On Literature, Culture, Society, and Class Theory

Recently I was on my literature class, and my professor, possibly still working on the introductions on the subject, started teaching regarding on how the society ‘canonizes’, or recognize a certain work of writing a ‘literature’. He showed three criteria on how to verify:

1. A literature must be printed/published
   • Obviously, to recognize something it must be accessible, and observable, either on print or published online
2. A literature must be read by readers
   • At this point, having written and published your work, if it’s not publicized, it cannot be canonized along the glut of other literary works
3. A literature must be critiqued
   • A critique is a detailed analysis and evaluation of something, particularly a literature. This is the crucial part of a written work. Though it was already published or read by many, without a critique, it cannot be ‘canonized’

We are aware that in this postmodern world, the populace of the entirety of the world is growing exponentially. The state of growing abundance of creative force derived from the growing population is worrisome, as the significance of every piece of work is getting, in actuality, more and more lesser, the more literature is recognized the less their prominence become.

Time Travel: Grandfather Paradox and Alternate Timelines

 

We all thought about Time Traveling. We all dreamed about it, contemplated about it, at least at some point of our time. It happens when we regret.

Regrets – we are rueful about something that failed to happen, or something happen beyond our will. We regret for the things that we have done, and things that we didn’t do. Then we thought about going back in the past and do what must be done.

This kind of trope has been ages, since the early ages up to the contemporary. With or without a machine that we sometimes call ‘Time Machine’, that has been popularized by H.G. Wells on his science-fiction novel of the same name, time traveling is always thing on our imaginations and in the science-fiction genre.

“A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

To commemorate William Shakespeare’s 400th Death Anniversary, Let’s remember one of the remarkable quotes the legendary playwright had.

“A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

This outrageous statement is definitely a farce. Who is the sane scion who would trade his own kingdom – an invaluable possession – for a common, cheap horse? and it’s just a horse – a single horse, not a multitude of it to suffice the value of a kingdom.

But even the most worthless thing in life could be invaluable when in dire need.

This quote is the most remarkable quote that will add to my philosophy. Nothing be worthy when it is needless; but anything will be when needed. The value of something is not intrinsic and fixed as it varies on the need and the usefulness of it.

Pokémon: Poké Balls grant Immortality?

Pokémon is a popular media franchise owned by The Pokémon Company. Pokemon franchise started back in 1996 with a video game of the same name developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. While this game had become a commercial success, the franchise didn’t just stayed on their gaming enterprise, and was adapted numerous times into Japanese animation under the same name.

Scrutiny on the Fallacy – “Everything Happens for a Reason”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

“That happened to you because if it doesn’t, you might be in a bad place.”

“Bad things have to happen in order for the good times to come after.”

“In every storm, there is a rainbow.”

“There are no accidents or coincidences; all things happen with a purpose”

We probably encountered this kind of statements – regardless of language or culture you have. Humans generally use this to console a current plight. For example, “You probably got your car engine busted because there is an imminent disaster en route.” This is probably acceptable, because it is possible; but I call this ‘bullshit’. This is the least possible advice you can say to anyone who is currently on a hard time in life.

Why? Because it’s all fallacy, folks, and it is a poor philosophy. Read on to know why.