Question 1: Do people have to be aware of their race, their sexual orientation, and/or their power in society to know themselves? Do you? Feel free to write about anything that came out of this discussion today.
People do not need to be aware of their race, sexual orientation, or their power in society to know themselves. If you define "knowing" yourself as what you define yourself as, like what you like and dislike, then no, people do not need to be aware of such things. If you allow things like race, sexual orientation, or power in society to affect how you view yourself, then you are very superficial. You're superficial since race and sexual orientation are uncontrollable. Power since it does not affect who you are personality-wise. You should hold the same values whether you're black or white, gay or straight, poor or rich. No, i don't need to be aware of my race, sexual orientation, or power in society to know myself. The Grandma in the book refers to slavery. She lets what happened in those times to effect who she sees herself since she was told that race effects who she is. Even though she resented it, she can't shake the thought since it's ingrained, an idea that's been pommeled into her by the people around her who were considered her superiors.
I disagree with Fahrawn. I believe that people do have to be aware of their race, sexual orientation, or their power in their society to know themselves. Your skin color and your sexuality is part of who you are, even if it is a physical trait. It shapes other people's views about you, and their views shape your views about yourself. If I was a different sexual orientation, or if I was a different race, I would feel different about myself. I would have a different type of life as well, so I would know myself as a different person than I am now. Even if you are a person who is really in touch with knowing yourself, not depending on your physical characteristics or your sexual orientation, a small part of you is affected by the color of your skin or if you are heterosexual/homosexual. It may be the way you see yourself or the way others see you, but in any case, you will be aware of yourself and know yourself more so then you would if you weren't aware of these characteristics.
Because the way others see us affect the way we see ourselves, we have to address these conceptions, whether we come to a conclusion about them or not. People make a conscious choice whether to define themselves by the way others see them, and the knowledge of yourself is created through understanding every aspect of who you are. The way you are seen is part of this. In an ideal world, everyone would be tolerant of each other and these ideas built up by us as a society would not exist. However, obviously, our world is not ideal, and we must interact with others who may see us differently. We have to understand this to be able to function in our society. Fahrawn said that the Grandma let race affect the way she saw herself and could not stop thinking about it. Some of this is true, but I think the Grandma had shaped who she was by her experiences and I think that she had no choice but the let the ideas that surrounded her affect her. Personally, I am aware of all of these labels, but they do not have to dictate my actions or my thoughts. People need to understand that no matter what, most people are somewhat unconsciously stereotypical. The key to understanding each other and ourselves is to look past stereotypes and labels and to see the individual. The individual needs to decide how the way they are seen will affect them, and whether they will defy stereotypes, affirm them, or ignore them altogether.
I feel that people, to some extent, need to be aware of their race, their sexual orientation, and their power in society to know themselves on a surface level. To understand yourself internally, you have to be able to look past these things and see yourself for personality. With that in mind, I do still believe that your race, sexual orientation, and power in society affects the way some people see themselves because they accept the way others view them as their own view. In order to understand ourselves, we have to be able to overlook surface details which is easier for some people than others. I do agree with Joanna that in an ideal world, everyone would be tolerant. This presents the idea that it is up to the future generations to help overcome prejudices. That goal is for the most part unrealistic, but tolerance for other people and equality outside of race can be obtained when a person is raised in a tolerant environment, as is shown through Janie's childhood in a home where she was treated equal to the white children of the house.
I think that a person's sexual orientation and race are part of who they are. Though these traits do not necessarily define a person, i feel that they shape how people see themselves and how others see them. In some instances it also shapes how one is raised. If someone is raised in a very strict catholic home, or in an environment that has lots of italian influences (those are just examples) wouldn't they count those factors as part of who they are? wouldn't those environmental influences help them see themselves? how is race or sexuality any different than those traits? I think that in order for a person to know themselves they need to come to peace with and be accepting of all of the things that have influenced them throughout their lives, and for most people race would count- even people who are in the majority like whites and heterosexuals.
For the msot part I agree with Chloe. People need to be aware of their race, sexual orientation, power in society, etc. in order to know themselves because no matter what it is a part of them. It shapes them into what they are. Something that goes hand in hand with race is culture, which heavily influences a person, how they act, view differences in others, and thier beliefs in life. A person's upbringin also influences how people act and view others. People are shaped into what they are at the core by others and thier beliefs also. Before you can see yourself for who you really are at the core you have to recognize the fact that these things like, race, culture, sexual orientation, and power shape your views and affect you. I also agree with Joanna that in the ideal world these things won't matter because people will always treat others as an equal. SAdly though, this world I doubt will ever exist.Toleration of differences i tohers will become better with time and apprach perfection, but will never actually become perfect.
