(no subject)
Apr. 24th, 2004 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyI'm a mess of contradictions. We all are -- it's a result of living in the world we've created. We (western society, for the most part -- almost all agricultural or industrial societies) live in a culture that attempts to go against the rules of the world.
We're failing. More people, more pollution, more war, more hate, more fear. And we just keep on pumping more energy into the old machine, just keeping trying to keep the system going, make the system better.
As a genre, I dislike reality tv. I dislike what it says about people's priorities. I dislike fame for the sake of fame. Everyone is so desperate to be noticed, to matter, that they will go to any lengths to have people talk about them. It's not new -- we've had talk shows for years. Throwing your dirty laundry on stage so that someone else will see the stains, will see that you exist.
In general, the citizens of this particular country are miserable. So many people work jobs they hate for money that isn't worth it and they can't see a way out. People bury themselves in alcohol, drugs, pain, sex, in anything that takes them out of their lives for a few moments.
Self-medicating against depression and anger and lack of hope.
So many people are Angel. Trapped in a hell that they don't know how to get out of. Are Lindsey, trapped in routine and walls, getting their hearts ripped out every day. People who always come home dirty.
Joss Whedon speaks to the disenfranchised, to the unempowered. To the huddled masses yearning...
For something real. For happiness, for acceptance, for love, for equality, for choice.
Yearning to be free from fear and doubt.
The system only does that for a select few, and even then, it's a precarious freedom, if you care at all about status or money or security.
Sometimes, it seems like the only way to get ahead is to work the system.
But that only gets you further into the system. Further into accepting the world the way it is.
And heroes don't do that. And if Buffy taught me anything, it's that any of us can be heroes.
We're failing. More people, more pollution, more war, more hate, more fear. And we just keep on pumping more energy into the old machine, just keeping trying to keep the system going, make the system better.
As a genre, I dislike reality tv. I dislike what it says about people's priorities. I dislike fame for the sake of fame. Everyone is so desperate to be noticed, to matter, that they will go to any lengths to have people talk about them. It's not new -- we've had talk shows for years. Throwing your dirty laundry on stage so that someone else will see the stains, will see that you exist.
In general, the citizens of this particular country are miserable. So many people work jobs they hate for money that isn't worth it and they can't see a way out. People bury themselves in alcohol, drugs, pain, sex, in anything that takes them out of their lives for a few moments.
Self-medicating against depression and anger and lack of hope.
So many people are Angel. Trapped in a hell that they don't know how to get out of. Are Lindsey, trapped in routine and walls, getting their hearts ripped out every day. People who always come home dirty.
Joss Whedon speaks to the disenfranchised, to the unempowered. To the huddled masses yearning...
For something real. For happiness, for acceptance, for love, for equality, for choice.
Yearning to be free from fear and doubt.
The system only does that for a select few, and even then, it's a precarious freedom, if you care at all about status or money or security.
Sometimes, it seems like the only way to get ahead is to work the system.
But that only gets you further into the system. Further into accepting the world the way it is.
And heroes don't do that. And if Buffy taught me anything, it's that any of us can be heroes.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
How is it that
Date: 2004-04-24 02:39 pm (UTC)Thank you for sharing this.
Re: How is it that
Date: 2004-04-27 01:44 am (UTC)Re: How is it that
Date: 2004-04-27 08:30 am (UTC)The system we have to fight is part of human nature. It is part of nature. Entropy, inertia, a body at rest continues to be a lazy shit, a body in motion is too lazy to change unless kicked upside the head. It takes a whole lot of force to do this. It gets discouraging. People slip back into depression and apathy.
So Joss writes a TV show to fight the good fight in his own way. On Buffy he creates an icon. On Angel he shows us how dark things can get to show us how to hang on. It is so easy to say that we have the best society on the planet. We have met biological needs and safety needs for the majority of our citizens. That can be debated. We are still a society where power and needs are met based on economics. Social needs can be met if you are just willing to let Madison Avenue dictate your life to you.
Small problem with that. That is as far as you will go. Maslow has 5 other levels: self-esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization and transcendent. Some people are content to rest at social. They are too scared to keep going, even though a body in motion wants to stay in motion. They can't stay still by themselves and try to halt the progress of society itself. This causes some serious problems.
