Jon Stewart - The Man of Truth?
The citizens of the United States of America have been dependent on mainstream television news outlets such as FOX News and CNN to report truthful, reliable, and interesting newscasts. These channels provide a source of truthful information – that is, truthful to the standards of the news writers. Political bias has always been an issue when dealing with important, essential, and life-changing information. In an essay discussing Media/Political Bias, the author mentions how “there is no such thing as an objective point of view.” ‘Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,’ even though filled with bias, tries to confront the biases and claims demonstrated though these other news outlets.
The date is April 27th, 2009, and the infamous swine flu is discussed for the first time on ‘The Daily Show.’ Originally, this episode was supposed to discuss Barack Obama’s 100th day as president. Instead, due to the inflammation of information regarding the misconceptions and claims of swine flu, ‘The Daily Show’ reported “The Last 100 Days.” This title is a satirical representation that shows how the mainstream media blow everything out of proportion. In this episode, Jon Stewart discusses the “Snoutbreak of ’09.” In this “Snoutbreak,” he discusses the mainstream media’s claim of a pandemic and the 149 deaths in Mexico. He comically shows that the swine flu is last on the “list of the things that will kill you in Mexico.” It is placed under “Piñata accident.” This is ‘The Daily Show’s’ interpretation that the swine flu is not as deadly and lethal as the public believes. The public follow what the mainstream media reports. This brought intense fear of the swine flu; Fox News said that the White House declared a public health emergency and mentioned a New York Prep School epidemic that would spread from the Prep School to the rest of New York and CNN said the strain was fast moving, that the death toll was rising, questioned the possibility of a pandemic, and claimed that tens of millions of people would die if the swine flu wasn’t stopped. This brings people to an automatic fear that inhibits their ability to think rationally and research the situation. Jon Stewart referred to this as a “scare-off;” he jokingly asserted that the media are competing to scare the public the most.
There are benefits and limits to each style of news casting. Mainstream media present the information as soon as it happens in the form of “Breaking News.” While this provides the public with fast information, it is not always reliable; many outlets are more concerned with being the first to cover the information rather than double checking their sources. Also, each channel is biased towards certain views (Conservative, Liberal) so people can choose the channel that streams information they want to hear. This may hinder reality. On the other hand, Jon Stewart presents information after the event has been established; Jon Stewart satirically comments on the claims of other news reports in order to establish his position. This position usually mocks the claims of the mainstream media. In “The Last 100 Days,” Jon Stewart jokingly emphasized, “can anyone top turning a fever and sore throat into a terrorist attack?” This further emphasizes the tendency of the media to “think before they speak;” they rarely let the event completely unfold before claiming facts.
What does it mean that ‘The Daily Show’ is presented by Comedy Central? Many mainstream news outlets are made to present fast and reliable (for the given moment) information. If they comically present information without a serious outlook, people would become frustrated; they want to know what is going on in the world; they are not watching some comedy show. That comedy show is ‘The Daily Show.’ In Rachel Smolkin’s article “What the Mainstream Media Can Learn from Jon Stewart,” Smolkin writes “'The Daily Show' doesn't have to worry about balance. They don't have to worry about accuracy, even. They can just sort of get at the essence of something, so it gives them much more latitude to play around with the information, to make it more engaging.” The fact that ‘The Daily Show’ is presented as a comedy show gives it an unfair advantage; they can make mockeries and claims without serious consequences. Ironically, this comedy set up allows for more truth to be revealed; they can joke about something serious without getting in trouble because “it’s just a comedy show.” Other mainstream news media outlets have to filter out some information because they do not want to cause a ruckus. Mainstream news media outlets present “the truth” in a serious matter; joking is not respected. ‘The Daily Show’ presents beyond the mediated truth; they are able to do this because the public can “laugh the truth off.” After all, it is a comedy show.
If ‘The Daily Show’ bases its ideas off of the mainstream media, isn’t it hindering in itself? Since the media present information that is not the whole and honest truth, is ‘The Daily Show’ a comedy show built upon biases and distorted reality? While ‘The Daily Show’ tries to present truth in a comedic-relief style, some truths still cannot be revealed, even with the aid of comedy. It is kind of ironic that ‘The Daily Show’ makes a mockery of the bias implemented in mainstream media when the show itself is built upon and grows from these biases. It therefore is just a bias in itself. Maybe an objective point of view is impossible to obtain through the media.
Sources:
Snoutbreak '09
The Last 100 Days
CNNLive
CNN Doing All We Can?