I think that it is important for a person to recognize their race, sexual orientation, or power, but not to let it affect their opinions or actions. By this I mean you can't let it define you or determine how you or others see yourself. It is a part of who you are of course, but you can be perfectly happy while being innocent without knowledge of your race, sexual, etc just as Janie was as a child. I don't think you should group all three of these factors together though because they stand independently. They are so different and can have extremely different impacts on your life. For example, I do not feel as if society views race as big of a difference as sexual orientation. Usually, a person will discover their sexual orientation as they grow up and need to go through the difficult process of coming out where as with race you have always been that way as far as people can see.This can be a shock to those who thought they knew everything about you where as with race that is how people have always perceived you. Race is also only skin deep while sexual orientation comes from within. I'm not saying that race doesn't have any impact on a person because it does but in todays society it does not seem to be as big of a topic. I do think that you can definitely know yourself without knowing your race though. You are you based off of your experiences and your attitude towards life. If you are a nice person and recognize that it is not going to change based on the color of your skin. The people whose opinions you would care about are more liekly to judge you for your merits than the color of your skin.
To a certain extent, people have to be aware of their race, sexual orientation and their power in society in order to know themselves. Because this is how others will see you, it guides what they will think of you, and because your thoughts on yourself are influenced by what others think of you, your race, etc. will have an impact on how you think of yourself. However, one cannot base their entire perception of himself/herself based on their race or sexual identity, because there are also internal factors that better define who you are. Whether you are nice, smart, funny, and other characteristics will play a major role in defining one's character. This is why you need to recognize what your race and sexual identity are, but you cannot let this completely shape your view of yourself. In the book, we see that someone's race strongly affects who he/she is. Janie's grandma's life is very controlled by her race, while Janie's race doesn't nearly control her life as heavily. If I were a different race, it would change my view on who I am, but only really on the outside; I feel that my internal characteristics better shape who I am.
In a perfect world, race, sexual orientation, and influence would not matter regarding knowing oneself. However, because of how our society views differences in these aspects, they play a larger part in knowing oneself. Power in society isn't really key to knowing oneself, because it describes how you are thought of by other people. It is possible to be respected by others while not respecting oneself. Race and sexual orientation, I don't think these have to do with knowing oneself so much as knowing how others see you. Everyone has subconscious prejudices, and there are stereotypes, but does this affect how you see yourself? It shouldn't, since race and sexuality by themselves do not control personality, morals, etc.
I agree for the most part, however power in society does play a role in knowing oneself because it does define how you choose to act around other people who may have more or less power than you.
Yes, you do have to be aware of your place in society, sexual orientation, race,etc...in order to know yourself. When people are born into the world, they are born without any knowledge of the life that they will experience as they grow older and without any prejudices or opinions. Everyone becomes aware of what they believe and how they think through life experience. If it was true in society that whatever people think of us should not influence who we are or how we act, there would be no standards set for behavior and human interaction in general if we were all left to our devices and taught not to be concerned at all. People reflect how they view us on to ourselves inevitably, whether we like or not. If someone says something positive about me, then I either choose to agree or disagree with them. The same goes for something negative. If people are constantly told negative things about themselves, and they disagree, they will most likely question what it is that is different about themselves that makes others dislike them or better than they are.
I disagree with Fahrawn. The "superficiality" he is referring to is a result of a society many years in the making. Historically, we cannot go back and change everyone's line of thinking that certain people are superior to others. These views on how certain people, with certain traits, are superior have, unfortunately, been passed along form generation to generation and, as a result, society today still maintains them to some degree. Like Joanna said, in an ideal world there would be no judgment cast on different people in society but because these judgments exist and people are critical of certain others, then yes how others see you does influence how you see yourself. (At least to some extent.)
In a perfect society, no they wouldn’t have to know any of that to know who they are. A person can understand their views, know themselves inside and out, and be able to function in a perfect society. However in our society we do need to know our race and sexual orientation to understand ourselves, because we have begun to judge each other based on these factors, and if you don’t know what you are then you won’t know how to react when people ask you about these factors. These traits do not specifically define your morals and virtues, but instead the way people treat you depending on these traits leads you to become who you are. If you can’t answer the question when people ask you about these traits, then they may assume the worst and treat you completely differently in our society.
