Romantic Love and Society Addiction to Triviality

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/science/13tier.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

We are starting the year with news about the terrible economic moment we are either living or about to live if we still have jobs to fear of losing. After my trip to Mexico I had not posted anything new into the blog, and when I was preparing an article on the wonderful new country that the United States has become after electing Obama, I found this article about love, among the new year resolutions, and the grim stock market reports. This news piece written by John Tierney, describes how romantic love acts on us as a drug, and how now neuroscientists in their search for making life happier or duller at best, are working on a "magic potion" to fall in our out of love, and recover from infatuation. In fact Tierney, celebrates the possibility of a drug that prevents you not to "make an infatuated ass of yourself." That is not necessarily bad if there is somewhere a willingness for an institutional grand design, that will reengineer that weak and terrible institution that is the family, and that supposedly is the basis of our social and political arrangements.


In the area of sex, doctors such Dr. Larry Young, the neuroscientist that has developed a grand unified theory of love out of his primary research on autism, has performed experiments placing oxytocin into people´s nostrils to develop trust and empathy. According to the findings, people under the effect of oxytocin do feel more attached. Apparently love hormones do improve our social skills!

The most hilarious comment on the article is Tierney´s question regarding a love potion involving neuropeptids shooted into your nostrils : Tienrey says: "Even if the effects could somehow be targeted to the right partner, would you want to start building a long-term relationship with a short-term drug? What happens when it wears off?"

Well, what happens is exactly what has historically happened with weak bonds based solely in romantic attachment: they wear off by themselves, and you do not need to worry about any artificial stimulants. To be truthful modern western marriage, and therefore modern western family are precisely based in this short-term drug or romantic love with no need of artificial potions. Fueled by society, and popular culture, current expectations for romantic love have grown out of proportion. Couples are expected to keep the supposedly base of society solely on the enchantment of hormones, while society and its institutions fall apart. Even if we develop the perfect drug for couple attachment, what about the mores of a most flawed institution such as the family? what about uneven distribution of labor inside the household, the roles for males, females, and children in both public and private spheres? what about respect and equality among the romantic partners? does a permanent romantic attachment prevent violence, and disfunction? Given our social conceptions of romantic love, would it be possible to develop friendship and solidarity among permanently infatuated couples? Is there a material arrangement for this to happen, or are we going to economize on human relations expecting to obtain everything from a romantic partner and a nuclear family? What about friendship and social bonds?

I am not trying to say that discoveries made by scientists are to be disdained upon, but there is much more to society than romantic love, and its neurotransmitters. The current distribution of labor, the fact that there is less and less time to socialize for married partners, and in general for everybody due to jobs that demand long working hours, the frightening economic crisis that threatens even more the fair distribution of work in the domestic sphere. The incredible high expectations to obtain every social need from the partnership of marriage, along all the other factors are loosening crucial social bonds enacted to solidarity and social and political action. Perpetual romantic love will most likely not solve the uneven arrangement of the family structure. What about working on genetic design, and also working on social design to come up with better institutions for human life and happiness?

Day of the Dead Altar Installation at the Communications Department, UCSD

On November 4th some students at the Communication Department in UCSD helped to install the second Day of the Dead Altar. This year, the altar was built as part of Professor Zeinabú Davis Production class. The altar was open for people to see it from November 4th until November 7th at the production room 140.

The Day of the Dead altar honored Herbert Schiller, the founder of the Department, and was based on his critical take on social issues and the news media. People brought some of their satyrical verses (calaveras) to be displayed at the altar.


These poems are used during this time of the year to criticize or protest public figures (especially politicians). It implies that a particular figure was taken by "la muerte" (la pelona) as punishment for his or her bad deeds. The poems offer the reasons why the figure is being taken: because they are evil, boring, stupid, or bad rulers. The verses can be short (one octave of a sonnet, etc). The verses can be rhyming or not; about one person, a type of person (politicians, academics, Hollywood figures, etc), group of people, a whole country, etc. Also it is common to exchange this verses among friends as a sign of friendship. Despite of this, the verses are still funny.

This installation combines the Pre-hispanic celebration of the dead, with the very contemporary social criticism that has evolved from this custom, especially since the Porfiriato era in Mexico (Dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz), when images of skeletons dressed very elegantly were shown in drawings to criticize the extreme social polarization that Mexican society faced during this time. These drawings by artist José Guadalupe Posada, helped to awaken the spirit of the Mexican Revolution. This type of art associated to the Day of the Dead and social criticism has evolved and it is very popular now among the Mexican-American and Latino community in California. The custom is rapidly moving to become "mainstream" and the "tradition" is becoming more and more syncretic, with pre-hispanic, and contemporary elements to it.

