The Car: Toy or Mask?
3-26-06
In the article “Faking it: The Virtual Lawyer,” Michael Lewis tells his readers, “we have no 'self' as such. Our selves are merely the masks we wear in response to the social situations in which we find ourselves.” Then the article goes on to relate this to the social situations presented by the Internet and how we have created a whole new set of masks in response to the Internet. Cars are the same. They, too, have created a whole new set of social situations to which we have created a whole new set of masks. The cars can even be the masks themselves.
When we talk about cars, we laugh at how stereotypes feel the need to trick out their cars; about how shallow people believe that the cooler their car is, the cooler they are. We all say this, and laugh about it. Still, though, we all feel self-conscious about our cars. We all know that our cars can be a heavy reflection on our personalities. Whether you are poor and you have nice car, or you are rich and you maintain a “mediocre” car, you car makes a statement about you, like clothing or jewelry etc. And since that statement may or may not be correct concerning you, the car can easily be used as a mask.
To make yourself seem better off, you drive a sophisticated and expensive car. To make yourself seem ‘cooler’ you drive a small ‘falling apart’ car, if you’re a soccer mom, you drive child-safe mini van etc. And whether the projected image is accurate or no, most passersby will interpret it as such
The appearance and condition of your car can touch on your finer personality points as well. For example, Mary J., of Hooksett is organized and controlling. So her truck is as clean as the day she got it, and she drives a stick. Kelly K., of Hooksett, is not in the greatest financial position, is overly safe, and has a an abundance of friends. So she drives an old minivan.
But the reflections and stereotypes don’t apply to all. Some people actually have a certain car for its performance and for the joy of driving it. Like Pat D., of Hooksett. He drives an Audi A4. But he makes no pretense about it, he just like the way it handles in the snow.
Mask or toy, your car and its condition will always tell countless tales about you. Most of which you will be telling yourself. But in the end, the car is just a machine invented to facilitate commute and communication, isn’t it?
More irrelevant topics. You can feel, throughout the entire paper: is this assignment done yet? My opinion has changed since then, so there's that. This paper poorly organized and almost makes a point then seems to change its mind in the last paragraph, rendering it even more useless.
In the article “Faking it: The Virtual Lawyer,” Michael Lewis tells his readers, “we have no 'self' as such. Our selves are merely the masks we wear in response to the social situations in which we find ourselves.” Then the article goes on to relate this to the social situations presented by the Internet and how we have created a whole new set of masks in response to the Internet. Cars are the same. They, too, have created a whole new set of social situations to which we have created a whole new set of masks. The cars can even be the masks themselves.
When we talk about cars, we laugh at how stereotypes feel the need to trick out their cars; about how shallow people believe that the cooler their car is, the cooler they are. We all say this, and laugh about it. Still, though, we all feel self-conscious about our cars. We all know that our cars can be a heavy reflection on our personalities. Whether you are poor and you have nice car, or you are rich and you maintain a “mediocre” car, you car makes a statement about you, like clothing or jewelry etc. And since that statement may or may not be correct concerning you, the car can easily be used as a mask.
To make yourself seem better off, you drive a sophisticated and expensive car. To make yourself seem ‘cooler’ you drive a small ‘falling apart’ car, if you’re a soccer mom, you drive child-safe mini van etc. And whether the projected image is accurate or no, most passersby will interpret it as such
The appearance and condition of your car can touch on your finer personality points as well. For example, Mary J., of Hooksett is organized and controlling. So her truck is as clean as the day she got it, and she drives a stick. Kelly K., of Hooksett, is not in the greatest financial position, is overly safe, and has a an abundance of friends. So she drives an old minivan.
But the reflections and stereotypes don’t apply to all. Some people actually have a certain car for its performance and for the joy of driving it. Like Pat D., of Hooksett. He drives an Audi A4. But he makes no pretense about it, he just like the way it handles in the snow.
Mask or toy, your car and its condition will always tell countless tales about you. Most of which you will be telling yourself. But in the end, the car is just a machine invented to facilitate commute and communication, isn’t it?
More irrelevant topics. You can feel, throughout the entire paper: is this assignment done yet? My opinion has changed since then, so there's that. This paper poorly organized and almost makes a point then seems to change its mind in the last paragraph, rendering it even more useless.
posted by Andy | 7:17 PM
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