People do not need to be aware of their race, sexual orientation, or their power in society to know themselves. If you define "knowing" yourself as what you define yourself as, like what you like and dislike, then no, people do not need to be aware of such things. If you allow things like race, sexual orientation, or power in society to affect how you view yourself, then you are very superficial. You're superficial since race and sexual orientation are uncontrollable. Power since it does not affect who you are personality-wise. You should hold the same values whether you're black or white, gay or straight, poor or rich. No, i don't need to be aware of my race, sexual orientation, or power in society to know myself. The Grandma in the book refers to slavery. She lets what happened in those times to effect who she sees herself since she was told that race effects who she is. Even though she resented it, she can't shake the thought since it's ingrained, an idea that's been pommeled into her by the people around her who were considered her superiors.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Fahrawn. I believe that people do have to be aware of their race, sexual orientation, or their power in their society to know themselves. Your skin color and your sexuality is part of who you are, even if it is a physical trait. It shapes other people's views about you, and their views shape your views about yourself. If I was a different sexual orientation, or if I was a different race, I would feel different about myself. I would have a different type of life as well, so I would know myself as a different person than I am now. Even if you are a person who is really in touch with knowing yourself, not depending on your physical characteristics or your sexual orientation, a small part of you is affected by the color of your skin or if you are heterosexual/homosexual. It may be the way you see yourself or the way others see you, but in any case, you will be aware of yourself and know yourself more so then you would if you weren't aware of these characteristics.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it will slightly affect how you see yourself, but I dont think it would change who you are or determine who you are as a person
DeleteBecause the way others see us affect the way we see ourselves, we have to address these conceptions, whether we come to a conclusion about them or not. People make a conscious choice whether to define themselves by the way others see them, and the knowledge of yourself is created through understanding every aspect of who you are. The way you are seen is part of this. In an ideal world, everyone would be tolerant of each other and these ideas built up by us as a society would not exist. However, obviously, our world is not ideal, and we must interact with others who may see us differently. We have to understand this to be able to function in our society. Fahrawn said that the Grandma let race affect the way she saw herself and could not stop thinking about it. Some of this is true, but I think the Grandma had shaped who she was by her experiences and I think that she had no choice but the let the ideas that surrounded her affect her. Personally, I am aware of all of these labels, but they do not have to dictate my actions or my thoughts. People need to understand that no matter what, most people are somewhat unconsciously stereotypical. The key to understanding each other and ourselves is to look past stereotypes and labels and to see the individual. The individual needs to decide how the way they are seen will affect them, and whether they will defy stereotypes, affirm them, or ignore them altogether.
ReplyDeleteI feel that people, to some extent, need to be aware of their race, their sexual orientation, and their power in society to know themselves on a surface level. To understand yourself internally, you have to be able to look past these things and see yourself for personality. With that in mind, I do still believe that your race, sexual orientation, and power in society affects the way some people see themselves because they accept the way others view them as their own view. In order to understand ourselves, we have to be able to overlook surface details which is easier for some people than others. I do agree with Joanna that in an ideal world, everyone would be tolerant. This presents the idea that it is up to the future generations to help overcome prejudices. That goal is for the most part unrealistic, but tolerance for other people and equality outside of race can be obtained when a person is raised in a tolerant environment, as is shown through Janie's childhood in a home where she was treated equal to the white children of the house.
ReplyDeleteI think that a person's sexual orientation and race are part of who they are. Though these traits do not necessarily define a person, i feel that they shape how people see themselves and how others see them. In some instances it also shapes how one is raised. If someone is raised in a very strict catholic home, or in an environment that has lots of italian influences (those are just examples) wouldn't they count those factors as part of who they are? wouldn't those environmental influences help them see themselves? how is race or sexuality any different than those traits? I think that in order for a person to know themselves they need to come to peace with and be accepting of all of the things that have influenced them throughout their lives, and for most people race would count- even people who are in the majority like whites and heterosexuals.