First, there are those of us that can't stay still. Something inside of us screams to go on. That is who Joss writes to. When we turn this in our selves, we get depressed or even violent. All that libido has to do something. It was meant to help us individuate, to continue up the hierarchy. Joss' show about hope is to give us hope to be able to do this. His story is apocalyptic, like the prophets Daniel and John (Book of Revelations).
Second, those who try to remain still are screwing themselves over. Their libido has to go somewhere as well. When circumstances threaten needs that they have previously met (biological, safety and social), they pour all that libido there. This causes gross overreactions to things. This brings about our current world situation.
Joss showed us on Buffy that the Patriarchy hurts everyone, including Giles and Xander. It left the Watcher's Council vulnerable and they go boom. There is more to society/the system than the Patriarchy. A society that has stalled at Social needs, also called love and acceptance, pushes conformity and punishes those that don't go along. It tempts people to conform in many, many ways.
A democracy is an interesting place. Policy is determined by majority rule. In order to get your policy, you have to get others to agree to it. A democracy pushes conformity by its very nature. It is not immune to the dangers of other systems. If anything, because it thinks it is immune, those threats are even more dangerous. This carries over to things other than the law. Our TV show is being canceled. It doesn't make enough money for the network because they don't think enough people watch it so advertisers won't pay enough money for ads.
Our national psyche is majority rules, whether that is the law or TV. As such, we push for a certain majority. To get that, conformity is important. It is damaging our national psyche. It affects world events in disastrous ways. There is definitely a crisis out there on a personal, national and international level.
I don't see how anyone can say otherwise.
Re: How is it that
Date: 2004-04-28 06:32 pm (UTC)Exactly -- it's about fighting the human urge to fall into 'rooms and routines'. It's about working up the courage to look at the beautiful and terrifying things.
Complete and total word to your entire comment. Yes, exactly.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-24 05:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-27 01:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-24 06:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-27 01:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-24 09:45 pm (UTC)So many people are Angel. Trapped in a hell that they don't know how to get out of. Are Lindsey, trapped in routine and walls, getting their hearts ripped out every day. People who always come home dirty.
Because we aren't victims unless we choose to be. There are a lot of things in life we can't control. And we have to live with that. But there are a lot of things we can. And should. It's pat and trite, but we can make the world a better place.
We're failing. More people, more pollution,
Wrong! In the US, there is less pollution today than there was a century ago. There is better air quality. Cleaner water. Safer food. Do you really want to turn back the clock?
The system only does that for a select few, and even then, it's a precarious freedom, if you care at all about status or money or security.
No offense, but status, money, and security are pretty important things. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs places them: Physiological, Security, Love, Esteem and Self-Actualization.
Maybe the people of this country are miserable. But by almost any standard, they are less miserable than most human society. With needs 1 & 2 met better in the US than in almost any society, we actually have time to worry about the higer order needs that prior generations never had the chance to achieve.
Joss Whedon speaks to the disenfranchised, to the unempowered. To the huddled masses yearning...
Sometimes, I think Whedon speaks to those who wish to stay trapped in their disenfranchisement. To revel in outsiderness, in the elitism of self and contempt for the masses. In rejection of community. Where are the characters who face the challenges and emerge reforged anew, older and stronger?
Whedon doesn't have a John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, or a John McCain, who emerged from war to come home and contribute to the community. People who build, who rely on the past to make things even stronger.
Whedon destroyed the school, destroyed the town, and forgot about the people. He created a class of refugees and offered no concern to them. These are the disenfranchised, not just Buffy et al.
Yet there is no concern. His heroes did not endeavor to save that community. To enlighten that community. To involve the community. To uplift that community. Because, I infer, Whedon feels like people aren't worth it. Unless, we are among the select few. The Chosen. The Elite.
But if I am to empower myself because I believe I am worth it - then I have to believe the masses are too. That I am no more or less elite than anybody else. That my concern for the world doesn't end at my office door. Doesn't end at my mailbox. That I can't just be content with taking care of myself. That I have to engage my community and be a part of it.
Beating and destroying the system isn't enough. You have to build a new system. A better system. And then blow that up and build a better one still. Because the people matter, even if they watch "Fear Factor".
