106 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2016
    1. Fixed social structures produce an impoverished form of agency because agency always belongs to the same components or groups.

      Comments on the possibility of television to be an oppressive environment (not to mention a stale form of entertainment).

    2. This unique function addresses a society as a whole and reinforces a sense of nationhood and citizenship.

      This function also leaves broadcast television particularly susceptible to those who would spread excessive nationalism in service of that "sense of nationhood and citizenship."

    3. This means taking into account that children are not tied to temporal modes of viewing based on schedules and other expectations to do with broadcast television such as high production standards and established genres.

      I always thought it was odd that my nephew would watch obviously homemade YouTube videos (so long as they featured Spider-Man) with the same excitement as he would have watching studio-made professional productions. Sometimes more even.

    4. This is no small matter when we consider the scenario described at the start of this essay, where as little as ten years ago not only did viewers have very little control over where and when they watch television, but they also had to deal with incredibly cumbersome technology.

      At the time, I'm sure that technology was considered anything but "incredibly cumbersome." Just as I'm sure that in my lifetime, I'll see a day where the use of something as portable as say a tablet will be remembered as "incredibly cumbersome."

    5. Go’s search and retrieve logic also challenges a fixed idea of a television schedule that is organised by the scheduling department of a television channel with the aim of enticing viewers to immerse themselves in its flow. Go, on the other hand, is defined by a multiplicity of possibilities that may or may not actualise as schedules. Viewing is no longer reliant on schedules as viewing on Go means choosing programmes from a number of lists and menus that can be swiped through, personalised into favourites or arranged into a number of different playlists. This form of interaction removes programming and scheduling as something that is solely the domain of the industry and reconfigures it into a shared arrangement.

      This sort of flow was described in the Reeves article, as was the shift toward highly personalized content.

    6. By doing so, it literally brings new elements into an assemblage that deterritorialises a number of connections fundamental to broadcast television.

      This assemblage is physical rather than theoretical.

    7. I’m on the bus. I take out my iPad and open Foxtel’s application the Go. I can watch programmes on 60 live channels, or I can choose from hundreds of shows and movies from the ‘on demand’ menu.

      Immediately presenting concrete examples of the major paradigm shift in both space (on the bus) and time (whenever) of television from its original iteration.

    8. a virtualised form of participation.

      Reality and game shows still do not represent actual viewer participation, as the participants lose their audience status upon entry.

    9. gender groups at particular times

      Some problematic assumptions surrounding those "particular times."

    10. The concept of reciprocal determination is important for challenging the centrality of broadcast television and the idea of television and television culture as something with a fixed and stable structure based on fixed roles, binaries and hierarchies such as production/consumption, producer/audience, industry/consumer and even technologies/text.

      Neither side of any of these binaries exists without the other, so in a sense, they are constantly creating one another and renegotiating traditional roles as advances in technology allow for a more communicative experience all around. Throughout the duration of this process, the binaries become less binding, and each party takes on more of the attributes of the other.

    11. These are properties that arise from the interactions of heterogeneous parts so that the assemblage as a whole acquires new attributes. At the same time, the parts of an assemblage retain their unique properties, and do not lose their distinctiveness.

      The whole is greater than (or at the very least fundamentally different than) the sum of its parts. This fact, however, does not at all diminish the original natures of the parts, which retain their individual capacities despite their collection into an assemblage.

    12. so that a part may be detached and made a component of another assemblage’

      When applied to art or academia, this can refer to the application of interdisciplinarity to create entirely new disciplines such as the art of graphic novels or the study of political science.

    13. More specifically, in this paper I argue that the concept of assemblages provides a means of accounting for the formation of new kinds of connections between discrete devices, texts and applications, at times across different mediums. It enables us to think about how previous and current devices, texts and medium are reconfigured and adopt new functionalities or are modified, so as to display new qualities.

      A good deal of modern art seems to be a result of synthesis of preexisting forms rather than an attempt at complete novelty. This is (rightfully) celebrated by those who engage in this sort of remix culture.

    14. ‘[p]art of the ‘power of television’ lies in its constant transformation process, enforced by a continuous reflection on the ‘appropriate’ use and an ongoing redefinition of television’

      This is true of all of our arts and technologies: language, writing, rhetoric, and composition for the sake of this class, but the same goes for music, radio, art, dance, poetry, animation, and so much more. As repertoires expand and access spreads to capable, creative people with increasingly varied experiences, everything we know becomes overtly temporary in the best possible way.

