In what ways can writing online be liberating?
When writing online we (being everyone) tend not to really care about what we're saying. Whether it's a negative comment towards someone else, or just your straight foreword opinion, or simply disagreeing with someone on YouTube. We allow the fact that nearly 95% of the time the people or person you maybe talking to can't see you not will they ever see you. We take a computer screen for granted in the terms of we feel more powerful and in control. We can say what we want to who we want with no repercussions.
Most people often can't wait to go home and terrorize others and say what they truly feel. Maybe it's for revenge or to get back at them for the things other may say to them.
In other ways writing online is very powers as well, such as the many people who try to pass on they're views or religion or opinion on certain people. Though there is freedom of speech theres a difference between staring an opinion and forcing other to believe what you do. There are so may hate sites and "Internet Cults" that dedicate their time to hating in others and trying to understand why people might like or enjoy that person.
All in all, the internet is used as a place for many to be free and display their thoughts no matter how negative or down-putting they are. It allows to people to liberate themselves of anything and everything they may feel.
In what ways can writing online be limiting?
There are many sites now that have specific terms and moderators that go through your comment and decide whether or not it's appropriate. However many times (ie on Instagram) the computer moderating the comment will mistake the slang "omfg" followed by many emojis as harmful, when in fact you're trying to display how funny you think something is. Many websites also have the power to take something down that they feel is bad or shouldn't be on their site. So most often even after something is published, you still don't really have all the power over it.
Writing online is somewhat a privilege, one that is to often heavily abused, however in many cases the internet is a necessity to full optimize learning and working and productivity. We (being everyone) should find a healthy balance between opinion and bullying or just doing/saying negative things in general. People complain the internet is too protected and that people should have power over what I wrote or say, but most things that people write or say are horrid.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
Virgin Suicides - Pain, Suffering and Understanding
The novel, Virgin Suicides, written by Jeffrey Eugenides, tells the story of the suicides of the 5 Lisbon sister and the boys of the neighborhood that watch them try to uncover why they would do this to themselves. The boys are seemingly obsessed with the girls prior to each of their suicides. During our final meeting, my philoso-fam and I came to believe the book shows us that suicide is a real problem and that there are real people that feel that suicide is the only answer and regardless if we know why they want to we should try to help them and show them this isn’t the way out of their situation. With suicide being the main issue present in this novel I began to wonder are we (we being people I'm general) never really able to fully grasp the intensity of another's problems and struggles through our own eyes.
To start off we are present with the youngest of the sisters, Cecelia, who is the first to attempt suicide, how ever fails(succeeding in her second attempt). We see that Cecelia, after attempting to commit suicide, goes to a psychiatrist, whom she tells "obviously you've never been a 13 year old girl". From what we know, we see that even though Cecelia isn't living the quote unquote perfect life it's a life many of us think we could get by living. However, this line shows us that through our eyes and the eyes of the neighborhood boys she lived an okay life. Whereas in her eyes she felt unsatisfied and lost. We (the readers and the boys) aren't able to fully understand Cecelia's issues and therefore aren't really able to help her, people, anyone could've told her that suicide isn't/wasn't the answer but to her it would've been just that, us telling her not to do it. Not us understanding, grasping and really knowing how she feels and what she goes though.
Next we see Lux Lisbon, who most times is having sex with different and many different and unusual times. Lux, evidently is the most rebellious of the sisters. Her parents pre and post Cecelia's suicide have been nothing but overbearing and overprotective towards her and her sisters. Lux, being a regular teenager wants to rebel and be more than the prisoner of her parents and uses smoking and sex to this. But, it could also be that her parents display no variety emotion towards Lux and the girls, always doing things to "protect" them. With love missing from her parents, the people we all want to love and think we are special she could use sex as a way to get 5 minutes of love, even if it is from a stranger. The love they give her she uses to replace the void left by her parents. I think Lux's ultimate reason for her suicide was this. No one would ever really be able to tell because when you see her she's never really displaying an aura of pain or hurt. And her parents wouldn't be anole to tell because they think they are doing what's best for her and to protect her.