But again. I went to public school. My mom teaches public schools. My dad is a defense contractor. Every job I've held, save at a Pizza joint, has been funded directly or indirectly by the public tax dollar. I'm a product of the system. I work for "The Man". I'm not mindlessley happy. I'm actively engaged in my community.
The "System" does a heck of a lot of good. And it would do even better if more "good" people engaged it. I certainly felt that way when I spent nine months beating my feet through my Congressional district on the Van Hollen campaign. We're all individuals, but we're a small part of a much larger organism called "humanity". And humanity works if we make ourselves work, and if we become a part of it.
The world's a mess. But we build upon each other. We create legacies. We carve out spaces for each other. I have faith in humanity. And I do believe we can work. We just have to work at it.
Part One:
Date: 2004-04-27 01:40 am (UTC)I've reread what I wrote several times and I don't see how it's at all either of those things. I think that the world is fairly sucky and that it'll take a lot of work to make better. Doesn't mean that I don't think that it's not worth the effort (Though I have, on occasion, thought just that -- probably will again, at times. One of the things that comes along with having been clinically depressed in the past -- it never really goes away, just gets easier to deal with.)
We're failing, we're putting effort into a system that doesn't work -- doesn't mean that people are flawed, just that we're trapped into a system. Systems aren't forever -- the Roman Empire fell. Just because I don't see the value of working the system doesn't mean that I'm saying that I don't see the value of the world or of humanity.
Because we aren't victims unless we choose to be. There are a lot of things in life we can't control. And we have to live with that. But there are a lot of things we can. And should. It's pat and trite, but we can make the world a better place.
Exactly -- but we have to fight entropy. We have to try. And many people don't. Most don't. They don't vote, or recycle, or think that they can matter. And each voice, each spirit matters a great deal.
Wrong! In the US, there is less pollution today than there was a century ago. There is better air quality. Cleaner water. Safer food. Do you really want to turn back the clock?
In the US.
A hundred years is an interesting time to pick. 1904 -- a lot like today, really. Things are getting better in some ways -- mostly, they're getting more extreme. Some things are better, some are worse. Most of the damage is cumulative.
Turning back the clock is... both impossible and mostly indesirable. Just because current conditions are bad doesn't mean that the past is better. Forget pollution and such (because then I would send you back a few hundred years and have you breath deep and tell me that our current air quality is acceptable), basic human rights are more widely acknowledged now than they have been for quite a while.
Honestly, it's the people problem that bothers me the most. Population expansion. That bothers me. Western Society has no place in it for limitation -- we feed and grow and destroy. That's what I'm most concerned about. Part of why I don't want to have children is not to encourage such things. If I ever do feel the need to mold a young human being, I'll just adopt.
No offense, but status, money, and security are pretty important things. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs places them: Physiological, Security, Love, Esteem and Self-Actualization.
If you care... I don't say whether or not I care. I do -- well, I care quite a bit about security. I want to know that I have a place to stay, food to eat, and things and people that provoke thought. I've never felt much of a personal need for either status or money, but I do understand that they're important to many people. I do think that people can become unhealthily attached to any of the three, but people can become unhealthily attached to practically anything, so that's no reason to ban something.
Maybe the people of this country are miserable. But by almost any standard, they are less miserable than most human society.
Really? Almost any standard is a fairly confident statement. Our suicide percentages would argue against you. The percentage of people with marks on their bodies because they were so miserable with their lives would argue against you. By and large, it's a frustrated and hurt population.
Re: Part One:
Date: 2004-04-27 05:26 am (UTC)Which is why I don't just sit around and bemoan my lack of faith in "the People". I've joined community campaigns and associations, and walked around. In the 2002 election cycle, voter turnout in my district was up 15% from what had been expected, and I'd like to think I played a small part in that.
By and large, it's a frustrated and hurt population.
And if it is, and we have some power to change that, then don't we have some obligation to affect positive change? If that's how it is, then Buffy empowering slayers is a very good thing. But if you also hold to having no faith in The People, then empowering slayers is terrible. Again - unless you hold that the Slayers are unrepresentative of The People.
But again - I consider myself to be one of The People, in which case you can see why I have such problems with the story.
