Illusion of Self-Fulfillment in Jacobin Magazine's Article, In the Name of Love

In Miya Tokumitsu’s essay In the Name of Love, Tokumitsu argues that “do what you love” could actually be harmful advice to give to graduates. Tokumitsu, who has a doctorate in Art History, writes from a very controversial viewpoint, criticizing advice that many would see no issue with as being divisive and contributing to larger issues in society. A large section of her criticism is devoted to Steve Jobs’ 2005 speech to Stanford University graduates, where he told students it is important to do what they love. Her argument is well supported with many examples and details. However, her faulty logic and strong language in some cases make it difficult to fully agree with her point.

In “Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth,” author Wai-Chee Dimock argues that the society portrayed in the novel, which is a reflection of 19th century upper class New York, revolves around the idea that the business ethics of the economic “marketplace” determines all aspects of the culture. More specifically, this causes all forms of social interactions to be viewed as “currency,” with the precise value of a certain act or relationship determined by whoever possesses the most power. As Dimock herself puts it, “as a controlling logic, a mode of human conduct and human association, the marketplace is everywhere and nowhere, ubiquitous and invisible” (375). While some might wonder whether the marketplace really is the ultimate guiding structure for this particular fictionalized society, Dimock contends nevertheless that this interpretation is a viable one, due to the marketplace’s “ability to reproduce itself,” and thus “assimilate everything… into its domain” (375). I myself find Dimock’s argument both interesting and useful in interpreting The House of Mirth because of the clarity with which she presents the often complicated, critical lens of Marxism.

America is often referenced with the idea of the “American Dream” and the “Land of Opportunity.” For centuries, people have flocked to America in hopes of a better life and greater opportunity. However, if they are searching for equal opportunity, America is not the country that they will find it in. Success in the United States is limited to the opportunities available to the individual, and without equal distribution of opportunity, financial success is not reachable to those in the lower classes of American society. Notable educators and authors such as Gregory Mantsios and Diana Kendall have brought the problems of American society to attention, claiming that the rich are getting richer and the poor continue to remain poor. In his essay, “Class in America – 2009,” Mantsios discusses the myths that revolve around class in America, and then refutes these myths by describing the realities of the society Americans live in. Similarly, in her essay, “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption,” Kendall writes about the realities of the classes in America while advocating for a change in the way the media portrays the class issues. The United States was founded on the belief of equal opportunity for all individuals, and many still believe that equal opportunity still holds true today. Despite the way media masks the class issues, empirical evidence and research show that equal opportunity does not exist in America due to

Tom Hanks uses logos to show that with hard work, anyone can change the world for the better. Logos is a literary device that proves a point through the use of logic. Hank’s first example of logos was when he told his personal story where his friend’s uncle told his friend he would pay for his education as long as he wanted to stay in school. The reason for this is because when a person gets their first job, said person will work the rest of his life. Hanks also stated, “On spring days like today, it is traditional for us to ponder the state of the world and implore you all to help make it a better place which implies that things are somehow worse today than they were when we were sitting where you are right now. I am not so sure the planet earth is in worse shape than it was 30, no 18, no four years ago.” (Hanks). Because rushing into things is not always the best idea, Hanks used a personal connection to show this. The uncle knew that if his nephew just rushed into his life and did not go to college, it would do more harm than help. This is the same when working to change the world. People cannot just jump into things;

Published in Harper's Magazine’s September 1997 issue, Mark Edmundson’s essay, “On the Uses of Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students,” presents a very personal argument for an apparent crisis in liberal education–the lack of passion in students. According to Edmundson, a professor at the University of Virginia, “liberal-arts education is as ineffective as it is now…[because] university culture, like American culture writ large, is, to put it crudely, ever more devoted to consumption and entertainment, to the using and using up of goods and images” (723). He believes that consumer culture is responsible for students’ dispassionate attitude towards his class because they view liberal education as a paid service or product that should cater to their wishes. Further, he writes that universities feed into consumer culture, maintaining a “relationship with students [that] has a solicitous, nearly servile tone” (725). In this way, Edmundson lays out the reasons for why he thinks liberal education is failing.

