The Danger of IF

Hyperreality is everywhere; the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. "Hyperreality no longer exists just in our heads; it is being force-fed to us nearly every time we leave our homes." Fantasy and reality has become so meshed that it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish between them. The signifiers gave the signified, but the signifiers were never real to begin with. Now the signifiers are taken away and we are left with the signified - but it isn't reality. It is this that has society "cocooned in hyperreality." We are stuck with false signifieds about what normal is. With a false sense of reality we live in expectation of fantasy, only to be disappointed. That is the danger of hyperreality.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hyperreality.htm

EXPANSION

IFs are a dangerous subject. It is with IFs that I dig myself into a hole of hyperreality. I start fantasizing about possible situations, wondering how things would be IF this were that or IF that were this. The problem is that the most significant part, the word "IF", gets forgotten and the possibility becomes my reality. I can no longer see the difference between the fantasy or the reality.

~Scribbles

Boxed Within an Eighth-Grade Paragraph

Relationships in this age of media are run by a sense of hyperreality. "The term hyperreality characterizes the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern cultures." The media, such as movies, music, celebrities, etc., give a false sense of reality and deceive viewers/listeners into believing it's fantasy. When faced with the real world, Americans are at a loss because what they bought into as reality was in fact very different from what is actually real. Also, "hyperreality tricks consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance." It is a lot like picturing the world like an ant colony, where humans walk around repeating the same tendencies and habits over and over, never breaking away from what the media shows you to do. In hyperreality we lose sight of what is real, sort of reliving the romantic era rather than the realist. The world does not end happily ever after as Disney movies would lead us to believe.

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Hyperreality

~Scribbles

1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given

As Christians we don't celebrate disorder. We are aware of man's depravity and our stomachs churn at the thought of it. We see the downfall of humanity. We see sin in every aspect of the world. We don't celebrate the disorder. We do the opposite.

Sin is disgusting. Why should we celebrate it? We want to get as far away from it as possible. But sin is rooted so deeply within us, so how can we do this?

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

God has already done it for us. As Christians we celebrate not disorder, but the order that comes from God.

We celebrate life.

God has given us life and that is what we praise Him for.

So what do we do with that? In this world that celebrates disorder Christians must be a light to shine amongst the sinners. We must show them the saving grace of Christ and the joy we find in His life.

The only difference between the rest of the world and ourselves is that we are forgiven. Let's live joy filled lives as a testimony to Christ. Let's make them wonder what it is we have that they don't. Let's share with them what life is like.

Let's make a difference in this world.

~Scribbles

Shipmates, Shipless, Shipmateless?

I liked the comment that Rosencranz and Gildenstern had no destination. It seems so fitting for characters who have no purpose to die without getting anywhere.

They have no destination.

They are given a purpose, but they die without ever fulfilling it.

Their existence is meaningless. They accomplished nothing.

They got nowhere, they did nothing, they were nobody.

Another thing: Rosencranz/Gildenstern said "we went wrong by getting on a boat", but they had no choice - they were suddenly on the boat, put there without any say in the matter. It's like their existence; they didn't get to choose when or why they existed, they were just put into existence. Then, they die without reaching their destination.

The movie is called Rosencranz and Gildenstern are Dead. However, it's only true at the end of the movie (that they are physically dead). So why not call it "Rosencranz and Gildenstern Die", as in it's something that the rest of the movie leads up to?

Does that mean they were dead throughout the entire movie? They never lived at all? Life without purpose is no life at all?

Rosencranz and Gildenstern are Dead.

~Scribbles

De-antified

You know those times when you're walking around in the store and you see someone you know, but instead of greeting them you pretend like you don't see them? And it's not necessarily because you don't like that person or anything, you're just not used to seeing them outside of the normal context you've always known them in. It's almost like you are afraid to let them see you in a different light, like you're a completely different person.

I never greet people that I happen across unless I am particular friends with them. It probably has to do with my shyness, but also just a fear of the unexpected and foreign. If by chance they notice me and call out to me, I'll of course stop and go through the pleasantries before we part ways again, but it always seems so unreal plastic, trapped inside of a little box labeled formality.

I ventured out yesterday. I went the store to buy a few groceries, and on my way in I noticed that one of the employees was someone I knew from youth group. At fist I did was I normally did: pretend I didn't see him and kept on walking. But then, perhaps merely prompted by this very assignment, I took the next opportunity I had to greet him.

It wasn't awkward like I thought it would be. We asked each other the same sort of questions you would anytime you ran into someone randomly, but this time it wasn't just for the sake of being polite. It was a genuine conversation, not one that ran just skin-deep.

We still aren't that great of friends and we don't see each other often, but now I feel like there's more of a potential friendship than there was before. Perhaps this will encourage me to do the same with anyone else I come across in the future.

~Scribbles

Counter-repoductiveness

Questions want answers.
Questions require thinking.
Questions grow intelligence.

But all Rosencranz and Gildenstern do is answer a question with another question.

There is no answer.
There is no thinking?
There is no intelligence??

They are simply sponges?

The only existed because they have a purpose.
Is their purpose now lost?
Do they still exist?

Does this even make any sense???


~Scribbles

Subject to the Will of the Service

I can certainly say Hamlet is not sorry to see Rosencranz and Gildenstern sent to their deaths. Horatio, on the other hand, does seem a bit surprised at Hamlet's dismissal of their significance, leading me to believe that Horatio is in fact sad to see Rosencranz and Gildenstern killed by their idiocy and sponge-ness. Perhaps he feels sorry for them, or maybe he's simply a genuinely caring person. But I do believe he is sad about their fate. Hamlet's need to excuse himself from his cruelty proves Horatio's disapproval. But Hamlet is in charge, so what he says goes. Horatio can't do anything about it.

~Scribbles