WHERE U @????

We live in a world of first impressions. Our external matter is our armor to navigate society and the factor that validates our persona. In “Culture” (Pg. 61) Wolf tells us “a girl learns that stories happen to “beautiful” women, whether they are interesting or not. And interesting or not, stories do not happen to women who are not “beautiful””. I’m sure, most of us have encountered that mainstream pedagogy. Although I need to understand my surrounding, sooo…Where are we? We are living in the mecca of consumerism; The country where you can pursuit happiness through products. We tent to spend more than we make. Maybe the extremeness for mimicking “the image” wouldn’t be the same if we were at a “third world country”. 

If for centuries humans have been trying to define our morals, our lifestyles, our virtues; Where are we now? For the last century capitalism has defined and manipulated our morals, our values and fears into profit. Hooks (Pg. 115) puts it as ”the power as domination reproduces itself in different locations employing similar apparatuses, strategies, and mechanisms of control.” Yes, we live in an institutional construction, where white privilege dominates and the mainstream media is a super power. Although I consider myself an idealist so I ask, Where YOU at? Where am I? We know how to read and write, the basic tools to survive. But are we using it right?

We have the choice to pick up a magazine or a book. We can use the Internet to explore the world, to hear and see each other. I feel that we DO have the option to get out of the wave. Bell Hooks (Pg.117) said “it was the oppositional gaze that responded to these looking relations by developing independent black cinema.” She explores the idea of critical thinking as a tool to be able to discover and identify us. I feel we are a generation that is breaking tradition and are in search for “other” ways.

Knowledge is my alternative to break the cycle. I may sound cliché, but this class is an example of how knowing things makes the world so much easier. We are able to navigate with real consciousness. That being said, we can make healthier options. Now I’m not talking about getting degrees, I’m referring to the THRUTH. We have to be seekers of the truth. The true knowledge that we can also obtain outside college. We have Malcolm X as a perfect example. He developed his oppositional gaze in prison; he got educated, and practiced it without a classroom. We are now in a society where knowledge can be a click away.

The power structure knows it too and that’s why they distract us from it. In “Culture” (Pg.64), the author mentioned a chapter of Betty Friedan’s the feminine Mystique, she found that “Career women was unhealthy from the advertisers’ point of view, that “it would be to their advantage no to let this group get any larger, they are not the ideal type of consumers. They are too critical” Bell Hooks sais it too Pg. (127) “ Those black women whose identities were constructed in resistance, by practices that oppose the dominant order, were most inclined to develop an oppositional gaze”. With the power in our minds we can explore and open different platforms to spread and be keepers of the knowledge. One small contribution is that I’m sending some of the reading to my girlfriends and opening casual discussions. like "guurl did you see that... did you read that... OMG!"

Wolf, Naomi. “Culture”. The Beauty Myth How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. United States Of America, 2002. 58-85. Print.

Hooks, Bell. "The Oppostional Gaze." Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992