This thesis examines representations of evil through the rhetorical figure of the face and its dissemination through mainstream and alternative media. I am interested in the extent to which representations of alterity contribute to, and make possible, a sustained War on/of Terror. Furthermore, I am interested in how these figures of alterity are apprehended in their suffering. As Judith Butler points out, the ability to suffer is what marks one as human. She asks “[w]hat is real?...If violence is done against those who are unreal, then, from the perspective of violence, it fails to injure or negate those lives since those lives are already negated” (Precarious Life 33). My project questions who is left out of dominant constructions of what constitutes the human, and examines how the encounter with a suffering body reconstitutes the “evil other” as human. Specifically, I will focus on the images of torture inflicted on prisoners at Abu Ghraib and the online execution video of Saddam Hussein. While the desire to protect and maintain the life of the innocent other is becoming an increasingly allocated social norm, I am interested in what such applications of responsibility or responsiveness might mean for those who are not allocated similar forms of protection. In other words, how do we present the relationship between culpability and precariousness and what might be the implications of re-inscribing figures such as Saddam Hussein with fragility? This thesis questions what is permitted to be seen as a suffering body in the context of the War on Terror and how dominant frameworks of representation foreclose the recognition of suffering in particular bodies.
Translations are invited in the comments.
A perfect example of why a certificate of completion from a certified welding school has more intellectual heft and rigor than has a degree--undergraduate or graduate--issued by most of today's universities--ESPECIALLY the Ivies/Seven Sisters..
A good kick in the pants will get the same result.
Translation: the Americans,and particularly GW Bush,are the face of evil.
That's my view as a simple-minded peasant. I leave it to my betters to translate more completely.
Probably got into Grad School because she aced her Transgendered Lesbian Grievance Mongering and Victimization 452 course.
I disagree entirely.
I think the profligaverance of juxtmixtional periloscence should never be confused lambationwissfonally in a thesis dealing with the war of/from/under/beside/above/on terror.
PS: The REALLY SCARY bit is that I fully understand the point being made in the entire elitist post-modernist focaultian edu-speak paragraph. I suddenly realize I've been dangerously exposed to the fatal PC radiation of multi-culti post-modern deconstructionist, post-colonial doublethink newspeak for FAR too long..
I'm guessing a peace studies student, who ever wrote it doesn't speak Englais very well it sounds like a child contrived the sentences. I expect to see the usual drivel; Set my peoples free. Could someone CC academia and tell them the word "People" is plural not singular??
PPS: David Thompson and his crowd would have a field-day "deconstructing" this pretentious PC sack of shite..
What I learned as an engineer in business is that people who write incomprehensible junk like this have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.
People who know what they are talking about are able to explain concepts in simple language so the audience understands.
Serious question. Where would somebody with this kind of graduate degree actually earn a living with it and what would they be doing?
It means ... "Someday I plan to run for office".
Other than some weird NGO there is no room in the world for a twit who talks like that.
"Serious question. Where would somebody with this kind of graduate degree actually earn a living with it and what would they be doing?"
Hint:
"Would you like fries with that order?"
"The REALLY SCARY bit is that I fully understand"
Me too. Basically it's a study on human suffering, not excluding characters such as Saddam or the terrorists in Abu Ghraib.
Way too fancy-pants wordy though -- Master's students should be beyond the phoney intellectual jargon typical of undergrads trying to be impressionable. But it's getting worse these days -- the muddier the better, it seems.
Seems like a tirade against Bush from what I can tell, which would be in line with her quoting Judith Butler, a hard-core anti-Bush hater.
And to think that this crap passes for a university education today, on the taxpayers dime no less.
My thesis is that all terrorists, especially Saddam Hussein, are the persecuted fluffy bunnies of life; There are no exceptions to this Rule. My sub-thesis is that anyone who persecutes or in any way assists in persecuting a fluffy bunny is the worst terrorist possible. There are no exceptions to this Rule. Shortest possible thesis restatement: The West is Evil. Except for me and my chums.
This 250-page paperweight has some stuff in it about random pictures of stuff I saw on Facebook and CNN. I couldn't think of anything to write about but need to get this stupid thing over with, so I'm going to dress up an age-old concept (written about thousands of times by people way smarter than me) in fancy jargon and play to your predisposed biases. As some random quote I found on Google once said by person, "[some trite concept I only vaguely understand the implications of],". Over the last week I looked at some stuff online to confirm my biases about media represenations of people I like and don't like. Cause I don't know any history past 2000, I will focus on stuff I could easily find and didn't have to think to hard about, like Iraq. Now I'll say something about norms and mores and posit some pointless question no one cares about in a context I don't fully understand and use some trendy catchwords like "framework" and "pedagogy".
Translation: How to make people fly jetliners into packed office buildings.
Mike at 5:38 nails it.
Is 'alterity' a word? Its not in my dictionary, but its an old dictionary.
I hope the project was floccinaucinihilipilificated by the instructor, but probably not.
This looks like something ET could write.
A very good and cogent academic summation, but UBC, a Canadian university, uses the American spelling for 'Defence'. Shameful!
Simply put, she/he wants to yell about imagined bigotry. It's a mind numbingly simple idea - despite the tarting up - and it's just about the only concept these people think about.
