The Power of Context

The environment that a creature is surrounded by affects its behavioral attitudes, and this includes humans and animals. When an animal is forced into a new climate, a natural instinct arises causing the animal to change. As mentioned in the essay, the subway was one example of how the difference in appearance changed the behavior of people passing through. When the subway was covered in graffiti, the crime rate was high, but when things were cleaned up, the crime rate went down. This occurrence implies that surroundings affect the living beings that live in them.

The common person changes how they are because they want to fit into a crowd or survive a specific situation, and the only way to do that is to match the surrounding. Fitting into a crowd may mean changing personalities completely. For example, a smart nerdy kid may want to hang with the punk kids, but unfortunately there is a behavioral and outward appearance difference. The nerdy kid may have to trade in his pocket protector and good grades for a Mohawk and rebellious attitude. Obviously these two cliques have major differences, so it would be nearly impossible for the two to coexist without drastic changes. As a human, the way we act and look gives a brief look at who we are, so in order to give the wanted perception, a certain characteristic or trait may be taken on.

Animals are also frequently forced to change their characteristics also. This may mean for an animal that it changes its food source since it has more competition with another species, or even breeding for the best traits. The British Peppered Moth is one example of an animal adapting to its surroundings since these moths have different colors depending on where they live. When the moths were living in more polluted areas, they were black because the trees around them were more soot colored. Moths rest with their wings open, so when the moths were more of a gray color, they were an easier target for predators. Another example of animal adaptation is the Galapagos Finches. The finches on the Galapagos Islands bred so that the best suited traits were more prevalent, and from this new species of finches were created. The different types of finches adapted to different food types to lessen competition, and the bills of the birds changed as a result of this. Even in the animal world changes are made, but unlike humans these changes are made that future generations may survive.

Behaviors are not always natural to a living thing. The environment influences the actions and habits of all animals causing them to make changes on a daily basis. Humans, birds, and even moths even make these subconscious changes. Life is all about fitting in, whether it means for survival, or even just getting into the “In” crowd. Whether a person is aware of it or not, they make decisions every day about their behavior and appearance, and this is because they as an animal want to survive.

Galapagos Finches:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin

Peppered Moth:
http://http//www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/pap/malletgensoc03.pdf

Surface and Substance

Appearances seem to have much more of an affect than we think. The looks or styles that we are exposed to every day can cause us to view others or objects in a specific way due to associations we have made. Colors and graphics are more likely to spark interest in a consumer in order that they might purchase a product over another. Fashion is a large market that thousands of people spend money in hopes of standing out among others with their hip clothes. There are many fields of human interest that appearance has quite a pull on.
What is it that causes people to have the desire to stand out, or have the most stylish looking electronic gadget? In the essay “Surface and Substance”, a green pager was referenced. In the nineties consumers were willing to pay the difference in hopes of having a more unique looking device. Should it not be that people are more concerned with the quality of a product rather than appearance? As in the case of the pager, some consumers see appearance as more important than other characteristics of an object.
Fashion is an industry that plays a vast role on appearance. Both men and women are ruled by the laws of the fashion world since no one wants to be left behind with clothes that are out of style or strange. Even in the political world, fashion is very important. When Sarah Palin was selected as John McCain’s running mate, the Republican Party spent over $150,000* on her clothing and make-up alone. What does this say about modern Americans? Does this mean that we are more concerned with having only a good looking president or vice president?
Clothing is one way of trying to fit in with the crowd, but the actual body shape and size are also a huge factor in everyone’s daily life. In Hollywood, actors and actresses are portrayed as being thin and gorgeous which soon fills the American mind. While watching these sickly looking figures on television, women especially begin to have a want to attain a similar body shape. In fact one of the causes of Anorexia Nervosa is the “acceptance of societal attitudes toward thinness”^. In fact, if you look through a fashion magazine, one reoccurring theme is that of weight loss. If you are a reader of these types of literature, you may notice the numerous articles or advertisements about “Amazing weight loss” and slowly begin to think that your figure is not satisfactory.
Often times the media skews our perception through television shows, magazines, or even advertisements. These subliminal messages convince readers or watchers to think that the life displayed in the media is the best one. With these false images in mind, many misled consumers strive to achieve unrealistic standards of beauty. People should buy pagers that are better quality or higher functionality instead of the prettier color. People should realize that it is far more important to be healthy rather than attempt to look like someone they are not.

Here is a link to watch photoshop in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U&feature=related

^http://www.healthline.com/adamcontent/anorexia-nervosa?utm_medium=ask&utm_source=smart&utm_campaign=article_toc&utm_term=Anorexia+nervosa+risk+factor#causesincidenceandriskfactors&ask_return=Anorexia+Nervosacausesincidenceandriskfactors

*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/palin-clothes-spending-ha_n_136740.html

Wreck of Time

After reading this short essay, I was filled with several different thoughts. The most overwhelming one was that of being small and insignificant. I have never really thought about my size in comparison to many objects such as the Universe. In fact, the closest star outside our solar system is Proxima Centauri, and it is 4.2 light years away. A light year is equal to about 9,460,730,472,580.8 km, and this means light travels at an extreme speed of 299,792,458 m/s.

However, if humans were to one day travel at light speed, scientists would need to discover another means of space travel to overcome radiation. Another problem with space travel is that with our current technology, a humans’ miniscule lifespan is shorter than the amount of time it takes to travel to specific distances. Maybe someday someone clever enough will come up with a transportation device like in Star Trek, so that we might hear “Beam me up Scotty!”^ for real. Unfortunately, due to drastic distances between objects in space, I do not intend on leaving our solar system any time soon.

Distances to space objects are not the only way to experience a feeling of insignificance; one can take part in this by simply venturing out into the great outdoors. I have done this several times by traveling along the many snowmobile trails around my hometown. There have been many times that I have been able to ride my mountain bike high enough in order to have a spectacular view of the valley that my town is located. Every time that I have been able to do this, I realize how small my house, neighborhood, and town is compared to everything else. Not only is the size of the valley intimidating, but the thought of who created it is also overpowering. Yes, I’m talking about God, and I think it is incredible how much power he must have.

Overall, I think that many people do not take the time to take into consideration how unimportant they really are. I know that I often times get caught up in my own silly happenings. People are more concerned about what is going on around them close by, rather than caring about what is happening in for example Iraq or Afghanistan. Often times I neglect to take a moment to think about our brave soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for me. I think I am this way because the war seems distant, and I have not had any family members or friends sent over seas. When I watch the nightly news, these seemingly insignificant casualties are generally honored each night, but they begin to add up. The current American Military Casualty count is 30,960* which is close in size to the population of Bozeman (27,059 people according to the 2000 census)`, so think about it, the entire town of Bozeman is equal to the number of casualties in the Iraq war so far.

Since I have read Dillard’s essay and made my own personal comparisons, I have come to the realization that life is bigger than my own current little bubble. I’m not as big and important as I thought, and my problems are not as bad as they could be. Take the time to realize what is really going on around you, and live life to the fullest.

~Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri
*http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
^Captain Kirk from the television series Star Trek
`http://www.bozemanmontana.net/