Reflective blog 2#

Out of all of the new terms and concepts that Fleckenstien mentions, the "scopic regime" interested me the most. What the scopic regime is, is the difference between physical seeing something, and mentally processing it. Flekenstien notes that light simply entering your pupil and signaling your rods and cones essentially means nothing, but how one analyses this information is what is actually important. Any scopic regime includes see-er/object, image/word, and object/space relationships in order for the subject to identify what is going on and why.

The study of this term is probably one of the most important concepts in association to rhetoric. No matter how you define rhetoric, its a system of different complex medias used to do multiple things including persuasion, informing, and searching for truth. In order to grasp these concepts it is essential that one can look past the physical words, or other media that is presented to them, and figure out who, what, where, when, and why.

And this term is without a doubt this concept of crafting scopic regimes is everywhere to this day, as the people of the world are constantly trying to encode and process the information that is around them in everyday life. And i think one of the biggest similarities between times like the middle ages and now has to do with consequences. Fleckenstien mentions that constructing and using a scopic regime is linked very closely to ones role in society, and that do something out of the norm will result in ridicule or out-casting. Now while people dont get stoned in modern day society, this concept is still extremely relevant. While most people construct a scopic regime that suits them and their views, its not always easier for people to share them because of the consequences they might bring. From racism, sexism, sexuality, political views, ect., if someone displays a view not congruent with the society around them they will most likely be outcast-ed or deemed "crazy". To see a day in the future where people from different cultures and views can simply talk and be civilized may seem to good to be true, and unfortunately i would have to agree.