10:31 last day of the holidays. finishing off an english essay :( #
19:04 got a tv today- an old one that a friend of mums was giving away. can never say no to more tvs, theyr great for LAN parties #
22:26 jst got a beta invite email, im struggling to recall why or when I signed up for it...too much time has passed. any1 else hav this problem? #
22:28 off to bed for school tomorrow. sigh #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter17:06 shopping with my mother is a terrifying experience... #
17:33 feeling hyper- i havent excercised all holidays. need to go out and shoot some hoops #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter12:08 Want to remember everything you'll ever learn? surrender to this algorithm tinyurl.com/4pl6pf #
12:33 I really should finish off my english essay...and do some Indonesian, and finish off my economics revision, and that maths investigation.... #
12:34 on the bright side, its only a few days now until I order the first gumball machine =) #
21:45 we often aren't even aware that our wishes have changed- our memory reflects our current beliefs tinyurl.com/42ebd4 #
21:46 @sjgoldie i shall check it out now :-) #
22:39 early human populations evolved seperately for 100,000 years tinyurl.com/4tgl64 #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter00:31 if college ads told the truth...is.gd/8Y1 #
11:28 i enjoyed readwriteweb's post on using twitter for journalism tinyurl.com/652bdb #
16:01 Pixel Bit Street Art- water puddle tinyurl.com/4b6zav #
16:47 cool electric unicycle- tinyurl.com/5hqrod #
18:07 Reject stress tinyurl.com/5g4bvd #
18:25 Humans flirted with extinction 70 000 years ago tinyurl.com/65vowe #
22:54 watching little nicky on TV. great movie #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter15:51 @engtech yeah i was running firefox beta. managed to get it working though; i had to edit the script and manually enter my login details #
18:02 wouldnt it be hilarious if at the next concert you went to the artist played Never Gonna Give You Up instead? Rickrolled! #
18:05 just looked up guitar tabs for twinkle twinkle little star. heh, fame and fortune here i come! #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter11:38 is seesmic still giving out invites if you DM "get" to @getseesmic ? didnt work for me #
11:58 @mde odd. it keeps saying I can't DM you because you arent following me....but you just DM me and I wasnt following you... #
12:11 @mde oops my bad,yours was just an @ reply b4. neway u can send the invite to blackmacros@hotmail.com tho. i dnt mind tweeting that address #
12:20 checking out Alert Thingy 1.3 new twitter integration, providing one unified interface for both FF and twitter. bye-bye twhirl? #
12:23 nope. not bye-bye twhirl. i need to be able to filter by just twitter, or just FF. and it doesnt provide as good DM and @ reply notification #
13:11 having trouble turning off "inbound tweets" in Alert Thingy #
13:11 ah...it needed me to actually tweet before it would save the setting :-) #
13:13 these houses are freaking cool! is.gd/8vw #
13:23 thinking about how cool it would be if my FF client integrated filter by user +filter by service. talked to @sjgoldie about this last nite #
13:41 For a company all about communication, twitter has no clear voice or presence in the community. for a good eg of this think seesmic and loic #
13:55 Lizards evolve rapidly after introduction to island- new gut structure, larger heads evolved in less than 30 yrs is.gd/8w3 #
14:49 Friendfeed's web interface a couple of greasemonkey scripts = best FF interface so far. but it doesn't have popup notifications :-( #
16:21 taking a stroll to the small business information centre. #
16:28 forgotten what it felt like to go outside! and even now i'm twittering away. so sad #
16:32 and i get to the business centre only to find it shut half an hour ago. ah well #
17:00 testing out viewzi. i got one of @Scobleizer 's invites. Its rather cool, and i find the "simple text view" very useful with the pictures #
17:07 i was clamouring for a unified FF/twitter interface b4 but AlertThingy gets WAY too cluttered with "inbound tweets" turned on.needs a filter #
17:11 annoyed. google talk still wont recieve twitter updates. can only send them. rules it out as a client for me #
17:17 having trouble getting my webcam to play nice with seesmic. sound works, video...does not :-( #