That's why Buffy et al actively recruiting people to play a part in graduation impressed me. And that's why Buffy et al leaving the citizens to flounder in S7 disappointed me. S7 Buffy writes those people off as if they don't matter. It's hard to watch her play at counselor and think she believes those students actually matter. Particularly as compared to when she counsels Jonathan or Debbie in S3.
If the problem is, that people don't care enough, aren't involved enough, act like people don't matter - I'm not entirely certain that the changes in the scoobies are for the better. They've become as insular as the townsfolk we criticize.
Re: Part One:
Date: 2004-04-28 06:30 pm (UTC)You probably did. I registered to vote because I don't want Bush again (I was too young to vote in the last election).
And if it is, and we have some power to change that, then don't we have some obligation to affect positive change? If that's how it is, then Buffy empowering slayers is a very good thing. But if you also hold to having no faith in The People, then empowering slayers is terrible. Again - unless you hold that the Slayers are unrepresentative of The People.
I just don't believe in The People. There are so many of them, with so many different values and beliefs. Democracy is about compromise, about finding something that the majority of the people agree about.
But again - I consider myself to be one of The People, in which case you can see why I have such problems with the story.
And my problem is that my immediate word association with 'The People' is 'mob'. A large mass of people with one agenda in mind scares the hell out of me.
That's why Buffy et al actively recruiting people to play a part in graduation impressed me. And that's why Buffy et al leaving the citizens to flounder in S7 disappointed me. S7 Buffy writes those people off as if they don't matter. It's hard to watch her play at counselor and think she believes those students actually matter. Particularly as compared to when she counsels Jonathan or Debbie in S3.
But she does help -- she saves Cassie. Not her life, but her hope. She helps Amanda discover who she is. And then she got scared and things went bad. But that doesn't mean that she stopped caring.
If the problem is, that people don't care enough, aren't involved enough, act like people don't matter - I'm not entirely certain that the changes in the scoobies are for the better. They've become as insular as the townsfolk we criticize.
They were always pretty insular. If you weren't a Scooby or dating one, they didn't seek you out.
Re: Part One:
Date: 2004-04-28 07:12 pm (UTC)Good. You should vote. You should get your voice out. 2002 was the first election where I did more than just vote. (Though I've studied elections academically) I found a candidate I supported and joined the campaign, went to rallies, canvassed... I started going to meetings of my city's transit planning board and got appointed to a seat for a year. Essentially, I just decided to be a more active citizen.
That sort of involvement isn't for everybody. It's my cup of tea, but at the same time, I'm sitting there as a public act, and I know on the traffic board that I'm not just doing it because I like it, not just because I have a "traffic agenda" but as a service to the people around me. It's me trying to be a citizenship.
True, there is a problem in that we don't have a tremendously engaged citizenry. But then, that's why I canvassed - to try to raise that level...
I just don't believe in The People. There are so many of them, with so many different values and beliefs. Democracy is about compromise, about finding something that the majority of the people agree about.
I understand how that can be worrisome, but I don't see why compromise is such an inherently awful thing.
We live in a world where people have needs, desires, and interests. But there is also scarcity. And it's not possible for all individuals to have what they all want. And therefore, invariably, there will be conflict. Without cooperation and compromise, we aren't going to be happy.
And we need to do that as a species, because individuals die off. And we need to leave a positive legacy for our next generation to work from, so they don't have to start all over from Square 1 when it's their turn.
It's sort of a Prisoner's Dilemma. You don't want to be the only one who compromises. Who gives. Because you always seem to be worse off doing so. But over the long term, most everyone is better off. Faith, for example, is a much happier person in S7/4 when she has given up some of her own freedoms to become a part of the community. Because when people come together, they can do more for each other than they ever could do when alone.
Where that group is a mob, or a productive team, lies in the details of the composition of the group, and the principles and processes of the group. W&H has evil people, evil principles, and evil processes. The WC had both good and evil of both. But the scoobies had generally good people, generally good principles, and inconsistent but often good processes. All three matter - not just individuals.
Part Two:
Date: 2004-04-27 01:42 am (UTC)Needs 1&2 would be Physiological and Security, yes? I wonder if the high rate of obesity would count against Need 1 or if it would fall under Love or Esteem as a problem. They aren't separate needs. Having your physiological needs met adds to a feeling of security. Love adds to a feeling of security. As for esteem, is that self or other? I'd also say that self-actualization would lead to a sense of security.
