Human nature invites us to make choices and be judgmental.
In some situations this is beneficial, for instance, survival of the fittest; human
judges what seems safe to eat or inhabit and what is not, human lives or dies.
In other cases it can be negative, human judges everyone around them before
learning all the details that may contradict the judgment, human has no friends
and creates a bad habit. David Foster Wallace posits in his commencement speech
to Kenyon College that all of these choices will allow humans to engage the
world differently. The liberal arts education that all the graduates went
through allows them the skills of how to think, so that they can choose what to
think. David Foster Wallace presents a credible idea with examples and satire
that the audience responds to, laughing while he insults him, indicative of the
audience not making the connection or understanding his meaning and responding
in a way that strengthens his argument of default settings.
Wallace’s
idea that life consists of choices that allow humans to engage the world
differently is credible because of attitude. Freud says our decisions are made
by unconscious desires of sex and aggression, but I think the choices we make
are determined by many other things. A broad factor is attitude, how a person
feels towards things, places, etc. Attitude influences choices, and then our
choices determine how the human person will respond to the world or tolerate
the world. And attitude can change, Wallace calls attitude a sort of default
setting, it influences choices before we realize we have a choice, and it is
difficult to change, but it can. All of this allows us to see the world however
we choose.
Until
reading this speech last year, I don’t think I ever realized or thought about
the choices I made or could make, I just did everything based on mood or
attitude. Now aware of this choice, I think more before action, but sometimes
emotion gets the better of me and I make a choice that blurs my view of the
world. I would like to be able to be more aware of this choice and thus make
more beneficial choices or smarter ones when thinking about long-term or
short-term effects. However, my default setting will probably continue to influence
me. And I do not think this setting is bad, the world doesn’t look so bad so
far from the choices I’ve made.
I read this
speech last year, then re-read it again this year and listened to it. Thus I was
able to begin to understand it and note Wallace’s meaning. The people in the
audience are listening to the speech live, on graduation day. I think they
laugh when he insults him because they are not all fully engaged or
understanding his meaning. In addition, there is selective listening involved,
when something that relates to the audience is said, they immediately respond. It
is a default setting to selectively listen and respond to things that the
person can relate with.
And so, David Foster Wallace
produced interesting points and good examples to get his point across. Life is
surrounded and engulfed in choices that can make or break the way we see and
engage the world. Most don’t realize the obvious things and only note or pay attention
to things put forth that are relatable, his or her default setting kicks in and
immediately responds. Once we become of the obvious we can begin to shape and recognize
the choices we make and engage the world in a new way.
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