Tuesday, November 18, 2008
BLOGGG
Yoshino declares that the mainstream is a myth because in reality, he believes, there is no social norm that everyone can match themselves to. He believes that every individual person has their own individual qualities and that because of this, there is no standard that can fairly describe more than a very small group of people. He states that even the white man, who appears to satisfy the typical American in every way, has his own personal differences that would separate him from the mainstream, regardless of his familiar appearance. Yoshino is very persuasive because he uses quite a few examples and represents ideas and views already understood by many of us. I would represent the mainstream in America as a white able-bodied male or female who understands and matches with the rest of society. This of course is more of an average because it never actually occurs perfectly.
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2 comments:
I agree with you in that the mainstream is un-definable on principle. It's incredibly hard to find a set of standards by which everybody can agree. I think this statement alone invalidates the idea of mainstream thought.
I do, however, think there is value in the idea of mainstream thought. I think it's natural and acceptable to adopt a societal norm - be that wearing clothes, not hurting others, or learning to read. The fine print, though, is that we must learn to accept differences from this societal norm, and we must let the norms change and adjust as national perceptions and limitations grow and contract.
I liked the succinctness of your blog, as it provides a good overview of the myth of mainstream thought. I also like how you bring yourself into the example to help illustrate your point.
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