Sometimes, I think Whedon speaks to those who wish to stay trapped in their disenfranchisement. To revel in outsiderness, in the elitism of self and contempt for the masses. In rejection of community. Where are the characters who face the challenges and emerge reforged anew, older and stronger?
Honestly, I don't see where you don't see them? Xander, Buffy, Spike and Willow were all reforged and I found them both older and stronger as a result of their trials. I was impressed. But I'm twenty-one, an age to be radical, to rebel, and to reject other's views that I may form my own. Disenfranchised people have a hell of a hard time standing up. You have no idea how hard I've worked to not apologise whenever I don't share an opinion with someone -- I wanted to do that with you. That's the automatic urge that I feel: to apologise, agree, and stay quiet and safe.
Whedon doesn't have a John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, or a John McCain, who emerged from war to come home and contribute to the community. People who build, who rely on the past to make things even stronger.
Make the community stronger. I'm like Joss, I suppose. I don't see the point in strengthening a community that feels inherently flawed. And that is the statement of a radical, isn't it? I see the point in supporting people, but not in supporting something that I can't believe in. For me, it's like the difference between believing in a high power and believing in God, capital 'G' with a long, white beard.
Whedon destroyed the school, destroyed the town, and forgot about the people. He created a class of refugees and offered no concern to them. These are the disenfranchised, not just Buffy et al.
The people did leave of their own free will. Well, maybe not that one guy. Joss blew up the school and the town because they were built on demon ground. Often the symbolism is what matter most to him -- Mayor Wilkins built Sunnydale for demons to feed on (Enemies). Plus, he got to do explosions, which he loves to do. That's the shallow part of it.
And they may have become refugees, but what did they really lose? The chance to be eaten by a random monster, mostly. Sunnydale sucked as a home.
Yet there is no concern. His heroes did not endeavor to save that community. To enlighten that community. To involve the community. To uplift that community. Because, I infer, Whedon feels like people aren't worth it. Unless, we are among the select few. The Chosen. The Elite.
They tried it once -- Graduation Day. The people stood up, fought, and promptly forgot and went on with their lives. Jonathan was there and he went on to become sorta evil. Whedon doesn't have much faith in The People or The System. He has faith in the individual person and in choices. Buffy and Co. start off as the outcasts and evolve into a chosen community. It's an interesting journey and there are some choices that Buffy makes that I don't necessarily agree with, but I do find the end product satisfying. It makes the lost, sad, terrified girl in me think that she, too, can stand up and say that she's strong. That's what Buffy gave me. Joss Whedon doesn't speak to the enfranchised because they already have voices -- he's speaking for the people who aren't happy with the way things are, because the people who are happy are happy and don't need to be nudged into changing things to make themselves happier.
Re: Part Two:
Date: 2004-04-27 04:58 am (UTC)I'm guessing you aren't familiar with Maslow's hierarchy. Obesity counts in favor of physiological needs, whereas malnutrion against. Security is the belief in tanginble physical safety - that you can reasonably expect to not be murdered. Not emotional security - that falls under self-actualization.
Whedon doesn't have much faith in The People or The System. He has faith in the individual person and in choices.
Hence my comments on Elitism. How can you have faith in the Individual person, but not in People? What's the difference between the outcasts like Buffy, and the other outcasts in Sunnydale - save that Buffy is in the credits?
They tried it once -- Graduation Day. The people stood up, fought, and promptly forgot and went on with their lives.
Yeah. Check out that stellar follow-up by Buffy et al. Community requires reinforcement. If you expect to be valued you have to give value back.
And they may have become refugees, but what did they really lose?
They lost their homes. Why do you think people stayed in Sunnydale for so long, even with the death rate? Are you familiar with Southern California's real estate market? Maybe those people couldn't afford to live anywhere else? Maybe those people were sheep. Maybe they were working just as hard as Joyce Summers was. They matter. Their lives and livelihood matter.
In the Wishverse, Sunnydale is hell. But for six years, Buffy et al made that town a place people could live in. And in the end, it still gets destroyed.
Honestly, I don't see where you don't see them? Xander, Buffy, Spike and Willow were all reforged and I found them both older and stronger as a result of their trials.
