Conley Hausle

Dr. Ouellette
ENGL 327W
Response One: Response to Classmate A
One aspect of Classmate A’s piece that I found very illuminating was his statement that
students “can’t be anything they want (Classmate A, 9 September 2018).” This harkens back to
the views of Bennet and Royle, who feel that who and what we are is controlled from the
moment we are born. Indeed, we cannot be anything we want, and it seems both foolish and
cruel to lead our children to believe otherwise. This is also somewhat connected to Horkheimer a
Adorno’s point that, while we have the freedom to choose what we do, it is a mere illusion, as
choosing anything other than whatever society wants leads to becoming a pariah.
A second aspect of Classmate A’s reflection that I found poignant was his comment that
millennials have completely attached their self-esteem to likes on social media (Classmate A, 9
September 2018). He seems to disapprove of the phenomenon. This viewpoint seems to go
against Hebdige’s point that film is a way to study culture without language. While I am aware
that many find selfie culture to be very vain, I think that, from a sociological point of view, it
offers valuable insight into where our society and culture are at this time.
One wish I have for Classmate A is to expand on his section of media giants taking sides,
specifically the comment about certain platforms removing and/or censoring what he refers to as
“contrarian viewpoints (Classmate A, 9 September 2018).” This makes me think of when some
platforms removed content from Alex Jones. Some argued that this was a violation of his right to
free speech. Others argued that it was a measure put in place to prevent the spread of hate
speech. Benjamin argues that “The adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to
reality is a process of unlimited scope, as much for thinking as for perception (Benjamin, 1936).”
Thus, I feel like this reaction by these platforms is simply them responding to the change in the
perception of the masses, and that it is not an attempt at censorship at all. Instead, it is them
catering to the opinions of the vast majority of people. Thus, I suppose my question for
Classmate A would be this: where is the line between free speech and hate speech, and on which
side of this line does he believe this issue falls? Are they censoring viewpoints different than
their own, or are they preventing hate speech?
 Conley Hausle
Dr. Ouellette
ENGL 327W
References

Benjamin, Walter. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Prism Key Press, 2010.
Bennett, Andrew and Royle, Nicholas. “Me”. Sept. 9th, 2018.
Hebdige, Dick. "From culture to hegemony." The cultural studies reader (1993): 357-367.
Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor W. Adorno. "The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception."
Media and cultural studies: Keyworks (2006): 41-72.
Classmate A. “Reflection 1.” (2018).