Opener- culture in clothing

How do you dress?

I dress very casually and consistently. I wear jeans and a t-shirt ninety percent of the time. Sometimes I wear shorts, sometimes cargo pants, but usually jeans. When it's cold out, I sometimes wear a fleece jacket.

How is your dress an important aspect of who you are?

It isn't. It's just what I wear. I'm not trying to make a statement; I wear clothing based on comfort.

What about your culture/ personality is reflected in your clothes?

I'm very laid-back, straightforward, and habitual.

Opener on Perspective

What are the benefits of perspective?

It allows you to remove your bias and see things from a different angle. It's not that any one perspective is better than others; it's best to see things from multiple perspectives.

Why do the rules of ethnography exist and why are they important?

If you don't acknowledge your bias, it can influence your work and mislead people who don't suspect bias. It's important to have an infromant in the culture so that you can be more accurate and have an insider's perspective. Fianlly, if you don't tell your subjects that they're being studied, they will feel manipulated and insulated when they find out.

Opener on "Othering"

Why would the West manufacture an Other?

If we set up others as an "enemy," we can improve ourselves trying to compete with them, like during the Cold War. And we set up this enemy as evil and different as a way to sort of justify our actions against them.

Final 1984 Blog

I believe that Big Brother has won. There is no way for rebellion, because the proles are too segregated and underinformed to do anything, and if the Inner Party plays their cards right, no more than a couple Party members will ever rebel. Most everyone loves Big Brother, and those who are uncertain, like Winston, are kept under control by fear of the Thought Police. They can then be dealt with before they get dangerous. And there is no way Oceania will ever be overthrown by foriegners. All of the countries are just half-heartedly fighting as a way to keep their respective populations in check. No one country will ever waste their resources to actually try to overthrow another. The only way that the party can be brought down would be if some freak occurence or natural disaster threw the government off track, causing them to lose the trust of the proles.

By the end of the novel, Winston has lost all of his hopes and ideals, stripped away by torture. With nothing to fall back on, he turns to the Party's ready-made safety net: love and loyalty to Big Brother. O'Brian has already told him "In the end we shall shoot you," so Winston knows he will die, but he doesn't care, probably because of his fatalist attitude. He even wants to die, calling it the "long-hoped-for-bullet." The party has crushed his mind to the point that he is willing to follow and do anything they say, and if they want to kill him, then that must mean his death is a good thing. Basically, Smith has gone nuts, because he's much easier to control that way.

Opener- "Love Language"

What were your assumptions during the video?

I assumed that she was deaf. I was right.

How is this a cultural conflict?

Deaf people, a subculture, have a hard time being accepted by others. She's trying to be accepted by the guy.

What's an example of external conflict from the video?

The girl can't hear the guy or talk to him normally.

What's an example of internal conflict?

The guy has to decide whether or not to accept her, because she's deaf.

How was the conflict resolved?

He decided that he didn't care that she was deaf.