Author Archives: hhobbs

All the Action

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I had the opportunity to work on the Save the Orcas campaign this quarter as part of the Action project, and I gained some amazing insights along the road. I had never worked on a campaign like this before, and on top of that, I had never participated in a program where I was being directed by a person who was younger than I was. My introduction to the marketing side came from the work we did for this campaign, which was mostly focused on their social media initiatives. I found this experience to be energizing because I had never before worked in marketing. I learned that even something as simple as designing an infographic for a company’s Instagram story required careful consideration and effort to ensure that the information was both readable and attention-grabbing enough for viewers.

Working with my classmates, I discovered that the work that was most successful was that which was motivated by the very animals we were attempting to save. When viewed in light of the information, the marketing we did might appear to be rather depressing; however, by incorporating color schemes meant to evoke images of the sea and the lives of these creatures, we were able to balance somber facts with amusing depictions of orcas enjoying their habitat and the effects they had on their environments. I was frequently reminded of the albatross movie we saw in class as I worked on this project. The natural order of things is still being destroyed as civilization advances deeper into the Anthropocene, particularly when it comes to the habitats of the oceans. A number of species are on the verge of extinction with little hope left due to the continued dumping of rubbish and the bad management of human constructions. At least with our project, we could see a clear result of the action we wanted to do, and by succeeding in that, it might even result in a slight improvement in the natural world. I couldn’t stop wondering how we could have ever allowed the world to get to this position while watching the albatross movie, but because of this campaign, I was able to see an example of it happening in our own backyard.

Death on the Brain

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Throughout this course I have had to alter my opinions on contemplative practices. When we were first introduced to contemplative practices I thought of them as a waste of time, something that would only lead to a distraction rather than aiding our learning process. As we have moved through many different practices I have found myself becoming more and more immersed in them and am finding out more and more about myself. I have always been a major advocate for the idea that resolutions to problems or questions mostly occur through conversation and putting thoughts to words but these practices have forced me to challenge that idea. It seems to me that some questions are too large or too personal to be spoken about easily and these kinds of questions have been especially prevalent during this course. When considering these kinds of questions, especially those that pertain to human mortality, contemplative practices have been invaluable. 

Using the methods that have been deployed in this course I have been able to better understand not only the different philosophies when confronting death but my own personal philosophy as well. The practices give me a unique perspective on this as I have narcolepsy which is a sleeping disorder where I will fall asleep with little to no provocation. As we work through these exercises I can feel myself fading towards the darkness that is sleep and to be doing this while debating the momentous topic of human mortality leads to an incredibly sobering, if not terrifying, line of thought. These types of thought fall in line perfectly when addressing Terror Management Theory and how it affects the way we address death. When doing these exercises it forces one to evaluate their distal defenses in order to better understand how they combat their own mortality and how they view their impact on the world. For myself, as someone who is not religious I questioned what my existence amounted to and what I thought my goals should be in order to be a benefit rather than a liability. Going though these very personal journeys has provided me with insight that I doubt I would have found if left to my own devices. Contemplative practices have become a daily occurrence for me and something that I will continue past the end of this course.

 

Resources and Inspirations

 

The Worm at the Core. Solomon, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski.

 

Class Discussions and Practices


Death and Culture’s Love Affair

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As this course has progressed the conversations being had during class have continued to evolve and push further into the psyche that surrounds death and the Anthropocene. There have been several stimulating discussions but one that stood out to me was concerning the connection between Terror Management Theory and the differing reactions based on cultural values.

For those unaware of Terror Management Theory it can be understood through both proximal and distal defences, but its main purpose is to defend a persons mind against concerns about death through either conscious or unconscious thoughts. It is also considered to be one of our main triggers when embarking on actions such as alcohol consumption, exercise, or different driving behaviors. When looking at the two different responses the first is proximal which deals with conscious threats by pushing them away from focal attention. The second is distal, which addresses the unconscious thoughts through a sense of meaning or value; this is the response that I intend to focus on. Two of the main contributors to distal responses are religion and culture and through these we can see how different people interact with their conceptions of death. 

 

One might ask why the relationship between death and culture is so tight knit but that is the way it has been for as long as history has been recorded. This was evident in The Worm at the Core as they wrote, “The idea that knowledge of our mortality plays a pivotal role in human affairs is ancient” and the authors then go on to mention this being included in many texts such as the Qur’an, the Bible, and Buddhist texts. It seems to me that people have always searched for comfort when it comes to death and through these desires religion and culture were built. Knowing that the end of their mortal life was not the end of their existence and consciousness has allowed for people to think of death more comfortably, less like the end and more like a transition to another phase. Different cultures have different ideas of life after death, if they do believe in one, but many share the same central ideas. Many find comfort knowing that a life spent well on Earth leads to something more and their individual cultural beliefs give them something to expect.

 

Resources and Inspirations

The Worm at the Core. Solomon, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski. Chapter 1

Class Discussions



Younger Generations Struggles with Futility and Mental Health

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When entering this course I had no real expectations or ideas of what it would entail. However after our discussion about the several different ways the human race may go extinct I began to understand what this class would explore. During this discussion I began to wonder about the seemingly ever increasing mental health problems each generation has been reporting. I began to ponder the different possibilities for this and how they relate to each generation being more and more focused on the futility of different endeavors. 

I considered that each new generation may be experiencing this due to a newfound emphasis that has been garnered around mental health. This seems to ring true as with more exposure and influence being put on a subject it tends to be brought further to the forefront of discussions. Are more people having trouble with mental health because we talk about it more or has talking about it more led to more people perceiving mental health issues that are not as large as they seem? While researching this further I found that American Psychiatric Association contributed this change to a reduction of stigmas and discrimination towards people with mental health issues therefore making it easier for more to admit that they have been repressing emotion. While this increase may have been pushed along by a larger discussion it also stands to reason that past generations have had more mental health issues than originally perceived. 

Another question I asked myself was how the mass spread of information has affected the mental health of the newest generations and whether it has had a marked impact. In the past two decades there has been an explosion of social media and networking. During the course of our discussion during class we talked about the increase in suicides over the past twenty years and how social media has affected this by providing a major influx of information, both good and bad. While listening to Bailey Parnell’s TED Talk about social media I found one quote that resonated with me, “In social media we are the product, and we are letting others attribute value to us”. Social Media has seemed to force maturity on young people showing them things that older generations had years to learn of and become comfortable with.

Resources and Inspiration

The Big Picture

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/stigma-and-discrimination