Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP - Archives

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: April 14, 2003
Latest Update: April 14, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

The Glue of Solidarity

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, April 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

On Sunday, April 13, 2003, Carla Calderon wrote:

Hi Jeanne,
This is Carla Calderon and I just finished viewing Arnold's pictures. By the way I think they are great pictures.

In regard to the first discussion question, whether or not you and Arnold play together, I must say yes. I say yes because first of all, your personality is playful. You seem to be fun and playful with everything you do. You can see it in your paintings, your clothes, and your ideas. You are just a very happy person and the fact that you can title his pictures the way that you did shows that he is also the same way, because had he been bothered by them, I don't think you would have posted them on the web. I think that he not only understands and accepts this but also enjoys it and shares it with you. You both enjoy playing with one another because it makes the relationship more enjoyable, and you can share many laughs which can only aid a relationship.

On Monday, April 14, 2003, jeanne responded:

Good submission, Carla. Glad you liked his pictures - he has turned out to be a pretty good photographer.

I liked that you didn't just draw a conclusion. You backed that conclusion with details from both your prior experiences with me and from the photos themselves.

What I would like you to do is to go a little deeper into explaining some of your statements. You say that the play and laughter makes a relationship "more enjoyable" and aids the relationship. Can you conceptually link that to some of our discussions. Let's see if I can help:

Consider that we have talked about the need for illocutionary understanding, for a good faith attempt to understand the Other, even if we don't share the same perspective or agree. When children play, they rarely have ideological discussions, unless it's about their rules - they can get pretty ideological about rules. When adults share laughter and play, the situation is usually built around a non-confrontational issue, a starting place for agreement.

I doubt that during the play anyone will change their mind on important economic or political or social issues. But during the play they might all catch glimpses of each others as just ordinary folks, with all that implies. Those impressions may persuade us to respect and share good faith with one another, enought to finally enter governance discourse.

Consider also that the more such memories as this photostory that lie about us, the more likely such learning is to take precedence over aggression when we do need governance discourse when we have to make decisions that are real and painful as we divide up limited resources.

Now a sociologist, trained to put social theory into practice as she builds a better life for herself and her significant others, might just manage to pick up some visual souvenirs, or gather small booklets of photo stories, and scatter them about where the significant others might come across them every now and then. In other words, get those huge old scrapbooks out of the attic or the closet or wherever. Remind each other of the good times. That builds solidarity. Remember soidarity?

Carla, I'd like you to either write me that you see at least this one way of conceptually linking your reaction to the concerns of Sociology of Reality, or just stop by and talk to me.

love and peace and fun, jeanne