It takes mental and physical effort to become consciously aware of how you view this world’s reality. The types of lessons you’ll learn and experience along the way will conceive new ideas and establish growth. “This is Water ” by David Foster Wallace Implementation of the “Default setting” has allowed us to develop the concept of self and others by the foreseeable relations to society. To demonstrate the importance of understanding the mind and knowledge of self and others. The short story, “This is Water” can also be further analyzed by utilizing different sources to support and achieve this understanding. The 2014 drama/historical drama movie “Selma” touches on discrimination in segregated areas and the actions that Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers take to bring awareness to the issues. Sexual harrasment will also play a key factor on establishing awareness through self and other, due to the ongoing cases of victims being sexually abused, verbally and physically. I believe that these sources will play a big part in bringing awareness to our society and hopefully opening the eyes of many. Some may believe that staying in your default setting is the right way to live but I believe that breaking out of your default setting and spreading awareness creates growth and gives you a more knowledgeable mindset.
David Foster Wallace This is Water is a short story that utilizes the theme awareness to portray perspectives and opinions on how someone should or would view the world and others if they were consciously or unconsciously aware. By developing your default setting and making decisions that would impact others and yourself, you will be able to have the power to make certain choices in life that will benefit you and others. Wallace states that “If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important — if you want to operate on your default-setting — then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren’t pointless and annoying. But if you’ve really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars — compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things”(Wallace 6). Basically stating that you have a choice if you want to be the type of person to be self aware or the type of person to rather have “your head stuck in the gutters”. Wallace also states that “But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the “rat race” — the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing”(Wallace 7 and 8). The reasoning behind this is that Wallace is telling you that you have a choice to make these decisions, you just have to try and put in the effort whether you want it or not. We all have a choice to make, it all depends on whether we want to make that choice or not.
During the movie “ Selma” due to the desegregation of the south after passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination still lingers throughout certain areas, making it difficult for Black African American to vote. In the movie; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American baptist minister and activist who became a visible spokesman and leader in the American civil rights movement in 1955, led his followers on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery to send out a message to the world. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers were a nonviolent organization that were trying to bring awareness about the cruelty and mistreatment of Black African Americans in segregated areas in the south. In retaliation White supremacists and White politicians would use certain tactics like “violence” to keep Black African Americans in check from siring up any trouble. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “It is unacceptable that they use their power to keep us voiceless”. Basically saying that the white politicians were abusing their power to get what they wanted. Martin Luther King Jr. also stated that “[somberly yet passionately speaking to church congregation at a funeral] Who murdered Jimmie Lee Jackson? Every white lawman who abuses the law to terrorize. Every white politician who feeds on prejudice and hatred. Every white preacher who preaches the Bible and stays silent before his white congregation. Who murdered Jimmie Lee Jackson? Every Negro man and woman who stands by without joining this fight as their brothers and sisters are brutalized, humiliated, and ripped from this Earth”. During the movie Martin Luther King Jr. followers were taking a peaceful night march, when white politicians used their power to try and shut up the Black community by using violence because there weren’t any witnesses or cameras. Martin Luther King Jr. lastly stated that “Boycotting the buses in Montgomery. Segregation in Birmingham. Now? Voting in Selma. One struggle ends just to go right to the next and the next. If you think of it that way, it’s a hard robe, but I don’t think of it that way. I think of these efforts as one effort and that effort is for our life. A life as a community, a life as a nation. For our lives we can do this. We must do this, we see children become victims of one of the most vicious crimes ever perpetrated against humanity within the walls of their own church. They are sainted now. They are the sainted ones in this quest for freedom and they speak to us still. They say to us, to all of us colors and creeds that we must do this. The say to us that it is unacceptable for more than 50% of Selma to be negro and yet less than two percent of negroes here being able to vote and determine their own destiny by humans beings. They say to us that the local white leadership uses their power to keep us away from the ballot box and keep us voiceless. As long as I am unable to exercise my constitutional right to vote, I do not have command of my own life, I can not determine my own destiny, for this is determined for me by people who rather see me suffer than succeed. Those that have gone before us say no more, no more. That means protest, that means march, that means disturb the peace, that means jail, that means risk and that is hard. We will not wait any longer. Give us the vote. You can see the determination in raising awareness for Black African Americans to have the rights to be able vote because in the movie the march was broadcasted and both Black and White people who weren’t stuck in that “Default setting” came to show love and support. Due to that, The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, gave Black African Americans their rights to vote.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of the employee’s sex, among other bases such as a person’s race and religion. But sexual harassment has been a ongoing problem in the world for many years now. Although they have established many rules and regulations for this ongoing problem, there are a few cases that were not able to be caught and because of this many people end up getting hurt in all types of ways. Both men and women can be perpetrators or victims of sexual harassment, though men are statistically more likely to be perpetrators and women more likely to be targeted for harassment. In a article from the Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection it was stated that “Most incidents go unreported, and many organizations use legal tools like contracts barring legal action, nondisclosure agreements to minimize publicity when claims are filed, and forced arbitration, a legal situation that is more likely to result in unfavorable resolutions in comparison to employees who can bring their cases to court, according to the Economic Policy Institute”. I feel as if that because their are so many problems in the world, people don’t take sexual harassment as important as they would to rascism, but in reality sexual harassment is a form of discrimination. The article also stated that “In 2017 actress Alyssa Milano used the hashtag #MeToo, created in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke, to encourage sexual harassment and assault survivors to share their stories online. Within twenty-four hours, over twelve million posts, comments, and reactions appeared on social media tagged with #MeToo from people around the world, most of them women and members of other marginalized groups. Some of the participants detailed traumatic experiences, while other participants reposted the hashtag in solidarity”. I believe that this is a great way to portray a message because once you see millions of people talking about a topic then you’d be interested in what they’re having a conversation on. If people have enough power and followers on social media they are able to do so much to help out and raise awareness.
Together, these sources were able to support the theme of “ self and other” because they were used to support and spread awareness by portraying certained issues in their own way that needed awareness. The thing that each source had in common was that they established that together as a society we are able to encourage and portray change. The movie “Selma” and the issue of sexual harassment has made it abundantly clear that we all need to work together and grow as a society. We can see that in the movie “Selma” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers established change by standing up for something they believed in. By supporting an issue with social media we were are able to listen to the stories of all the people who have been a victim to sexual harassment and because of this we lessen the chances of this issue from happening to anybody else. But In This is Water Wallace states “Again, please don’t think that I’m giving you moral advice, or that I’m saying you’re “supposed to” think this way, or that anyone expects you to just automatically do it, because it’s hard, it takes will and mental effort, and if you’re like me, some days you won’t be able to do it, or you just flat- out won’t want to”(Wallace). Basically saying that some people are not able to bring change or won’t put in the effort to do so because they probably have a fixed viewpoint where they believe in one thing and are too ignorant to believe in another thing. I believe these types of people are stuck in their own type of “Default setting” and lack the mental strength to break out of it whether it’s because of how they were raised or an experience that happened to them.
Finally, in relation to the course theme of “ self and other” we were able to utilize these sources together in establishing awareness. These concepts were able to help us grow as individuals and allow us to portray a topic or issue and see as a society how we are able to learn and experience from that topic or issue. As a person we have a choice whether or not we want to be stuck in that “Default setting”. But you have the power to incorporate change, it’s up to you if you’re willing to put in the effort into gaining knowledge and establishing growth. Yourself and others are affected by the decisions that we make in life, before you rely on your fixed viewpoint, try forming connections and understanding others point of view on a certain topic or issues.
Citations
http://www.metastatic.org/text/This%20is%20Water.pdf
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1020072/quotes/qt2316413
