Noise from the jungle (vol. II)

Last Wednesday, I came to a particular class half asleep. I will admit to not remembering what we covered during those two hours.

Today however, I came to class energized somehow (the coffee?), and lived to regret it. I've never felt more like punching a wall than I did as I left the room. What could it have been that made an easy-going guy from the laidback rainy Northwest Washington so impassioned (I'm not sure I can describe it that way because I kept vacillating between being incensed, shocked, disturbed and amused in the extreme--like I could hardly keep myself in check)?

File under "Methods of Textual Analysis" (read: methods the professor endorses): Marxist Analysis and (here's a word for you) Hegemony:

"Refers to the process by which those in power secure the consent of the socially subordinated to the system that oppresses or subordinates them. Rather than requiring overt force, the elite, through their control of religious, educational and media institutions attempt to persuade..."

etc, etc.

Examples of hegemony a patriarchal society: Catholic, Mormon, and most Protestant church order... (yes there was a professing catholic present in the class). Another example: Promise Keepers--i.e. a group of men who get together for support in reaffirming their leadership role in their family (such a sickening idea you know).

I don't have the time to do more affirmation of what I will be tested on (oh, there's so much more I haven't mentioned). Professor BH (blowhard) insisted we don't need to accept these methods of interpretation--we just have to "know them cold."

Leave me alone! I'm busy sucking on gas!