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To what extent does the media influence your identity
Genetic influences on human development
To what extent does the media influence your identity
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Fukuyama defines factor x as not only what makes a human a human but the different traits that add up to being human. The choices and decisions we choose to make are what makes human. These choices we make are important because we as humans can debate and formulate rules of justice. The ability to be diplomatic makes us humans political. Fukuyama compares humans to computer programs because he claims we as humans are programmed to feel a certain way and react a certain way toward different situations. “Dignity supports our individual identity, and it is a critical element which protects our soul. Dignity enables us to move forward, intact, through various life stages.” (Mertz, 2010) Earlier in history, people believed that Factor X only occurred in certain sexes, races, and tribes. It was also found that people with birth defects, or low intelligence contrary to the belief that Factor X supports the human race equally. Our inner soul is what makes us fundamentally human, without this our human body is considered a “vegetable” as Fukuyama states in his theory. I believe this is a universal trait because everybody is born with a soul and learns to be morally good or bad.
I believe these traits are learned and it’s not genetically transferred, because as we grow we learn and experience and make decisions based off of these experiences. It can be lost through depression. Common symptoms of depression are fatigue, feeling lifeless, having a lack of purpose, as well as making bad decisions because your persona changes and you have no dignity while feeling depressed. Dignity can be both gained and lost in the market because being raised and taught a sense of morality helps with making positive life choices, and it can be lost through b...
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...bers of formally disrespected groups, for example women, gays, or handicapped humans. The demand for any quality of recognition or respect is the dominant passion of modernity. Thus, it is not necessarily that we think we are equal in all important respects, or demand that our lives be the same as everyone else’s. Most people accept that fact that legendary role models have talents and abilities also recognize all that they have accomplished with those talents, and as positive as the sense of knowing the possibility of it they still feel the sense of lacking what these legends have accomplished seemingly unworthy to do the same. A human being isn’t born completely understanding exactly how much strength their own will power can have on their own life. With a strong sense of well-being we are able to succeed at our best despite our imperfections and “disabilities”.
Eli Clare in Reading Against the Grain mentioned that the mainstream culture has a tendency to stereotype people into eroticizes culture such as thinking all African Americans males and Latino women are hyper-sexual, perceiving Asians as passive beings, and assuming that disabled individuals have no sexual desires. Somehow people regurgitate these stereotypes as if they’re empirical facts. Objectification usually reinforces or maintains the institutionalized power differences, which can deprive some groups such as the disabled from self-determination. The section of Pride and Exile brings to light how some members of the disabled community feels that they are denied of their personal autonomy. In Clares case, she explains how the MDA fundraisers
...ive most of their life as a perfectly able-bodied person until a tragic accident one day could rob you of the function of your legs, and you have to learn how to cope with being disabled. Mairs illustrates that being disabled is more common than the media portrays, and it’s hard to deal with feeling alienated for your disabilities. These three authors have evoked a sense of sympathy from the reader, but they also imply that they don’t want non-handicapped people to pity them. The goal these authors have is to reach out to the able-bodied person, and help them understand how to treat a disabled person. The disabled people don’t want to be pitied, but they still need our help sometimes, just like if you saw someone with an arm full of grocery bags having difficulty opening their car door. They want us to accept them not as a different species, but as functional people.
In the book, The Short Bus, Jonathan Mooney’s thesis is that there is more to people than their disabilities, it is not restricting nor is it shameful but infact it is beautiful in its own way. With a plan to travel the United States, Mooney decides to travel in a Short bus with intentions of collecting experiences from people who have overcome--or not overcome--being labeled disabled or abnormal. In this Mooney reinvents this concept that normal people suck; that a simple small message of “you’re not normal” could have a destructive and deteriorating effect. With an idea of what disabilities are, Mooney’s trip gives light to disabilities even he was not prepared to face, that he feared.
