Sunday, August 15, 2010
Does Repetition Make Truth?
In Aldous Huxley's work, Brave New World, toddlers are forced to endure sleep-teaching- the practice of playing a set of statements over and over while a subject is asleep. These statements then form the beliefs of the children; for instance, the Gamma children might hear the statement "I will not associate with any Epsilon children. They are dirty and stupid. The Alpha children are much smarter than me, but I'm so happy I don't have to do as much work as they do." These sentences will be repeated countless times, without the children ever knowing. It is slipped into their subconscious, even though the thoughts will affect their conscious actions. Every day, thoughts are subliminally slipped into our subconscious as well. When we see beautiful newsanchors on the television evening after evening, the thought that appearance is important is embedded into our minds. Of course this scenario doesn't hold true for everyone, but do you believe that repetition has the ability to make something true? After all, our parents told us not to steal, so stealing is bad. But would stealing still be bad if there was no one to tell us it was? What's your take on this?
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As Justin says on Wizard of Waverly Place;
ReplyDelete"Chanting makes it important."
Ironically enough I used a T.V. show to form my opinion to answer your blog post. Repetition only annoys me, especially from the mouth of a parent or some higher authority. But it's true, if they say something to me enough, it is bound to get STUCK in my head and I'll probably use those same ANNOYING repeated lessons, like "Don't steal" to teach my future children, you know? But you make a really, really good point. Would we know stealing is bad if no one told us? I don't think we would Quiana, but if no one knew stealing was bad, would it be called stealing?
Oh! And like teachers say "If I say it more than once, it's most likely to be on the test!"
ReplyDeleteMaybe it doesn't make it true, but obviously the repition helps your mind remember, kind of like what Breahna. Often times, this happens to me; if I'm watching ESPN and I fall asleep, I would dream about the Laker game that day or something like that. Or if you're trying to study something, wouldn't you constantly repeat it?
ReplyDeletekind of like what Breahna said.*
ReplyDelete