Participation Supplement 7
Over the past couple of days we have discussed the importance of proposals and progress reports. I had never really thought much about these documents, but I was impressed because done right, they are very powerful tools. They can give us insight into problems that may arise, being more of an analytical person, this is the kind of stuff that I enjoy doing. Foreseeing issues and coming up with solutions beforehand. With this being said, a lot of times though, I like to be able to foresee future complications and simply improvise insteading of spending the time to come up with a super detailed plan of attack. The knowledge of an upcoming problem is important in any case and I appreciate that about thought-provoking proposals. Another thing that stood out to me from the last couple of classes were the idea of “history is not a story of universal progress.” I believe that this is true, you can see this clearly from the now defunct country of Yugoslavia. When the communist dictator, name here, was in control of that region (modern day Balkans), people were happy and they got along. However, as soon as he died, that entire region fell into dismay. There are many reasons why, but this is an example backing up the statement about how history isn’t always a situation of universal progress.
We talked at length about totalizing experiences, such as colleges, Epcot, or Disneyland. In regards to the later two, people prefer hyperreality. It’s not hard to see why. People in general, want to be able to escape from their problems and entertainment is a good means to do so, well adults do. Kids just want to go into a fun, magical world. Hyperrealism provides anyone with a sense of detachment from our real world, which is often times a harsh place to be. In the cases of Disneyland and Epcot and other places like them, from the time you arrive to the time you leave, you are totally engrossed in their make-believe worlds. People love it. However, I feel like, and I have never been to either place so I’m just speculating, that for me, since there would be so many people around, it would distract from the experience. I probably wouldn’t like Disneyland or Epcot. Although, I do love being caught up in fantasy worlds such as Middle-Earth or the Star Wars Universe, I prefer to lose myself in those worlds at my own leisure in the comfort of my own home. Another topic brought up was that we as Americans prefer Americanized versions of things, like food. I can agree, I have traveled to Nicaragua and have seen that food items that I thought I knew what they would be like based on my American view were completely different. It was a very eye-opening experience. I think that this is part of our culture. I believe that part of it comes from the fact that many businesses feel like they need to appeal to the general public, a lay audience. They can’t deviate to much from what people are expecting, less they lose business. And cultures are often very, very different from how we actually imagine them.