August 3, 2009

  • Tasteless.
    A world of materials spin around me. Explain to me, what is the value of value? Mankind has spent so much of their time with opened eyes pointing fingers and putting a name to something. A name heavy with relative meaning, defined with singular and biased perception, a book judged by its cover - for the purpose of serving man's curiosity and need of classification. We live in a world of inseparable categorization and separation. Where there is no evil, there is no good. You are what you must be based on similarities and differences outwardly perceived. You are valued and placed accordingly: race, height, weight, rarity, or previous experience of the person evaluating.

    Perfection.. what has it become lately? According to social psychology, they claim it to be the most average. Perfection is the is the midpoint between the standard deviations of sizes of small and large (noses, eyes, mouth, height, etc..). Perfection is just right and easy on the eyes. This is what social psychology claims, but, then again, in the older days beautiful woman were quite fatty around the mid-section. I personally highly doubt that people who would wake and sleep according to the sun, would consume more than our current generation, especially when people weren't able to mass produce agricultural goods and clone meat and poultry the way we do. Yea, I'm pretty sure, the old average would have been significantly thinner. So, disproving perfection to be average, what has perfection become? The product of media and advertisement? How do we classify people? And why do we have such a need to do it?

    Is it because we have a irrepressible dying curiosity and desire to understand that person, and thus we classify them? Or have we gotten lazy and used classification as an easy way out of thinking further. Let's see... if I see a young dude with sunglasses in a BMW talking on the phone and he honks at an old lady crossing the street. "That guy's an asshole" will probably suffice. But what about other situations? What about when you're talking to your friends, and you just met a guy at a party. You don't know him much but people are asking what you think of him. And before you can talk, someone goes, "That guy's an asshole, he didn't ___ ___ when I ___ ___" as the rest of the crowd nods in agreement without giving him a second thought. Without thinking to talk to him ever again, without even looking the guy in the eye for the rest of the party, or giving him a second thought for the rest of your life. How can some people train their mind's to make such important decisions so quickly? Because you don't know them? And you no longer care to? You can't approach him yourself and evaluate him? Why has that useless piece of information one of your girlfriend's said stuck to your brain for so long, that you can't use your own judgment? It's so easy to tell people off, it's so easy not to take that extra step, it's so easy to judge unfairly. What then, is the point of judgment anymore? What value does it offer? Judgment and opinion SHOULD be valuable. Some people get paid past 6 figures annually for their opinion. Do you think they think like that?

    Hinduism tries to break this bad habit of ours. Moksha and the concept where one is Brahman, you are everything, and everything is you. Maybe that is first step to value. When everything is equal, and everything is the same. Maybe we need to remind ourselves of that first.

    Value is created by yourself. Diamonds aren't so expensive because they are. They are expensive because of supply and demand. Value is in your hands, it means nothing if you do not utilize your mind and evaluate. YOU have marketing and consumer power in everything. Consumer goods, political advocacy, sexual preference ... love. Every aspect of your life falls in supply and demand within a wide range of options based on the opinion of YOU among others. But that includes you, yes. Repetitive, I know.

    We are forgetting the value of value. And things that should be valued are fading away in such an obvious manner, that people who notice keep writing about it while the people forgetting, keep ignoring it. We have left our minds in the hands of marketers of all schevious kinds. Marketers like your parents, your friends, and the guy that talks you into things at the bar when he sees you crying. Does value have no value to you anymore? Does the value of love, then mean nothing respectively to people like you?

    Your thoughts, please.

Comments (7)

  • Let's see, value. A synonym for it is worth. What's worth? Well its some abstract quantification of a given thing's consideration in regards to usefulness or attachment of some sort. To turn this question on itself seems an attempt to explore our habits of understanding, which you did. Now these habits are very susceptible to suggestion. And hence, manipulation. Of course many would resist this once they found that some agent is manipulating their very attempts to form some sort of their ownagency in the world. But life is rough and stuff is on peoples' minds, so the passive route is the easiest solution. Hence the profitable entertainment industry, where critical thinking isn't the largest departement. The passive route of course does not mean it is the safest. Or that it is free of the prying intentions on our wills by, God knows, everyone. The hard part is imagining yourself as a non consumer in this world. It would be de-socializing yourself. Reducing (or amounting) yourself to the point where you can look at your decisions from a perspective that avoids indulging in pleasure or benefit, and instead analyzes "pleasure and benefit". Analyzes introspectively, alone. Not stripping yourself of let's say, the enjoyment of shooting something in a video game, but deflating the desire to a mere want. And then observing the external influences; arbitrary or intentional/pointed. Some people amazingly seem to live to buy and buy to live. Exchanging their lives, which can be quantified as time (for our 4 dimensional awareness), which hence is a tradable commodity or asset (and arguably the only thing we really have) for ideals, a big house, car and HDTV. Such forces that permeate perception can also be market stimulants or have other intentions depending on whos on top. Its as if this so called democracy is simply a fishbowl with guppies being fed what they need, and giving them an illusion of choice. I dunno, this got a little ranty, it might not be much of a response instead of a reinforcement but whatever, its written. Sorry Prima! But even this blog exploits the efforts of people trying to communicate something. No one literally speaks anymore when we are all taken for granted in text. Remember that time we went to that hospital in Flushing?

