Ivan Pope
Since the beginning
Works in Brighton United States of America

BIO
In the place where analogue and digital overlap, that's why you will find me in the kitchen at parties.
Everything is at my site, http://blog.ivanpope.com
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DISCUSSION

Re: Your role in stopping the war against Iraq


> I think Dyske's articulation of the "disappointment" many of us feel, if you
> could really call it that, stems not from some sort of disapproval of Halle
> Berry's personal decision-making, but of the society that influences her (and
> many like her) to that end.
>
> It's like what you called it--a "construct."
>
Yes, I accept that! Ivan

DISCUSSION

Re: Your role in stopping the war against Iraq


----- Original Message -----
From: Dyske Suematsu <dyske@dyske.com>
> The actress Halle Berry who won an Oscar last year is half black and half
> white. ... she used to resist being categorized as black or white. This is
rightly
> so. The circumstances of the situation calls for a neutrality which is
> reasonable. Last year, she gave in and
> identified herself as African American. This was disappointing to me.
>
> When reality presents a situation where it is only reasonable to be
neutral
... as in the case with Halle Berry, it is
> hard to stay neutral. It takes a great amount of effort to stand there,
> because the society wants you to decide.

Sorry, I don't get this. I don't understand why you are personally affronted
or feel it impacts on your when people make decisons about where they stand
and who they are.
Just because something takes a 'great deal of effort' does not mean it is
inherently a good thing.
I think you language about Halle Berry being 'half black and half white'
betrays a simplistic view of the world. No-one is 50% anything or 100%
anything. Halle Berry isn't some perfect shade of grey which allows her to
sit neatly in the middle of the colour chart. She is a human being. Skin
colour is a construct dependent on a range if issues. If Berry decides to
call herself African American, then that is her right and it is nor our
place to be 'disappointed', surely?
Ivan

DISCUSSION

Re: Your role in stopping the war against Iraq


> From: "Dyske Suematsu" <dyske@dyske.com>

>Everyone has the
> right to broadcast their own interpretations. For me, it is all the more
> disturbing when any media or any individual claim their accuracy,
> objectivity, or higher awareness.
>
Although you dont say it, I presume your disturbance applies equally to
governments, political parties, politicians etc claim their accuracy,
objectivity or higher awareness?
Cheers,
Ivan

DISCUSSION

Re: Your role in stopping the war against Iraq


> From: "Dyske Suematsu" <dyske@dyske.com>
>I believe
> that language is the source of many of our problems in this world. Language
> concocts its own world and we project that back to reality, and we act on
> this simulacrum.

Cor blimey, well, we better abolish language then.
Your words sound interesting, but where do they get us? Language is surely
neutral in that language has no agenda of its own. Its us, the users, who
are the source of problems. We have to deal with them, and we have language
alone to do that.

> Where Nothing Is Everything

Quite.
Cheers,
Ivan

DISCUSSION

Re: Your role in stopping the war against Iraq


--
Ivan Pope
ivan@ivanpope.com

http://www.ivanpope.com
http://www.tochki-inc.com

"Faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death"
Hunter S. Thompson

> From: "Dyske Suematsu" <dyske@dyske.com>

> I do not mean to offend you, but it seems natural that if you feel you are
> outside of the category of "human beings", your experience of the world will
> necessarily be "passive and mediated".
>
Not wishing to nit pick, but I dont see that, even if Ruth were outside the
category of human being, that would mean her experience was necessarily
passive and mediated.
It is just as (if not more) likely that the opposite would be true: that her
experience would be active and direct (or whatever the opposite of passive
and mediated is).
Someone has to step outside normality, surely this is just like lateral
thinking?
Cheers, Ivan