As mentioned previously, the chances of becoming disabled over one’s lifetime are high, yet disabled people remain stigmatized, ostracized, and often stared upon. Assistant Professor of English at Western Illinois University, Mark Mossman shares his personal experience as a kidney transplant patient and single-leg amputee through a written narrative which he hopes will “constitute the groundwork through which disabled persons attempt to make themselves, to claim personhood or humanity” while simultaneously exploiting the “palpable tension that surrounds the visibly disabled body” (646). While he identifies the need for those with limitations to “make themselves” or “claim personhood or humanity,” Siebers describes their desires in greater detail. He suggests people with
In “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs. She hates to call her handicapped because she believes that hold her back. The author writes, “I certainly don’t like “handicapped,” which implies that I have deliberately been put at a disadvantage, by whom I can’t imagine (my god is not a handicapper general), in order to equalize chances in the great race of life” (21). In other words, she doesn’t want to call her handicapped, because she wants to live her life with equal chances even she’s not. Her positive attitude makes her more active. She’s trying to live a normal life with her disability. She hates being crippled, but she’s trying to get over it. If she had a negative attitude, she wouldn’t write about her own story. She wouldn’t do anything. I believe her positive mindset affects somehow to get rid of something that hold her back. She overcame the effects of her illness through positive attitude. Mairs and Jamison’s thoughts they have shaped their lives either positive way or negative
This tone is also used to establish an appeal to pathos which he hopes to convince the audience of the fact that handicapped people are still people and not less than anyone else. A very prominent example of Peace’s emotion is displayed when he says, “Like many disabled people, I embrace an identity that is tied to my body. I have been made to feel different, inferior, since I began using a wheelchair thirty years ago and by claiming that I am disabled and proud, I am empowered,” (para. 15). This declaration demonstrates to his audience that Peace is honored by who he is and what disabled people can do and that he is tired of being oppressed by the media. Peace also makes this claim to support his thesis in the first paragraph that states, “The negative portrayal of disabled people is not only oppressive but also confirms that nondisabled people set the terms of the debate about the meaning of disability,” (para. 1). This is Peace’s central argument for the whole article and explains his frustration with society’s generalization of handicapped people and the preconceived limitations set on them. Peace’s appeal to pathos and tone throughout are extremely effective in displaying to his audience (society) that those who have disabilities are fed up with the limits that have been placed in the
Women with disabilities are seldom represented in popular culture. Movies, television shows ,and novels that attempt to represent people within the disability community fall short because people that are not disabled are writing the stories. Susan Nussbaum has a disability. She advocates for people with disabilities and writes stories about characters with disabilities . She works to debunk some of the stereotypes about women with disabilities in popular culture. Women with disabilities are stereotyped as being sexually undesirable individuals , that are not capable of living normal lives, that can only be burdens to mainstream society, and often sacrifice themselves.Through examining different female characters with disabilities, Nussbaum 's novel Good Kings Bad Kings illustrates how the stereotypes in popular culture about women with disabilities are not true.
Diana Moon Glampers, the United States Handicapper General is but one member of the government who demonstrates a failure to grasp the necessity of balancing fascism and extreme equitability. This also applies restriction in the sense of individualism and ideologies. To return to the original question: How does one 's perspective of an ideal society reflect their measure of self-worth? Through analyzing the text we resolved that when the standards of society are set by an individual’s perspective, others under the regulations will experience a lack of confidence, furthermore, dysphoria. In summation, although our strengths and weaknesses differ, we are “equal every which way”-Kurt Vonnegut
“The narrator of the story Harrison Bergeron definitions’ of America’s equality begins not by positing a future equality as much as exposing the misunderstanding of it in the past and the present” (Hattenhauer). The story Harrison Bergeron has two meanings: too much equality and too much inequality. Too much equality is expressed through the Handicap General, Diana Glampers, as she wants everyone to be equal because she envies the talented and beautiful. However, “it is not fair to the productive, the risk taking, or the hard working, to deprive them of what they have produced, merely to make them equal to others who have worked less, taken less risk, and produced less” (Moore). This society would never work because “no one who has lived very long can think that all men are equal in physical, prowess, mental capacity, willingness to work or save, to assume leadership, to design or invent new products or processes, to get votes, to preach sermons, to play the violin, or even to make love” (Even Fingerprints Differ). In any society one should not have the power to make people equal for each “were endowed by our creator” (Moore). In a society where there is too much inequality, or a potential dictatorship- Harrison Bergeron, society would fail as well. Kurt Vonnegut wrote Harrison Bergeron in order to show the world that we cannot take away talent or
