{"id":11458,"date":"2025-02-03T18:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T23:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=11458"},"modified":"2025-02-03T21:36:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T02:36:04","slug":"scififebruary04","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/scifi2025\/scififebruary04\/","title":{"rendered":"February 4th: Writing Discussion: Ideas &amp; Arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Plan for the Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/scifi2025\/scifijanuary30\/#gender\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Discuss Delany&#8217;s &#8220;Aye, and Gomorrah&#8230;&#8221;<\/a><\/strong> (Jan. 30th&#8217;s webpage)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Gender<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sexuality<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Romantic Love<\/em> and other lies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/scifi2023\/scifiseptember06\/#scifiracism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Samuel R. Delany&#8217;s &#8220;Racism and Science Fiction&#8221;<\/a><\/strong> (Save for Thursday, 2\/6)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Writing Discussion: Ideas &amp; Arguments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Focus on Gender and Sexuality<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re going to return to this topic throughout the semester, so I figured I should bring up some points that aren&#8217;t obvious on a first reading of &#8220;Aye, and Gomorrah\u2026&#8221; and &#8220;All You Zombies\u2013.&#8221; What I was hoping to convey to you last week was to radically rethink not just hegemonic notions of sexuality (i.e. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heteronormativity\" target=\"_blank\">heteronormativity<\/a>) but also assumptions of sexual activity. We seem to define people based on their romantic proclivities, but we don&#8217;t often recognize people who have no or little desire: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Asexuality\" target=\"_blank\">asexual<\/a> is the &#8220;A&#8221; in <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LGBT#Variants\" target=\"_blank\">LGBTQIA+<\/a>. Also, heterosexism, usually defined as the belief that ONLY male-female coupling is appropriate, tends to consider its practice as normal and all others as deviant. Even people who assume they&#8217;re &#8220;gay friendly&#8221; may hyperfocus on sexuality being a person&#8217;s dominant identity. Consider the following scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hetero &#8220;friends&#8221; pointing out individuals who <em>must<\/em> be of interest: &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t you like him?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A gay couple leaves a group and is told &#8220;be safe,&#8221; which is a pathologizing frame related to HIV\/AIDS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The F\/fascist belief that the LGBTQIA+ community is inherently immoral and will groom children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In Delany&#8217;s &#8220;Aye, and Gomorrah,&#8221; the Spacer narrator goes off with a woman, assuming she&#8217;ll pay him* for sex. She claims:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;You don&#8217;t choose your perversions. You have no perversions at all. You&#8217;re free of the whole business. I love you for that, Spacer. My love starts with the fear of love.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Think about the assumptions loaded in her statement: &#8220;You have no perversions at all.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This reinforces the idea that sexuality governs a person&#8217;s entire identity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Again, if heterosexuality is dominant, everything else is <em>abnormal<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;I want you because you can&#8217;t want me. That&#8217;s the pleasure.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>She uses him in a peculiar way here.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Could Delany be commenting on &#8220;the game&#8221;?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;When you leave, I am going to visit my friends and talk about . . . ah, yes, the beautiful one that got away.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>*The narrator answers &#8220;Male&#8230;.It doesn&#8217;t matter&#8221; when the woman he meets asks, &#8220;Did you start out male or female?&#8221; (p. 410).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sexual Politics<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t worry, you&#8217;re not going to be asked to vote. Earlier on I mentioned that we would discuss the difference between Big-P &#8220;Politics&#8221; and little-p &#8220;politics,&#8221; and today seems like it&#8217;s a good time. Traditionally, you associate &#8220;politics&#8221; with governing the country, and that&#8217;s a good definition, which I&#8217;ll refer to as Big-P (think Democrats and Republicans). However, what&#8217;s more useful for us is the following definition: &#8220;the total complex of relations between people living in society&#8221; (&#8220;politics&#8221; 5a, <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/politics\" target=\"_blank\">Merriam-Webster<\/a><\/strong>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider the following sexual relations between people:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dating, marriage, and divorce (a popular sociology class)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hegemonic patriarchy\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>conquests<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>locker room talk<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>hypermasculinity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mrs. Degree<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fabrication (the rule of three, half truths, &#8220;my buddy is such a scum bag&#8230;&#8221;)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contradiction: American cultural obsession and repression<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You probably know of some unwritten rules that relate to the situations and concepts above. Think about dating? What traditional practices come to mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Writing Discussion: Ideas &amp; Arguments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although I teach classes with more writing requirements, I want to focus on writing this semester. We&#8217;re not covering everything, but I&#8217;d like to guide you on thinking about generating ideas and arguing from a perspective as opposed to summarizing texts. Basically, this semester&#8217;s essays ask you to have something to say. You&#8217;ve all probably had to come up with a thesis statement at some point, so we&#8217;ll start there. By the way, your <strong>Weekly Discussion Post #4<\/strong> this week asks you to start generating ideas for <strong>Essay #1<\/strong>. Don&#8217;t forget about the 250-word requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps we should read the requirements for <strong>Essay #1: American Culture<\/strong> on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/instructure.charlotte.