    15. The emergence of digital, multiplatform television also puts into question many of the central concepts and theories for understanding television and television culture, such as: appointment viewing, mass audiences, liveness and broadcast-flow

      These concepts have been expanded on by live-streaming services such as Twitch and Periscope which deliver specialized content to specific audiences and allow for instantaneous feedback, encouraging interaction between content, creators, and audience members, often blurring the lines between the three.

    16. Upload and share practices enable viewers to engage with a show’s interactive material or create and distribute user generated content. These changes have transformed television from a single platform medium into an interactive multiplatform medium that encourages viewer (if this term is still appropriate) participation.

      I was anticipating "upload and share" to refer to television piracy, which regardless of morality is a very real and very prominent facet of the modern culture of television worthy of discussion. Maybe later?

    1. Targeted advertising clearly plays on desires in a harmful manner, taking advantage of a user's specific set of insecurities for the sake of capital gain.

    2. I know I personally get annoyed at excessive advertising, sometimes closing a site altogether if it is not imperative I stay on. Surely others have this response as well, right?

    3. I've heard this called Six Degrees of Wikipedia.

    4. This text makes use of terms like "pressure," "challenge," and "provoke" to refer to the effect of hyperlinks on a user. These terms don't seem to support their usage in the ways they are most commonly employed.

    5. This is parallel to Plato's criticism in Phaedrus: new technology is no replacement for more traditional modes of discourse and any attempts to use it as such will inevitably fall short. However, use of technology within its own unique context has great potential for rhetorical efficacy.

    6. Control over the user is maintained via the illusion of choice. Not a far cry from most other modern controlling circumstances.

    7. Is the structuring of television in such a way ethical? The passive reception on behalf of the viewer is hardly engaging in such a way that television would maintain this grip on people's free time without this sort of addicting programming. Add in the feedback loop that occurs when similar practices are adopted by the instantly adjusting internet, and the ethics become even murkier.

    8. "Rhetoric of the possible" = kairos. This embodies rhetoric in all its most effective forms. The phrasing identifies rhetoric as an constantly adjusting art, guided by the moment at which it emerges. In this way, rhetoric is choice for both rhetor and recipient, or in the case of this digital architecture of choice, a series of choices which have potential to carry a single user across the gestalt rhetorical landscape of a series of entirely unrelated creators.

    9. Presenting too many choices at once leaves the user feeling overwhelmed and unlikely to proceed. However, given the vast nature of the Internet, following one option inevitably leads to another with many divergent paths, all of which leading to a virtually infinite array of options presented in a narrow, funneling fashion. A user may find themself at an end point very far removed from their starting point in a way not at all unlike natural human thought.

    10. "Practical" application of rhetoric in a modern sense is often some sort of capitalist application.

    1. People typically view disability through the medical model, in which diagnosed conditions present obstacles to be cured or overcome. But according the social model, while many people may have all kinds of medical conditions, people are disabled by the lack of accessibility in our society.

      Social lenses allow the exposure of systemic and societal failures and shortcomings as opposed to pathologizing individuals. A solely medical lens also gives an incomplete picture of size, gender, mental health, and any number of other social constructs.

    2. The message should be that people with disabilities can set and achieve goals, not that thin equals beautiful.

      Even a narrative which is entirely her own and in no way involves some sort of able-bodied savior has been co-opted by an ableist (not to mention fatphobic) agenda.

    3. Why is Qdoba not accessible to disabled patrons in the first place?

      Hero narratives operate in service of individualized short-term quick fixes over sustainable, agency-restoring, long-term systemic solutions.

    4. Did Jones ask permission before objectifying this woman in his quest to praise Quarles?

      Even if he did, it would still be invasive and rude.

    5. I’d love to read a story about Lapkowicz and her social world or perhaps something on the significant challenges faced by people with intellectual disabilities as they transition out of high school and look for work or college.

      A specific example of how journalists could add depth and purpose to stories about people with disabilities in a respectful way that centers the story on the people themselves.

    6. They all feature people doing good things. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the content of these stories, of course, but the way they’re told conceals the real issues faced by the disability community. We need stories that illuminate instead.

      This passage is very rhetorically effective. There is concession (acknowledging that the stories are not bad and that the people in them are indeed doing good things), critique (identifying that the primary issue with the narratives are the way they are told), and specific proposal for change (the solution here is to tell the stories in ways that address "the real issues faced by the disability community").

    7. so her work continues.

      An advantage of embodied, disembodied speech. Modern technologies of writing, recording, and dissemination allow Stella Young to speak directly to me (or anyone else), even posthumously, without removing the context or impact of her words, meaning that she continues to (and will continue to) positively affect change.