Lastly, we see Mr. Lisbon who seemingly goes along with his wife's over controlling nature. However we get this sense of him wanting to be free from the intense rule and, be "normal" like the other families of the neighborhood. We can see this in the novel when the narrator describes all the neighborhood fathers coming together and burning all the fallen leaves of the passing fall. But, Mrs. Lisbon, being intensely worried the fire would grow to be uncountable eradicated any fun Mr. Lisbon would have. I think Mr. Lisbon is able to feel the pain and struggle of the girls, but is too afraid of his wife to Wally help it do anything about it. Even though Mr. Lisbon himself did not commit suicide you can still get a sense that he is struggling as well as the girls and that his wife doesn't really understand that these rules and lifestyle aren't really helping anyone.
To conclude it seems the cause of all the pain, struggling and absence of love is caused unintentionally by Mrs. Lisbon. She tries to use these rules as a way to show that she cares for and loves them all but it's misconceived. Lastly, we see that no one is ever really able to fully grasp the pain of someone else and no one is really able to fully understand why people have the thoughts they do.
RIP Lux, Cecelia, Bonnie, Therese and Mary Lisbon.
To start off we are present with the youngest of the sisters, Cecelia, who is the first to attempt suicide, how ever fails(succeeding in her second attempt). We see that Cecelia, after attempting to commit suicide, goes to a psychiatrist, whom she tells "obviously you've never been a 13 year old girl". From what we know, we see that even though Cecelia isn't living the quote unquote perfect life it's a life many of us think we could get by living. However, this line shows us that through our eyes and the eyes of the neighborhood boys she lived an okay life. Whereas in her eyes she felt unsatisfied and lost. We (the readers and the boys) aren't able to fully understand Cecelia's issues and therefore aren't really able to help her, people, anyone could've told her that suicide isn't/wasn't the answer but to her it would've been just that, us telling her not to do it. Not us understanding, grasping and really knowing how she feels and what she goes though.
Next we see Lux Lisbon, who most times is having sex with different and many different and unusual times. Lux, evidently is the most rebellious of the sisters. Her parents pre and post Cecelia's suicide have been nothing but overbearing and overprotective towards her and her sisters. Lux, being a regular teenager wants to rebel and be more than the prisoner of her parents and uses smoking and sex to this. But, it could also be that her parents display no variety emotion towards Lux and the girls, always doing things to "protect" them. With love missing from her parents, the people we all want to love and think we are special she could use sex as a way to get 5 minutes of love, even if it is from a stranger. The love they give her she uses to replace the void left by her parents. I think Lux's ultimate reason for her suicide was this. No one would ever really be able to tell because when you see her she's never really displaying an aura of pain or hurt. And her parents wouldn't be anole to tell because they think they are doing what's best for her and to protect her.
Lastly, we see Mr. Lisbon who seemingly goes along with his wife's over controlling nature. However we get this sense of him wanting to be free from the intense rule and, be "normal" like the other families of the neighborhood. We can see this in the novel when the narrator describes all the neighborhood fathers coming together and burning all the fallen leaves of the passing fall. But, Mrs. Lisbon, being intensely worried the fire would grow to be uncountable eradicated any fun Mr. Lisbon would have. I think Mr. Lisbon is able to feel the pain and struggle of the girls, but is too afraid of his wife to Wally help it do anything about it. Even though Mr. Lisbon himself did not commit suicide you can still get a sense that he is struggling as well as the girls and that his wife doesn't really understand that these rules and lifestyle aren't really helping anyone.
To conclude it seems the cause of all the pain, struggling and absence of love is caused unintentionally by Mrs. Lisbon. She tries to use these rules as a way to show that she cares for and loves them all but it's misconceived. Lastly, we see that no one is ever really able to fully grasp the pain of someone else and no one is really able to fully understand why people have the thoughts they do.
RIP Lux, Cecelia, Bonnie, Therese and Mary Lisbon.
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