Textual Poaching

 

DID YOU KNOW THAT ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS AN INTROVERT?

OR ABRAHAM LINCOLN?

OR GANDHI?

If there is one thing that I can identify with it is my introversion. I don't connect well with people in large groups, the bigger the group the worse. Small talk is difficult for me to keep up with which makes meeting new people a bit difficult. Ever since I was little, my introverted ways have been a topic of discussion among people other than my immediate family, more so during my two years in Brazil than any other time in my life. People look at me as broken or weird. People ask me why I don't talk and then begin to talk to others about why I don't talk much. Word of advice: that doesn't help. All that does is isolate us further.

I probably didn't do this assignment in the way that it was intended but this was the only thing I could think up. I wanted to use photographs to present my idea. As you can see most of the pictures are actual photographs while I also used a couple of popular memes. Why did I use memes? This week's reading states that it is the reuse of a text in ways that they were not intended that results in further meaning. These memes have been given meaning through their use on the internet and they are fairly well understood. With the memes the photos begin to take on new meaning as well. They enter a commentary that they were previously not a part of.

As I have stated in my images, introverts are pretty much the stereotype for mass murderers nowadays. We are seen as people who sit quietly in a corner by ourselves. We are seen as people haters and anti-social. When did this happen? Back in Abraham Lincoln's day, people who were introverted were seen in a positive light. They were thinkers. They were people who would observe a problem and then find solutions. It is only in the past one hundred years that the introvert has been seen as a social evil. Well sorry to break it to you but the introvert is just as good as the extrovert. Deal with it.

I'm not a mass murderer because I'm introverted. I don't hate people I simply don't feel comfortable in large groups. Sure I enjoy being alone but that doesn't mean that I don't hang out with people. I'm willing to listen to what you have to say and more than willing to converse, just please don't bring an entourage of people with you.