FOXNews Swine Scare
FOXNews What is Swine Flu
Media/Political Bias Essay
Smolkin Essay
Monday, May 4, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Blog # 6
McLuhan's Message
The idea the Marshall McLuhan introduced, “The Medium is the Message,” is a concept that is difficult to grasp. Our society sees a medium as a form of communication, like radio or television. However, McLuhan defines a medium as an extension of ourselves and of our bodies. It extends our innate abilities and it changes how we exist in society. For example, Marshall McLuhan would describe glasses as a medium because it extends our innate ability of vision. He would describe a phone as a medium because it extends our innate ability to listen and speak. The message, as seen by our society, is a concept. However, McLuhan sees this message as unseen or unintended content. More specifically, he sees it as an unforeseen consequence. An iPod is a piece of technology that can accurately define McLuhan’s theory. An iPod, an extension of our hearing capability, is the medium. The message is the isolation this iPod brought into society. People were dropping out into their own worlds. As seen here, the concept (being able to listen to music freely) is not important, and an unforeseen consequence, isolation, emerged. The medium is the message; content is insignificant and the important idea is the technology itself.
Technological determinism is an autonomous role that technology plays in society that has inherent effects. It can easily be applied to McLuhan’s idea. In his argument, technology determines the way we experience life. For instance, it is different to watch a hockey game at the Verizon Center to see the Capitals win than to watch the game on television. At the actual rink, the individual chooses what to observe: the puck, the goalie, the Red Rockers, the crowd. This represents how vision is a linear and connective process. However, on television, the camera man and editors choose what the individual sees. Television has made vision disconnected because it has gone beyond our physical control. Also, the introduction of the replay has also determined how we watch a game. It changes how we participate in the game. The level and scale of audience participation is also important to fully understand McLuhan’s theory.
Marshall McLuhan’s essay, “Understanding Radio,” mentions how mediums are hot and cool. These classifications organize different levels of participation. A hot medium does not require an audience to actively participate. For example, radio is a hot medium because it only includes one sense, audio capability. It does not require much participation; there is not much effort in simply listening to the radio itself. Also, a lecture is a hot medium; you are simply being told ideas that you are expected to take as fact. There is not much participation. On the other hand, cool media requires total participation. In contrast with a lecture, a seminar, or discussion, is seen as a cool medium. Unlike lectures, seminars involve the active participation of sharing and comprehending ideas. Television is also seen as a cool medium; you’re actively participating with your imagination by deciphering images as well as decoding the dots, or pixels, on the screen. It requires audio and visual capabilities in order to fully comprehend the information. Also, it is essential to be able to recognize abstract patterning presented in television. This ability to recognize a pattern is necessary to understand specific messages.
Pattern recognition is important to how society interprets everyday life. When society is moving at a slow and steady pace, it is difficult to recognize any pattern. However, when society is at a fast pace, patterns can be recognized. The instant a pattern is recognized, people begin to question the system. This system can refer to the way in which they are expected to govern their lives, the government itself, or any other pattern that people may notice. For example, a pattern understood by most human beings is to be born, go to school, work, and then die. Once people begin to question such a system, they “drop out.” This also occurs when people recognize a continuous cycle that society and technology have created. This causes the importance of each day to be lost. This can be related to McLuhan in that these people who have dropped out wish to make their lives more meaningful; they buy a big screen television or some other product to bring back their once contented mindset. This creates the theory in which the habits of the consumer effect the involvement of the producer. Through this, the consumer now acts as the producer. This can be related back to the unanticipated consequence described by McLuhan.
In his essay entitled, “What is the Meaning of The Medium is the Message,” Mark Federman describes unanticipated consequence in terms of ground and figures. The ground, or context, represents the “dynamic processes that are entirely non-obvious.” They operate beyond our recognition and influence how we react with each other and society as a whole. The ground remains in society’s nonconscious processes until change appears as a sudden insight. This change is the most important factor. Once society recognizes this change (which can also be described as a change of a pattern) it becomes a figure. These figures are the objects and concepts we do notice. These figures are in our conscious awareness and conscious thoughts. This concept and theory of ground VS figures is helpful to understand McLuhan’s idea that the medium is in fact the message.
Through advancing technology, more and more messages, mediums, ground concepts, and figures concepts will become apparent in our society. While society is influencing how technology is constructed, the technology ultimately determines how society lives its life. Though society may or may not realize this, it has become an inevitable fact in many aspects of life. Even though we as a society may not think in terms of how the medium is the message, we still live in the lifestyle that the medium and its message have created and we still abide by the concepts that McLuhan’s theory proposed (the dude abides, man!).
The idea the Marshall McLuhan introduced, “The Medium is the Message,” is a concept that is difficult to grasp. Our society sees a medium as a form of communication, like radio or television. However, McLuhan defines a medium as an extension of ourselves and of our bodies. It extends our innate abilities and it changes how we exist in society. For example, Marshall McLuhan would describe glasses as a medium because it extends our innate ability of vision. He would describe a phone as a medium because it extends our innate ability to listen and speak. The message, as seen by our society, is a concept. However, McLuhan sees this message as unseen or unintended content. More specifically, he sees it as an unforeseen consequence. An iPod is a piece of technology that can accurately define McLuhan’s theory. An iPod, an extension of our hearing capability, is the medium. The message is the isolation this iPod brought into society. People were dropping out into their own worlds. As seen here, the concept (being able to listen to music freely) is not important, and an unforeseen consequence, isolation, emerged. The medium is the message; content is insignificant and the important idea is the technology itself.
