fastidium

We live in a world of options. For most of us, we choose our occupations. Sometimes we’re pushed a little this way or that but for all practical purposes, we choose where to work, where to live, what to watch on television, where to send our kids to school, what car to buy, and what political viewpoints to hold.

One might object that we can’t help the way we are. Just as I can’t choose which ice cream flavor will be my favorite, I can’t not choose to be a democrat on certain issues that pertain to women’s reproductive rights or national heath care coverage. Right? On one level, its true. But, ultimately, the fact is, one can choose whether to be pro-life or pro-choice. The option is open to every single person in free Western democracies. You may feel led one way or another but it doesn’t take away the fact that the option of choosing the other is there in front of you.

Everything we do in a normal day’s activity illustrates our world of options. Except if you live in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere (and probably wouldn’t be reading this), everything around us is made for us to experience it. Grocery stores, our homes, our offices, gas stations, freeways, computers, and our cars are created so that we are made more comfortable and all our options are laid out in front of us.

It didn’t used to be this way. In the not-so-distant past (pre-1920’s), food was a matter of what was around. Work was what allowed you to survive. Their was some leniency on what you chose as a profession (even though “professions” were things that only doctors and lawyers had). Yet, work was a necessity in a much bigger sense than paying the mortgage and car payments. It was a matter of life and death.

And we know all this. We think about this when we sit around the Thanksgiving table and count our blessings that we live in a land and a time when our most important decisions will be whether we put more money into our 401k’s rather than buy CD’s.

At Fastidium, one of our favorite books is Mediated by Thomas de Zengotita. de Zengotita notes that being reflexive — thinking about the culture around oneself — is a part of being mediated. We are mediated by those constructs that exist around us. Whether that’s television or movies or our professions, its mostly there for our entertainment. We know that identity and lifestyle are things we’ve chosen and that we possess. What comes out of this is a monumental point made by de Zengotita; that is, that “the opposite of real isn’t phony or illusional or fictional — its optional.” (p. 14) He gives the example of being trapped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Nothing around you is there for you. Its the most real you can get.

But, we’re cool with it. We don’t have to worry about where the next meal is coming from. We just need to keep our kids safe, vote for the right leaders, and live our lives without hurting anyone. Its better than the other option. The real. Right?