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Canvas<\/a><\/strong>. Because we&#8217;re focusing on big picture ideas and the potential arguments to support them, consider the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What American cultural values have come up in our readings?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Remember, not all values are valuable (e.g., racism, sexism, anti-intellectualism)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What cultural activities reflect the value or values you&#8217;re settling on?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What instances from our texts support your assertions?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Building Arguments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On Canvas, I have an example of identifying American values and cultural phenomena from <em>The Matrix<\/em> with the Essay #1 guidelines. Below, I outline the argument to help you see the structure. I&#8217;m not trying to prescribe a specific writing style for you; instead, I&#8217;m offering ways to approach the essay to help you if you&#8217;re stuck. Also, the examples below are not supposed to be airtight ones that can&#8217;t be refuted. All thesis statements can have a counter response. Remember, you supply the evidence or sound argumentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>American Values in <em>The Matrix<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Instant gratification<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ignorance is bliss<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Capitalism<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>American Cultural Activities Reflected in <em>The Matrix<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cellphone ubiquity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.collinsdictionary.com\/us\/dictionary\/english\/somnambulism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Somnambulism<\/a><\/strong>: existing in a system one doesn&#8217;t fully understand<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supporting the economic system through one&#8217;s labor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>American Cultural Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Instant gratification is an American value\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fast food, the internet, next-day delivery <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports the economy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cellphones are our personal(ized) devices for information and convenience\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Social media, online ordering\/dating, news sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports the economy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Algorithms tailor our experiences\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Echo chambers, self-selected groups, lack of viewpoint diversity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports the economy (consumerism)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thesis<\/strong>: The American phenomenon of living a blissfully, willfully ignorant life&#8211;often from a position of privilege&#8211;reflects the illusion of reality in which Neo is immersed in <em>The Matrix<\/em>.<br><strong>Alternative<\/strong>: In <em>The Matrix<\/em>, Neo&#8217;s immersion in a false reality parallels the blissfully ignorant state of American somnambulism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Support from <em>The Matrix<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In order to experience reality, characters in <em>The Matrix<\/em> must make the difficult choice to abandon the comforts of the collective illusion in order to grasp reality.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>After unplugging from the machine, humans no longer have the support of the comforts of civilization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The character Cypher, who betrays the group to Agent Smith, reflects the anti-intellectualism of a portion of American culture that would rather not think critically about the mechanisms of society and indulge in the illusion of comforts and conveniences.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the film, when Agents want to &#8220;jump&#8221; to other places in the matrix, they inhabit a human&#8217;s avatar, which effectively kills the human because their construct is deleted. Therefore, the humans wandering the matrix are essentially sleepwalking and fueling the powers that be through their conscious electrical impulses, a type of surplus or slave labor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Using Sources<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Time permitting, we&#8217;ll hop on over to a webpage devoted to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/genderdigital\/argumentsessays\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to Make an Argument with Sources<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Next Class<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll discuss Delany&#8217;s &#8220;Racism and Science Fiction&#8221; on Thursday, 2\/6, and then get into posthumanism and William Gibson. We should be all caught up by Tuesday, 2\/11. On Thursday, 2\/13, we don&#8217;t have class, but you do have your <strong>Essay #1<\/strong> due on Canvas before 11:00pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plan for the Day Focus on Gender and Sexuality We&#8217;re going to return to this topic throughout the semester, so I figured I should bring up some points that aren&#8217;t obvious on a first reading of &#8220;Aye, and Gomorrah\u2026&#8221; and &#8220;All You Zombies\u2013.&#8221; What I was hoping to convey to you last week was to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":11366,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11458","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-2YO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11458"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11471,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11458\/revisions\/11471"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}