My guess is that if I were to audiorecord the conversation you might
have with the people who enjoy Hong Kong beauty contests, I would
find, in the way you struggle passionately not to be against them while
showing the consequences of their practices (it isn't easy), evidence
of ideological shifting, becoming on your part (as well as, one would
hope, theirs). It seems to me that attending to the tensions, the
struggle, the insistent differences between positions is just as
important as attending to the realized and potential overlap between
them. The difference in our positions now is probably partly rhetorical
and resolvable and partly actual, the consequence of actual differences
in our lived circumstances.
An ironic endnote: Even as I write this, I worry that I am mis-using
some authoritative words (Bakhtin's!). I want an authority to chime
in and let me know....!
- Judy
you wrote:
>(1) Judy, thanks for your interesting question! but i'm not sure what
>you mean by "ideological push"? Could you explain or give an example?
>if you mean formality can help push one to self-transform, then i must
>say i have reservations about that position... to me, transformation can
>be induced, seduced :-) , through a mutually respectful / transforming
>process; always a 2-way flow... what do you think?....
....
>I'm angry about the women-commodifying discourses in beauty contests in
>Hong Kong; I can be passionate and express my anger about these practices
>when I talk about these practices, problematize and expose the nature of
>these discourses... yet, i'd still want to maintain a dialogue with
>people who "enjoy" watching these beauty contests in Hong Kong... i
>don't know how i can be passionate and yet let them feel that i'm not
>aganist them; i just would like to show them the consequences of their
>practices; i'd like to be able to talk to them, to maintain a
>relationship with them; otherwise, we'll be like enemies in a war: no
>dialogue, no mutural transformation...
>
Judy Diamondstone
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Rutgers University
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