17:38 feeling really guilty right now for not doing any work lately. im on holidays damnit, i shouldnt feel guilty for not working! #
22:12 working on an English essay.an analysis of the cultural impact of colonisation and its significance in constructing a reading of Les Murray #
22:27 i think you should be more explicit in step two... is.gd/8BJ #
23:12 just played some more guitar. im learning About a Girl and Sweet Dreams atm. playing guitar is very relaxing #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter17:27 penny arcade did a comic about twitter. wonder what impact that will have on No. of new twitter users? is.gd/8d1 #
18:26 Twitter should change their question to. "What have you been doing lately". Creates more interesting responses is.gd/8dO #
18:36 thought provoking question by Seth Godin- "Are you better at what you do than you were a month or two ago?" is.gd/8dU #
18:53 oh hey cool. just noticed i broke the 1000 updates barrier. w00t, time to break out the champagne #
18:59 @sjgoldie heh, nice shameless self promotion there ;-) I like your app, but I don't think its for me. Its not how i use FF #
19:04 human impulse is to make the world smaller is.gd/8ej #
19:09 @sjgoldie i use FF as a general information stream. I figure that interesting conversations will rise to the top. I dont browse specific ppl #
19:10 @sjgoldie having said that though- i do love being able to browse by service for each friend. that is really cool and useful. #
19:11 @sjgoldie for me, id love it if the way ur app functions were incorporated into a normal client as another way of viewing my friendfeed #
19:21 @sjgoldie looking forward to it! #
21:00 Rescue robots....eat people to save them? is.gd/8fO #
21:06 still nurturing a growing obsession with "I Wanna be the Guy". I'm managing to make my way through it, slowly but surely #
21:34 2 cool posts on quirky, interactive, marketing is.gd/8gk and is.gd/Jv #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter10:35 i guess twitter is working again #
10:38 hmm or not...all the messages i just got say "from 2 days ago" #
10:40 bloody hell, twhirl keeps giving me notification of days old tweets. maybe twitter is processing the backlog? #
11:41 grr trying to get this script to work #
11:43 oh cool. i got it working. @engtech friendfeed twitter client wasn't asking me for my user/pass so i went into the script and set it myself #
11:57 once AlertThingy can push comments back 2 twitter, adds a "twitter mode", i might just use it as my sole client #
12:02 Particularly with the recent downtime, I see more and more ppl using FF to post instead of twitter. i agree with Scoble is.gd/7S5 #
12:44 when the friendfeed website shows "PersonA posted x messages on twitter" and shows all x msgs, AlertThingy will show only the 1st msg. why? #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter09:25 just got twitter with google talk up and running. curious to see how it differs from desktop clients like twhirl #
09:44 didnt realise i was in Internet Ductapes "Put Alert Thingy/Twhirl to bed" greasemonkey script examples. is.gd/7CN & is.gd/7CO #
09:47 i find it odd that twitter has such a poor relationship with its users, in terms of communication about errors/downtime. is.gd/7CP #
10:06 this post about creating twitter-maps of the "six degress of seperation" is cool is.gd/7CX .made by @simX i believe #
10:17 can't get @engtech greasemonkey twitter client for friendfeed working. it won't tweet when i click the button. odd #
10:20 his greasemonkey script for redirecting tweet response links to quotably is really awesome though #
11:36 playing pokemon red. had to see why everyone was so addicted to this game. still dont understand what the deal is with different versions #
12:23 still havn't recieved any messages from twitter on googletalk. im not getting most updates anyway, cos twitter is screwed atm #
12:28 got pokemon, twhirl and AlertThingy open side by side so i can consume the news while training my pokethingies #
12:32 + note to self- when I buy an iPhone check out twinkle is.gd/7DM #
12:33 checking out www.twittearth.com tinyurl.com/47jgrn #
12:46 really wishing alert thingy could push friendfeed comments back to twitter. #
12:49 hm still not getting any tweets from within googletalk, yet im getting some in twhirl. odd #
13:17 Upgrading from Windows Vista to XP: A Review is.gd/7E3 #
13:28 i love all the comment designs in this article is.gd/7Ec #
