What does it mean to be relatable--and why is there a red line when I type this word? Rebecca Onion's article The Awful Emptiness of Relatable poses a thought provoking questions on the nature of relatability and how the present day society(college students) was using the term "relatable" as a default to avoid deeper, more meaningful analysis toward a subject.
"Relatable" is in the eye of the beholder, but its very nature is to present itself as universal. It is shorthand that masquerades as description. Without knowing why you find something "relatable," I know nothing about you or it.
When I think about this passage, the term "empathy" comes to mind. Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings to another. To feel "relatable" toward something, we first need to have the ability understand--we relate to something based on the similarity of experience. But even if we experience something similarly, our perspectives and outcomes that we take from that experience are different. Everyone has experienced failure, failure is relatable, but to what extent we feel failure seeping into our souls is entirely subjective.
And when we find something unrelatable, we become curious to make it "relatable." When did "relatable" begin its reign? A curious question from the author, and I agree that the word has been used too often to silence further opinions on a matter. The phrase "Oh, yeah I find that relatable!" automatically assumes there is no need for further explanation. Shutting out all opportunities of learning something. Are we just too lazy/afraid to speak our opinions?
Although the article seeks to expose the flaw of the term "relatable," I find the article, as a whole, delightfully informative and ironically "relatable." It all depends on the usage, and even if we find something relatable, just like fingerprints, there is always a distinction, always a glint of individuality that is worth mentioning, always, because no two minds think alike. To what extent are we "relatable?"
Josh,
ReplyDeleteI also had the word "empathy" in mind as I read this article but I think for maybe different reasons. I am not sure though since I'm sleep deprived and trying to sound thoughtful all at the same time. When I think about "empathy" I definitely think that it is very easy to empathize with a lot of things and a lot of those "things" will not be relatable. Relatable gets used as a cop out I think a bit too frequently because people are emotionally invested in a topic they just front that it is relatable. I don't think it's impossible to relate because obviously experiences are shared but I find it hard to believe that a lot of topics discussed in the college setting get referred to as relatable.
I appreciate that you showed that everyone's experiences are relatable. It truly made me think, how can something truly be defined as relatable? I am just as guilty at times of those students spoke of in the article. Very mind opening ideas.