A starting point
Jan. 25th, 2007 05:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ineffabelleAsk yourself, for instance - Why are there Hotels?
First off, realize that there are a lot of ways to answer that... one that I like is:
Because someone once decided that there was something called a Hotel, and got people to agree with his idea.
Once enough people believed in Hotels, they proliferated...
Now on another level, we can say - He decided that there should be a "Hotel" because he saw that travellers had a need for some place to stay. We can keep following the regression back and forth now, seeing how "Airports" developed, and contributed to travel, and before that the idea of "vacations" and so on and so forth...
But the initial question and answer provide a good context for looking at all of these phenomena. Because it also hints at the passage of cultural structures from novelty to glorification to criticism to institutionalization as a "normal" part of reality. And people then stop asking Why are there Hotels?... and a great deal is lost in that process. Because there might be a better way.
"Normal, everyday reality" should ultimately seem curious and arbitrary, and that's a good starting point.
First off, realize that there are a lot of ways to answer that... one that I like is:
Because someone once decided that there was something called a Hotel, and got people to agree with his idea.
Once enough people believed in Hotels, they proliferated...
Now on another level, we can say - He decided that there should be a "Hotel" because he saw that travellers had a need for some place to stay. We can keep following the regression back and forth now, seeing how "Airports" developed, and contributed to travel, and before that the idea of "vacations" and so on and so forth...
But the initial question and answer provide a good context for looking at all of these phenomena. Because it also hints at the passage of cultural structures from novelty to glorification to criticism to institutionalization as a "normal" part of reality. And people then stop asking Why are there Hotels?... and a great deal is lost in that process. Because there might be a better way.
"Normal, everyday reality" should ultimately seem curious and arbitrary, and that's a good starting point.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-26 01:14 am (UTC)I'm completely with you. On my very best days, that's exactly how it seems. Unsettling, but in a good way.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-27 04:55 am (UTC)write write write! join wiki go yes do
Infictive
pls?
You are brilliant. You could bring so much to this little party. Rock the casbah.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-27 05:06 am (UTC)<3