15:29 alert thingy keeps screwing up- an error occurs while its updating, and a blank screen appears instead of new items #
16:22 really looking forward to indie game "The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom" is.gd/7EY #
18:49 downloading "I Wanna Be The Guy: The Movie: The Game"- a ruthlessly difficult take-off of platformer/shooters of yore #
20:07 I Wanna be the Guy is raping my mind :( kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/index.php #
20:38 heading out to dinner with mum. possibly Fast Eddies #
23:09 i have a strange feeling this really could work. getting things done using the pyschology of procrastination: is.gd/7J0 #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter12:17 why we need net neutrality tinyurl.com/56qy8z #
13:14 working out the dimensions of Pac Man's turds tinyurl.com/4fwsxh #
13:23 The Brainy Gamer asks for RPG's to design a syllabus around. the comments are very interesting tinyurl.com/3sk2wb #
17:54 just finished reading (well, i listened to it actually) HP Lovecraft's 'Call of Cthulhu'. great book, very creepy #
19:23 played some Chrono Trigger today, now I'm about to watch some documentary on Napolean #
19:54 scientific study explaining why the youngest children or an only child will "get away with murder" tinyurl.com/3mfqxu #
19:59 ive never really played any of the pokemon games. ive had the urge recently to download an emulator and try them out. #
20:04 my twitter is messed up. im not getting updates from the vast majority of my twitter friends #
21:46 at dads. kind of bored and depressed #
22:01 IBM employees testing Macs in the workplace. Watch out M$ tinyurl.com/3m723r #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter11:25 water powered cell phones by 2010? tinyurl.com/3pt94q #
14:00 sigh. still havnt found a satisfactory solution for twitter on the Eee. I've noticed my twitter usage drops significantly when I use the Eee #
14:15 i think rumors of a 'radically different' 3G iPhone are ridiculous- particularly claims it will be flip-screen or hav a sliding keyboard. #
14:45 Collective intelligence and humour of the USPS. Very interesting series of experiments tinyurl.com/27mcv2 #
15:58 the science of persuasion tinyurl.com/6528ay #
22:11 was so bored i just watched harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban on the TV #
22:27 possibly the coolest thing ever? make a rug out of your old t-shirts tinyurl.com/3nhcqf #
22:57 at dads for the weekend. missing being able to play guitar (i left it at mums). its a very relaxing hobby #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter10:29 enjoying @simX coverage of net neutrality conference #
11:37 just finished this weeks Kongregate Card Challenge. Can't wait until the Kongai Card Game is released; its designed by Sirlin #
11:53 twhirl should integrate conversation functionality like Quotably, or let me go to the tweet it is in response to by clicking "in reply to" #
12:41 man uses pokemon to quit smoking tinyurl.com/6ddqt9 #
12:57 i'm having trouble getting loudtwitter working on my new wordpress blog. annoying #
13:05 there we go...loudtwitter is working now. hopefully. #
13:10 @grum have you tried www.priceusa.com ? You can import things from the US, for a 5% fee.its run by aussies, ive heard good things about them #
13:11 @grum oops sorry. its priceusa.com.au #
14:32 there is some guy with a gun on the roof of perth stock exchange. ppl evacuated. cameras everywhere #
15:09 @QueenofSpain just got back from the city. there was a big crowd around the ASX building, a camera crew and 2 helicopters filming. #
15:10 @QueenofSpain i got told there was a gunman on the roof, and that the ppl in the ASX had been evacuated. cant confirm thats the truth tho #
15:11 @QueenofSpain im not sure. i left before anything much happened #
15:37 this is fittingly suited to being posted on twitter- penny arcades latest competition tinyurl.com/4y3gqe #
16:12 can anyone suggest a decent IM client for linux? pidgin just will not work no matter how much i beg, plead or portforward #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter11:15 wishing i could import my twitter friends to friendfeed. that would make things easier. downloading Alert Thingy 1.2 atm #
11:21 agreeing with @TechCrunch. Alert Thingy needs to interact more directly with my twitter stream #
11:29 does Alert Thingy let me FF comment and push to twitter like the site does? #
