Every single day, I am reminded that I am a product of the family institution, the education institutions I've been through and larger structural forces which I find quite out of my control. Individual free will and effort - do they even count for anything? Can the the solitary individual go against the tide and still survive in this socially constructed world we see around us?
I am sickened to hear about another's extreme aversion to risk (and attempts to impose it on me), frustrated to be confronted by another's unwillingness to listen to the opinions of others (and have to suffer from the intolerance of others) and angered by my own inability to change things. I recognise that we are all victims of society.. but what use is this quality of mind if it doesn't help to empower people? We speak of the sociological imagination as if it's a desirable quality that everyone should endeavour to possess but.. to be honest, it just makes people feel more trapped than ever. Rather than inspire social change, people will feel resigned to their fates, trapped by society.
Gaining heightened awareness about the things happening around me.. it's regrettable to say this but such a state of consciousness has only left me feeling more burdened than before.
If mishandled, this awareness/self-consciousness could lead one down very destructive paths, not unlike a particular blogger/Youtuber whom I berated recently on another social media platform. Whilst I still fully condemn his actions (child or not, his actions were the result of conscious, deliberate intent, at least from what I gathered from a couple of his blog posts), I find it impressive that he attained such a high level of awareness at the tender age of 15 or 16. He is an exceptional youth in that he has the ability to see the bigger picture and visualize the links between biography and history/society but unfortunately, he forgets that he too is human and that he is equally vulnerable to bias and prejudice (which is why he thinks everything he does is correct and justified). Logic is powerful but not when it's used in irrational ways.
On a brighter note, I'm done with my last presentation in university! \o/ After pulling a week of all-nighters (darn those papers and projects), I can finally sleep like a baby tonight :D... ZzZzzzZ
No comments:
Post a Comment