Semi-Wealthy Men)

In class, we discussed race being a really divisive and difficult issue for people to talk about. The United States is supposed to be the beacon of hope, equality, and freedom, and even we can’t move past race. During the Enlightenment, non-whites were viewed as inferior and kept out of society, but it’s not so different today. In my political science Senior Seminar, we’ve been discussing institutional racism and how even recently black people couldn’t get housing loans. This inability to get loans kept them from buying a home, a staple of the American Dream and essential to ultimate success and security. I don’t even think racists are the biggest roadblock to racial equality in the United States. The bigger roadblock to equality is privileged white people who don’t see racism as an issue. So many people in my class think black people do have equal rights. How a political science major in 2016 can be tone deaf to the racial injustice that plagues the United States is mind-boggling, but these privileged white males are going to go on to be policymakers and business leaders, furthering the exclusion of non-whites in the marketplace of ideas and the great red, white, and blue watering hole that we’re all supposed to drink from.  It’s disheartening to talk about racial oppression during the Enlightenment and realize it is still so present today. 

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Rihanna or Pamela?

I understand that the message of Pamela is twisted and controversial. It's disturbing and uncomfortable. It goes against every understanding of love and healthy relationships that society practices today. It is, of course, wonderful that sex, relationships, and gender equality are constantly evolving and becoming healthier, but that increased equality shouldn't diminish Pamela as a story, a character, or an experience. It reminds me of Rihanna and Eminem's song, Love the Way You Lie. The song is about an abusive relationship, and Rihanna struggles with her love of his abuse. Rihanna was highly criticized for her role in the song. (I guess it was expected from Eminem. He escaped criticism.) I understand that Rihanna is expected to be a role model, but she's an artist and her music represents real stories and experiences that people endure. To diminish her feelings and the value of her music is irresponsible and narrow-minded. Pamela's feelings may not be pretty or empowering, but they're true, authentic, and worth exploring.

[enlightenedconorworld-blog]

Power of Birth

A central theme of Pamela is the power of birth and the difficulties in morally escaping the socio-economic situation that one is born into. This is one theme that is still pertinent today, as politicians and voters grapple with the challenges of promising both economic liberty and equal opportunity. In a country plagued by an enormous gap between the upper and lower classes, defining equal opportunity is a task that causes significant disagreement. Even today, escaping the circumstances of one's birth is a nearly impossible task in a country so shaped by years of racism and xenophobia. I just read "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the biggest surprise to me was the amount of institutionalized racism that controlled the United States (and still does in some ways). Richardson, too, was born into an alienated class, and his birth position is reflected in the mixed signals of the relation between birth and virtue inPamela.  

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Don’t bite the Appletini

I’m fascinated by Hogarth’s painting. The history of alcohol use and abuse is so interesting. Alcohol is viewed as this romantic, sexy beverage, but his paintings show men with no control. What is sexy or masculine about losing control? Alcohol was pervasive in the Enlightenment era, but it’s not as if it is this evil that people have recognized and renounced. College students still live in a state of constant inebriation. People in the Enlightenment and today use alcohol to escape the realities that are too sharp to endure without the boozy release. It is perplexing that alcohol has tricked people for so man centuries into thinking they were sexy and confident when they were actually sloppy and uncreative. 

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Voltaire’s Timeless Cynicism

I've never seen the musical Candide, but I really want to see it. I've always like theater, and this book so lends itself to a musical because of the absolute absurdity of it. Voltaire's writing is so animated that it jumps off the page onto the stage. To read such animation from only ink and paper is a truly special experience. The only other work that comes to mind as being similarly animated in its characterization is Hard Times by Dickens, which is also a satirical work. His work is timeless in its ability to criticize society through humor. It is both hysterical and sobering. The language, the nonchalance, the matter-of-fact tone, and the characterization are so funny, but the message of the book is anything but funny. His message asserts that the world doesn't have  rhyme or reason. It still hits strongly today. People always say, "Everything happens for a reason." To not go absolutely insane with the randomness of life, people find a reason for every misfortune in life. Voltaire challenges that by suggesting that it's all random and there's no positives in these misfortune. 

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Candide

I feel like my life is coming full circle reading Candide as a second semester senior in college. The last time I read the book was in May after the AP exam my senior year of high school. There was nothing left to learn or prepare for (except life), so our teacher gave us the “present” of Candide, explaining it was his favorite book and the only one that could make him laugh out loud. 

I always liked stories and characters, but I rarely connected with the books I read in high school. Books were always taught dryly and without the soul that some college professors infuse into these characters through their teaching. I respected and admired the teacher, but I didn’t connect with the book. My mind was on Senior Week at the beach and the summer under the sun I was planning in my head. I read the book out of respect for the teacher, but I don’t remember anything about it other than the story (which is probably the least important part of Candide).

Now, I hear the tone. I hear the language. I hear the laugh-out-loud brilliance that my high school teacher insisted was there. Candide isn’t about the story. It’s about the words. Voltaire’s richness and message is in the text that isn’t even there. It’s between the lines of sarcasm and matter-of-factness. It’s in the absurdity that I didn’t recognize as an 18-year-old.