12:19 $750 up on my shares. this is all so very exciting :-) haha #
12:52 "This statement is false"- how would it feel to live that paradox? tinyurl.com/35fyof #
14:26 well i made $750 today :-) not bad for refreshing a page now and then while i browse the web #
17:49 im really stoked with today's results! i worked on starting up my gumball machine business, and made money with the stocks experiment! #
18:47 learnt 3 songs today; About a Girl, Sweet Dreams and Where Did You Sleep Last Night. today has been very productive, i'm very pleased! #
20:22 hilarious review of real life as an MMO- "Outside" is.gd/64t #
20:52 Giant squid sex "deeply weird", highly dangerous: males accidentally inseminate themselves with the pressure of a firehose is.gd/6P1 #
20:59 man regrows his finger tinyurl.com/3anmd8 #
21:31 is it just me, or does twhirl-for-friendfeed not let you post FriendFeed updates. You can comment and like, but not post? #
21:34 neither FriendFeed client have really nailed it yet, but overall I prefer AlertThingy. #
21:37 I want one client to show both twitter and FF updates in one window, but let me filter it to show either just tweets or just FF #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter14:08 College student twitters his arrest in europe, and his network acts. tinyurl.com/63wpq4 #
14:37 Starslip Crisis is one of my favourite webcomics, and he is attempting to make it his job. You should all go check it out. is.gd/6tE #
16:39 Ed came over and we just bought my first lot of stocks. CHM #
17:31 hmm alert thingy isn't working for me atm. #
18:33 eagerly awaiting the release of Lila Dreams on Kongregate is.gd/6vg #
18:37 state of my life atm: 1/3 way thru year 12 (full on), started stock trading ($20k only), starting gumball machine business, on 2 wk holiday #
19:06 just transitioned my blog to wordpress.com (from blogger), and set it up with LoudTweet. I use my blog to gather all my tweets, like a diary #
19:16 @franticnews I would be quite interested in a Geek Fitness style blog #
19:26 anyone know if Fring lets you call over the iPhone's EDGE connetion or just wifi? #
20:07 twitter already has advertising- just not on the web. links here ( is.gd/6w7 ) and here ( is.gd/6w6 ) #
20:58 "Only a Game" is fast becoming one of my favourite blogs. It deals with two of my favourite topics; games and philosophy. is.gd/6x0 #
21:17 creative Japanese barcodes tinyurl.com/56htx7 #
21:44 watching some Neon Genesis. My favourite anime. I've yet to watch the movies though, because I want to watch the series+movies in one go #
22:01 forgot how much of a pussy Shinji was #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter00:13 is Alert Thingy supposed to be in v1.1? i'm seeing comments (and the website) indicating yes, but i'm not getting prompted to update...hmmm #
10:24 people overestimate the value of content techdirt.com/articles/20080414/015112835.shtml #
10:27 I enjoyed this post: content is becoming a commodity tinyurl.com/62vtws #
12:04 great article on how Apple is positioned to take over the OS market is.gd/6a9 #
12:37 bahaha Ryan is rolling Bodhi up in a carpet and watching as he climbs up and down inside it #
13:36 Someecards is an edgy, cool new e-card site. "Don't forget that blow jobs are like flowers for men" is one of my favourites is.gd/6ax #
14:05 this website is really cool; it creates online jigsaw puzzles out of old comic book covers www.coverbrowser.com/dragger #
14:18 is it just me, or does Alert Thingy 1.1 let you "Show all comments" but not hide them again? #
17:44 ive been playing with Cover Browser all day www.coverbrowser.com/dragger #
17:57 Why there aren't more Googles- an essay on startups, VC's and acquisitions www.paulgraham.com/googles.html #
18:04 This is an inspiring post about leveraging motivations tinyurl.com/6k6vgh #
19:22 the marathons are easy. there are no lions tinyurl.com/67tpgd #
20:33 Komodo dragons bite mechanics are surprisingly sophisticated www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414091357.htm #
20:35 i find the last paragraph of this Ars article particularly snappy ;-) is.gd/6e0 #
20:56 Bungie wants to convert Halo fans into Bungie Fans ( is.gd/6ed ).Fat chance- not after they raped and destroyed the Halo franchise #
21:06 are all deaths suicides? according to the economic approach- yes is.gd/6em #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter19:12 Man writes (compiles) 200,000 books using algorithms tinyurl.com/6pnwmk #
