(my title wouldnt fit)
"Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I'm not perfect -and I don't live to be- but before you start pointing fingers... make sure you hands are clean!" Bob Marley
That is one of my favorite quotes ever because I feel that it is so true! We are always so quick to judge those around us, but never seem to recognize or own up to our flaws. This book completely picked apart and made perfect sense of our ignorance. We continuously hear about the particular "ism's" that infect our culture, racism this or sexism that, yet she somehow cuts through all the social trappings and gets to the heart of it. She describes class in a way that seems so simple to see, and yet so foreign to my mind. I was blown away with the pin point accuracy of her thoughts and feel she was able to write this because she saw past the social constraints and looked at the real "problem" with society, Class.
I believe that the world today is separated by classes and people are judged by what social class they fall under. bell hooks talks about how women are treated differently by how they dress and where they go to school. She brings up topics that society does not want to deal with. She did a wonderful job analyzing and describing the way things have changed and stayed the same since she was a child.
I felt strong about the chapter dealing with real estate, and how it is manipulated by "desirables" to keep "the undesirables" out. It is sad to think that you can put a dollar amount on the color of a person's skin. I felt ashamed at times, thinking the same things perhaps at one time or another. I think it is so disgusting that we really do seem to need for others to be poor so we can feel like we have success, it should not be like that; we should want to help those around us. This reading has helped me grow as a person and it opened me up to the ways of the world.
I appreciated her chapters on living simply, and think it is an appropriate and bold call to make in a world where ‘stuff’ and ‘achievement’ are social symbols of significance. I found this description of class from page 103, by Rita Mae Brown, to be important: "Class is much more than Marx's definition of relationship to the means of production. Class involves behavior, your basic assumptions, how you are taught to behave, what you expect from yourself and from others, your concept of a future, how you understand problems and solve them, how you think, feel, act." I know that these characteristics have come up many times in our discussions throughout this course. If we all really do believe this to be the definition of class, why don’t we take all of them into consideration as we judge those around us?
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I love you quote!! That is perfect for this topic! This is a good example of the problem in society people are quick to judge or put down others when really they are probably doing it because they are ashamed or have something to hid. Or maybe it just makes them feel better about themselves. Class is defiantly a problem with society.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am with you when it comes to society making you sick. If I think about it I feel like we are so backward. That things are so mixed up and wrong. No one should judge anyone whether that is race, class, social status whatever it is. There is only one man that gives the right to judge and even he doesnt.
You said reading this has helped you grow as a person. I feel like that with each book/film we discuss. There are so many things each of these authors have brought to my attention that I probably subconsciously knew they were there all along but now they are on the surface.
Your ending question is a good one. I dont know how to answer that. It is something we should do, but do we.. I dont think so.
i really like your opening statement to the last paragraph. living simply is the best way to go! why burden yourself with numerous material things that only hike up your bills, and make life stressful? this is one way i want to live my life. i don't want to fall into the consumerism that is America and other parts of the modern world. buy the essentials and then live comfortably with what you have. people might consider that to be a cheapskate way of thinking, but i view it as a smart way of thinking. why spend huge amounts of money on items that really don't do much for you except "look cool" or break down really fast. because another thing that is noticeable in today's society is the quality of our products... it seems like everything now a days is made to break. buy an item, say a vacuum and it breaks about a year later. so you have to buy another one. it breaks down a year later as well, and on goes the endless process. what happened to building things that last!
ReplyDeleteI do not think you could have said it better! Great quote, I love Bob Marley. He says it like it is. I think it is terrible how people judge by what social class you are, unfortunately, I think that this will never change. People are so ignorant and and stuck in their own little world. I would have to say that I think it is getting somewhat better for woman in society and work. Women can be so mean to each other, I think we are our own critics. Women are always judging other women constantly. It so petty. Grow the F* up!! I do not think this will ever change. Women are always trying to bitch about something. I mean do not get me wrong, I am a lady, but seriously?
ReplyDeleteThe doaller amount on someone skin is just ridiculous to me. Unfortunately, I think the way you were brought up has a huge factor. Things were way different back then and I think people still are stuck in the old times. Things have changed, life moves on.
One of my favorite quotes that have to do with your title is "Never Judge a Book by its Cover". I like this quote because I always feel that people judge without knowing exactly who you are and what you're all about. I agree with you on a lot of the points that you make in your post. There is no doubt in my mind that people in today's world are judged based on what social class they belong too and that our world is still separated by social class. I wish that this wasn’t the case because I feel that our society that we live in today is quick to judge.
ReplyDeleteJust as the book states, many wealthy people live in fear that the people they meet want to get money from them which then dominate their personal relationships. I think that wealthy people isolate themselves because of this fear. They are in fear, because they are afraid people are going to only be with them because of their social class and being rich. I think people are quick to judge and it's shameful that people judge other based on skin color. This book certainly was an eye opener has taught me that people struggle in life, and get by in the best ways possible and to judge someone to make you feel better is disgraceful.