I'll give you Spike. I'll give you Faith. Primarily because they started out as messes. I won't give you Buffy, Willow, or Xander - all of whom seem broken to me. I'd most certainly take the Buffy Summers of S3 over the Buffy of S7. The Buffy of S3 fights because there are things worth fighting for, the kids, their parents, and so on. The Buffy Summers of S7 fights, because there are things to fight against. But she's not fighting for people anymore, she's not fighting to build anything, and I don't think that Buffy has much in the way of joy or love to give.
"Chosen" ended the show where Willow, Buffy, and Xander might have a shot to get back to rediscovering and rebuilding what made them strong people in the first place. But right now, I think they were pretty beaten.
Re: Part Two:
Date: 2004-04-28 06:21 pm (UTC)Just now looking it up. The one that I ran across says 'Safety' instead of 'Security' which does bring the physical to mind instead of emotional.
Is it just a numbers game? Because that's the only way that I can see obesity counting as a good. Usually, it's caused by physical or psychological factors that I would deem negative.
Also, there are people who lack in the first four categories that still manage to hit self-actualization. As a general system, I can see how it works, but it doesn't apply to everyone (but so little does).
Hence my comments on Elitism. How can you have faith in the Individual person, but not in People? What's the difference between the outcasts like Buffy, and the other outcasts in Sunnydale - save that Buffy is in the credits?
Because a Person is different than People. It's the difference between an angry person and a mob -- a group of people is much harder to reason with. They're all egging each other on. Each individual person might be quite reasonable one-on-one, but together, they're scary.
And Buffy does invite outcasts into the group -- starting with Xander and Willow and going straight-through to Andrew. But you have to chose to join in the fight.
Yeah. Check out that stellar follow-up by Buffy et al. Community requires reinforcement. If you expect to be valued you have to give value back.
She saves them all the time and that isn't enough, she has to become the de facto leader of the whole town? She saves people's lives all the time, and they just go back to them without a backward look.
They lost their homes. Why do you think people stayed in Sunnydale for so long, even with the death rate? Are you familiar with Southern California's real estate market? Maybe those people couldn't afford to live anywhere else? Maybe those people were sheep. Maybe they were working just as hard as Joyce Summers was. They matter. Their lives and livelihood matter.
In the Wishverse, Sunnydale is hell. But for six years, Buffy et al made that town a place people could live in. And in the end, it still gets destroyed.
Was there another way to stop the vampires? The people were out, by their own choice. Buffy made it impossible for them to go back, but they left on their own.
I'll give you Spike. I'll give you Faith. Primarily because they started out as messes. I won't give you Buffy, Willow, or Xander - all of whom seem broken to me. I'd most certainly take the Buffy Summers of S3 over the Buffy of S7. The Buffy of S3 fights because there are things worth fighting for, the kids, their parents, and so on. The Buffy Summers of S7 fights, because there are things to fight against. But she's not fighting for people anymore, she's not fighting to build anything, and I don't think that Buffy has much in the way of joy or love to give.
I'd argue differently. Buffy S6, yeah, but the whole journey that Buffy takes in S7 is about rebuilding her belief in trust and in faith and in love. The Buffy of S3 was so young, and no one stays young forever.
"Chosen" ended the show where Willow, Buffy, and Xander might have a shot to get back to rediscovering and rebuilding what made them strong people in the first place. But right now, I think they were pretty beaten.
Xander rediscovered his strength with Willow in Grave and in S7 showed a steadiness that didn't falter. Willow actually got the fuck over herself for the first time in her life. And Buffy survived depression. They have years of war in their eyes, but they can still joke about shopping and eyepatches.
Re: Part Two:
Date: 2004-04-28 06:58 pm (UTC)Obesity isn't on the "physiological" map. After all, before you can become obese through over eating, you must first have food. If you have food, clothing, and shelter, by Maslow's definition, you've satisfied the requirements and can move on to the next stage.
Because a Person is different than People. It's the difference between an angry person and a mob
I think that's a false analogy. Not all groups of people are mobs. Not all individuals are reasoning. Go back to Los Hermanos Numeros - "when necessary, we came together as a fist." The Brothers are stronger as a collective, than any of them can be on their own. And of course they are - because as a group, our strength doesn't add - it multiplies. For both good and ill. Not just ill.