19:30 Kysrun is a keystroke application runner like Quicksilver or Katapult, but written specifically for the Eee is.gd/5W1 #
19:45 kysrun is quite excellent. if you have an Eee I highly recommend you try it out colabti.org/kysrun/ #
19:58 oh wow, i only just realised i could install Alert Thingy! The install button was a flash plugin that didnt show up until i upgraded > ... #
20:11 ugh. Alert Thingy cuts off/deletes your comment if a new item comes in while you're writing it. annoying #
20:17 i like Alert Thingy so far. I wish I could post to twitter from it though. #
20:19 also wish i could edit stuff like opacity, background colour, theme etc, or have access to more detailed settings. i guess thats coming :-) #
20:22 I should be able to tweet, blog, friendfeed, etc. from one program. I want one central program acting as a dashboard for all my services #
20:55 i love my Eee, I really do, but its sad when I feel like i've just fought a mountain lion after installing (or attempting to install) an app #
20:56 guess its time to a) install windows XP (i dont really want to- i like the Xandros OS as a whole) or b) learn some more about linux #
20:58 oh cool! kysrun lets me do google searches. neat :-) #
21:02 following my download of kysrun i decided to get the similar "Launchy" for my windows laptop. launcher apps are rather useful #
21:08 Australian PM Kevin Rudd names first female Governor General tinyurl.com/3whoos #
21:24 i love my kitten. he got the short end of the stick on nicknames though- Bodhi, Dog...and "Shittles" thanks to Ryan #
21:36 just saw that FriendFeed has added GoodReads. been a long time since I used that service- i should finish cataloguing my books! #
23:18 PriceUSA is a great site for Aussies wanting to import from the USA rather than buying at the over-inflated Aus prices is.gd/5YP #
23:20 hmmm running Alert Thingy, Twhirl and MSN side by side. Surely I should just have one app to do this all? Actually I think Digsby does that #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter14:50 my last tweet didn't seem to go thru... Ryan and I spent all last night playing Goldeneye and Smash for the N64. Brings back good memories! #
14:51 watching season 2 of the IT Crowd. Finding it much funnier than season 1 #
14:54 This is a cool picture- Quake Family Tree tinyurl.com/6bljsb #
19:07 "When God gives you Aids, make lemonaids". I'm watching "Jesus is Magic", stand up comedy by Sarah Silverman #
21:12 thought provoking post on digital information tinyurl.com/45h3jg #
21:14 Twitter has prompted me to improve the clarity of my writing, and im not the only one tinyurl.com/6yop8x #
21:18 interesting survey concerning the role and presence of emotions in videogames #
21:18 Sending... #
21:19 oops...mistweet. link to emotion survey tinyurl.com/68bosj #
21:22 from the same blog comes this post on Rushgames...hmm think I'm going to add them to my feed reader tinyurl.com/495sd5 #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter11:42 Practicing Disaster is.gd/5C6 #
12:44 reading Wired's excellent article on colourblindness and gaming. Oldy is colour blind. is.gd/5Cq #
12:44 oops. mistweet. the article on Deutranopia (colourblindness) is from Ars Technica #
12:46 interesting post about the quality of reader comments is.gd/5Cs #
13:10 wishing i wasn't so lazy. im hungry, but not yet hungry enough to do anything about it #
18:10 about to play some Goldeneye (N64) with Ryan, followed perhaps by some Smash. #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter15:37 finally an opportunity to relax. on 2 weeks break from school :-) #
15:53 cool pool trick shot, involves lots of tables and lots of dominos too tinyurl.com/58o8mt #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter18:22 just finished playing guitar with Ryan for the last 3 1/2 hours. My fingers aren't getting too sore anymore #
18:23 started learning "About a Girl" by Nirvana, but my hands are too small to do the powercords :-( I need to strengthen+stretch my fingers #
21:20 New York Mets rickrolled tinyurl.com/4mjlvv #
22:02 @academicdave Simulation Ethics? that sounds like an interesting topic #
22:26 just un-followed my first person on twitter. no offence intended to that user, but i felt too overwhelmed by their number of twitter updates #
