Binaries

Much of the way the world is processed is through binaries. People see things as good/bad, fun/boring, efficient/inefficient, etc.

I realized that the world does not exist in any sort of binary at all. Things simply are and we put these things into categories of binaries. I think that's what a lot of literary theorists, especially post-structuralists try to do away with (the putting of things into binaries, giving things meaning that don't have or shouldn't have meaning, etc.).

The whole idea of a binary is not only flawed because of the fact that binaries are arguably simply a social construct, I realized the whole base of two "things are good or bad" is really wrong because there exists things that are neither good nor bad. Just as there are things that neither immoral nor moral (hence the word amoral). For example, an apple that falls from a tree is neither moral or immoral, it simply is. It can be argued that it is amoral. If the apple falls, hits a man on the head and kills him, this too is considered amoral because it was simply something that happened. Now there can be all sorts of arguments in terms of whether or not the man deserved it, whether it was his fate or whatever but focusing on the apple that fell from the tree, the act in and of itself does not fall into the realm of morality.

The whole idea of duality is in many ways absurd. Even the most basic of binaries (though how basic it is  could be argued) is debatable - male and female. Where do hermaphrodites come into play? Or someone with Down's Syndrome who has the extra X chromosome. A "woman" with a penis or a "man" with breasts (naturally, of course). These people don't fit into a "category" and the binary starts to fall apart.

But then again, the whole desert of the real thing comes into play because if there's no standard, there's no truth and nothing - no foundation - for people to build meaning/beliefs onto. By beliefs, I don't mean religious beliefs, though that is part of it - I mean how people order and understand the world. I think that by and large, such beliefs are built by society and culture, though it really is a dialectic. Perhaps it could be said that what one person says and does that influences another in thought is what creates culture.

I think basically what it is, is that a person can arguably be culture because if they lived on an island they would create whatever lifestyle they wanted. If another person entered the picture, then rules and boundaries would be created. A different culture would be created through the interaction of the two people. That's why when two people (married or otherwise connected) don't interact with the rest of the world, they get "weird" to the outsiders. They've created their own culture. Then, grow that to a family, a group of families, a city and so on and so forth. Culture. Yet culture is fluid because people process things differently and think differently. However, it is not the sum of each individual's thoughts, patterns or culture, it is a compromise or the "mathematical" average of those individuals. There's always a pushing and pulling of one way to another and the way the group thinks or is expected to think has an effect on the individual, growing the thoughts, growing the ideologies and changing or shifting them as a reaction for or against culture. I suppose that's why there's so much talk about mainstream culture, the backlash (think hipsters) and other deviations of what is considered to be the norm. I suppose that's why there's all those talks about how the norm does not exist. Everyone and everything is a derivation of what culture has created to be normal.