    8. inspiration porn sometimes shames the viewer by showing a disabled person overcoming basic obstacles, implying that anyone less disabled has no excuse.

      This sort of assumption, that a person without disabilities should be able to do whatever a person with disabilities can do, is rooted in ableism and is the sort of overgeneralization that inherently diminishes the accomplishments of anyone with disabilities.

    9. exploring the various ways that disabled people were used to make other folks think mostly of themselves.

      Not only do people without disabilities shift the attention back onto themselves, but they don't even do so in productive ways. Many take in these stories and think about how they are not disabled instead of why they are not disabled, aligning their thought with the medical model of disability and not questioning further the origin of the challenges which many people with disabilities are faced with.

    1. By teaching students to access the multiple textures of human experience, they learn to see, hear, or feel more deeply than they could before.

      Acknowledging and embracing the diversity in experience that we collectively represent brings a net benefit to us all. However, this benefit is disproportionately granted to hearing, sighted, and other temporarily able-bodied individuals, as they are the ones who are learning the lessons.

    2. while acknowledging the immeasurable variations in sensory experiences from person to person.

      It is important to know who produces information, as that person may focus more or less on one mode of receiving that information than another. This can happen by choice, by affinity, or by necessity.

    3. We note, for example, that the content that students post on social media does not, as Manovich (2012) notes, constitute “transparent windows into their selves; instead, they are usually carefully curated and systematically managed” (465).

      Plato spoke down on both the art of rhetoric and the usage of writing to present something other than the author's most authentic self. However, even discourse that is presented impromptu or extemporaneously in a spoken fashion, can still be "carefully curated and systematically managed" in that way. In fact, it often is.

    4. rather than focusing only on what is “correct” in written English, effectively reducing her ASL expression of a concept into an uninteresting statement.

      The kind of reduction described here is exactly what many early students of English suffer from, distancing themselves from their own expression for the sake of being "correct."

    5. I also asked students to re-create the advertisement in terms of their lived and embodied reality of a product.

      Advertisement inherently disembodies a product in the same way that text disembodies communication. Only through skilled, honest, and thoughtful execution can a rhetor overcome the limitations of either medium.

    6. Sign languages, including American Sign Language, are more complex than nonverbal communication, but an understanding of sign languages can enrich our understanding of the nonverbal.

      Similarly, spoken languages are more complex than verbal communication. Words and signs transcend simple utility as signifiers and carry meaning, emotion, connotation, and even beauty. Words and signs can comprise a significant part of a person's identity or exist independently of that same person as art.

    7. When I replicated my dad’s performance of “The Teacher” in my own classroom, a glaring gender-power issue emerged. While my dad could humorously perform the act of being overpowered by a student in his classroom, topped off with the act of bending over and getting spanked with a paddle, my identity as a young female professor becomes compromised in the act of performing this sequence.

      Despite certain gendered conventions in the usage of written language, it is more possible to disembody text than performance.

    8. We communicate relationships of power, aggression, insult, and fear via nonverbal gestures.

      We also communicate relationships of submission, love, support, and awe via nonverbal gestures.

    9. I walk to the front of the classroom and see they are all sitting with their laptops open, as usual, but they’re not looking at the laptop screen, they’re not looking into their laps at their smart phones, and they’re not looking off into space. Instead, all of their eyes are on me.

      This contrasts with the previous description of bored and disengaged students. Even if her students think themselves capable of multitasking, the reality is that task-switching, however rapidly it occurs, diminishes attention to both tasks. Engaging students in three-dimensional space, however, demands more of them and discourages this, as they transition into a more receptive state of constant anticipation.

    10. to reduce the stakes of the assignment and induce spontaneity.

      Limitations on time and judgment inspire emergence in a near improvisational mode of production that is normally overridden by what could be considered more tempered or even more rational thought.

    11. But why shouldn’t the student “play” on Facebook or “play” with spitballs? If nothing happens when we ask students to put away their screens, we are ignoring the embodied interface of the classroom and the multisensory affordances of shared space.

      Students feel their time is wasted in class. Teachers want them to pay attention but don't give them much of anything to pay attention to. This may not be the fault of the subject matter specifically but of the mode of expression for that subject matter. Students are uninspired learning only from "the book" (and increasingly "the powerpoint").

    12. In ASL storytelling, “non-manual signals, such as facial expression, provide important information . . . By changing [the] body position so that each character faces a different direction, [the performer] help[s] the audience understand which character is doing the action”

      ASL is more than gesture, just as English is more than just sound. Even the most basic nonverbal communication has a number of expressive factors simultaneously at play, which are integrated with one another and embedded into the language. Encouraging uninitiated students to engage in nonverbal multimodal communication without some sort of discussion of nuance and complexity is almost certainly always grounds for subpar expression.

    13. it was then that I saw my classroom through Deaf eyes.

      Even thoughtful people with good intentions can overlook certain people in ways that they are only made aware of when the overlooked party is present.

    14. Listening and reading comprehension were divorced from the act of reading out loud

      This is the reverse of the sort of disembodiment of text that Plato critiqued. Instead of the writer decreasing the value of thoughts simply by recording them, the reader decreases the value of thoughts simply by reciting them.

    15. Yet, my formal education

      "Formal" education, at least as it stands today, implies some sort of standardization, which is also normalization, which, should your culture be "Other" in any way, is also erasure.

    16. deafness is something that is gained

      Necessity is the mother of invention, is it not? The limitations of spoken language are largely in place because the users are hearing, and therefore comfortable operating within those limitations. Language, and thus culture and all other things driven by it, is then expanded by deafness.

    17. normalize deaf persons as hearing persons

      Why should hearing people be made to deal with Deaf people when Deaf people can be made to hear?

    18. disability is not a minor issue that relates to a relatively small number of unfortunate people; it is part of a historically constructed discourse

      Disability, like class, race, sexuality, and gender, is a social construct that is only made possible by normalizing one set of circumstances ("able-bodied," middle-class, white, heterosexual, cisgender male in the cases above) at the expense of any who do not fit within those circumstances. When dissecting disability specifically, there are a number of widely disparate circumstances (that one is hearing, sighted, capable of walking unassisted, etc.) which are normalized in such a way that when someone does not fit within them, they are called "disabled" and subsequently made Other. This social exclusion compounds any difficulties inherent to the disability itself by blocking access to physical and social resources made available to those who are considered "normal."

    19. seemingly better technologies of language

      Language has its limitations, but so do all things. The particularly frustrating thing about some languages, particularly the English language, is the limitation to only one or a few modes of communication. An oppressive and irrational insistence on "proper" usage, slow moving public lexicons which lurch forward at the pace of society's most linguistically conservative, operation within the constraints of established typographical conventions (lettering, spacing, punctuation and all that): these are the issues which have stunted the progress of the English language.

      In 2007, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center conducted a study linking music and language to some of the same exact major neural processes. In 2008, neurologist Aniruddh Patel published the book Music, Language, and the Brain on the same topic. Since then, numerous studies have reasserted a point that has been known in a number of cultures since antiquity: music is language.

      The question then becomes, if we've overlooked and undervalued music's capability for expression (in mainstream, white, hearing, able-bodied US culture at least), then what other modes of expression are we leaving untapped simply because we've never considered their value? Surely gesture qualifies, as sign languages worldwide all rely on gesture and little else to communicate meaning.

      An article like this is able to be so critical of the "seemingly better technologies of language" because those technologies as we understand them today or two-dimensional and largely incomplete.

    20. de-contextualized simulations.

      The choice (and omission) of words here lends itself to multiple interpretations. Hunter could be referring to the usage of technology in this way as a simulation of face-to-face interaction, but she doesn't specify that. She simply says "simulations." I interpret this as meaning that there is nothing real about purely technological interactions, that they are not truly interactions at all but rather a series of inputs and responses to and from a machine. And when discourse is de-contextualized in this way, kairos dissolves entirely, leaving an irreconcilable disconnect between rhetor and recipient.

    21. Consequently, educators have increasingly turned to technology, such as Clickers and Twitter backchannels, to engage more deeply with their students’ learning.

      Technological modes of expression, when used as a replacement for, rather than an enhancement for, face-to-face interaction, seems to have potential to stunt a person's comfort and willingness to engage in these interactions without some sort of added layer of separation (or disembodiment). Bringing these sorts of technologies into the classroom can benefit both professors and students by more accurately measuring student responses, allowing anonymous feedback on sensitive topics, increasing multimodality (and thus better maintaining interest through variety), and encouraging technological literacy and familiarity with prominent forms of modern communication (for those students who don't already use Twitter and the like). However, no one innovation in pedagogy is a cure-all, and the use of technology in this way may as much encourage the problem as solve it.

    22. In a worst-case scenario, these professors stare out at a blank sea of faces asking again and again, “Are there any questions?”

      These sort of attempts at engagement can be just as frustrating for the student as the teacher. Not all students are comfortable speaking in front of entire classes.

    1. I think that he has a genius which soars above the orations of Lysias, and that his character is cast in a finer mould.

      He just won't let up. For someone who thinks himself so close to a god, Socrates is very petty.

    2. for friends should have all things in common.

      Presumably why he spent the entire day passively agreeing with whatever Socrates said.

    3. Go and tell Lysias that to the fountain and school of the Nymphs we went down, and were bidden by them to convey a message to him and to other composers of speeches-to Homer and other writers of poems, whether set to music or not; and to Solon and others who have composed writings in the form of political discourses which they would term laws-to all of them we are to say that if their compositions are based on knowledge of the truth, and they can defend or prove them, when they are put to the test, by spoken arguments, which leave their writings poor in comparison of them, then they are to be called, not only poets, orators, legislators, but are worthy of a higher name, befitting the serious pursuit of their life.

      So Phaedrus is supposed to go to all of these people and tell them Socrates's opinion of them based on a conversation they weren't even present for? Are they supposed to care?

    4. For not to know the nature of justice and injustice, and good and evil, and not to be able to distinguish the dream from the reality, cannot in truth be otherwise than disgraceful to him, even though he have the applause of the whole world.

      All this for writing?

    5. Then he will not seriously incline to "write" his thoughts "in water" with pen and ink, sowing words which can neither speak for themselves nor teach the truth adequately to others?

      How does he define what is adequate? Perhaps the writer does not assume their words to be a replacement for live discourse but rather a different thing entirely, with entirely different purposes.

    6. I cannot help feeling, Phaedrus, that writing is unfortunately like painting; for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life, and yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence. And the same may be said of speeches. You would imagine that they had intelligence, but if you want to know anything and put a question to one of them, the speaker always gives one unvarying answer. And when they have been once written down they are tumbled about anywhere among those who may or may not understand them, and know not to whom they should reply, to whom not: and, if they are maltreated or abused, they have no parent to protect them; and they cannot protect or defend themselves.

      In a digital age where texts are often preserved, arranged, and archived by the original author, in a space that often has multiple forms of direct correspondence with that author no less, this observation is becoming less and less true.

    7. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing

      Physically writing allows ideas to outpace and outlive their authors, which leads to development and proliferation of thought at a rate that cannot be matched by memorization and literal word-of-mouth transfer.

    8. Thirdly, having classified men and speeches, and their kinds and affections, and adapted them to one another, he will tell the reasons of his arrangement, and show why one soul is persuaded by a particular form of argument, and another not.

      Socrates describes the syllabus of a good teacher of rhetoric, arguing for depth and comprehension in its pedagogy.

    9. The method which proceeds without analysis is like the groping of a blind man. Yet, surely, he who is an artist ought not to admit of a comparison with the blind, or deaf.

      If blindness and deafness were so singularly natured in reality as they are portrayed here, then maybe this comparison wouldn't be so problematic.

    10. for he has begun at the end, and is swimming on his back through the flood to the place of starting.

    11. Then I perceive that the Nymphs of Achelous and Pan the son of Hermes, who inspired me, were far better rhetoricians than Lysias the son of Cephalus. Alas! how inferior to them he is!

      Socrates is giving himself praise over Lysias under the guise of religion. At best, he's just using religion as a medium of praising himself and still seeming likable (to Phaedrus at least). At worst, he actually believes that he was divinely inspired and that Lysias was not, which is him literally having a holier-than-thou attitude regarding personal opinions about love and sex (which rings very true today).

    12. And a professor of the art will make the same thing appear to the same persons to be at one time just, at another time, if he is so inclined, to be unjust?

      He literally just did this.

    13. Nothing could be better; and indeed I think that our previous argument has been too abstract and-wanting in illustrations.

      So... just that one?

    14. Whatever my advice may be worth, I should have told him to arrive at the truth first, and then come to me.

      It's a start, but still not all the way there. Rhetoric is not only what follows the truth, but it is a means by which a person may arrive at the truth.

    15. And yet, Socrates, I have heard that he who would be an orator has nothing to do with true justice, but only with that which is likely to be approved by the many who sit in judgment; nor with the truly good or honourable, but only with opinion about them, and that from opinion comes persuasion, and not from the truth.

      This is probably the realest thing Phaedrus has said so far, but persuasion serves a purpose beyond manipulation. An orator (or rhetorician or politician or philosopher or whomever) is not necessarily in possession of the truth just because they believe they are on the side of "true justice." But ideally an orator also would not bend simply to what is currently "likely to be approved by the many who sit in judgment" if it is not what they truly believe. Sometimes, disapproval serves as a necessary check, calling that orator to interrogate their own opinions, and any resulting arguments or acts of persuasion are then in pursuit of a common truth. This is the ideal situation, but of course, in practice, things often go as Phaedrus describes.

    16. And when the Muses came and song appeared they were ravished with delight; and singing always, never thought of eating and drinking, until at last in their forgetfulness they died.

      After giving a long speech about the dangers of loving excessively, he praises a bunch of musicians who neglected themselves so much that they died? His value doesn't seem to consistently lie in a distaste for excess, but rather a constant pedestal raising of what he deems godly and intellectual pursuits.

    17. Surely not for the sake of bodily pleasures, which almost always have previous pain as a condition of them, and therefore are rightly called slavish.

      Phaedrus seems to be caught up in the false dichotomy of mind and body, as if the mind is not part of the body and stimulation of the body does not also stimulate the mind. This sort of talk is not only inaccurate but it seems dismissive of any people (who are conveniently not present) that he may deem "slavish."

    18. Need we? For what should a man live if not for the pleasures of discourse? Surely not for the sake of bodily pleasures, which almost always have previous pain as a condition of them, and therefore are rightly called slavish.

      What does he define as discourse? Can regular conversation be deemed discourse, or does it need to be long and dramatic, self-praising and self-referential as his and Socrates's is? Do non-verbal forms of art and communication qualify?

    19. And you are aware that the greatest and most influential statesmen are ashamed of writing speeches and leaving them in a written form

      The disembodiment of text, particularly text that is not necessarily meant to be disembodied (such as a speech) can have devastating effects on the ethos of that text.

    20. And if Phaedrus or I myself said anything rude in our first speeches, blame Lysias, who is the father of the brat, and let us have no more of his progeny

      Weak.

    21. his colour is white, and his eyes dark

      Hegemonic Ancient Greek beauty standards rooted in classism (only the rich could afford both to avoid the sun and to purchase the lead and sometimes chalk-based cosmetics that gave a whiter complexion in that time).

    22. for no feelings of envy or jealousy are entertained by them towards their beloved, but they do their utmost to create in him the greatest likeness of themselves and of the god whom they honour.

      This is the complete opposite of what was stated above. Presumably loving someone who is like the god you worship is the only way to avoid "feelings of envy or jealousy." People aren't always exactly as their significant others wish them to be though, and this sort of philosophy does not seem to leave much room for compromise in that regard.

    23. Now the lover who is taken to be the attendant of Zeus is better able to bear the winged god, and can endure a heavier burden; but the attendants and companions of Ares, when under the influence of love, if they fancy that they have been at all wronged, are ready to kill and put an end to themselves and their beloved.

      Those who love divinely, love also more patiently. This is imperative for anyone looking to sustain any sort of long-term relationship. Though perhaps being "ready to kill" is a bit more figurative today than it was then.

    24. But he whose initiation is recent, and who has been the spectator of many glories in the other world, is amazed when he sees any one having a godlike face or form, which is the expression of divine beauty;

      Socrates finally gets to the point of all of this talk of god and divinity. The madness of love is only to be preferred when the lover is aware of their own divine beauty and capable of recognizing that in another. He finds this love deeper and more meaningful than any rooted in earthly perception.

    25. But all souls do not easily recall the things of the other world; they may have seen them for a short time only, or they may have been unfortunate in their earthly lot, and, having had their hearts turned to unrighteousness through some corrupting influence, they may have lost the memory of the holy things which once they saw.

      This may be the most theologically interesting point of this part of the speech. Here, Socrates constructs sin in a way that is similar to many traditional interpretations of the Abrahamic religions: it is a "corrupting influence" that separates mortals from the divine. However, the divine in this case is not external but rather internal, an inherent facet of our very nature as humans.

    26. And therefore the mind of the philosopher alone has wings; and this is just, for he is always, according to the measure of his abilities, clinging in recollection to those things in which God abides, and in beholding which He is what He is. And he who employs aright these memories is ever being initiated into perfect mysteries and alone becomes truly perfect.

      Narcissus was Greek. This may exceed narcissism though. Philosophers are divine because they concern themselves with what is considered divine according to other philosophers? Seems circular.

    27. after the judgment they go, some of them to the houses of correction which are under the earth, and are punished

      Hell as a literal correctional facility. It's the other way around today.

    28. the soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a philosopher, or artist, or some musical and loving nature

      Sounds exactly like something "a philosopher, or artist, or some musical and loving nature" would say.

    29. having no truth or honesty in them, nevertheless they pretended to be something,

      My thoughts exactly.

