I really enjoyed reading our assigned excerpt from The Self, the I, and the Me by George Herbert Mead. I felt pretty connected to the things he wrote. For example: "Thinking becomes preparatory to social action" and "...there are parts of the self that did not get into what was said". (Lemert; 164) I can readily relate with these thoughts because I've had them before. (Thanks George Mead for succintly expressing my internal thoughts).
Our class discussion further drove home the concepts of generalized other, self , I, and me. An overarching part of our classroom time focused on social filters. Social filters are what interested me the most from our text/class discussion.
There is a large sub-group that is unable, without intense education/training, to incorporate social filters into their lives. This group of people are those with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism (ASD).
People with this condition are without question missing the me portion of any internal dialogue. The following clip does a nice job of informing the public about some of the quirkiness associated with ASD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1lajn5EU0
Literalism, social disinterest/awkwardness, inability to interpet unwritten norms, and sensory overload are just some of the physically visible signs of ASD. The biggest obstacle for people with ASD is social interaction. They are perceived as "odd" because they tend to lack good social filters.
I know George Herbert Mead wasn't writing his essay with ASD in mind, but it is what occupied my thoughts as we discussed the text. I wonder that perhaps we do lose a good portion of who we are due to social filtering. Presumably, we implement these filters so society can function better.
Lastly I would throw a plug in for alcohol. As a society, we've accepted alcohol use as being part of American culture. The following humorous clip takes a look at some the personality stages young adult males go through whilst on a drinking binge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ebrwegDr0
The booze has a way of knocking down many of our social filters. Is the real I (you) the sober person, or the person you are after 1,2,3,etc drinks. Are we hiding too much of ourselves behind social filters? Or, are you thankful we have social filters in society?
You made some really good connections between Mead's theory and people with ASD. What do you think Mead would say about people with ASD if he were around today? As for your other video, i think that would be our real I because you don't care about what others think about you, you just do it. Taking this into consideration i think it is a good thing that we have filters because then people would just be doing and saying stupid things and getting into problems.
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