Cieno Crisis

Pomophobic

       afflicted with the irrational fear of the use of post-modern/postmodern theory, or anything pertaining to post-modernism/postmodernism in general -- including but not limited to architecture, literary theory, media studies, feminist academia at large, vague political theory essays, and visual art.

    Not entirely opposed to Foucault but is apprehensive of anything or anyone that yells out his name in the first line and does not make distinctive working definitions of key terminology.

    Also apprehensive of impractical cost-inefficient attempts at making expensive non-functional furniture, which are frequently passed off as being an experimental examination of what is Art and Design. Needless to say, the line often blurs between the two -- but both have copious amounts of crap.

Cyborg

    an organism composed of organic and synthetic parts, part human and part machine. The uncomfortable gray ground between human and android.

    Gendered portrayals of android and cyborg females in Western media usually show them as being
    (1)  steely-cold war machine/assassins showcasing speedy and admirable physical prowess (see Gibson's Neuromancer, Lang's Metropolis, Ghost in Shell)
    (2) mercenary in personal attachments and loyalties (see Gibson's Neuromancer, Ghost in Shell)
    (3) dangerously sexual femme-fatales, with no real regard for sexual partners and are a threat to the status quo (see Gibson's Neuromancer, Lang's Metropolis, Ghost in Shell)

    On a side note, it is interesting that the representation of android and cyborg females are identical to the construction of the Asian ("oriental", aka yellow) female in popular Western media.

    Whether the rise of Oriental Android-Cyborg mercenary femme-fatale war-machine women will spell out doom for the entire structure of Western culture is not clear. It is also not clear whether this image of Oriental Android-Cyborg mercenary femme-fatale war-machine women are a tool of the patriarchy -- a modern myth designed to put cyborgs and oriental women alike down and keeping them from attaining full sexual prowess, or this image should be reclaimed as being feminist and can be instrumental in empowering women cyborgs, Asian women, and women all alike.

Feminist

    a person who is concerned with gender inequality and has some form of attachment to the Western women's movement.

    Contrary to popular opinion, the quest for gender equality is not necessarily a zero-sum game, it does not necessarily create new problems (as it merely addresses existing grievances silenced before), it does not  necessarily make men victims, it does not necessarily make women victims, it does not necessarily snub other quests for equality and think that its own quest for equality is paramount, it does not necessarily ignore cultural diversity, it does not necessarily assume that all "liberated" women in the world should behave or think like the "liberated" women in individual-rights-oriented Western societies, and it doesn't necessarily make people lose their sense of humor and ironic appreciation of exploitation film.

    And contrary to popular opinion, people who label themselves feminists (acknowledging the fact that some people who quest for gender equality do not identify themselves as feminists) are not a homogeneous mass of white women that emulate antics from the radical feminism of the 70's and 80's. Really, the population that calls itself feminist is pluralistic, diverse, differ a lot, and disagree a lot. Just like in any other group, some are tall, some are short, some are attractive, some are ugly, some are sane, some are insane, some are really smart about their politics, and some are really stupid about their politics. Simple.

Activist

    a person who promotes social or political change. The level of coherence in their ideology or methodology varies.

Dystopian

    a society or planet that is the polar-opposite of the ideal. Frequently portrayed in popular media or less popular media as having elements of cyberpunk, a large amount of corporate ownership that infringes upon a healthy sense of a public sphere (Jurgen Habermas’ definition of a public sphere) or non-corporate civil society, smelly, an illegitimate government, and sentient monstrous creatures living in underground metropolitan sewer systems. Sometimes is also portrayed with androids and cyborgs. Sometimes has a lot of explosions. Oftentimes has a lot of hacking and identity-theft.

    Many films depicting a dystopian future think that such a place would dominantly have electronic music, but some people propose that no-wave and British first-generation post-punk would be great in the soundtrack too. But one thing is for certain: there sure would be a lot of Joy Division.

Future

    the dark unknown blurry bit of space-time. It would probably would have cyborgs, it probably would be dystopian, and it probably would have a lot of Joy Division.