There's another comic which is no longer archived by the same artist of a woman on a recipe website that says "Grandma's Home Recipes" and her husband is behind her saying to her, "you know Grandma is probably some 40 year old man."
This is a comic from one of my favorite newspaper comic artists, Tony Carrillo. It kind of puts an interesting spin on what we were talking about last class with perception and the relativity of things. We discussed (or I argued) that it is possible that someone playing WoW (World of Warcraft) could essentially in almost all effects to himself become his character in the game. Perception of what is good and bad is set by universal morals. Since universal morals, or ideas of what is good and what is bad are impossible, it is possible for each individual to have their own view on reality. And since they have their own reality, they can perceive their own identity and assume the personality/identity of whoever they wish or see fit. (ie. weird guy who locks himself in his room playing WoW 24/7 can pretend he's and Orc, elf, wizard, whatever...) Since one can assume their own identity within their in there own personal reality they can assume their own morals and thoughts of good and bad, right and wrong.
This comic shows it as a bit more realistic interpretation of the situation (minus the whole, 8 year olds taking over a classroom). In a situation where one controls all means of measurement or judgement, they are free to set the standards and measurements. (I mean look at the US, US standard vs Metric system... the US standard is totally arbitrary, yet, because we are such a large force and control a large portion of the market we can get away with it) So if someone within their own reality decided they knew what was right and wrong... say they thought murder was acceptable. They could rightly commit murder and not think they are doing wrong. Someone telling them murder was immoral or unacceptable would just be wrong to them. I feel like I might be missing exactly what I'm trying to say, but I'm hoping it's at least clear enough that you get my idea. (any comments or questions on clarification would definitely be welcome and helpful). But basically that's it, you may want to check back later, I'm going to reread and possibly correct this a bit.
discussion Q:
How is a plausible or actual way (already documented) a real life situation version of what is portrayed in the comic possible, How could it happen?
3 comments:
In 1984 the children often report their parents to the thought police. In the movie Equilibrium the children seem to hold a position on the social hierarchy equal to their parents, making demands of them and again possessing the ability to report them to the authorities for offenses in the dystopian society. There are also scenes depicting children holding various positions of authority in the government. In these societies where the extreme equality of all individuals is stressed it would not be out of place to have them possessing authority in the classroom.
Very interesting ideas on this topic, Adam, even if they haven't fully come to a head yet. I believe it was Einstein who said that morality is an entirely human invention. Which makes sense, of course - in the animal kingdom, a predator uses whatever means to kill prey and survive. Whatever CAN be done, SHOULD be done. Only with "civilization" come things that CAN be done that SHOULD NOT be done, or so we claim. And if morality is a human-only trait, then it will be, by definition, arbitrary, following no other natural code than what we "see fit". So as people change and socities change, morals change.
Not an answer by any means, but more fuel for thought. Good find with the comic strip.
-Prof. Castle
Honestly, there is no reality, there is only perception. There is no right or wrong, only perception. The way actions and reactions are percieved in the world form what we consider reality. What if what we are percieving is in fact not what is being seen by others. It raises a whole lot of questions on what we see considering we rely so much on what we can smell/see/touch/hear/feel when in fact that is less than 1 millionth of reality.
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