 hat was the genre
of the last movie you saw? Action? Thriller? Drama? Comedy? Whatever the answer is, you
feel the need to put it into one of these groups, don't you? Although this seems to be
necessary in order to define the world we live in, at some point the classifications start
to shape our relations with others. They cause us to accept all the members of one group
and reject the members of another. When these artificial "adjectives" gain the
ability to control our actions, we lose the logic of examining each individual on his/her
own terms. We see someone as a "member." What he/she really is becomes secondary
when the group he/she belongs to becomes his/her primary identity.
Such extreme classifications have other effects besides reducing our understanding of
other people. I remember something a friend told me: She always shares her favorite songs
with her friends via the Net. One day, she sends the song "İstanbul Twilight"
by Brooklyn Funk Essentials to a friend. (Although irrelevant to the issue at hand, I
strongly recommend their works.)
A week later, she asks him if he liked the song. The guy gives an answer which was
obviously created by a mind with concrete rooms in it: "At the beginning I did enjoy
it, but I didn't know what to do with the song. My friends and I act in two different ways
when we listen to a song: We either stand up and dance to the rhythm, or drink alcohol and
talk about life. Neither of them is possible with this song. So I guess it doesn't fit
me."
I must admit how interesting his analysis is concerning his own habits. But he
(intentionally or unintentionally) blindfolds himself to how such limits decrease all the
things he could gain from life. And he's not alone. In one area or another, we all prefer
to "simplify" life by taking people or things as "members" of a group
instead of as their real selves. The sad fact is that the only thing we really simplify is
ourselves.
* * *
As you know, the new year and final exams are coming hand-in-hand this year. Thanks for
putting up with my presence here every week since the beginning of the semester. Hope all
your final exam questions turn out to be about the chapters you've studied the most.
İsmail O. Postalcıoğlu (POLS/II)
orhan@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr
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