Through the effective use of ethos, Gatto readies his audience for reliable applications of logos through the educated opinions of others and historical evidence. Gatto’s use of logos is spread throughout his essay and makes up some of his most impelling and supportive claims against schooling, and while there are many examples that can be called upon, I would like to highlight a few of the more compelling instances. By referring to well-known pioneers of the past, Gatto makes it clear to his audience that schooling is by no means a necessary component of greatness:

Logos can be recognized in Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech when he used logic to convince the audience. Logically speaking about death, Steve Jobs convinced the audience to spend their time wisely because they will not live forever. After speaking about when he was told he had an incurable form of cancer and then later found out it was actually a rare cancer that was curable, Jobs said, “Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.” Jobs had been in a place where he thought he was going to face death, and it gave him a greater understanding

as the most effective form of persuasion. It is evident that logos best represents how an audience should be convinced, as seen in Amusing Ourselves to Death.

     Wizardry and witchcraft are another way Logos can be used. Special incantations can bring pleasure and also avert grief. These incantations can unite with the soul, persuade, and then change it with witchcraft (82B1110). Gorgias says that two types of witchcraft have been invented. One is through the errors of the soul. The other is from deceptions in the mind (Freeman).

“Discovering Love” is an article about the definition of love and the different aspects, such as how it works and where you get it. Developmental psychologist Harry Harlow is the main contributor to this study. Harlow was particularly interested in how early life experiences, specifically interaction with one’s mother or primary caregiver, impact an individual’s ability to love and be loved by others later in life.

We are all factory workers in some sense – each and every one of us. As individuals, we each have our unique ambitions, quirks, and moral compasses; however, we coexist together in institutions to create the same products of prejudice, despite our characteristic differences. In one instance, Wall Street and Ivy League universities in Karen Ho’s “The Biographies of Hegemony” employ countless undergraduates of various backgrounds to sustain an unhealthy environment of elitism. Similar ethical malpractice also extends to the voracious pharmaceutical companies in Ethan Watters’ “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan” with various types of researchers and marketing scholars under their umbrella. The hegemony perpetuated by these systems are not just limited to humans, as in Charles Siebert’s “An Elephant Crackup?” the elephant society is severely oppressed by government agencies who acted as a direct consequence to the behaviors of hunters and poachers. In such institutions, there can exist two distinct groups of individuals: those who enter a larger system with the malicious intent to subjugate others, and those who enter with a fervent desire to advance society. Tragically, because institutions are intrinsically materialistic and parochial in nature, both groups of individuals would regardless contribute to a product of inequality and ethical misconduct under these systems of hegemony.

The documentary film “Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream” directed by Alex Gibney is about the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in the United States. The documentary compares the access to opportunities of residents of Park Avenue both on the Upper East Side and in the South Bronx. The documentary includes interviews with a series of people: a doorman at 740 Park Avenue, journalist Jane Mayer, Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker, Berkeley Professor Paul Piff, and Republican advisor Bruce Bartlett. The documentary makes a compelling case that inequality exposes democracy and that the victims of inequality include not only those who find themselves in the rapidly expanding underclass, but the American dream itself.

Logos means reason. Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos to show why he is delivering this speech and why he wants things to change. He is delivering this speech to show how many blacks and other races, that weren’t being treated equally, really didn’t have freedom like they should. “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 6) “Instead of honoring the sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 5) These quotes are just a couple of the logos quotes Martin Luther King said in his speech.

First, Brady applies logos as an attempt to utilize arguments and reasoning to make her audience recognize what she is writing. She convinces her audience that women are expected to do too much. Specifically, she explains a lot of things a wife should do from the beginning to the end of the essay;

All things pass, and it seems the American Dream, this image of the United States being a land of opportunity, is slowly fading away as well. Those roads of gold have corroded and Lady Liberty’s torch is flickering. But maybe I’m wrong, and this inner pessimism has gotten the better of me. Maybe the American Dream is alive and well? We’ve elected a billionaire deemed a bigot and a misogynist as our next president. Our unsustainable social security system is on a path to extinction, and social mobility has come to a screeching halt. Oh how this land of opportunity has opened so many possibilities for the collapse of our nation. As Ehrenreich will demonstrate, the great social mobility associated with the American Dream is a correlation that no longer proves to be true. And though Swift’s discussion in “A Modest Proposal,” deals with the plight that plagues the nation of Ireland, it highlights the point that the common people are suffering with no voice to express their struggles, but rather only with the authorities to remedy the pain that they themselves do not experience, something the American public is dealing with as well, since our voices do not seem to be heard at times as well. This is only one of only the many reasons why the American Dream is faltering, and these readings are all pointing to the American Dream being a façade now, a nice veil to hide the harsh reality that America is facing today.