Sig of Madoness

[Cognisant]

Since when have I been so obsessed by the idea of becoming a fellow citizen to the point that I’ve killed my own personality?

I've been thinking about this of late, individuals in modern society seem caught between identities, our personal identity and our identity as a society. Metaphorically it's like we're all neurons in a brain, all following set rules and patterns in order to support the overall system, a system that doesn’t care about us as individuals. But if we stray from those rules and patterns we're a defective neuron, firing sporadically it would seem, but isn’t that the nature of expressing one's individuality?

The GenX perspective.
YouTube- ‪The Matrix - teaching program‬‎

On the other hand, what I believe is the GenY perspective, we obviously can't live without "the system" because the system is society, nothing short of a near extinction event is going to change that, so why not reconcile with it? The accepted definition of "individual" is being different in some way, to be unique, to be... special.

But what if the individual doesn’t have to be special to be an individual, what if one reconciles the personal identity with the societal identity, what if instead of seeing society as this great malevolent force we see for what it is, our society, our identity. If one see's oneself as an individual part of society, a cog in the machine, then one's individuality is one's individual role in that machine, and the distinction between self and society becomes meaningless, because society is a part of us, as we are a part of it.

YouTube- ‪Imagine - John Lennon (Lyrics in English included)‬‎

 

[Dormouse]

I refuse to have an identity. Why bother? It seems to me it would compromise flexibility. And anyways, there is no independant thought, my brain relies on sensory imput.

So I suppose I'm closer to the genY school of belief. Since my mind is inseperable from the world and the society which lends it order, so would be my identity. Any sense of self is an illusion.

 

[Da Blob]

Self and Identity is an interesting field in psychology. One can spend some time just investigating the ramifications of 'personal' pronouns (re: Janet etc.). Identify Identity. That seems to be the challenge for modern humans, to identify the boundaries of Self. Persona and personality have meaning in the context of the Plural Self. The problem being is that 'increasing' WE, necessarily demands decreasing ME. The very foundation of Morality is based on this sacrifice of the individual to the plural identity.

This is a sacrifice of the Subject to the Object, the consumption of One's Humanity by One's Science.

But what if the individual doesn’t have to be special to be an individual, what if one reconciles the personal identity with the societal identity, what if instead of seeing society as this great malevolent force we see for what it is, our society, our identity. If one see's oneself as an individual part of society, a cog in the machine, then one's individuality is one's individual role in that machine, and the distinction between self and society becomes meaningless, because society is a part of us, as we are a part of it.

The problem with this is that it is impossible, human relationship, especially at the societal level, has always been a relationship between the Oppressor and the Oppressed. For one to meld into a philosophical Zombie, a Huxlian Gamma, a mere Cog in the Machine, One would have to be both - a hybrid Oppressed/Oppressor.

Instead of Ex-pressing One's Self, One would have to Op-press or Re-press One's Self... Sadly enough, that is the Process that Modern Education encourages through the imitation of the setting of "A Brave New World"

So what's your SOMA?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma

 

[Cognisant]

For one to meld into a philosophical Zombie, a Huxlian Gamma, a mere Cog in the Machine, One would have to be both - a hybrid Oppressed/Oppressor.

The problem is your perspective, you see the distinction between yourself and society as "me" and "it", when there is no "it", just a label we use to describe the cumulation of all our efforts and interactions, thus one cannot truly oppose society because even doing that is playing a part of it, yet we continue to pointlessly angst and victimize ourselves, subconsciously saying “it” hates me, “it’s” out to get me.

I agree that society is imperfect and often downright exploitive, but there's not great unified "it" suppressing us, instead we're merely the victims of our own blind folly, figuratively one hand doesn’t know what the other's doing. Instead of being the victim and saying "it hurts me, make it go away" why not wake up and see the bigger picture, society is not what we make, it's what we do, that without us there is no society, clearly the state of society is merely a reflection of our refusal to take responsibility for it, or rather I should say, for ourselves.

If the government’s corrupt, what are you going to do about it?
If there's trash on the street, what are you going to do about it?

The individual has disowned society, distanced themself from (the mythical) "it".
Wake up, this society, is our society, is my society, is your society, we do society, we own society, we are society, and until we stop living in denial "it" will continue reflect our apathy, or to speak honestly, we are merely being apathetic towards ourselves.

"I'm not a leader with power or anything" Oh boo hoo, even if you're only one of the masses you're not exempt from responsibility, because the masses are what really controls society, revolution is never impossible if the masses truly want it to happen, and where do the masses start, they start with You.

You're a man of faith arn't you Da Blob?
Try having faith in your fellow man, because let me tell you, that's the sort of faith that'll make stuff happen, if you believe in them, in us, in yourself, then with time and patience, they will have faith in you.

 

[Da Blob]

 

[AlisaD]

The problem is your perspective, you see the distinction between yourself and society as "me" and "it", when there is no "it", just a label we use to describe the cumulation of all our efforts and interactions, thus one cannot truly oppose society because even doing that is playing a part of it, yet we continue to pointlessly angst and victimize ourselves, subconsciously saying “it” hates me, “it’s” out to get me.

I agree that society is imperfect and often downright exploitive, but there's not great unified "it" suppressing us, instead we're merely the victims of our own blind folly, figuratively one hand doesn’t know what the other's doing. Instead of being the victim and saying "it hurts me, make it go away" why not wake up and see the bigger picture, society is not what we make, it's what we do, that without us there is no society, clearly the state of society is merely a reflection of our refusal to take responsibility for it, or rather I should say, for ourselves.

If the government’s corrupt, what are you going to do about it?
If there's trash on the street, what are you going to do about it?

The individual has disowned society, distanced themself from (the mythical) "it".
Wake up, this society, is our society, is my society, is your society, we do society, we own society, we are society, and until we stop living in denial "it" will continue reflect our apathy, or to speak honestly, we are merely being apathetic towards ourselves.

"I'm not a leader with power or anything" Oh boo hoo, even if you're only one of the masses you're not exempt from responsibility, because the masses are what really controls society, revolution is never impossible if the masses truly want it to happen, and where do the masses start, they start with You.

You're a man of faith arn't you Da Blob?
Try having faith in your fellow man, because let me tell you, that's the sort of faith that'll make stuff happen, if you believe in them, in us, in yourself, then with time and patience, they will have faith in you.

"If you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror" Eh?

Quite correct, yet quite depressing.

I admire your faith in the fellow man, but I can't say I share it. What we want is panem et circenses and this is exactly what we are getting.

The most I hope for is that my bread is always tasty and my circus colourful and slightly decadent.