The Ted talk "Are We In Control of our Own Decisions" By Dan Airely talks about cognitive manipulation when making decisions. He explained how when making decisions people are more likely to choose the decision already made for them then, making their own decision. The example he used was about organ donation. In the United States our organ donation rate is really low compared to many European countries, the reasoning being cognitive manipulation. On the United States form people have to check the box to become an organ donor. In European countries it says mark the box if you do not want to become an organ donor. Since being an organ donor is already chosen for European countries their rate is way higher compared to the United States rate because the chosen decision in the United States is to not be an organ donor. The author did not ever specifically mention tragedy however, I believe the ted talk still connects to tragedy especially in Oedipus. Similarly to Oedipus we think we’re making our own decisions when indeed we’re not. For example Oedipus made all his decisions based on the fact that he did not want to fulfill the prophecy. However he had no control over the fact that he did not know his mother was the person he had children with accidentally fulfilling the prophesy. Similarly to how we don’t have full control over our decisions neither did Oedipus. This confirmed my belief about tragedy because tragedy is something people do not have control of even if they think they do.
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In the Tragedy Oedipus a heroic figure Oedipus is trying to help end the plague by figuring out who killed Laius. Oedipus asks a blind prophet Tiresias and accidentally fulfills his own prophecy and finds out that he killed Laius. Oedipus is a tragedy because it shows a person of high power and recognition falling due to many unfortunate events. The first indication that Oedipus is a tragedy is right in the beginning when many bad things are happening all at once, there's no harvest, mothers are having really bad birth pains, the cities on fire, and the plague is killing people. The story continues to show qualities of a tragedy because Oedipus is in a place of high recognition and is trying to be seen as a hero however it quickly blows up in his face. It becomes a horrific tragedy not only for him but for his children as well. Oedipus accidentally fulfills the prophecy of marrying his mother and killing his father. This is especially tragic because Oedipus and his family tried really hard to do everything so the prophecy wouldn’t be filled. His mother left him as a baby to get killed however he did not get killed then unknowingly married and had children with his mom. However the unfortunate events don't stop there, his mother kills herself and Oedipus gouges his eyes out. This is clearly an example of tragedy because a person of high power has a fall in power and destroys his and his families reputations forever due to several unfortunate events taking place. The article” Tragedy and The Common Man” by Aurthur Miller relates tragedy back to regular day to day situations. It makes connections between literature and real life situations of people dealing with tragedy and what is causing the tragedy. Miller’s article was very eye opening for me on what tragedy truly means. The main claim that I found valuable from Millers article is that tragedy is formed from a fall of power or high place in society . This claim is evident when Miller says “The quality in such plays that does shake us, however, derives from the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent in being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in this world.” This claim is easy to understand when you apply it to a real life example. For example if you think of it in terms of celebrities falling. For many things are exaggerated and seen as a big deal because it is blown up in the media and often ruins their reputations. Their reputations would not be ruined and their mistakes wouldn't be as publicly known if they weren't in the public eye. But since they are well known it is viewed as a tragedy because it ruins their career and reputation. This claim really helped me understand tragedy because it helped me see the origin of tragedy and challenged me to think of tragedy in a light because before I viewed tragedy as a thing that just happened not thinking about the cause of it. I think my new understanding of tragedy will challenge me to identify the origin of tragedy before the tragedy actually takes place in stories.
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