  • i totally agree!! i think sumwhere along the way...we need to start re-evaluating all this!! i mean all this!! everything in the world. i guess values and morality!! i heard sumwhere in sum article that the last generation wuz a battle of ideologies!! communism and socialism versus free markets and free thinking etc, etc. but look at todayz world and we see the results of separation of church and state. in a way its good. but...be prepared for the religious and moral revolution; battles fought in the religious territory. i know it sounds kinda dumb but...nowadays when u talk about this or that (gossip) or this person did this person or that person did so and so, and its like acceptable or okay. nobody flips out like they should. for example: talk about suzy q saving herself for marriage, or tom thumb, and ppl are like wut?!? dun u wanna test drive before u buy?? im like...wut?? are u serious?? i think its sweet. n/e way...its kinda things like that, jus makes me sicc. i really think we oughta reevaluate our moral consciousness...i know i sorta went off on a different tangent there.... =D

    and p.s. i kinda feel that perfection in and of itself iz its own flaw. perfection iz an anomaly...that in and of itself iz not normal and so...perfection iz its own flaw!! =D

  • "you are everything, and everything is you"
    I've heard that in a song before. =P

    I couldn't place my words down in an appropriate manner, mainly because its something that usually comes out better when I'm talking about it in person. But I'll make an attempt. =) I don't like the word society, so I'll use something else... people!? >=) Lol. Okay, People as well know have been bought out, generally we can all assume its because of certain reasons, such factors as looks (wanting to look your best and wanting to wanted) and anyone will buy into it, the world sees money in it. But we can't individually say who likes what for what reason, as an individual is an individual for a reason... we all think apart. I had a short discussion with someone at work about supply and demand, its a surprise to find out how many ppl remain clueless about the values of items in stock. I mean they make assumptions but they're clearly off. Like a pair of Jordan's selling out to the public around $200 when in reality all it took the company was several dollars or cents, all remaining under $5 each. The price goes up because the people look forward to it so badly, and its the fiends that buy into this system and make things as bad as they are. But we can't say we don't do any of this, because inside each of us, we all quietly enjoy something more than the other. Musicians, racers, artists, athletes (are connected to your skinny/fat discussion, lol) and all the things we do are included. We have no choice but to follow on with it in our lives. PETA probably doesn't want to hurt animals but it'd be a little bit of a contradiction if they decided to rock their Jordan's outside, according to what I've heard, these sneakers are produced in small countries like somewhere in Africa where kids work their asses off and make so little pay, about several cents a week. However, I don't know if its a fact. Its something David and Wes have told me. Generally I enjoyed your addition to the Xanga world. Its something humans have been discussing for sometime, but its something that can only remain as a discussion, becuase this world has been bought out beyond recovery point. Its just how things function.

  • Sara still remembers me? Hope all is well with you, your mom and little Sara (probably not so little anymore). Yea, I live in Forest Hills now. I never really liked living in Brooklyn. We could grab a bite to catch up in Flushing some time. =P

  • already what??? lol. idk what you're talking about??? p.s. miss lai... i can never reach you.. you're M.I.A. :P amd mp she only told me. I'm still single. Jealous? Lol. Jk, :P Forgive me... I'm kinda tipsy now.

  • Hello Ms. Prim,
    You made your site simple yet elegant. I see that you have a wide variety of interests and observations here!
    I’m sending an important message to people about Jehovah God’s plans for us that is in the Bible. 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. (Isaiah 12:2) (KJV)

  • How can you have value without meaning? Then replace meaning with false understanding of words that we use so commonly and only have a limited grasp on the implications when we use them. The writers write only to hope that by doing so at least one person will realize the importance of their work....but for people like me...we do not wait for such hope to occur.

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