22:31 i think this is an excellent post on the future of music - streaming will happen in a big way is.gd/5eD #
22:39 downloading digsby atm, seems interesting www.digsby.com/ #
23:31 checking out twitter functionality in digsby...when the linux version comes out I may use this for my Eee's IM/twitter client #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter16:07 w00t, just had the last assesment for this term! did pretty well too. "Does parliament trul reflect the will of the people? Discuss" #
16:07 i can't believe the pricing of European Rockband. Ridiculous. is.gd/4Un #
16:16 future of social networking is mobile? i think so too. is.gd/4Uq #
16:25 super mario recreated as a single 14kb javascript file is.gd/4QW #
21:58 just finished talking to Ed for about 2 hours about the Stock market. Growing my $20 000 :-) #
22:03 waiting for the day i can switch to a friendfeed desktop app that lets me view, comment + post from friendfeed and post to twitter #
22:24 if i used the friendfeed website itself more often, i would definately use this greasemonkey script is.gd/2YD #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterPrivileging Race in Texts – To be taken at face value?
The novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad portrays the privileging of the white race over the black natives of the
Before examining this issue in detail the impact of the narrative point of view must be understood. Heart of Darkness is –essentially – told from the perspective of Marlow, despite that the story is actually pieced together by a narrator. Marlow’s perspective is Eurocentric; Marlow is a European, and his point of view is necessarily influenced by the values of his society. At the time the text was written
Marlow’s first encounter with the native Congolese Descriptions of the native Congolese presents, at face value, a rejection of the inferiority of black races. On route to the
What at first appears to be a description conveying the positive qualities of the Congolese (“vitality” and “intense energy”) acts, upon closer examination, to dehumanise them; reducing them to a status less than human. The black paddlers are defined solely by their physical attributes. Rather than challenging the assumption of their inferiority, Marlow fails even to recognise their humanity. The black paddlers are portrayed as nothing more than bodies defined by their physical actions and appearance. This view is supported when Marlow compares the black paddlers not to other humans, or animals even, but to the sea. Marlow comments that “They [the black paddlers] were a great comfort to look at” (p. 30), in much the same way that “…the voice of the surf heard now and then was a positive pleasure…” (p. 30). Marlow attaches no intelligence or humanity to the black paddlers; they are only significant to him in the distant way that the movement of the sea is. The black paddlers are only bodies to Marlow; not people. The dehumanisation of the black paddlers begins a trend that is evident throughout the novel. Soon after reaching the Congo Marlow encounters a group of black workers, which he describes as “Black shapes” (p. 36), who are “nothing earthly now” (p. 36), and just “moribund shapes” (p. 36); a “bundle of acute angles”(p. 36). Once more, Marlow reduces the natives to something less than human by failing to recognise that they are associated with anything other than physical attributes. This is supported when he refers to them as “these creatures” (p.36). Even while clearly horror struck at the poor treatment they have received, Marlow cannot –or will not - identify with them as human beings. On his journey upriver, Marlow describes the Cannibals as “…big, powerful men, with not much capacity to weigh the consequences…” (p.70). Here, clearly, the reader sees Marlow attributing the natives with a physical presence alone. Their physical presence is emphasised (“big, powerful men”), while their capacity for intellect or emotion is disregarded entirely. Far from inviting the reader to challenge the privileging of white races, a closer reading of the text reveals something altogether different. The description of the natives serves to reaffirm the privileging of white races, because the native Congolese are seen as something less than human. The subtle dehumanisation of the native Congolese also highlights an important tension in the text; the relative worth placed on physical and intellectual attributes.
