Final Blog

I am profoundly interested in the Cartesian split. I knew what it was pretty vaguely before this course, but did not fully understand it at all. Like all Cultural Studies students, I pretend to know the many authors and texts that are constantly referenced in class. I had read some Descartes, but I honestly did not really understand the pervasiveness of the Cartesian split to contemporary political and cultural rhetoric until this class. After we close read the meditations, I began to notice the Cartesian split lingering in so much of the material I study.

The Cartesian split interests me a lot because it is an example of a very Western worldview, Western Individualism in particular. The Cartesian split privileges the mind and the individual's will over the body and it's physical limitations. Furthermore, body is thought of as a sometimes misleading entity that shouldn't always be trusted. I see the Cartesian Split as very related to American notions of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps," or using your mind and will to push you beyond any limitations that you face and achieve success.

The Cartesian split is very related to how to view our bodies and interpret the things our bodies try to tell us. Many feminist environmentalist scholars site the body as a locus of knowledge, as something to be taken seriously, and as something that has the ability to help us move beyond racism, sexism, trans/homophobia, and ableism. Scholars such as Stacy Alaimo, Susan Heckman, Donna Harraway, Nancy Tuana, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Alison Kafer, and Winona LaDuke, among many, many others, encourage this way of thinking that allows us to take our bodies seriously without falling into the confines of essentialism.

Our class's discussions of free will and addiction really illuminated how the Cartesian split still lingers today. For example, in the drug unit we saw how some still view addiction and drug use as a choice, and we saw how Eve Sedgwick describes addiction as an epidemic of the will. Also, with drugs, we saw how mental illness and medication for it is still highly stigmatized and often viewed as a lack of control. In the food unit we saw how compulsive eating, dieting, and sugar consumption can all border on obsessive and blur the lines of addiction. However, culturally, we view obese people with much less sympathy than drug addicts. In the digital unit we saw how social media can also be addictive, lead to decreased happiness, and affect the minds of children. We also saw how we tend to think of social media as something we can exercise our free will over, but if it doesn't make us happy, why do we still use it?

Overall, the Cartesian split between mind and body has entirely permeated our culture. Even if literature or theory takes an anti- Cartesian stance, Descartes is usually referenced in conversation with whatever the author is speaking to. I loved using the Cartesian split as a lens with which we can view and critique our culture and contemporary epistemology.

Blog Post #12: Takeaways

I think that a main point I’m finding myself take away from the class is, if I understand it right, the gist of Benjamin’s theory – claiming that we’re using old epistemologies in handling and operating new technologies. I think that this manifests in a lot of the different topics we’ve covered, from: drugs in the water supply; the high-sugar, high-carbohydrate, corn-infused foods that we’ve come to see as normal; increasingly pervasive social media; and direct-to-consumer advertising. These are each pretty separate instances, but they are connected I think by overwhelming evidence implying that we don’t yet know exactly what we’re doing with these technologies, especially in controlling how they’re affecting us physically and mentally.

Moreover, I think it’s notable that each of these examples has been normalized to us over varying periods of time, but mostly since the beginning of the second half of the 20^th century. For a long time, we’d gotten along well without drugs in the water supply, and high-carbohydrate diets, and social media, and direct-to-consumer advertising – but now, we’re suddenly wrestling with how we should attempt to filter out these drugs (or at least minimize their adverse impacts), fight heart disease and cancer while keeping our unhealthy and unsustainable (but delicious and addictive) diets, promote authenticity and mental well-being despite ever-present social media that seems to incentivize unhealthy behaviors, and possibly limit advertising which seeks to stuff down our throats various drugs that we might or might not need.

I’ve taken away from this class that the conditions surrounding our everyday lives aren’t as normal as we’ve been led (or persuaded) to believe, and that, for the sake of our individual well-beings, we should each consider taking steps in limiting how these factors affect our daily lives, if not advocate for proper societal control over them. I’ll be thinking twice the next time I drink from the tap, eat a Dorito, log onto Facebook, or ask my doctor about whatever medication I saw advertised on YouTube – despite the limited agency I have in exercising alternative methods in living everyday life.

Blog #7 Shamefully Late

Okay, Economix. Fun/interesting/mind-boggling cartoon filled book with so much information I take Advil before reading it to prevent the later headache. There are a lot of points that Goodwin makes in these images and it's kinda hard to keep them all straight. There was definitely a few different points that he made that stood out the most to me.
In the section titled "The Era of Limits (1966-1980)" He discusses competing monopolies and advertising. I think this is a really important section for all to understand because over time it can most definitely save money as well as put into perspective the tactics that these companies take in order to achieve a maximum revenue.
In a few strips, he discusses monopolies. "Every brand is a government protected Monopoly. You can  make and sell Cola, but if you call it Coke, you're going to jail. Monopolies have the power to charge more. Next time you're in the drugstore, check out how much less generic acetaminophen, pyrithione zinc shampoo, and loratadine cost than the exact same thing as brands added (Tylenol, Head & Shoulders, and Claritin, respectively).
It's actually really interesting how many people come up to the pharmacist with a box of generic and brand name of the same drug wondering if they are the same. Most times she won't even look up and just say "Yup" and they'll walk away. It's really just crazy to think that we associate so many of these brand names with whatever illness/disease someone has. Have a fever? Take some Tylenol. Have a headache? Take some Advil. Got a stomach ache? Take some Pepto-Bismol. I just realized now that in the beginning of this blog I literally wrote how I was going to take Advil to prevent a future headache, Ha. In your closest drug store, you'll notice that there are 3-4 different daily allergy medications available. They are all a little chemically different, but serve similar purposes. Xyzal, Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec are popular brand name medications in which there is a generic for a relatively cheaper price (and potentially higher quantity) available right next to it or underneath it.
Today, we associate a brand name most with how we can treat a disease/disorder/headache/flu/etc. It's really interesting how that came to be, but it is clear that we are not completely understanding of the difference between brand and generic. Comparing 2 boxes of the same chemical components yet most would pick the brand name because of how we associate it with our illnesses. People, they are the same thing. Ask a pharmacist, a doctor, hell a worker at the store, and they will tell you the same thing.

