Who the heck is Kenneth Burke and how the heck is that related to Roxane Gay?!
Yāall ready to mcfreakin learn again?
So, have you heard of the philosopher, rhetorician and technophobe Kenneth Burke before?
If not, no biggie. Iām learning about him too. Heās pretty important though. He wrote absolute giggle-fests like Ā Definition of Man (aka Definition of Human (Gender inclusivity is rad, folks)) and about things like terministic screens.
You probably donāt fully know what Iām talking about yet, but fear not!! Iām gonna explain. Iām also gonna use Roxane Gayās Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body to help me explain parts of Burke, especially the terministic screens bit.
Burkeās definition is pretty basic, so weāll start there. There are five parts, beginning with
1) Symbol User: This is the most important one to Burke, bc he saw that humans create their reality using symbols and that we use symbols more than anything else, making everything we do and say symbolic.
2) The Negative: Negatives do not exist in nature, therefore humans developed the negative with our symbol systems and learned our morality with the negative.
3) Separation of Human from Nature by Tech: Burke did not like tech much, believing that the unknown consequences of tech outweighed the advancements.
4) Hierarchy: Humans are drawn to the organization of a class system, but agreed with Karl Marx that it this was also the source of disagreements and war.
5) Rotten with Perfection: Too much of a good thing, amiright people??? no? okay. Well, actually, yes.Ā Motive is not present in nature, other than the one for survival, so what drives us? Being better, of course. This is⦠problematic though. We may get a lot of progress done in our strive for perfection, but we out ourselves and others in a lot of danger while on the path. Burke used the example of Naziās and their goal for a āpure raceā(fuck nazis). They murdered millions of people for their goal of perfection (again i say: fuck nazis).
So⦠thatās what it means to be human, according to Burke.
Let's talk about it! Iām gonna use Gay to help illustrate now.
Symbol: What do you think of when you hear the word āpoliceā? How about the word āworkā? What thoughts come to mind when you think of those things? Perhaps donuts? Police brutality? Pigs? Heroes? Or maybe, for work, you think of monotonous, dream job, money, boredom, capitalism, āgetting this breadā, etc. See how every word means something more than just it's basic definition? Everything has a weight to it, a different complex meaning, and it can change from person to person. We live different lives, giving different meanings to the same things. Pretty cool, right? This is pretty much what terministic screens are too, the way we hear words and their divergent individual meanings and the way we can use them to communicate better. This can be negative though, my friend. Ā
More on terministic screens before we move on!
Two kinds: Scientistic & Dramatistic
Scientistic is the actual definition of a word, describing what it is and isnāt.
Dramatistic is the action that guides the taken meaning of a word, so context and current meaning in the moment.
Now back to your regularly scheduled content (lol as if i has a schedule) (i cri)
2. Negative: Roxane Gay writes in her memoir Hunger, āSometimes, people who, I think, mean well like to tell me I am not fat. They will say things like, āDonāt say that about yourself,ā because they understand āfatā as something shameful, something insulting, while I understand āfatā as a reality of my body. When I use the word, I am not insulting myself. I am describing myselfā(201).
Sometimes we give basic words negative meanings, like fat. Fat is not inherently bad, but we treat it as such. Diets, doctors, offhanded comments, lack of accommodation in public and in fashion⦠Being plus size is not easy, especially when you reach past a certain size. The negative connotation of fat is deeper than just a linguistic meaning, it's embedded in racism, patriarchal ideals, and economics but language is a part of the issue. Our morality and ideals are sculpted by the language we use. If we use certain words in a nicer way, they gain nicer definitions and vice versa. Language and morality are constantly changing.
3. Separation of humans from nature by tech: Yeah, Iāve not got much to say for this one. I love tech. Running water? A+, my friends. Electricity? Heck yeah. Sorry, Burke. Yeah, there are issues with tech, but we are benefitting from it far more than we would without it, in my opinion.
4. Hierarchy: Gay has to deal with a lot of b.s. from assholes who think they are better than her because she is a queer, POC, fat woman. Online trolls target her, strangers make rude comments, all because people often judge her based on appearance alone instead of actually taking the time to know her. Humans can be jerks. We are often looking at others to see where we rank among them, conscious or otherwise. Sometimes it's about size, like with Gay, or it's on a much larger scale like religion or race. This hierarchy drive causes a lot of problems, but donāt worry! We can work together to make this better. When you find yourself judging someone on trivial stuff like looks, stop. Take a second to recognize your thought. Then correct yourself. āI know nothing of my fellow human being over there. I donāt know what kind of person they are. They could be the nicest person on the planet, but Iām afraid because of the way they look/worship/love? Heck nah, self. Weāre gonna be kind today. Weāre gonna wish that person well.ā Judge people by the words they say and the actions they take. Are they tolerant, kind, funny, sweet, etc? Neat! Are they a raging jerk who hates for the sake of hatred? Gross!
5. Rotten with Perfection: There is no such thing as perfection, not for humans if we follow the sophist train of thought. We are inherently flawed beings, beautifully so. Unfortunately, we really love the idea of perfect and are often working towards perfection with little regard for our own or others safety. Burkeās example of the Naziās was useful, but we can relate this to Gay too. Gay developed an eating disorder for a while, like many people, and while her ed was not the usual, it still was. Many people starve themselves in the hopes to reach some standard of perfect beauty they feel they either arenāt at yet or hope to maintain. There is no such thing as perfect beauty. There is no such thing as perfect. Not here. Not for humans. And thatās okay. Our goal to improve the world for each other is good. Our goal to improve ourselves is good too, as long as we do so in a healthy way, not by starving or harming ourselves. Improve your relationships with the people in your lives, with yourself. Take your time. Seek assistance as needed. Youāve got this. We are perfectly imperfect and itās wonderful.
Yup! Thatās all Iāve got for this one. Message me if you see something that looks incorrect or if you have a question! I may not have the answer right away, but we can figure it out together. Until next time, check out Kenneth Burkeās work and Roxane Gayās.
āDefinition of Man.ā Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition_of_man.
Gay, Roxane. Hunger: A Memoir of My Body. HarperCollins, 2018.
āTerministic Screen.ā Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 May 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terministic_screen
Classes with Dr. Rory Lee. (not MLA, sorry)