It makes me feel both sad and satisfied for seeing this book in such a different light. I feel older and proud of my growth, but that was a really sweet senior summer by the sea.

[enlightenedconorworld-blog]

Fallible Pope

Alexander Pope uses the trope of the noble savage in his writing, a trope that still is relevant today. He writes about Indians as if they live less meaningful lives because they lack the awareness that whites (or Europeans) have. He makes fun of them for hearing God in the wind and finding spirituality in natural elements.

Pope’s writing reminds me of the way Americans talk about Europeans and socialism today. A lot of young people are on the Bernie wagon (I am undecided. Or I decidedly don’t love anyone). Bernie’s critics claim that he wants to make the United States more like Europe with his economic policies. His critics insist that Bernie wants to eliminate the competition that defines the United States in favor of Europe’s tradition of sharing. I don’t know enough about economic policy to have an opinion on the legitimacy of the argument, but I recognize the hints of xenophobia in the argument. The argument implies that Europeans live lesser lives because they don’t experience the competition that so gives so many Americans thrills (but gives maybe too few Americans dignity). 

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Robinson Strayed

I just finished reading Wild for the third time. It is one of my favorite books, and it occurred to me that is isn’t so different from Crusoe. I struggled a lot with Crusoe. I struggled to connect with him as a character or Defoe’s writing style. I enjoy character-driven writing, and I didn’t initially see Defoe as character-driven. After reading Wild again, I recognize the similarities between the two works. Both Cheryl Strayed and Crusoe set out into the unknown (well, she goes on a trail, but it’s unknown to her, at least). Crusoe sets out to assert himself as a powerful and experienced man, and Strayed sets out to redeem herself. They have different motivations, but both are intent on improving themselves, although Crusoe’s intention is less clear than Strayed’s. In exploring and trying new things, Crusoe hones his abilities as an adventurer and develops his survival skills. He goes from living in society to surviving in the unknown, just like Strayed. I still struggle to identify with Crusoe, but I appreciate and respect the narrative for its ability to paint the picture of a man who rejects society in favor of seeking his own adventure. 

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Ship of Drunkards

It's fascinating that sailors had a daily ration of rum. It's not socially acceptable to drink until 5:00 p.m. today in the United States. I recognize that alcohol use changes constantly in society, but so few people talk about the implications of these changes. Alcohol is a powerful force that affects the consumer's perception of reality, the consumer's creativity, and the consumer's health. What role does constant alcohol use play in the ship's culture? One of my favorite documentary series is Prohibition, and one part of the series is titled "Nation of Drunkards." Less than 100 years ago, many men in the United States lived in a constant state of belligerence because of alcohol use. They'd beat their wives, gamble away their paychecks, or lose their jobs. Excessive alcohol use is perceived as an indicator of masculinity, but the side effects of alcohol use are anything but masculine. It would be really interesting to look further into the implication of excessive alcohol use in a culture. If all the men are intoxicated constantly, how does the alcohol use influence public health? I am really curious and would love to look further into it. 

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Daniel Defoe or Donald Trump?

Robinson Crusoe illuminates timeless colonial themes. His entitlement and ownership over all the land and creatures that he encounters on his journey is not unique to Defoe’s era or culture. The theme of people perceiving others as inferior and asserting their self-given power over others appears again and again throughout history.

Today, Donald Trump is the frontrunner of the Republican Party in the primary. Admittedly, the ties between Crusoe and Trump supporters are not obvious, but both of their ideologies are rooted in the same quality: entitlement. Crusoe, even though he was a slave himself, views himself as superior to those around him. Perhaps, his status as a former slave motivates his entitlement. In defiance of his past, he asserts himself over all creatures around him. Similarly, Trump supporters are often uneducated, unemployed white people (I do not have data on this, but I spent a good amount of time in Iowa) who gravitate towards any rhetoric that blames their struggles on another force. In blaming their problems on non-whites, they ensure that they are not on the bottom rung of the social ladder. When Crusoe senselessly murders animals, like the Parrot, he ensures that he is not at the bottom of the social ladder. 

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The Enlightenment and the American Dream

Yesterday morning, I went to an event called “Food. Planet. Profit.” The event was sponsored by the Periclean Scholars Class of 2016, and it explored the ways in which businesses help and hurt the dignity of humans. The event made me think a lot about our class where we’re discussing the human rights implications of cultural and economic trends. One of the speakers at the event worked with Ten Thousand Villages, one of the oldest and largest fair trade organizations. As she was speaking, it struck me that it was so perplexing that I’ve rarely thought about the implications of my consumer choices. 

Slavery in Robinson Crusoe seems barbaric, but as I mentioned in my previous post, we as a society implicitly support the continuation of human rights violations. We value fashion and convenience over the dignity of others. 

A cornerstone of the Enlightenment was the emphasis on the individual and equality, which is also a cornerstone of the American dream. The Enlightenment and the American dream idealize the notion that all humans are equal and worthy of dignity; the dehumanization of workers in both societies undermine these idealistic values. 

It’s a shame that these two movements don’t value authenticity and truth and strongly as they value equality.