Blog 6

I hail from the city of sin, the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. Now, we are famous for gourmet restaurants, world renowned chefs, as well as tons of little hole in the wall places that get tons of publicity, but the best thing about eating in Vegas is the buffets. It is not true, but it feels like there is a casino on every street corner. In fact, I think wherever you go in town there is a casino about ten minutes away. Every single one of those casinos has a buffet in them, toting about a different type of experience they offer. Even though they are a tremendous waste of food, I LOVE BUFFETS. There is nothing that gets my friends, family, and I more excited than going to a buffet. Sampling all different types of cuisines in one eating experience cannot be beat. Where else can I go to eat a hamburger and orange chicken? I think buffets really feeds into this more is better attitude that we as Americans get. I see it time and time again, someone filling their plate high just because they can. Sometimes I see them eat one or two things off of it before pushing it to the side. It is a huge waste of food, and yet they are still in business. People keep going to spend their hard earned, or gambled earned, money on these places. These buffets are heavily advertised all around the tourist traps, luring them in with the promise of the best all you can eat deals this side of the Mississippi. I do not think this behavior will ever change. The buffets create the need and the supply. They have crafted themselves into this Vegas experience that tourists need to have and they are going to be here to stay. 

Final Blog

As a theater and BSE major, I really kept my majors separated in my mind. Having them mix would add a whole other level of stress to my life, or so I thought. This class was really eye opening because I had to analyze what my science brain does and believes in with my culture side of my brain and how it learns. The thing is, there is no one thing really that jumps out to me that I've learned this semester. The biggest change that I have felt is how I learn has changed. Listening to my peers and how they view certain subjects has really opened my eyes to the different viewpoints I am missing. I found myself more and more interested every class. My favorite unit had to be the technology unit not only because I am a slave to every single piece of technology I own, but because at that point, my mind was open to all these different ideas. What I am taking away from this class is a new mindset. I can marry the cultural aspects of my brain with the science parts with little to no mess. It was a privilege to learn these lessons the way I did.

Final Post!- Kayla Snell

I think one of the main things I will be taking with me from this class forward comes from the blog post "How can you believe this shit?" It's a question I have been asking for years and I won't stop asking the question after this class. Things that seem illogical to us make perfect sense to others, leaving us bewildered. It gets even worse when these differences in opinion are manifested not as opinions, but as fact that's either correct or incorrect and whoever yells the loudest is the winner. This happens whenever I hear about creationist theory of dinosaurs and humans existing at the same time (or dinosaurs never existing at all), my dad's adamant argument that we're not having global warming, but in fact global cooling, and even when discussing sugar addiction in this class, because frankly, I don't agree with it. The question is, how do we argue our case, or do we even try at all?

Since I worked on fad, or "science backed" diets so often this semester, I can focus on that for the remainder of this blog post. I remember just before presenting my team's background report on the topic, I was looking through the slides and rehearsing one last time before going up in front of the class. A classmate noticed my slide on the keto diet and commented on how someone in this very class absolutely adores that diet. That moment was a good reminder that the things I am presenting as fact are not something that everybody sees as such. I had assumed that everyone in this classroom, educated, in college, capable of critical thinking, had come to the same conclusion I had. Whoops. Even so, I still went up in front of the class and presented my thoughts, complete with a slide called, "Why the Keto Diet is a Terrible Idea."

The biggest takeaway from this class for me personally, is that people are not going to change their minds no matter how much of our logic we throw at them. As a result, I don't think a good approach to an argument is to get the other person to change their minds. It will be my job to think more critically, and if it is something I feel like I am right about, others will have to find out that I also am not easily swayed. After all, perhaps it's a good thing that people don't change their minds very easily, or they risk becoming gullible and falling into every trap that comes their way.

Final Blog Post!

This class has been a treat for me to take in my final semester. The diverse topics covered made this course engaging and enjoyable. For me, I think my favorite unit was the food unit. Being someone who comes from a family with an agriculture background, this is the stuff that always gets discussed at the dinner table after a long day outside. This class pushed me to dive deeper than the surface topics. I enjoyed being constantly asked "why?" or "why not?" and "what does this mean for us?" because those were not things that were brought up, ever. It was interesting to listen to and interact with people who had backgrounds that were different from mine from debates about Monsanto, to whether or not diets and eating organically and GMO-free are reasonable or a load of BS. Ultimately this class has prepared me to present well-informed opinions, support them with facts, and to acknowledge viewpoints that differ from mine. There aren't two sides to everything, nothing is simple, and we as a society need to recognize life's complexities in order to get anywhere. We need to be able to have discussions like the ones we've had in class. While I often felt that I came out of class feeling like I had less of a grasp on reality, I think I learned more about my critical thinking self than any other college course I've taken.