Blog Prompt 4

In Allegory of the Cave, prisoners are stuck in a cave-like environment where they are seeing a false reality. The prisoners live in a cave where there is no source of light and they can only see shadows on the walls. These shadows are the reflections of shadows coming from a fire that is lit that the prisoners can’t see. This false reality has been fed to them their whole lives until a prisoner escapes and sees a different side of “reality”. The previous conditions that the escaped prisoner was use too made it hard for him to accustom into this new reality. He is exposed to the sun which gives him a natural bright light that the cave lacked. This made it so that his eyes temporarily were blinded, essentially meaning that the real light was of a greater danger than the fake light that the cave had. This can be interpreted in many ways because in the world we live in there are many false realities that we willingly come in and out of. The movie theatre is one alternative reality that can be very harmful if you aren’t aware of the tactics used in cinema.  When you’re viewing a movie in a theatre you are voluntarily viewing fiction as fact. Whether you know that what you are seeing is fake it can still have very real implications. If a director creates a movie and makes a name for all girls under 5 foot and this name becomes popular in the real world then you can see how something false reality impacted something in the real world. This can become problematic with the media because many people will not question what they are shown, assuming that it will always be fact unless otherwise. Throughout history the media has been used to control the masses because of how we use it to stay connected. A great example of this is the history of blackface in the media, black people were once not allowed to act in movie roles so white people would imitate black people. This imitation included their interpretations of how they felt black people looked and behaved and in return a lot of damage was created. Blackface in the movie industry has given birth to many stereotypes that we have today when it comes to different groups of people. We get our information, stories, news and etc from the media, so when only one person or one group controls the narrative creating a meta narrative then that can also become very problematic. The misrepresentation in Hollywood films is a part of American history and although our media isn’t as singular as it once was, we still see how that control over the narrative created stereotypes and perceptions that hold no substance. The detrimental part of this is that because of these false realities many people will suffer behind what someone else deemed to be fact. In many cases we mistake fiction for reality in our world because when you’re fed something and you know no different then it makes it hard for you to question it. Plato, being a greek philosopher used this story to suggest that people need to not trust their senses to gain knowledge because those same senses can be tricked, but to only gain knowledge through critical thinking and philosophical reasoning. I agree with Plato’s reasoning with gaining full information before making inferences but it is very hard in today’s world. We live in a world now where almost everything is controlled by something else, down to the very information we get. So I do feel like it is our duty to be open minded with the information that we are fed by others , especially public institutions. In my own life I see how allegory of the cave plays out and it makes me think deeper into the things that I believe without question. Philosophy on the other hand I think sometimes makes you question a question so I try not to get wrapped up in that too much because I do believe not everything can be understood on the human level. Plato overall makes great points with the allegory of the cave and I think it is something each person should read and fully understand. The underlying meanings are very important because in a world with so many false realities it is important to be aware of them and how they can be harmful.