In light of my last post, I want to add a few follow-up thoughts:
First, as I wrote in my last post, if the meanings of forms are always changing - e.g. Barbie is at one point a cultural and environmental pollutant, and the next, a cultural phenom - then, all forms are the same; there's an equivalency in their lack of inherent meaning. Yet, this is NOT to say that we can mindlessly consume any form we desire. We can't just willy nilly go out there and start buying cultural artifacts that are, in a particular moment, egregiously deceptive or subtly misleading, such as a doll that flattens femininity, tokenizes race, dulls the imagination, and contaminates the planet. I still believe in ethics. There needs to be some evaluation of what is a better choice from one moment to the next, amongst the ever-changing forms, amid ever-changing contexts. And while we too constantly change as humans, ever growing in our understanding and ways of being in the world, I do believe in a moral and ethical compass that can support our evolution as thriving individuals and collectives.
What I am saying is that I believe there is always a right choice. I believe in cultural relativity AND ethical responsibility. How? How can one argue that everything has a value and place without hierarchy, at the same time as saying that there is always one choice that is better than another? Because our minds are already subjective. We already have biases. We already have certain proclivities. We are human. By virtue of being born in one country, raised in a particular family, educated in a certain logic, and socialized in particular norms, we are already programmed towards hierarchy. So why not continue to program or shape our preferences towards the forms, at any and every moment, that will lead to expansion rather than degeneration? Rather than sterility, to magnificence?
Otherwise, we'd still be where we started when I was a child - with a set of Barbie dolls that included an astronaut, physician, veterinarian, teacher, AND were all white and pornagraphically disproportionate. And a Ken doll by their side screaming, I know best.