I agree that sometimes people feel like they need others to be below them in some way. I guess there is a sort of sick joy sometimes to know that you're doing better than someone else out there struggling with life. I think that this can especially become an addictive habit for some people who get a rush from that feeling of being "better." I recently had an extremely close friend who started becoming very materialistic and sort of shallow. All of the sudden I started hearing her say things like, "Oh my gosh look how much weight she's gained and that shirt looks so cheap." I'm not into things like that and we've drifted apart but my point is that sometimes it happens really quickly to people. I guess it's true that misery loves company, and I think if an individual starts out with above average insecurities that it can become easy for them to be shallow, hurtful, and driven by the fulfillment of bringing others down. It seems like a lot of time in cases like these, social class is the weapon used. Either the person has more money, better looks, better education, and they start using it to hurt others.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to judge those above and below us in institutional social classes, but I think the important part is to be able to put yourself in check any time a thought of superiority crosses your mind. It's natural, but can become a pretty serious issue I think, so it should be handled accordingly - with restraint!
I hate Marx. I find his ideas ridiculous and clouded in a guise of false compassion. With that said, I see throughout this book the leaning toward these Marxist ideas and those of his ilk. I find contempt in that. But I tried very hard to look past it and see the author as a human trying to figure her way in the world. To me she is a predictable product of her background. I felt reading her story caused me to easily predict her views she lead up to. I can understand why someone in her position falls for the ideas of Marx and the like. It sounds so nice in a world of not so nice. But its the same old story. Blame "greedy capitalists," for the wrongs of our society. But the fact is that capitalism has nothing to do with it. Greed does not exist in the companionship of capitalism. Greed is everywhere and always will be. I read her words and many like her and cant help but think 'what do they think the solution is?' I am a solution-minded thinker. I dont appreciate someone bringing up a problem without having an idea on how to solve it...even if the idea is terrible. So what is her solution? Does she fall in line with so many others I hear over and over these day? Does she also think that Marxism is the way to go or that socialism will solve these problems? I hope she doesnt because it wont. They are simply more isms for us to find more faults with. As society grows we will continue to find, without shock I hope, that people continue to act in accordance with their nature. People are often greedy, cruel, elitist, power hungry, stupid, irresponsible, illogical and immoral just as much as they are kind, generous, loving, nurturing and compassionate. That cant be forced or regulated out of us and no one should be trying to. Behavior control is not acceptable. So how should it be solved? I have ideas on the matter...I am curious about yours.
ReplyDeleteI think the course of this conversation moved away from the point of hooks' chapter on real estate. The problem of buying property here and not there is not simply a matter of being judgmental or prejudiced. If you simply follow an economic logic and conduct a cost-benefit analysis, your decision will almost inevitably have racial undertones.
ReplyDeleteI just interviewed for a job in Rockford, Illinois, an economically impoverished post-industrial city with an unemployment rate of 25%. According to my cab driver, if I decide to live there I should live north and east of downtown. Supposedly, the west side is poor and crime-ridden. No one in their "right economic mind" would move there, no matter how much they value diversity. No wonder that schools are more segregated today than they have been since the Civil Rights Act of 1964!
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/2-us-schools-are-more-segregated-today-than-in-the-1950s-source/
I have problems with hooks' style. It feels too freewheeling and unpolished to me. For example, she often repeats anecdotes or points as if she didn't mention them chapters before. However, if there's one thing to admire about this text it is that it is solution-minded! Her anti-consumerist, simple living ethic is a solution to the problem she diagnoses. Note also that hooks proclaims herself to be a social democrat in this book, not a Marxist. I'm not going to detail how Really Existing Socialism perverted Marx's ideas here...I will point out that even Wikipedia acknowledges that contemporary social democrats are not anti-capitalists. I think it's accurate to say that they are more interested in saving capitalism from itself than they are in overthrowing the system.
I think this conversation drifted off the subject of hooks' chapter on real estate. Buying property here or there is not simply a matter of being judgmental or prejudiced. I think hooks' point is that pure economic choices (cost-benefit analyses) about where to buy a home are racially coded. If truly diverse neighborhoods are not as affluent as more homogenous areas, I won't make much money off buying a house in one. That is, unless the neighborhood becomes gentrified. Homes in Cincinnati's diverse neighborhood of the Northside may be quite affordable at the present moment, but if an influx of people with money move into the neighborhood, property values and taxes will skyrocket. Poorer people may no longer be able to afford to live there and have to move. The diversity of the area will decrease. No wonder that our public schools haven't been this segregated since the Civil Rights Act of 1964:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/2-us-schools-are-more-segregated-today-than-in-the-1950s-source/
For the record, hooks proclaims herself to be a social democrat in the book, not a Marxist. Even Wikipedia notes that contemporary social democrats are not anti-capitalists. I think it's fair to claim that the social democrats' position is that capitalism must be saved from itself, i.e., capitalism is its own worst enemy; for this economic system to work, we need to create a more just society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy