obligatory violence

can violence really be obligatory? in the australian aboriginal culture the dead are mourned by a festival of violent acts usually resulting in another person being killed, isn't there choice firstly to mourn the dead? and secondly mourn the dead in that way? (challenging mouning the dead)a lot of people choice not to mourn the dead because they don't want to accept the loss so this a choice even if a culture would prefer you to go to the funeral. this act of violence can be argued into supporting baudrillards thoughts on challenging the code because the dead and living asre not seperated the dead still has an important place in society, so lets use this same theory in gang culture. (challenging mouning the dead in a violent way) when a member of a gang dies they still have a role in the gang they willl influence violence to occur to any member of the opposite gang, they are obliged to act violent towards another person due to the dead person exactly like in the australian aboriginal culture. they are not explicitly mouning the death but evenging it! but do intentions really matter, either way they are apparently obligied to do so. this comparison should show that although things are expected of your from a certain culture you are not obligied to act in that way.

to group members + presentation

To Group:
hi fallon, could create brief outline of the power point send it to everyone then everyone can fill in their own bits and send it back to you so you can organize it because everyone dosen't know how to set up power points.

(1st slide names and pictures,title and aims include we will be challenging the code. 2nd slide logo or images/articles about the hate, 3,4,5 slide fallon about the code, 5,6,7 slide ruby hate and the code, 8,9,10 slide cherelle Budrillard, clip of the advert, 12,13 emma summary/conclusion and questions and answers)

hi rest of the group, could everyone make sure they have sent fallon their slides before wed so she can piece it together i hope everyone is ready to do a rehearsel thur, try put a bit of humour in it if ya's can.

good luck x
p.s. could we all find/buy a prop so we look the part?

Weblog on Presentation:
We decided to do a presentation and sketch. i wasn't keen on the idea of a presentation but i tink it will act as a good visual aid for the audience and were not actually gonna be reading of the slides so the presentation wont be boring it will be in the background just so the audience can follow our idea's. we have all got an equal part in the presentation and sketch so we need to make sure we dont talk for too long and we can answer any questions because we have specified in certain area's. i was a little bossy because i already had an idea of how i wanted the presentation to go but i tink what we are actually gonna do is gonna get us a good grade because we are all dedicated. i am going to be challenging the code and offering advice on how to stop the code causing hate, the other members of my team will be explaing and demonstrating the code plus analysing the hate the code produces and how this influences terrorism and racists/BNP. i am really excited to meet up next week and put everything together i really thing we could get full marks.

hate and the code

Today was my first meeting wiwth my presentation group. it was nice to finally see everyone and theres alot of good ideas floating about. I felt that we had a really productive session today and that were making good head way with the presentation.

we chose a topic which discusses what the realtionship is between hate and the code and i really like this topic. I think it's good to talk about because we can link it to real life current events and i can see people having strong opinions on it.

I enjoyed learning about the code in lecture and so im happy to create a presentation on the topic too. the way we have planned to do our presentation seems a little different from what im used to but im kind of excited to do it !

lets hope it goes well !!

REFLECTION ON LESSON (26TH NOVEMBER 2009)

Today’s lesson was focused around the groups in the class trying to prepare their presentations. Meena and William gave the class an overview of what was expected from everyone regarding the presentation. After my mini rant on my web blog posting yesterday about me hating the idea of performing a play/enactment/sketch as part of our presentation; my group managed to coax me around to the idea of us doing a sketch. I wasn’t too keen at first, but now that I know it will be done in a tasteful way, I’m quite warming to the idea.
The topic we have chosen is: ‘What does Baudrillard mean by the Code and how does the Code produce hate?’ There are 4 members of the group in total and each of us has been assigned a section of the topic that we will each contribute towards the presentation. My particular section will be on Baudrillard’s view on social cohesion and information on the Code. I have also been assigned the role of putting together the PowerPoint for the group.

Group Presentation

I must say - and I really hope no offense is taken by this... but I absolutely DETEST the idea of the group performing a play/enactment/sketch as part of our presentation. By all means I agree it would be quite creative, but we have to bear in mind, the strict and limited time we have to actually piece this presentation together. I was absolutely shocked when William informed us in class last week that the presentations have to be 20 minutes long!!

At the beginning of the module Meena told us how another group in the past had been quite creative in their presentation; and it involved them recording themselves in the style of a television news broadcast on video camera then showing that to the class, and it turned out to be successful for them. But there is an old Jamaican saying: “cats and dogs don’t have the same luck” which theoretically means that just because it was successful for another person, doesn’t mean the same thing will happen to you. So I truly believe that if we just keep it to the basics, put a lot of effort in we can achieve a good grade for this. I have a good knack for putting together PowerPoint presentations, so I have no issues in taking on the role of creating the PowerPoint slides for us when everyone has contributed their work tomorrow. I will create the slides then in our next meeting that we organise together we can all view and make additional changes that the group feels necessary.

Presentation preparation

The topic we have chosen for our presentation is, ‘What does Baudrillard mean by the Code and how does the Code produce hate?’ There are four of us in the group and have split the topic into different sections. I’m going to explore how the Code produces hate and examples of hate amongst labels. I have taken a couple of books from the library to provide further background knowledge on the subject. These are ‘Jean Baudrillard’ by our lecturer William Pawlett and ‘Jean Baudrillard Selected Writings’ edited and introduced by Mark Poster. Tomorrow our group will be meeting after the lecture to discuss what we have researched and hopefully piece it all together into a suitable presentation. I would like it to have good visual slides but I don’t know how to put slides together so hopefully someone in the group will have this knowledge. I’d also like it to be fun to watch with some acting or something but when it comes down to it I’m not sure if I’d have the nerve. With extreme luck the other members of the group will be budding actresses with a passion for dynamic presentations.

Emma Johnson

REFLECTION ON LESSON (19TH NOVEMBER 2009)

This week’s lecture focused primarily on Baudrillard’s theories on terrorism. Baudrillard uses a term called ‘the masses’ in which he describes how terrorist groups require the media to spread terror through the system; because of course the media revel and thrive in negative, horrifying, fear-generating stories because we, ‘the masses’ enjoy consuming terror.
Some of the issues discussed in today’s lecture were:
· Objectless violence
· The ‘mirror’ of terrorism
· Re-thinking terrorism
· Terror and ambivalence
· 9/11
In his book The Spirit Of Terrorism he tries to determine a hypothesis towards the mind set of the terrorists involved in the 9/11 twin towers attack. He states ‘it was an act of suicidal madmen… themselves manipulated by some evil power’ It could be seen as Baudrillard attempting to encourage us to re-think our views on terrorism and allow us to understand what the terrorists would be going through i.e. their predicament at the time. Were they forced to do such an act? Brainwashed? One could wonder whether Baudrillard is implying that we should feel sorry for them, in order to comprehend the disastrous event. Baudrillard states ‘they did it, but we wished for it.’ which is a highly controversial statement to make. As surly no one would wish for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people. At this particular point I am ‘sitting on the fence’ in regards to the views of Baudrillard.

References: Baudrillard, N. (2002) The Sprit of Terrorism, translated by Chris Turner. Verso: London

Cockfighting

It came as no surprise to learn that men love playing with their cocks. This follows the lecture about Clifford Geertz – Notes on the Balinese Cockfight (1962). Geertz understanding of cockfighting, after having spent time as part of a Balinese community, was that cockfighting was a way for men to channel their aggression and hatred away from each other as the violence is focused into the ring and absorbed in the fight. The ambivalence of cockfighting for the Balinese men means that by identifying with their cocks they are not only identifying with the cock's strength and fighting spirit, but they are also identifying with that which they are most repulsed by; the animal itself. The cockfighting allows the Balinese men to gain respect, honour and status but without accumulation or permanence which prevents violence extending beyond the ring. As such, cockfighting could be viewed as a ritualised form of controlled violence.

Emma Johnson.

INDIAN GAMBLER KILLED OVER 6p BET

I came across the article the other day, and no sooner had i finished reading it, thoughts of Clifford Geertz’s writing came to me. The headline read ‘Indian gambler killed over 6p bet’. It was about three young men; aged 22, 26 and the other 29. All of whom were From the Sunder Nagri area of New Delhi in India. It stated in the article how the three men had consumed alcohol and began gambling playing cards, but when one of the men wins the bet, it ends in a fight and the winner was killed by his two opponents – all for a winning of just six pence. I felt this story strongly related to Geertz account of the Balinese men gambling; the pair of men allegedly smashed the man’s face with heavy stones in order to kill him. I cannot be certain if the gambling was compulsory for men to participate in as it is in Bali, but it shows how something that can be seen as so trivial to us, can lead to such a horrific consequences in poorer countries. This makes me wonder whether violent events such a cock, bull or dog fighting really is a way of men channelling their aggression...

References: Daily Express (2009) [online] Indian gambler killed over 6p bet. [accessed 19th November 2009] Available at:

the 4th order

Baudrillard believes that the code has evolved so much that everything has a place in the code. People think they choose something outside of the code e.g. i don't want to be straight or gay, therefore i am bi-sexual but this new category has jus been inserted into the code it is another opposite to fit into the system of control. As we move into the forth order it is clear that everything is categorised and is making society hateful and violent. Racists and the BNP suggest the hate comes from within the code it is the black's, asian's and muslims fault that society isn't working. Multicultrualists use the code to fix the problem of hate by saying we should treat each other the same. neither of these approaches are making the problej any better because the problem is the code.

matrix?

Baudrillard's work has been misinterpreted and been projected as a film called the matrix. the only thing the two have in common is that they both belive people/identity are a simulacrum/simulation. In the matrix people are a stimulation from a computer living in a false reality, they can be freed from this reality yet return to a world that Baudrillard could still see as beeing a false reality. They are still trapped in the system of control; there are sepererations, most fundamentally you can die or be alive, people in the matrix are fighting to destroy the machines and stay alive. Baudrillard thinks there is no real liberation; fairness and equaliry are portrayed in the media e.g. on television there are more images of the rich and poor integrateing in society yet this is only as a simulation because in real life the seperation between them is bigger then ever. This simulation comes from the code trying to give everyone a position e.g. women wern't in the code so they were offered simulatory gifts like the right to vote so they could be included in the code. Baudrillard thinks the code is the stimulation because you don't have to be a binary opposite you can be both (rich and poor, male and female, alive and dead), the stimulation is the code we are not really one thong and have a strict identity. Baudrillard says if the matrix was to make a film about the matrix it would be exactly like the matrix! i.e. the film is only a simulation of freedom. The only way to break of the ssimulation and into the real reality is to break out of the code.

if you haven't watched the matrix click on this website for an absract on the filmhttp://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix

REFLECTION ON LESSON (5TH NOVEMBER 2009)

This week’s lesson focused on Clifford Geertz. For some miraculous reason, in this lesson my confusion from the previous week seemed to have disappeared. Everything seemed to fall into place, and the lesson had meaning. I found Geertz views on tradition such as cockfighting very interesting. It made me re-think different cultural traditions that involves violence with the participation of animals i.e. Balinese cockfighting, Spanish bull fighting.
Issues discussed in today’s lecture were:
· Traditional Balinese society
· Language and metaphor
· ‘Deep play’
· Cockfighting and modernity
· And points of interpretation
The reasons for cockfighting was highlighted within the lesson, one of which was that the Balinese men use it as an escape from their wives; their own hostility of violence is channelled into the cockfighting – a way to vent their anger. The cock is used almost a scapegoat for the women, thus lowering the rate of potential domestic violence

REFLECTION ON LESSON (29TH OCTOBER 2009)

The lecture was based on Jean Baudrillard , and his views on reality. We payed particular attention to what Baudrillard refers to as ‘the code’. I found Baudrillard’s codes quite confusing and was almost at a point where i found it totally disinteresting. But as it was our first group session with lecturer William in the hatred and violence group; and the thought of being able to explore issues further, i felt i should give the topic more of a chance. Issues discussed in today’s lecture were:
· What is the code
· The symbolic exchange of ambivalence
· Defying the code
· The hate: racism
· And Baudrillard’s ‘solution’
I did leave the lesson feeling i didn’t understand what this ‘code’ theory was all about, but was eager to strive to come away with a better understanding in the next lesson.

They did it, but we wished for it?

In today’s lecture we discussed Baudrillard’s controversial view on terrorism and I particularly enjoyed how interactive the lecture became with different thoughts and opinions being exchanged amongst William and the class. At the beginning of the lecture I felt rather annoyed at Baudrillard’s view that ‘we’; ‘the masses’, enjoy the consumer aspect of terrorism and that we are blindly walking towards our demise in the lack of passion we have to die for a cause. However, at the end of the lecture the thought-provoking statement from Baudrillard about the 9/11 attacks, “…they did it, but we wished for it” made me stop and re-consider Baudrillard’s views. That, coupled with William’s eloquent summary of Baudrillard’s idealistic future of radical Otherness, left me feeling open to this possibility and decidedly more receptive to Baudrillard.

Emma Johnson.

Cliford Geertz

I would like to comment on Geertz findings in the balinease culture which he calls deepplay. Deeplay is a reference to a porn film and this very first ambivilant title prepares readers for the dual meanings in his findins. cock fighting is illegal in the balinesase culure yet it is still very prominent an it acts as a vent of anger, hate and violence. The baliease men are disguisted with their cocks because cock's are animals and dirty yet they are delighted because they give the men pride and enjoy the men enjoy grooming them (like another ambivilant stament how they enjoy gooming their actual cock i.e. masturbation). So why is it that cockfighting should be banned just beacuse it is illogical from a utiliterean and economical point of view? isn't expression through other activities better than hate and violence in society? all we need to do now is implement the same idea's of ambivilance into our own culture to stop the hate.