CL 10/31

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I find Althusser fascinating. This weeks reading and lecture struck a cord with me, I believe mostly because their was much discussion on culture and rituals, two subjects I find very interesting.

Althusser said "Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence" (pg 44). To me, this means that people hold "beliefs" and practices because of their ideals, and therefore what they believe is right and wrong. This made me think of many of the conditions of our current government. I do not want to start a heated debate, but I could not help be reminded of the staunch Right-Wing conservatives who preach one thing, but in reality are contradicting "their real conditions of existence."

The Mark Foley scandal is a perfect example of this. A quick search of Wikipedia resulted in the following:

"Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida.
Foley resigned from Congress on September 29, 2006 as allegations surfaced that he had sent suggestive emails and sexually explicit instant messages[1] to young men who had formerly served as Congressional pages.[2][3][4] As a result of the disclosures, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opened investigations of the messages to find possible criminal charges.[5] The House Ethics Committee has also opened an investigation into the response of the House Republican leadership and their staff to earlier warnings of Foley's conduct.[6]."

Foley's "ideology" represented an imaginary relationship he, and many of his fellow right-wingers help over the actual "conditions" of his "existence. I know that this may be a crude example, but I cannot help connect what Althusser has to say with what is going on today in our current culture. This is one connection that can be made out of millions, but I feel as though it is a good representation of Althusser's theory, and maybe even personal ideology.