Another suspicion - some of these people are smart enough to know they are studying little of substance so they try to make it sound technical to reassure themselves. Trust me, I know the feeling.
Translation: the USA is realy bad cause it goes out of its way to make terrorists look eeeeevil in pictures and stuff.
Do I get a Masters Degree, too?
virgil at 5:20, report immediately for deprogramming to Yukon Pete's Big Mountain Lodge where you will receive an intensive 7-day course of moose hunting, char fishing, nightly steak and baked potato barbecues, all-you-can drink Canadian Club whisky, supplemented by monte-cristo cigars and satellite TV with CFL football or NFL reruns. Nip it early. The brain you save may be your own.
"This looks like something ET could write."
There is no similarity between that pretentious effort and ET's thoughtful and well-written posts, but your confusion is understandable. ET's posts can have long words and difficult thoughts, and a simpleton such as yourself can easily become hopelessly confused.
Now, go take yourself a long Air Canada flight.
I am more of a visual learner. Is there any chance taxpayers can fund an artist to perform an interpretative dance version?
translation
I voted for the useless follower who fails at following
Gee. All those big words but no paragraph breaks.
"Serious question. Where would somebody with this kind of graduate degree actually earn a living with it and what would they be doing?"
Posted by: Dave in Pa at July 15, 2011 5:41 PM
Teaching. She'll get tenure. Hahahahahahahahahaha! We're so scr*wed.
Now you know why I hire two BA's for one job. The world ahead ???????
Should be looking for a brain transplant...this one is past it best before date...
Translation: I am using a thesaurus & dictionary to make the proposed paper look as unbiased as possible while seeking a single and obvious outcome.
Bullshit baffles brains.
It means: "I got plenty of nothing. And nothing's plenty for you. Give me the effin' degree."
After having spent time in both the military, the oil patch and heavy industry, I'm going back to school to do a BA in English to become a teacher. I have to read crap like this non-stop (although on different topics) and it is infuriating.
I once had a professor that told the class we had to "un-de-familiarize ourselves with a historical period." Sage nods around the classroom. My hand went up. "So we have to familiarize ourselves with the historical period?" Ummm..yeah.
I also recently had to do a 'critical reading' of an article on the Globalization. So I fact-checked every assertion in the article and discovered that every single fact in a twenty-page paper was incorrect or quoted out of context. I went through point by point, demonstrating each error and falsehood and concluded the article was propaganda and not a rigorous academic study. I "missed the point" according to my professor.
It's easy to dismiss the sort of nonsense that goes on in academia, and make jokes that these sorts of degrees get one a job at McDonalds. But the truth is this sort of education is what every one of your children's teachers has. Every one. All of the social workers that are employed by the state. All of the civil servants. All of the government boffins, advisors and policy experts. All the lawyers, psychologists, activists, etc.
The next fight for both common sense and the political right is in education. We need to take back our school system and have lessons that are more complex than just pointing out our 'racist history'. And to do that, competent people need to wade through the left-wing academic sludge and become teachers and university professors.
What we dehumanize, we can justify killing. If we had seen Saddam Hussein's baby pictures, we would have felt guilty and sorry about his execution.
One ringgy dinggy, two ...
Hello, Dick.
This is BBC O'utta-This-Whirrled Service calling.
Translate this*.
Sincserly, Ernestine.
"*This is President Obama, who am I talking to?"
Translation ........ Not a useful idea in its head.
My opinion ... 1000 monkeys with 1000 typewriters are just as useful as the dope that typed that load of piffle.
Is this person being credited by the word? How in God's name could someone so illiterate complete his/her BA, much less be admitted to graduate studies? It is to weep.
Leftists prattling on the MSM constantly reassure each other that there are only smart marxists and stupid
conservatives populating this world. Yet this is somewhat indicative of hard evidence to the contrary .........
.
gobbledygoop. this person has a great future in public service.
There should be a course in how to write English in a clear concise and unambiguous manner so as to express a rational and ordered point of view.
The writer of this piece of crap should take that course!
"Gee. All those big words but no paragraph breaks". andycanuck
New paragraph should be begun when presenting a new thought or idea. I see no grammatical gaffe here. It's a long, single, continuous stream of literary diarrhea.
Black is not always black; blah, blah, blah, and white is not always white; blah blah some more.
Setting a more positive tone; think of the writing of someone like Peter Foster. His writing is always clear and succinct.
Another reason that we must pull all the subsidy out of university liberal arts faculties (forcing these civilization destroyers to pay full cost, drastically shrinking their participation and influence) or replace them with Library Cards. I prefer the later as it ensures that the professoriate lose their toxic pulpit.
That's a good explanation, Rita -- and you have probably stated the gist of what can be said about the topic. So anyone planning to attend the defense? Maybe ask a few questions. See if there is anything more to it than Rita has given us?
Makers and Takers.
Guess which collumn this one will join?
OMMAG @7:48 - "My opinion ... 1000 monkeys with 1000 typewriters are just as useful as the dope that typed that load of piffle."
We resent that.
As for, ". . . the ability to suffer is what marks one as human.", try telling that to PETA.