In Response to "Some thoughts on Ideology"

I really enjoyed this lecture. Professor Craig raises so many good points that I am afraid that I'm going to forget some of them in this response.
I can see the manifesto sitting there next to the jeans. It is truly a sad sight for those who value its content. I think that it comes off as incredibly low to use such a powerful document, in which there are so many ideas that lash out against capitalism, to sell low cut women's jeans. After reading that I sat back in my chair and thought to myself, "Wow, that's incredibly fucked up". Not just the act but also what it means. Professor Craig’s words about Capitalism taking threatening ideologies and mocking them to the point of being no more dangerous to itself or its followers scared me to my core. The idea of a system that can eliminate its threats by bringing them into itself and ridiculing it, taking away its meaning and power is intimidating, and to take it one step further by comodifying it just adds a sinister touch of creepy.
I've seen plenty of Che Guevara t-shirts at school and on the street and I would usually think nothing more than, "oh, that guy looks like a supporter of Socialism". Sure, I understood that someone profits from these shirts and that the fact that they are being produced in the way that they are is nothing more than someone in a capitalist society taking advantage of a dead activist to turn out a few bucks, but after reading this lecture, going back and really thinking about it, I can see that the capitalist society that we live in is a well oiled machine that eats its opponents for breakfast and craps them out as consumer goods and old wives tales to spook its misinformed supporters.

Marxism and Liberal Humanism

Marxism and Liberal Humanism differ in many ways. Marxism challenges liberal humanism and its non political nature. Where liberal humanism defines good literature as being timeless and truly reflective of human nature in its organic sense, Marxism takes into account the political landscape that influenced the creation of a text.
Liberal humanism presents the idea that literature must contain certain elements to be considered god literature. The text must convey a meaning that can reach out and speak to the reader on a humanistic level. Despite its age it should be understood by anyone of any time because of its innately human message. This message and everything that comes with it should hold no significant connection to its time and place in history other than to set a simple and unimportant backdrop for the subject at hand, human relationships and human struggle.
Marxism presents a different perspective on what makes literature worth reading. Marxism claims that the literature is extremely dependent on the political forces that shaped the environment of the author and the story. Class is the most important issue for Marxists. A text created by an aristocrat would be so incredibly different from a text by that of a middle class, or the poorest of poor. The language alone would be completely different. The language can reflect social class and education thus it makes for a seriously noticeable difference. The values of each class present different needs and economic strife or in the case of the aristocrats, lack there of.
So in the end liberal humanism presses the issues of nature whereas Marxism supports emphasis on social constructions.

My cat can look into my soul.

I am pretty certain that my cat can pierce my soul with his sharp glare. Using his powers he can see the future and predict when my impending doom will occur. Unfortunately he can't tell me anything because he's a cat...and cats can't talk...yet. Either way it is a nice rainy day fit only for drawing and hot chocolate. Also, don't let the fact that its 9/11 stop you from having fun.

"Theory" as an instrument of study

When we look at any field of study we find that there are ideas or theories that are peer reviewed and popularly accepted as a general understanding or conjecture of some sort. These conjectures contain methods or principles that pertain to their respective fields of study. Theories are used as lenses through which we can view observe and study our subject of interest. Anything from apple orchards to cold fusion. Theories are everywhere. I cleaned my closet the other day and I found two of them. I forgot they were there. Now they are dead. I feel kind of sad. Bye for now.

Enter the Admiral and his first mate.

Hello. My name is Matthew Croasdale and I live with a commanding feline named Admiral Theodorable. I reside at 55 Park Drive, Boston, MA 02215, and love receiving letters. Between school and tending to the Admiral I have little time to go out and explore. However, when I do get out hilarity ensues or the most miserable sadness overcomes me and I find myself waking up in hospitals wrapped in bandages, smelling of alcohol and dried blood. I've never been good at communicating my feelings although I am really good at communicating the feelings of others. I have only made one other blog and it was for another English class. I hope this one doesn't suck nearly as much as my last one. Now if you'll excuse me I need to give the Admiral his eardrops.