I find George Herbert Mead’s view of “the self” quite
fascinating. We live in a world where
people like to generalize each other based on their looks and their
status. In other words there are
standards that are set upon us on how we should act in society within the
cultural norm. What I mean by standard
is if you are a famous athlete you must act humble and try to be role models
for the younger generation. With these standards put in place on people, it’s
no secret why we will never truly “know” who or what a person really is. This
is where the “I” and the “me” come into play.
The “me” is objective part of a person which is the part that they want
to be projected as. The “I” is the
subjective part of a person, which are the inner thoughts or raw emotions. The two works hand in hand to help balance
each other out. The “I” may want to do
something, but the “me” may tell a person to think otherwise, which in this
case help the person makes the right decision. Social media is a great way for people to play
around with the “me” part of them. They
can be view as someone else without any precaution. Take online gaming as an example, some people
sure talk big during gameplay even when their behinds are getting kicked. They might act this way during gameplay, but
I doubt that they’ll act this way in public.
Superheroes are no strangers to the “I” and “me” concept. The heroes wears a mask to hide the “I” or
their true self from the public. This is
usually done so to keep them safe, and to protect the people important to them. But they mainly wear the mask so that people
won’t treat them differently or fear them while in human form. While the “me” helps them display what they
really want to do, because the mask becomes a filter that allows them to
display their true intention, which is to help people. Like this scene from the movie Spiderman 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVX-cUJGdxs). This scene does a good job at telling us that
there is a hero in each and every one of us.
We just need to find a filter to display it.
Tying a superheroes mask to Mead's social filters works (in an odd sort of way), nice touch. I agree that social media tends to bring out the "me" persona in many users. Undoubtedly age and venue play a role in a person's online demeanor. That we tend "to generalize each other" on social norms makes perfect sense in explaining why Mead coined the term "generalized ohter". Thanks for your interesting take on George Herbert Mead!
ReplyDeleteSuper heros are actually a pretty cool approach to this; I like the diversity they present in the understanding of this concept. The mask/costume could even help them be their "I", it takes away the identity so they might feel like going even farther outside their comfort zone than if they weren't to have the disguise.
ReplyDeleteI always saw soc. media as more expressive of the "I" instead of "Me" until now because I see people that say a lot of stuff that I know for a fact would never say in person. But thinking about those people that 'exaggerate' their image deffinitely has more of a "Me" lean to it.
Good stuff.