ReplyDeleteFor the msot part I agree with Chloe. People need to be aware of their race, sexual orientation, power in society, etc. in order to know themselves because no matter what it is a part of them. It shapes them into what they are. Something that goes hand in hand with race is culture, which heavily influences a person, how they act, view differences in others, and thier beliefs in life. A person's upbringin also influences how people act and view others. People are shaped into what they are at the core by others and thier beliefs also. Before you can see yourself for who you really are at the core you have to recognize the fact that these things like, race, culture, sexual orientation, and power shape your views and affect you. I also agree with Joanna that in the ideal world these things won't matter because people will always treat others as an equal. SAdly though, this world I doubt will ever exist.Toleration of differences i tohers will become better with time and apprach perfection, but will never actually become perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is important for a person to recognize their race, sexual orientation, or power, but not to let it affect their opinions or actions. By this I mean you can't let it define you or determine how you or others see yourself. It is a part of who you are of course, but you can be perfectly happy while being innocent without knowledge of your race, sexual, etc just as Janie was as a child. I don't think you should group all three of these factors together though because they stand independently. They are so different and can have extremely different impacts on your life. For example, I do not feel as if society views race as big of a difference as sexual orientation. Usually, a person will discover their sexual orientation as they grow up and need to go through the difficult process of coming out where as with race you have always been that way as far as people can see.This can be a shock to those who thought they knew everything about you where as with race that is how people have always perceived you. Race is also only skin deep while sexual orientation comes from within. I'm not saying that race doesn't have any impact on a person because it does but in todays society it does not seem to be as big of a topic. I do think that you can definitely know yourself without knowing your race though. You are you based off of your experiences and your attitude towards life. If you are a nice person and recognize that it is not going to change based on the color of your skin. The people whose opinions you would care about are more liekly to judge you for your merits than the color of your skin.
ReplyDeleteI agree that someone's race and sexual orientation influences who they are in a different way than internal characteristics.
DeleteTo a certain extent, people have to be aware of their race, sexual orientation and their power in society in order to know themselves. Because this is how others will see you, it guides what they will think of you, and because your thoughts on yourself are influenced by what others think of you, your race, etc. will have an impact on how you think of yourself. However, one cannot base their entire perception of himself/herself based on their race or sexual identity, because there are also internal factors that better define who you are. Whether you are nice, smart, funny, and other characteristics will play a major role in defining one's character. This is why you need to recognize what your race and sexual identity are, but you cannot let this completely shape your view of yourself. In the book, we see that someone's race strongly affects who he/she is. Janie's grandma's life is very controlled by her race, while Janie's race doesn't nearly control her life as heavily. If I were a different race, it would change my view on who I am, but only really on the outside; I feel that my internal characteristics better shape who I am.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that race and sexual orientation are not key parts of how one sees oneself because they do not control internal characteristics.
DeleteIn a perfect world, race, sexual orientation, and influence would not matter regarding knowing oneself. However, because of how our society views differences in these aspects, they play a larger part in knowing oneself. Power in society isn't really key to knowing oneself, because it describes how you are thought of by other people. It is possible to be respected by others while not respecting oneself. Race and sexual orientation, I don't think these have to do with knowing oneself so much as knowing how others see you. Everyone has subconscious prejudices, and there are stereotypes, but does this affect how you see yourself? It shouldn't, since race and sexuality by themselves do not control personality, morals, etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree for the most part, however power in society does play a role in knowing oneself because it does define how you choose to act around other people who may have more or less power than you.
DeleteYes, you do have to be aware of your place in society, sexual orientation, race,etc...in order to know yourself. When people are born into the world, they are born without any knowledge of the life that they will experience as they grow older and without any prejudices or opinions. Everyone becomes aware of what they believe and how they think through life experience. If it was true in society that whatever people think of us should not influence who we are or how we act, there would be no standards set for behavior and human interaction in general if we were all left to our devices and taught not to be concerned at all. People reflect how they view us on to ourselves inevitably, whether we like or not. If someone says something positive about me, then I either choose to agree or disagree with them. The same goes for something negative. If people are constantly told negative things about themselves, and they disagree, they will most likely question what it is that is different about themselves that makes others dislike them or better than they are.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Fahrawn. The "superficiality" he is referring to is a result of a society many years in the making. Historically, we cannot go back and change everyone's line of thinking that certain people are superior to others. These views on how certain people, with certain traits, are superior have, unfortunately, been passed along form generation to generation and, as a result, society today still maintains them to some degree. Like Joanna said, in an ideal world there would be no judgment cast on different people in society but because these judgments exist and people are critical of certain others, then yes how others see you does influence how you see yourself. (At least to some extent.)
DeleteIn a perfect society, no they wouldn’t have to know any of that to know who they are. A person can understand their views, know themselves inside and out, and be able to function in a perfect society. However in our society we do need to know our race and sexual orientation to understand ourselves, because we have begun to judge each other based on these factors, and if you don’t know what you are then you won’t know how to react when people ask you about these factors. These traits do not specifically define your morals and virtues, but instead the way people treat you depending on these traits leads you to become who you are. If you can’t answer the question when people ask you about these traits, then they may assume the worst and treat you completely differently in our society.
ReplyDelete