The impact of Marlow’s Eurocentric point of view is pronounced when the impact of describing the natives solely in physical terms is analysed. European society places greater importance on intellect than physical attributes. By placing an emphasis on their physical attributes (their “wild vitality”, the “big, powerful men”) the native’s capacity for intellect is disregarded. As a result of Marlow’s purely physical descriptions of them, the natives are portrayed as unenlightened, unintelligent savages. The European values inherent in the novel’s point of view encourage the reader to view the native’s “wild vitality” as less important than the intelligence and civilisation of European culture. The text, by disregarding the native’s capacity for intellect, serves to reaffirm the privileging of white races because the white races are portrayed as smarter and more civilised. Excepting two occasions, the natives of Heart of Darkness are not even graced with language. Presumably this is because –having already disregarded their intellectual capacity – the natives are deemed by Marlow too rudimentary and uncivilised to possibly possess language. Throughout the text, the native Congolese are silenced because of this. Instead of language, Marlow hears only "a violent babble of uncouth sounds". Chinua Achebe, in his famous attack on racism in Heart of Darkness wrote “[In relation to] Conrad's withholding of language from his rudimentary souls. Language is too grand for these chaps; let's give them dialects!”. (Achebe, 1977) By withholding both intellect and language from the natives, the text reaffirms the superiority and privileging of white races.
While the reader is not positioned to challenge the privileging of white races, the reader may be positioned to reject the idea of colonisation. For example, descriptions of the white colonisers as “flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly” (p. 34), support the reading that the white’s colonising effort is motivated by greed, and money, as opposed to a philanthropic desire of “weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways” (p. 28). The description of the white coloniser as a devil positions the reader to condemn the idea of colonisation, by assosciating it with immorality. This is not the same, however, as challenging the privileging of white races over the native Congolese. The text still suggests that the black natives are inferior by failing to attach to them humanity or intelligence, and it is for this reason that white races are privileged with positions of power and authority. Regardless of the immorality of colonisation, the reader is not being positioned to challenge the supremacy (and hence privileged position) of white races.
