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Semantic Enviorment Decoding
Semantic Enviorment Decoding
Semantic Enviorment Decoding
3-1-21
Dr. Schuchardt
Visual Symbolism
“I won’t settle for less than perfect. We want perfect children, perfect life,
the perfect husband or the perfect wife” (Lower Your Expectations Bo Burnam). In a
malaise of mediocrity. Progress has achieved a sacred stature within secular society,
the true ideal in modern culture is progression. But if progress has become the new
sacred, then that implies that progress must be perfect; if our progression is not
impeccable then we can never reach the sublime of manmade salvation and it is all
what I call imperfect progression. Fueled by the American dream, the value
maintaining our mediocre status in hope for the quintessential hypothetical: can we
obtain more, can we obtain better, can we obtain perfection? This striving for an
remembered not for its technology nor even its wars but for its novel ethos. Ours is
the only civilization in history which has enshrined mediocrity as it’s national ideal”
(Moviegoer, Walker Percy). The allure of this national ideal is potent because
Mediocrity is non committal, mediocrity allows one to keep their options open,
mediocrity offers the potential of a better life without having to seek it, mediocrity is
the reality of the American dream. Mediocrity has become enshrined by a culture of
ignorance through the insatiable glut of infinite possibilities and the inception of
symbols, which has created a cultural malaise fueled by desire fulfilled by nothing.
culture of mediocrity we must first get a better understanding of what this mediocrity
looks like and how it affects one’s life. The musical Hamilton is phenomenal in many
ways, but perhaps my favorite element from the play is the dichotomy between
Alexander hamilton and Aaron Burr. We see exactly what kind of character Hamilton is
in the song My Shot, Hamilton is relentless, he creates his own opportunities and
unfortunately to his detriment his own “deliverance.” Burr is the complete antithesis
of that, we see this in his song Wait For It. Burr is waiting, waiting for a reason to be
with a girl, waiting for a reason for success, waiting for a reason to be alive. He is
constantly sitting on the fence, “I’ll wait here and see which way the wind will blow.”
Burr wants what Hamilton has, political success, but he never gets it because he waits
for an opportunity rather than creating it. In the same way, we have cultivated a
cultural environment that waits for a hypothetical ideal scenario. I think of my own
life, rather than approaching a girl I find attractive, I wait for an ideal moment, a
moment that never comes and a girl that I never see again. Or to take it even deeper,
we as a culture are waiting for a reason to live, just like Burr we don’t seek out our
own purpose we wait for a purpose to find us. While this waiting creates an
We become number one pick Raiders quarterback Jamarcus Russell with potential to
change the game of football forever and go on to live a career of mediocrity and
disappointment.
But why is this mediocrity of waiting so alluring? Why has potential become a
if our progress is imperfect then we ourselves are forced to resonate with our own
stagnation offers than to come to grips with our own defects and ultimately morality.
The character of Jerry Seinfeld in the show Seinfeld demonstrates this fear of
imperfect progression. Jerry has an affinity for breaking up with women once the
slightest flaw is shown. Jerry hooks up with a plethora of women during the nine
season course of the show but none are able to satisfy his expectations. Oh she has
man hands, oh she looks gorgeous in the light but hideous in the dark, she has a weird
laugh, she's pretty great but her roommate is better. To know is to love and to love is
to commit. But that commitment must be enacted often despite that knowledge. To
love, we must accept the flaws of each other and commit to each other regardless of
those flaws. With the allure of endless options at our fingertips the idea of
This indecision is the consequence of symbols that have incepted us since our
childhood. “Am I ready for love? Maybe I’m stuck with what I’ve seen on TV, I grew up
on disney, this don’t feel like disney” (Turning out AJR). Disney raised entire
happily ever after. For many Disney films the prince saves the girl or they save each
other; they overcome obstacles, fall in love and then happily ever after. The influence
these types of stories have had on kids as they grow up is detrimental to almost any
loved one in hopes that they’ll save us from whatever evil witch or dragon that
deprives us. Just Like Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, we view any potential loved
life. Therein lies the problem, resentment is the byproduct of expectations left
unfulfilled. Resentment sows doubt and when doubt is met with the infinite array of
them.
dating apps like Tinder or any other dating site for that matter. This new medium of
of online dating has revolutionized how we meet and interact with members of the
opposite sex. Online dating enhances the chance encounter. It creates more
opportunities to interact and banter with a potential mate, which in turn allows one
to select the best candidate among a plethora of potential mates. This creates an
obsolescence of that awkward first date, where you can’t think of any potential
talking points because you have theoretically already been communicating via the app
for a few days and ideally have at least some type of notion of what kind of person
your date is. It eliminates the need to approach potential candidates in person.
Because the dating app has enhanced the chance encounter there is no longer a need
for a forced tangible meeting, which always has the potential for secular society's
worst fear: awkwardness. Online dating retrieves a courting process. You are matched
together--outside yourself--by some divine algorithm and given the chance to interact
with each other without pressure before dating. This courting process is what we call
in modern times the talking stage. The talking stage makes or breaks a relationship, it
gives both parties the chance to inquire about the potential fit and dynamic of a
relationship without the pressure of it. The talking stage allows one to court another
with the presuposed option of opting out no strings attached, which is a process that
has been coined as ghosting. However--and here's the ironic twist--online dating
reverses the actual purpose of dating. If the purpose of dating is marriage, the
choose wrong? We become Jerry Seinfeld and ghost our potential mate when the
slightest flaw is shown. This is what actor and comedian Aziz Ansari talks about in his
book Modern Romance, “The world is available to us, but that may be the problem.”
The idea of endless potential is overwhelming, so much so that that potential never
turn evolves to apathy. If value is the function of scarcity, then the idea of infinite
This loops us back to the idea of visual symbols incepting us. The nonchalant
apathetic character has become cool. The naive hero type of Luke Skywalker is
alright, but that Han Solo character that's who I want to be that guy is cool. Apathy
has become synonymous with this idea of what cool is. Being cool has become a
commodity, the ability to play aloof has become an attractive trait. Because our
visual culture has established characters like Jerry Seinfeld, like Han Solo or even
Aaron Burr as grizzled veterans of life, who look at the meaninglessness of it all and
don’t even blink an eye, are perceived as role models. In an existential secular reality
to be wished. But our apathy never plays out like Jerry or Han, no, our apathy often
results in a life of nihilistic depression. Our expectations for a perfect life turn to
apathy which in turns results in malaise and “nothing remains but desire” (Walker
Percy).