Wednesday, October 17, 2007

feel used yet?
"Anti-depressants
Controlling tools of your system
Making life more tolerable"

Sender: The sender is posing as informant. He wishes to make a truth apparent through his words which express his view as fact.

Receiver: The sender refers to his receiver as "you" as if to point at the listener directly. This is usually a technique for addressing an entire society, of which the listener is a known part of. It both invokes blame and makes sure the listener knows that the message pertains to themselves.

Message: With the rather blunt way of putting things seen in the passage, the sender is declaring the fact he wants portrayed. To put the meaning simply, he is informing the receiver that anti-depressants are the controlling tools of your system, used to make life more tolerable. The sender expresses concern and disgust toward the act of taking anti-depressants. By using a word like "controlling tool" he makes the human life sound mechanical or even robotic.

"The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran is mute
If you burned them all together you'd get close to the truth
Still, they're pouring over sanskrit under ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun"

Sender: The sender is enraged and discontented. He is declaring a problem, "still, they're pouring over sanskrit in the ivy league moons," and it's effect, "While shadows lengthen in the sun."

Receiver: This is a case of a rebellious cry or even as a reminder of a trouble. Rather than informing the receiver of a problem, it serves to remind them of how it's a problem. The receiver would be anyone who listens and cares to acknowledge the statement.

Message: The sender's message is rather bold and strong. In the first line he expresses disgust toward the Bible, Torah, and Qu'ran, and even goes so far as to declare that if they were all burned "you'd get close to the truth." It is evident that the sender believes these texts to be the creators of a facade that enraptures people. They hide a truth that cannot be obtained as long as they even exist. The sender then points out that, despite the lies that these texts create, they are still held in high regard and studied to an extent. Worse yet, "Ivy league," a place for the greatest of thinkers, is the place where this foolishness is contained. Meanwhile "shadows lengthen in the sun," meaning that there are more pressing, growing matters to be attended to that find themselves ignored.

Madarame: What does this look like to you?

:)

Kasukabe: A face?

Madarame: How about this?

W
x
Y

Kasukabe: ....a woman's body...

Madarame: Exactly! Humans are capable in finding a familiar image in even the most abstract drawings. This is a basic function of the human mind. Just take a look at the simple cave paintings from ancient times. In those primitive drawings, ancient people saw images of wild game running across the plain. In other words, anyone who says "you can't whack off to anime" obviously has a defective brain. Either that, or they're trying to sound cool. I mean, even back in the edo period they had erotic shunga prints.

Sender: The sender, Madarame, is trying to prove his point using evidence and appealing to reason. He wants to assure the receiver that his idea is completely logical.

Receiver: In the context of the story, the receiver is Kasukabe, though the message generally would be aimed at anyone who questions one with a 2-D complex.

Message: If one cannot tell from reading the excerpt itself, the goal is to illustrate rational reasoning as to why one would find animated characters attractive. Though portrayed in a comedic way, the message is actually very factually based as it tries to offer conclusive reasoning as to the nature of the attraction. Though the sender is aware of the skepticism of the receiver, he provides enough convincing fact to attempt to change their mind. The tone is very commanding and resembling or a lecture to add to the idea that the sender is trying to educate the receiver.

The kiosk in my temporal lobe
Is shaped like Rosalyn Carter
She says my map is home again
But torn face down
I have only but a million blemishes
To tell you all about

Sender: The sender is relating a historical account through creative language. In the last 2 lines, he expresses the distaste for his situation.

Receiver: The receiver is not only the listener, but also the oppressor of which the excerpt speaks.

Message: Due to it's cryptic nature, one would have to know the meaning of the lines in order to comprehend their message. Firstly, it is important to know the pretext of this lyric, being that the song is about the oppression of religion on people. Secondly, one must know that the temporal lobe is the section of the human brain that controls speech and vision patterns as well as memories. As such, it is essentially the personality of a being. The placement of Rosalyn Carter in the line is partly an inside joke by the lyricist who is known to have a fascination with Rosalyn Carter, however it also pertains to her having been the emissary to Latin American countries for a time. The lines "She says my map is home again, but torn face down" indicate that Rosalyn is offering a home to these people - change their face - that is they become like Rosalyn Carter then they can become accepted into this new home. However, the sender declares that "I have only but a million blemishes to tell you all about." This is the sender's way of stating that he will not change his face, and if they are to be accepted, it must be even with their faults in mind.

"Mankind is a creature that no longer evolves, is it not? One theory says that man is a neoteny and is no longer able to evolve. If this is true, then what an absurd creature mankind has evolved into. Not knowing what it is that drives them they keep their bodies merely to satisfy the desires of the flesh. They're worthless, don't you think? That's all mankind is." - Masami Eiri

Sender: The sender expresses disgust and even hatred towards the subject of their message, even going so far as to call them "worthless".

Receiver: Due to the conversational structure of the passage, the receiver could be perceived as whoever the sender is speaking to, however it could also be that the sender is addressing the subject of their message directly and using this speech structure to create a stand-offish tone.

Message: The sender uses a number of rhetorical questions to illustrate their opinion that mankind is worthless and attempt to invoke those feelings in the reader. Although they present no factual argument, their strong language suggests that they believe in this strongly and want to force this view onto the reader. The sender also presents briefly the suggestion that mankind should not retain their bodies, and that they only do so for the sake of "satisfy[ing] the desires of the flesh." Through repetition of the worth worthless, they strengthen the visceral feeling brought about by the word.