Week 10 - Wednesday

Great course. Loved it. Todays class on the cycle of how consumers interact with producers and the text they create is fascinating. Consumers tend not to have the power to produce their own original product but often must use what is supplied by the producers to remix products into forms that become the consumer’s identity. This is not unlike reader response theory in hermeneutics. The power of meaning ultimately lies with the reader/consumer and not with the producers/author’s intent. At the material level of remixing music and clothing, I think this is fine. However, when this practice overflows into the way people work out their spirituality, which it inevitably does, it makes for some big problems. I believe that words matter. The meaning of the words we find in the Bible matter. If we disregard what the original meaning of those words are, are we not disposing of true meaning? We can never arrive at perfect meaning but this is no excuse for blatent disregard of the text and exalting reader response.