Students Again

Research some of the music you like and see if any of it contains themes about how we are programmed or conditioned. Write down relevant lyrics along with a onepage summary of your findings.

The lyrics I picked that contain themes of how we are conditioned or programmed came from the song “Gold Digger” written by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx.

I will not list all of the lyrics to this song but I will say at this point that the whole theme of the song is about how women will have children from several different fathers to obtain money to live a lavish lifestyle from the babies’ fathers through the aid of child support. The theme of this song not only enforces a stereotype because it makes the assumption that all women are capable and willing to do this, but also conditions women to think that it is okay to use men to finance their lives at the expense of the numerous children they birth.

Now, onto specific lyrics and some other examples of conditioning that exist within the lyrics of this song. The first lyric example is “But she aint messin wit no broke niggaz” which is a lyric that makes the emphasis, of participation in a relationship, based on how much money the other person has (in this case a man) rather than other less superficial aspects that may lead to a mutual attraction. A second example of a lyric from this song is “Met her at a beauty salon With a baby Louis Vuitton Under her underarm,” this lyric is an example of how we are conditioned to think that taking care of ourselves and being healthy is not enough, you must also look good and that designer clothing and accessories are important in defining your worth along with a direct correlation to the amount of attention you will receive. This lyric, which ties in with the last example, is “I Pulled up in the Benz, they all got up in,” this goes beyond the conditioned importance of looking good and wearing designer clothes to the importance of the status symbols you acquire (in this situation it is an expensive car) to determine how other people will perceive your importance. This lyric, “It take too much to touch her,” shows how men are programmed to believe the amount of money and status they attain will determine the “quality” of the women they will be able to bed down. This lyric “She was spose to buy ya shorty TYCO with ya money She went to the doctor got lipo with ya money,” is a direct example of the conditioning involved with the theme of the entire song which I already covered in the beginning of this paper and will not repeat. This raps up the examples of lyrics in this song that contribute to how we are conditioned and programmed.

In addition to the specific lyrics that show how we are programmed, the lyrics in their entirety show how we are conditioned to be sloppy, as we have discussed in class, or just incorrect with our use of the English language. This concludes the summary of what I have found in his one song that contributes to our programmed minds.

Watch either of the films Pink Floyd: The Wall, A Clockwork Orange, or 1984 and summarize in one page how the process of thought control is depicted.

The movie I choose to watch was A Clockwork Orange. This is such an interesting movie and depicts the process of thought control in a creative way. The summary of this process starts when Alex is sent to prison for murder to the point of release.

Thought control starts to be evident during the priest’s sermon in prison. During his sermon he is trying to convince the prisoners to be good from now on because he knows “there is a fiery hell worst than this prison,” and if they don’t change their sinning ways they would be doomed to visit that hell. Alex (the main character of the movie), whom is already the priests helper, takes this sermon to heart and is convinced he wants to “be good.” He has a conversation with the priest to see if he would help him get picked to volunteer for a treatment he found, which the government was sponsoring, in the newspaper.

This treatment was called the Ludaveko Technique and all Alex new was “it made you good and got you out of prison and you don’t come back.” The priest goes on to ask Alex “does this technique make you good” and goes on to explain that “a man must choose to be good or he ceases to be a man.” In addition, the priest informs Alex that this technique has not been proven and may be dangerous.

The Interior Minister visits the prison to pick a test subject and assures the warden that this technique “kills the criminal reflex, besides they enjoy their punishment.” Alex then speaks up and agrees. The Interior Minister approaches Alex and finds that Alex is enterprising, young, bold, vicious, aggressive, and outgoing. He’s perfect! The Interior Minister tells the warden that Alex “will be transformed out of all recognition.” Alex was chosen and left for the medical facility where the experiment will take place and as he left prison he exclaimed “he felt sad leaving prison because he got used to it.” This was an interesting comment in the movie because it showed that the prison system had such a control over Alex that he actually began to enjoy being there.

Immediately after Alex’s arrival at the hospital he is given a shot from a bottle labeled serum no. 114. Alex asked what it was or if it was like vitamins and the nurse said “yes, something like vitamins.” Then Alex asked what the treatment was, to which the nurse said “we are just going to show you some films.” Once Alex attended the first show he soon realized this was not like any cinema he had ever been to, he was promptly bound in a straitjacket, given lid locks so he could not shut his eyes, and his head set stationary with wires attached to his brain before the film was to start. Although Alex had his suspicion he was willing to put up with whatever in order to be freed within a fort night.

The films started and the first was “real horror show” which is to say it was violent and filled with blood. Alex started to get a sick feeling. The second film involved seven malchecks performing a little of the old “in, out” with an unsuspecting young woman. Alex started to get really sick. No matter what Alex tried he could not stop watching and he got violently ill. The doctor in the observation booth explained to his colleges that the drug administered to Alex (Serum no. 114) causes paralysis with deep feelings of fear and helplessness which early test subjects described as being like death, a sense of stiffing, or drowning. During this period the doctor told that we have found the subject will make rewarding associations between his catastrophic experience, environment, and the violence he sees. When the films are finished Alex asks the nurse why he is getting sick and the nurse lets him know that it was because his body is learning that violence is a very horrible thing and when the body is healthy it responds with fear and nausea.

The second day of films Alex realized the soundtrack to the film was a music he had loved (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony 4^th Movement) and begged them to stop because it was not fair that his favorite music will now make him sick. The doctor then lets Alex know that this could not be changed and that “this is your punishment, I guess.”