If you assume that a group is always inherently inclined to fail or become a mob, than you can't have faith in the individual either. Because the group is the composite of the individual Person.
Where groups succeed and fail, it is not due to anything inherent in groups, but in the specific composition of that group, and the bylaws and processes under which the group was formed and operates. The "devil" isn't in the act of grouping - it's in the details.
She saves people's lives all the time, and they just go back to them without a backward look.
Hence my comments on Whedon's lack of faith in People translating into lack of faith in the individual person. Because to the extent that people walk away without backward glances, they all choose to do so as individuals.
Was there another way to stop the vampires? The people were out, by their own choice.
This again, is where I point out the difference between S3 and S7 Buffy. S3 Buffy doesn't want to stop the vampires. She wants to help the people. Stopping vampires is a subobjective. In S7, she doesn't care deeply about helping people anymore (and that goes back to before "The Gift") - she just wants to kill the monsters and protect her increasingly constricted circle of loved ones. As lllustrated by her contrasting performances as counselor in S3 and S7.
They survive. Superficial and shallow bantering about shoes aside, IMHO the jury is very much out as to whether they triumph.
Part Three:
Date: 2004-04-27 01:43 am (UTC)Beating and destroying the system isn't enough. You have to build a new system. A better system. And then blow that up and build a better one still. Because the people matter, even if they watch "Fear Factor".
The people matter. Life matters. Life is, to me, the only thing that matters. Things are just things until they spark life. Ideas are just ideas until given life. Life is what matters -- and life is change and growth and death and birth.
It's all about engaging the world, yes, but you can't engage the world until you can believe that there's a valid reason for doing so. That's what Buffy and the others needed to build. That's what I'm working on building.
But again. I went to public school. My mom teaches public schools. My dad is a defense contractor. Every job I've held, save at a Pizza joint, has been funded directly or indirectly by the public tax dollar. I'm a product of the system. I work for "The Man". I'm not mindlessly happy. I'm actively engaged in my community.
I went to public school for most of my life (save one and a half years at a private Lutheran school). Both my parents work for the local public transportion system (Tri-Met) -- my dad drives a bus and my mom is the librarian and webmaster. We're all products of the system. I'm in the system now, simply by holding down a job, paying bills and taxes, and voting.
But I'm not particularly engaged in my community, if that's defined by the place that I live in. I'm engaged in various mental and emotional communities, communities of choice.
I'm not engaged because I don't feel as though I belong and I don't particularly want to. I don't plan on living here forever. I want to live somewhere colder, where I have a greater chance of encountering snow. This is not my home, though I live here. Because I have no plans on staying, I've made no particular attempt to settle in. I live in a constant state of chaos, always aware of the possibility of change -- which will be happening very soon, as my roommate is leaving for DC in a month and I'll need to either find a new roommate or move by then.
So, I engage in communities that I plan to stay in, which is mostly fandom, right now. Fandom and family.
The "System" does a heck of a lot of good. And it would do even better if more "good" people engaged it. I certainly felt that way when I spent nine months beating my feet through my Congressional district on the Van Hollen campaign. We're all individuals, but we're a small part of a much larger organism called "humanity". And humanity works if we make ourselves work, and if we become a part of it.
And we're all part of a larger organism called 'life'. Humanity isn't the same as the system. Much of humanity is using this particular system, but that doesn't mean that it's the only system. I do know that I don't really want to engage it, because I don't agree with it, but I will do so in an attempt to live with it and change it. Honestly? I wouldn't mind burning it to the ground and starting over. But I can't. I have to take what I have now and use it to get to where I need to go.
The world's a mess. But we build upon each other. We create legacies. We carve out spaces for each other. I have faith in humanity. And I do believe we can work. We just have to work at it.
Like I said earlier, I'm young yet and still figuring out who I am and what I believe. I do know that I believe in a better world. We have to be willing to fight for it. That's what heroes do, fight towards a better future. And I don't mean literal fighting, I mean standing up and saying, "Yeah, it sucks. Let's make it better." I mean never being satisfied with the way the world is, always working for the better, because there always is one. I mean, I suppose, living every day as a radical.
It's about never accepting 'good enough'.