    30. Now the lover is not only unlike his beloved, but he forces himself upon him. For he is old and his love is young, and neither day nor night will he leave him if he can help; necessity and the sting of desire drive him on, and allure him with the pleasure which he receives from seeing, hearing, touching, perceiving him in every way. And therefore he is delighted to fasten upon him and to minister to him. But what pleasure or consolation can the beloved be receiving all this time? Must he not feel the extremity of disgust when he looks at an old shrivelled face and the remainder to match, which even in a description is disagreeable, and quite detestable when he is forced into daily contact with his lover; moreover he is jealously watched and guarded against everything and everybody, and has to hear misplaced and exaggerated praises of himself, and censures equally inappropriate, which are intolerable when the man is sober, and, besides being intolerable, are published all over the world in all their indelicacy and wearisomeness when he is drunk.

      And this is the only alternative to having a physical and intellectual equal as a romantic partner? A relationship that consists of what is (in the United States) now illegal in at least three ways: rape, statutory rape, and sexual misconduct (if the older man is a teacher or supervisor). Either this is a horrendously false dichotomy or ancient Athenian culture is terrifying.

    31. The lover will be the first to see what, indeed, will be sufficiently evident to all men, that he desires above all things to deprive his beloved of his dearest and best and holiest possessions, father, mother, kindred, friends, of all whom he thinks may be hinderers or reprovers of their most sweet converse; he will even cast a jealous eye upon his gold and silver or other property, because these make him a less easy prey, and when caught less manageable; hence he is of necessity displeased at his possession of them and rejoices at their loss; and he would like him to be wifeless, childless, homeless, as well; and the longer the better, for the longer he is all this, the longer he will enjoy him.

      This sort of possessiveness is yet another problem that persists in modern relationships. The irony is that the sort of wealth, happiness, independence, and social fortitude that Socrates observes as sources of jealousy would likely also be sources of initial attraction.

    32. but that which is equal or superior is hateful to him, and therefore the lover Will not brook any superiority or equality on the part of his beloved; he is always employed in reducing him to inferiority. And the ignorant is the inferior of the wise, the coward of the brave, the slow of speech of the speaker, the dull of the clever. These, and not these only, are the mental defects of the beloved;-defects which, when implanted by nature, are necessarily a delight to the lover, and when not implanted, he must contrive to implant them in him, if he would not be deprived of his fleeting joy. And therefore he cannot help being jealous, and will debar his beloved from the advantages of society which would make a man of him, and especially from that society which would have given him wisdom, and thereby he cannot fail to do him great harm.

      Women are often subjected to this same insecurity, especially as gender norms continually deteriorate and notions of femininity become more fluid and less rooted in hegemonic oppression. Should the men referenced in this passage (men who are still very much present in modern dating pools) find their masculinity so challenged by other men, then they must certainly be even more intimidated by women who are wiser, braver, cleverer, or more talented than they (and heaven forbid they make more money).

    33. Let us note that in every one of us there are two guiding and ruling principles which lead us whither they will; one is the natural desire of pleasure, the other is an acquired opinion which aspires after the best; and these two are sometimes in harmony and then again at war, and sometimes the one, sometimes the other conquers. When opinion by the help of reason leads us to the best, the conquering principle is called temperance; but when desire, which is devoid of reason, rules in us and drags us to pleasure, that power of misrule is called excess.

      Socrates makes a number of assumptions here, among them that a dichotomy best represents any complicated subject, especially one as so passionately revered (outside of this conversation) as love. Also, he assumes that Phadrus will accept this dichotomy and immediately moves into what he clearly considers a more significant point. Was the mutual exclusion of desire and reason, if not in action then in nature, something that was commonly accepted by this school of philosophers? Because it seems to me a boring and oversimplified way of looking at life.

    34. let us first of all agree in defining the nature and power of love, and then, keeping our eyes upon the definition and to this appealing, let us further enquire whether love brings advantage or disadvantage.

      With this definition, Socrates has already added an element to his speech which Lysias has overlooked in his own.

    35. for here are we all alone, and I am stronger, remember, and younger than you-Wherefore perpend, and do not compel me to use violence.

      !!!!!!!!

    36. You are a dear golden ass

      Not a dear golden ass though.

    37. I thought, though I speak under correction, that he repeated himself two or three times, either from want of words or from want of pains; and also, he appeared to me ostentatiously to exult in showing how well he could say the same thing in two or three ways.

      The pot calling the kettle redundant.

    38. Such are the feats which love exhibits; he makes things painful to the disappointed which give no pain to others; he compels the successful lover to praise what ought not to give him pleasure, and therefore the beloved is to be pitied rather than envied.

