bLog 2.2:

What is this new illness called the Truman Syndrome? It is a delusion of patients who believe their life is on a reality show. This can be caused by paranoia, or just something you develop. Even though, many people believe there life is on a TV show. How does this relate to TV shows, can this really be a new illness that makes technology have more power over us humans, or can this be just like Socrates’ and Plato’s Allegory?
According to the author, the “Truman Syndrome, is an interesting example of the connection between culture and mental health.” Why is that? Some scientists believe that patients find themselves living in an actual movie. For example, Vaughan Bell, a psychologist said one of his patients believe he was living the matrix which is a movie that came out in 1999. People find themselves in an illusion; therefore, they cannot separate the idea of what is reality and what is not.
How does this relate to TV shows? Most viewers of any kind of show either romance, mystery, etc, find themselves either able to relate to the series or even being able to relive that moment which aired on TV. Does this make them crazy? Not really, this illness called the Truman syndrome is just another fancy word, and also another project to focus on for scientists. We might think there is something wrong with a person who believes there the karate kid and starts coming out trying to act like a warrior. That may be a little crazy but it’s just using your imagination and I believe they are taking it to extreme by calling it a syndrome, unless someone thinks he/she is Michael Myers and starts killing people then we have a problem.
Does this relate to technology having too much power over us humans? Every day of our lives we use a lot of electricity. By watching too much TV can cause us to be in this illusion of their own reality. If this is a so called syndrome the main conception to that is technology. Humans viewing all these lifestyles even if there shows or movies, makes something tick in our head that this is something we need. By us not having what we see we tend to want to live that so we can imagine we are that person or can do these things.
The Truman Show is a movie about a guy named Truman Burbank, who wakes up every morning on television, but he is not aware of that. He starts to realize that his whole life is a lie even the people he thought was his friends and family are just actors. He cannot figure reality to unreal life. In comparison to the Truman show is the Allegory of Socrates and Plato. In their Allegory, there were prisoners who were kept in a cave and it was pitch black. They only were able to saw projections of shadows against the wall of the cave through fire. As one was let go, he visualized a whole new world. Nobody believed him when he came back to the cave they couldn’t recognize him or believe what he was saying. This relates to the syndrome. They both face this fake life style and see what is outside of their box. As soon as they saw what was outside they didn’t want know what to believe and thought they were crazy.
Overall, The Truman syndrome can be a ill sickness as scientist say. In both the allegory and the Truman show can relate of being faced with not classifying what’s reality and what isn’t.