We are trying to establish a tradition and to take the more political side of this beautiful custom. The altar was a dedication to Herbert Schiller, and also to remember our friend Soe Feng Sim, with a piece of art that she gave to Dan Hallin. Dan offered this piece to be put in the altar to remember her as well. The piece is the Chinese painting that you see in the back of the photo. Personally I think this makes the altar more interesting and beautiful, and does not limit it to a particular region of the world. On the bottom of the altar, you can see some of the satyrical verses dedicated either to some of us (Magalí wrote two: one for me and another for Dan Hallin), or about politicians and public figures. There are also some Amaranto bread (Quinoa seed bread) at the bottom of the altar. Candy skulls used to be made of amaranto and honey, although you cannot find these skulls anymore, I found the amaranto bread in Tijuana.

Shakespeare Insult Generator/Generador de Insultos

This is a very cool page, it generates insults from Shakespeare works. For those trying to find clever ways to insult people may find this insult generator amusing.


Finally this year I am brave enough to venture into reading Shakespeare plays. As I was reading King Lear, I noticed that Shakespeare was witty in his ways of insulting people. I am just discovering that Shakespeare is actually quite famous for his insults (not only for the countless words he invented), and even when English is not my first language, I have found the insults quite creative and compelling.

Por fin este año me he armado de valor y he empezado a leer algunas de las obras de Shakespeare. Cuando leía King Lear, comencé a notar que algunas líneas eran verdaderos poemas en el arte de insultar. Ahora mismo descubro que Shakespeare es famoso en este arte del elaborado insulto (no solamente por las innumerables palabras que inventó). Incluso a pesar de que el inglés no es mi lengua materna, encuentro los insultos bastante creativos. Aquí pongo algunos con traducciones (con una gran licencia poética bdw).

Here are some of them you may find them in the generator:

In civility thou seem'st so empty.

En civilidad pareces tan vacío.
(tomado de "As You Like it").


Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty
To make thy riches pleasant.

No tienes ni enjundia, ni afecto, ni miembros del cuerpo, ni belleza para hacer tus riquezas placenteras.

Taken from Measure for Measure

Your bum is the greatest thing about you; so that in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great.

Tu trasero es la cosa más grandiosa que posees; así es que en el sentido más bestial, eres Pompeyo el Grande.

(Taken from Measure for Measure, Shakespeare)

or my very favorite:

Thou hath not so much brain as ear wax.

O my favorito:

¡Tienes más cerilla que cerebro!

From Troilus and Cressida

Los Justos (The righteous)

After a very long time I am coming back to the blog. I was intending this blog to be more related to strictly professional articles, but life happens, so I had decided just to add things that I am thinking as an everyday basis.

This is a poem by Jorge Luis Borges, named "Los Justos" (the just ones, or the righteous), about everyday acts of kindness and care that keep the world steady. I have been thinking a lot about how dreadful some days may be with no bright or magnificent things to look upon. We are taught through popular culture, literature and our own families and friends that life has to have those grandiose moments everyday, but it is actually the sum of the small moments that have the capacity to make our lives meaningful and worth living. So, in an effort to keep up with this blog and not only wait until I have a complete article to offer to the cyberspace, I am adding this poem translated to English as well. The painting with flying books over the ocean is mine, and the books have the poem of Los Justos on the cover. I painted this in order to honor wisdom and knowledge.

Antonieta

Los Justos
de Jorge Luis Borges



Un hombre que cultiva un jardín, como quería Voltaire.
El que agradece que en la tierra haya música.
El que descubre con placer una etimología.
Dos empleados que en un café del Sur juegan un silencioso ajedrez.
El ceramista que premedita un color y una forma.
Un tipógrafo que compone bien esta página, que tal vez no le agrada
Una mujer y un hombre que leen los tercetos finales de cierto canto.
El que acaricia a un animal dormido.
El que justifica o quiere justificar un mal que le han hecho.
El que agradece que en la tierra haya Stevenson.
El que prefiere que los otros tengan razón.
Esas personas, que se ignoran, están salvando el mundo.