      Phaedrus (or rather Lysias) speaks in the previous paragraph about the dangers of power dynamics in romantic relationships. The power dynamic appears again here, though not as clearly identified, in the portrayal of lover as arbiter of worth. The lover's opinion becomes an end point instead of a beginning. Instead of acting as a friend who seeks only to improve the quality of their friend's work, the lover is forced by the nature of their relationship to patronize their beloved.

    39. when you have given up what is most precious to you, you will be the greater loser, and therefore, you will have more reason in being afraid of the lover, for his vexations are many, and he is always fancying that every one is leagued against him.

      The problem with trying to "win" an argument, as opposed to trying to discover the truth and arrive at a resolution. This is behavior that does exist among friends and can be corrected among lovers.

    40. but when non-lovers meet, no one asks the reason why

      Oh people ask why. And they very much enjoy the process of investigating why. It is interesting to see this argument made so long ago, as the general public now does not seem to trust "when non-lovers meet."

    41. for they confer their benefits according to the measure of their ability, in the way which is most conducive to their own interest.

      It sounds like he is saying non-romantic partners do not make sacrifices for one another.

    42. he will prefer any future love to his present, and will injure his old love at the pleasure of the new.

      Actually had an ex point out to me how this behavior is problematic.

    43. lovers repent of the kindnesses which they have shown when their passion ceases

      Interesting observation, to call into question the source (and therefore the authenticity) of these "kindnesses."

    44. But the non-lover has no such tormenting recollections; he has never neglected his affairs or quarrelled with his relations; he has no troubles to add up or excuse to invent; and being well rid of all these evils, why should he not freely do what will gratify the beloved?

      The argument here is that non-romantic love is honest and exists within boundaries which leave both participants free of both obligation and entitlement. This may sound correct in theory, but in practice, Platonic love is not without these "evils."

    45. Now I have no leisure for such enquiries; shall I tell you why? I must first know myself, as the Delphian inscription says; to be curious about that which is not my concern, while I am still in ignorance of my own self, would be ridiculous. And therefore I bid farewell to all this; the common opinion is enough for me.

      Plato interrupted his day at a moment's notice to sit outside with no shoes on and metaphilosophize under a tree. I'm sure he has a bit more leisure than he lets on.

      Perhaps this is simply a roundabout way of saying he has no interest in the subject.

    46. Yes, my sweet one; but you must first of all show what you have in your left hand under your cloak, for that roll, as I suspect, is the actual discourse. Now, much as I love you, I would not have you suppose that I am going to have your memory exercised at my expense, if you have Lysias himself here.

      "Stop flexing (part deux)."

    47. I believe that I know Phaedrus about as well as I know myself, and I am very sure that the speech of Lysias was repeated to him, not once only, but again and again;-he insisted on hearing it many times over and Lysias was very willing to gratify him; at last, when nothing else would do, he got hold of the book, and looked at what he most wanted to see,-this occupied him during the whole morning; -and then when he was tired with sitting, he went out to take a walk, not until, by the dog, as I believe, he had simply learned by heart the entire discourse, unless it was unusually long, and he went to a place outside the wall that he might practise his lesson. There he saw a certain lover of discourse who had a similar weakness;-he saw and rejoiced; now thought he, "I shall have a partner in my revels." And he invited him to come and walk with him. But when the lover of discourse begged that he would repeat the tale, he gave himself airs and said, "No I cannot," as if he were indisposed; although, if the hearer had refused, he would sooner or later have been compelled by him to listen whether he would or no. Therefore, Phaedrus, bid him do at once what he will soon do whether bidden or not.

      "Stop flexing."

    1. nstances of Twitter shaming and commenting sections on stories written by or about women are often the most flagrant, with back and forth accusations of “slut”, “whore” and much worse.

      Complete disembodiment in text, even "anonymous" text, is impossible to truly attain, especially online where audience is also participant. However, despite the vitriolic and oppressive atmosphere that often results from this, embodiment in the face of such opposition is not always a bad thing. Pride in a target identity, in being a woman, in being Deaf, in being a Muslim, in being queer, is largely achieved (at least in the common protest tradition here in the United States) through this embodiment.

  2. Jan 2016
    1. It's 70 degrees outside but in the drugstore Christmas music plays over the speakers as I stand in line balancing my checkbook in my head, stretching things thin until my next paycheck when the rent is due.

      Taken out of verse form, this reads like prose, but broken as it is by the poet, enjambed across five lines, the rhythm shifts, calling attention to each individual detail without slowing the speaker's pace.