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents no evidence to indicate the reader is being invited to challenge the privileging of one race in the text, over another. This is due to Eurocentric point of view, which frames the text. The set of values promoted by the point of view encourages the privileging of white races. This must be taken into account when, at face value, the text might appear to be inviting the reader to challenge the privileging of white races. By taking the point of view and the values it promotes into account it is possible to see how an apparently positive and favourable description of the natives actually reaffirms the privileging of white races. Heart of Darkness dehumanises the natives by portraying them as bodies rather than people, disregarding their intellectual and emotional capacity and reducing them to something less than human. The native’s descriptions in solely physical terms also raises an important tension in the novel; the discrepancy between the relative values placed on physical and intellectual attributes. The privileging of white races is reaffirmed by the text when it dehumanizes and silences the natives of the
17:53 @bradlinder thank you very much for that tip! i wasn't aware Adobe AIR for Linux was available, so i'll definately be giving that a shot #
18:58 argh! downloaded Adobe AIR for Linux, but having no luck installing snitter or twhirl. it keeps giving me error notices (error #0) #
19:46 Petition to revoke the independance of the united states is.gd/4uC #
20:18 working on my econs essay atm, thank god they're so straight forward and structure :-) #
20:46 @Pistachio bring the sexy...i won't use a UI I think is really ugly, no matter how functional. #
21:18 @grum cool zombie flashmob! wish i'd known, i would have come! #
21:45 i wish twhirl would incorporate the functionality of quotably- it would make following twitter conversations that much easier #
21:51 twitter as an early warning system for brands and companies is.gd/4sb #
21:54 Perth Zombie Flashmob! tinyurl.com/5u7fta #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter16:23 trying to get twitter4skype working, but having no success. Halfway through my english essay, but still need to start on econs and p+l #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter10:28 and that was the last game of basketball i will ever have to play for the school! dont know whether i should be sad or elated... #
10:31 lately my main browser has been firefox 3 beta. but until it has full plugin support im thinking of switching to safari for windows #
10:41 everyone seems to be raving about twhirl lately, i might try it out. although to be honest i think i think snitter looks much prettier #
10:56 twitpic.com/6yi <- roadkill #
11:00 twitpic.com/6yj <-- foggy day in Perth- i'm really just testing out TwitPic integration with twhirl #
11:14 damnit i i made too many API requests because i had 3 twitter clients open, trying to see which one i liked best... #
11:15 really great post about collective intelligence research blog.steinberg.org/?p=7 #
11:23 this from the same blog as last tweet: this post constructs a disturbing image of the future of wireless net blog.steinberg.org/?p=3 #
16:45 i got into the public speaking finals + so did Alan, Mani and Duke. I was expecting Dylan to get in over Duke. I feel confident I can win #
16:56 still wishing I had an actual twitter desktop client on my Eee PC, even though TwitterFox is really quite good #
17:00 For no reason that I can determine, Pidgin only works when I'm at dads. I probably need to port forward; mum's router is absolute shit #
17:02 wondering when (if?) popular twitter users (Scoble for example) will drive enough traffic to take a site down digg-style #
20:52 bah who needs time management anyway right? tinyurl.com/4c8l8b #
22:08 Steampunk Monologue-must watch tinyurl.com/4lgdrf #
22:12 Billboard worthy twitters- tinyurl.com/45msbq #
22:58 off to bed for me, get a start on my english essay first thing tomorrow morning and then plan my econs and p+l essays. a busy day ahead :-) #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter18:58 i'm actually really impressed with safari for windows, i've been using it more lately #
18:59 Ryan just spent the last 45 mins teaching me how to play guitar, and left me one of his to practice with :-) #
19:25 just need to immortalise this quote forever: Alex Poole- "...and nobody likes a fat kid!", the end of the st george vs freeth debate. #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter15:56 the public speeches today were pretty awful. Mani and Dylan were the best, but not as funny as I was expecting. I should get into the finals #
16:02 whoa, scary sign tinyurl.com/2pryy7 #
18:41 @Pistachio oh wow haha, what great news to wake up to! ;-) #
21:38 had a very productive night tonight. made some progress in maths, finished off my indo work, organised my file #
21:39 my life would be so much easier if teaches distributed digital copies of handouts instead of making me collect piles of loose paper. urgh #
21:39 i plan to go through my handouts, taking photos with my digital camera, and then sending them to qipit to convert them all to PDF #
21:44 Ars Technica writes about book piracy. really interesting article snurl.com/239fz #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter17:20 tweetclouds reveal even more about people tinyurl.com/2moh3r #
18:07 haha featured videos on youtube UK redirect to the RickRolled video #
19:17 haha wow looks like this April Fools product would actually sell. I present to you the MightyCard! snurl.com/2356k #
21:11 How Companies connect using twitter is a cool little article snurl.com/235hn #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter21:39 i didnt really enjoy the IT Crowd so much. I haven't watched season 2 yet though. maths test tomorrow :-( #
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