Two years after being incarcerated and experimented on Alex is tested without hypnosis or drugs. The first part of the test involved a man trying to drive Alex to violence which resulted in Alex getting sick. The second part of the test a naked woman appeared to urge Alex and he, again, gets sick Alex passed the test, was found to have high moral ground, and set free the very next day.

In conclusion, the problem with the success of the test is that it left Alex helpless to the whim of society because he could not express free will. The priest from prison was right he did not choose to be good and suffered by ceasing to be a man. He would now always be controlled. Even though he was set free from prison he was never really set free. This section of the movie, in particular, was all about control. He was controlled in prison, in which the control would have been defined to the term of his sentence, but he traded the temporary control of prison for an express ticket to the outside and in the process unknowingly vowed to be controlled forever. The rest of the movie will change what actually happens in the end, but I will leave it here as the depiction of the process of control for this movie mainly occurred during the mid section of the movie in which I summarized.

Watch either of the films The Matrix, The Truman Show, Nell, or The Fight Club and writ a one-page comparison with the Allegory of the Cave. You might consider if the film is just fantasy or if it make a comment on our society.

The film I chose to watch was The Matrix. This film is very interesting when comparing to the Allegory of the Cave because it has a lot of symbolism showing abstract ideas that could be directly compared. In addition, I believe this movie could also contain a valuable message in regards to our society. In this paper, the film as compared with the Allegory of the Cave, I will cover the following concepts, the cave, the chains, the fire, the figures carrying the objects, the shadows, the sound, and the sunlight from the point-of-view of the film as I see it.

In this film I believe the equivalent of the cave is the matrix itself. The matrix is the cave because it is the shield from the outside real world and from the truth of its existence. The rules of the matrix would be symbolic of the chains. These rules are the things that keep the people within the matrix looking straight forward, bound to one direction, without a single thought to the possibility of anything else other than what they know. The fire would be referring to, in this film, Morpheous as he is the light within the cave that has the ability to expose what was really happening if the slaves, the people, could just look from another perspective or to be released from their chains. The figures carrying the objects are the agents. The agents are the ones who “hardwire” the matrix and create what will be seen by the people. The shadows are the programs that have been hardwired into the matrix. The sounds would be the different aspects within the programs which are what everyone in the matrix perceives as real, rather than created by or a function of something else, such as the steak Cypher was eating when he was negotiating with the agents to give up Morpheous. Therefore the programs (the shadows) contain the different aspects (the sound) that make up the programs entirety. The representative of the sunlight would be Neo. Neo is the one shining glimpse of the truth and is the only character capable of defeating the agents and letting the truth shine on to the people.

In conclusion, this movie was a fascinating comparison to the Allegory of the Cave. Not only did this movie provide great symbolism, it also made you think of how this fictitious idea could have a correlation to real life. In my view, I believe this movie might contain the message to our society that we are being continuously lied to for the benefit of those lying to us. This message could be interpreted and applied how ever the people doing the interpretation sees fit as the message could mean many things. The main success in the movie revealing this message is to get people to think and interpret for them selves how they are being controlled within their lives.

Perform an Internet search using the term “hate groups”. Select a group and see if you can discover what it is that they base their discrimination on. Check to see how they claim we are different from one another. Does their party line assume that we function at the spontaneous level? Summarize your findings in a one-page report.

The group I selected was the Ku Klux Klan (The Knights Party). Their web site is located at http://www.kkk.bz/. This web site was pretty well organized with a lot of information on their “political party.”

According to what I discovered they base their discrimination on the idea that the

United States was founded as a white Christian nation. According to them they base this belief by many writings of our founding fathers and even from the Declaration of Independence. They “believe there are those who hate the concepts of Western civilization - Christianity - and wish to turn the United States into a different type of nation than what was originally intended by our ancestors.”

They claim our difference from one another is totally based on our founding fathers intending for this nation to be white and Christian. They claim they do not hate other races, but also claim that this nation was not intended to be a “melting pot” and therefore do not wish to include or acknowledge anyone other than white Christians. In addition, they say that “It is hypocritical for one to think a black, Asian, Mexican or any other person should be praised for being loyal to their heritage. Yet a white person can feel the same sense of pride and be criticized for it.” So, the difference mainly stems from their claim to the original intent of this nation. The difference for them is not based on I’m white and your  lack, therefore I’m good and your bad, according to what is stated on their web site. The differences is more focused at excluding non-whites from interacting with white Christians or even being in the United States because that is the way it was supposed to be when this nation was formed, or, in other words, I’m supposed to be here and your not because this nation was founded for white Christians and no one else. Yes, I think their party line is based on assuming that we function on a spontaneous level. It assumes this because it states, so strongly, many different “facts” based on “that’s just the way it is, like it or not” as the evidence for their argument. They use a lot of examples to try to excite your emotions in the assumption you will not use reason. The whole web site is based on telling you information with no real “backup” to their argument in the hope that we will spontaneously accept their “facts” without question.

In conclusion, this group claims that it does not advocate hate; it claims that our nation was formed for white Christians and they just want to respect our founding fathers intensions. In respecting our founding fathers they just happen to exclude everyone that is not a white Christian and disregard them as part of this nation. Their goal is to preserve the white Christian population, have and show pride of their white Christian heritage, and to increase awareness that this nation was intended to be white and Christian.