People required strength in order to deflect the ignorance of things that do not conform to the norm. This is because anything abysmal can occur to a person. Everything appears to be at stake when there is deviation of the norm. Bullying aspect because these non-conforming things are viewed as “aberrant”. (Non-cisgender and transgender people are victims of discrimination and sixty-nine percent are homeless or were homeless, fifty to fifty-four percent were targets of harassment and insults, and multiracial along with Native American non-cisgender plus transgender person had the highest suicide rates; fifty-four percent of multiracial people and fifty-six Native Americans who are non-cisgender and/or transgender (Suicide Attempts Among Transgender and Gender Non-comforting Adults, 2).) The previous sentence outlined the isolation and melancholy and plus, with the majority of people being cisgender, people like me are casted out to the wilderness to defend ourselves, without any guidance. Straying away from the norm is gambling with your life and being seen as “void person” in
Throughout history, there have been many images of bravery and strength. However, there is none more admirable than the bravery and strength of people like Georgina Kleege. They continue to fight, even when their triumphs go unnoticed by most. As a result, their actions have had a larger impact on society than any famous hero. With their patience and perseverance, they have helped change and mold society's negative view of the disabled into a positive one. Without people with perseverance like Kleege, members of today's society would never try to open their eyes and learn to accept and respect those
Interestingly, the Medical Model of disability starkly contrasts how other forms of discrimination are typically viewed in society. For example, most individuals believe that the social ailments surrounding racial and ethnic minorities, women, and sexual minorities stem not from any sort of physiological abnormality, but rather from societal environments that breed discrimination. Thus, discrimination against these minority groups are often viewed as unreasonable. Moreover, attempts at justifying the discrimination against any of these groups is deemed socially deplorable. In contrast, many people seem to view discrimination against disabled individuals as not only rational, but also morally acceptable (in the RGT context specifically). The result, therefore, is that individuals who strive against discrimination in other contexts may be apt to justify discrimination against disabled
People who have physical disabilities often experience negative situations and connotations that they must overcome to thrive in society. People who offer narratives about their disabilities often give the most accurate representation about the challenges those with disabilities face. Ms. Marenge, reported that one of the hardest things about leaving the rehabilitation center after becoming paralyzed was living in a house that was inaccessible, and having to rely on her family to carry her up and down the house (Casey Marenge, 2011). Similarly, a student with muscular dystrophy, says that she wishes more places were wheelchair accessible, because when they aren’t she feels that society is holding her back, and she can’t reach her full potential. Alisha also reported that t making friends is hard because some kids would ignore her at school because of her situation and she is often separated from the mainstream students at school. Alisha, doesn’t want to be defined by her disability, however, she believes that many people who look at her only see her wheelchair (Alisha Lee, 2011). Despite the many negative ways people who suffer from physical disabilities are affected, it is important to note that they don’t always feel bad for themselves, and that having a disability doesn’t stop them from loving
Similarly, in Western cultures masculinity is associated to having an able-body, the physically disabled male is often referred to as feminine (Scott, 2014). In Scott's (2014) article he mentions a man named Kale whose colleague asks if the semi-attractive woman was his nurse, Kale called him an asshole and told his colleague it was his wife. This is related to Natalie’s experience of people asking if she is Tim's Mother, sister, friend, or nurse, she explains that no one has ever asked her if she was Tim's wife (Verstraten, 2014). Both scenario's reiterate how society culturally positions men with physical disabilities as “other”, and upsets the dominant understandings of gender performances (Scott, 2014). Additionally, this can be connected to the YouTube video “Shit Able-bodied People Say to People With Disabilities”, questioning and making assumptions regarding the relationship between Natalie and Tim is a complete violation of their privacy. The couple view themselves as role-models due to the lack of support, and not seeing many people similar to their situation. Together they are working to break down the myths and misconceptions that people with disabilities are not sexual beings (Verstraten,
This is the underlying theme in the essays “Disability” by Nancy Mairs, “Why the Able-Bodied Just Don’t Get it” by Andre Dubus, and “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?” by Harriet Johnson. In the essay “Disability,” Nancy Mairs discusses the lack of media attention for the disabled, writing: “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anyone’s life.” An ordinary person has very little exposure to the disabled, and therefore can only draw conclusions from what is seen in the media. As soon as people can picture the disabled as regular people with a debilitating condition, they can begin to respect them and see to their needs without it seeming like an afterthought or a burden.