My (very bad translation to English)

The righteous
Jorge Luis Borges

A man who cultivates a garden as Voltaire wanted.
The one that is grateful that there is music on earth
The one that discovers the pleasure of an etymology
Two coffee shop employees in the South that silently play chess
The ceramist who premeditates a color and a form
The typographer who fixes that page that maybe dislikes
One woman and a man who read two final tercets of some song.
The one that caress a sleeping animal
The one that justifies or tries to justify the bad deeds of others
The one that is grateful that there is Stevenson on earth
The one that prefers that others be right most of the time.
These people that ignore themselves, are saving the world.

Tribus Urbanas en México

Hace unos pocos días, en la avenida Reforma de la Ciudad de México ocurrió un enfrentamiento entre unas llamadas "tribus urbanas". En una congregación de jóvenes llamados "emos" irrumpieron otro grupo de jóvenes llamados "darketos" arguyendo que los emos son una mala copia de estos y atribuyéndoles una serie de características que los colocan a niveles infrahumanos, listos para asestarles el tiro de gracia. Justo cuando el pleito entre los "emos" (conocidos por su profunda emotividad y vestimentas semi-dark pero llamativas), y los punketos (que no quieren ser confundidos con los emos, pero que a los ojos de los observadores no educados en estos asuntos tribales, parecen muy similares) afloraba, y se disponían a darse macanazos y asestarse golpes no solo de palabras, sino con cuanto objeto pudieran, otra tribu urbana se presentó a calmarlos: los hare krishna.

Este evento me pareció extraño, pero muy pintoresco y mientras me rascaba la cabeza en mi ambiente anestesiado del sur de California, me preguntaba cómo es la vida ahora entre tribus urbanas en mi ciudad natal. Lo que me pareció ingenioso, fue que la presencia de los Hare Krishnas (una tribu urbana bastante vieja), haya calmado los ánimos de exterminio de los darkos, y punketos en contra de los emos, que según éstos, son percibidos como "poco auténticos" , "comercializados" y con prácticas sexuales "fuera de lo común" ¿qué es lo común para los punketos me pregunto?.

Las tribus han generado noticias durante toda la semana, tanto los punketos como los emos han sido entrevistados, y mientras en Querétaro el gobierno se apresuraba a persuadir a los emos a no juntarse en la plaza central para evitar la ira de los Punks y los darks, otros conflictos asomaban en distintas partes del país (sobre todo en la ciudad de México y en la red) en donde los emos son catalogados como poco menos que sub-humanos y candidatos a la eliminación como solución última a la humillación que los darketos perciben de este otro grupo, pues son muy parecidos entre sí, y los darkos no quieren ser identificados como emos...Por eso la negación casi brutal. Hay sólo que ver algunos videos en el youtube, que asustan por tal contenido de odio y de cosificación hacia este grupo del que apenas me entero de su existencia. Por otro lado, como bien lo dicen en muchas fuentes noticiosas, éstos jóvenes (tanto darkos, como punkos y demases), responden con este deseo de arraigarse en una identidad determinada, a las nulas perspectivas del mercado laboral que tiene ya varias décadas sin integrarlos como seres productivos. Siendo así, las identidades y las diferenciaciones en estilos de música y de vestimenta, suplen a la identidad forjada respecto a las ocupaciones, el estado, el gobierno y el porvenir (que para muchos nunca se cristalizará en una vida productiva, no por falta de deseos de ser productivo, sino por la falta de opciones viables y de un sistema alienante que sólo premia a los que ya tienen y condena a no mejorar a los menos afortunados).

Por otro lado, este tipo de manifestaciones de identidad, curiosamente adolescen de interrogantes y propuestas respecto al estado, al gobierno, a las organizaciones de la fe, o a la sociedad alienante. Son identidades directamente ligadas al libre mercado, que tienen mucho que ver con los productos (ropa, música, etc), que se adquieren para verse o identificarse con uno u otro grupo. Esta característica es precisamente la que hace que estos movimientos estén a merced de los cambios en la moda y las fluctuaciones de lo considerado "cool".

Aquí, los últimos sucesos respecto a este conflicto entre tribus urbanas......lo que es estar uno desfasado. Y pensé que los conflictos entre naco y fresa eran los principales entre las tribus mexicanas.... y según informes, los emos y los darkos ya tienen sus cuatro añitos odiándose....hay que vivir más!

Toni


Convoca GDF a emos y punketos a dialogar el martes
La idea es realizar una mesa redonda para llegar a acuerdos a fin de evitar enfrentamientos entre los jóvenes.

Notimex / La Jornada On Line
Publicado: 21/03/2008 20:08

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2008/03/21/convoca-gdf-a-emos-y-punketos-a-dialogar-el-martes