Technological determinism is an autonomous role that technology plays in society that has inherent effects. It can easily be applied to McLuhan’s idea. In his argument, technology determines the way we experience life. For instance, it is different to watch a hockey game at the Verizon Center to see the Capitals win than to watch the game on television. At the actual rink, the individual chooses what to observe: the puck, the goalie, the Red Rockers, the crowd. This represents how vision is a linear and connective process. However, on television, the camera man and editors choose what the individual sees. Television has made vision disconnected because it has gone beyond our physical control. Also, the introduction of the replay has also determined how we watch a game. It changes how we participate in the game. The level and scale of audience participation is also important to fully understand McLuhan’s theory.
Marshall McLuhan’s essay, “Understanding Radio,” mentions how mediums are hot and cool. These classifications organize different levels of participation. A hot medium does not require an audience to actively participate. For example, radio is a hot medium because it only includes one sense, audio capability. It does not require much participation; there is not much effort in simply listening to the radio itself. Also, a lecture is a hot medium; you are simply being told ideas that you are expected to take as fact. There is not much participation. On the other hand, cool media requires total participation. In contrast with a lecture, a seminar, or discussion, is seen as a cool medium. Unlike lectures, seminars involve the active participation of sharing and comprehending ideas. Television is also seen as a cool medium; you’re actively participating with your imagination by deciphering images as well as decoding the dots, or pixels, on the screen. It requires audio and visual capabilities in order to fully comprehend the information. Also, it is essential to be able to recognize abstract patterning presented in television. This ability to recognize a pattern is necessary to understand specific messages.
Pattern recognition is important to how society interprets everyday life. When society is moving at a slow and steady pace, it is difficult to recognize any pattern. However, when society is at a fast pace, patterns can be recognized. The instant a pattern is recognized, people begin to question the system. This system can refer to the way in which they are expected to govern their lives, the government itself, or any other pattern that people may notice. For example, a pattern understood by most human beings is to be born, go to school, work, and then die. Once people begin to question such a system, they “drop out.” This also occurs when people recognize a continuous cycle that society and technology have created. This causes the importance of each day to be lost. This can be related to McLuhan in that these people who have dropped out wish to make their lives more meaningful; they buy a big screen television or some other product to bring back their once contented mindset. This creates the theory in which the habits of the consumer effect the involvement of the producer. Through this, the consumer now acts as the producer. This can be related back to the unanticipated consequence described by McLuhan.
In his essay entitled, “What is the Meaning of The Medium is the Message,” Mark Federman describes unanticipated consequence in terms of ground and figures. The ground, or context, represents the “dynamic processes that are entirely non-obvious.” They operate beyond our recognition and influence how we react with each other and society as a whole. The ground remains in society’s nonconscious processes until change appears as a sudden insight. This change is the most important factor. Once society recognizes this change (which can also be described as a change of a pattern) it becomes a figure. These figures are the objects and concepts we do notice. These figures are in our conscious awareness and conscious thoughts. This concept and theory of ground VS figures is helpful to understand McLuhan’s idea that the medium is in fact the message.
Through advancing technology, more and more messages, mediums, ground concepts, and figures concepts will become apparent in our society. While society is influencing how technology is constructed, the technology ultimately determines how society lives its life. Though society may or may not realize this, it has become an inevitable fact in many aspects of life. Even though we as a society may not think in terms of how the medium is the message, we still live in the lifestyle that the medium and its message have created and we still abide by the concepts that McLuhan’s theory proposed (the dude abides, man!).
Monday, March 23, 2009
Blog #4
Days before I actually started the 24-hour dooms day, I began to note how much media was affecting daily lives. I spent my first weekend of spring break in New York City. It is nearly impossible to avoid media in this city. Whether it is the jumbo-screens in Times Square or the many discount electronics stores throughout the city, media surrounds everybody. This made me think of Susan Jacoby’s article, “The Dumbing of America” in which video is making society less intelligent. I joked to myself about how NYC is becoming dumber and illiterate without its consent. Because New York City is such a big and busy city, I decided to take my “pre-analysis” experiment home to Maryland. While at home, I began to seriously realize that the only way we are all really connected is by phone and internet. Once you are connected to your friends and you’re “hanging out” (either in a chat room or in person), the conversation almost always includes music, movies, television programs, or anything of the sort. So even if you do not have direct media interaction, it will almost always still affect your life. Doing this “pre-analysis” prepared me to complete my project. I was able to plan ahead and understand what I was about to get myself into. It was smart to plan ahead because I had a few activities lined up. Unlike the students who dreaded going in to this experiment in “The Longest Day,” I was excited, and saw it as a fun challenge. This, however, was before the day began. Even though 24 hours seems like a very short period to be deprived of media, in this day and age, it turns out to be a very long day.
The day is Wednesday, March 18, 2009, and I am currently deprived of electronic media. I started my day off waking up at 8:30 AM to go to a delicious breakfast at Denny’s. I set my buzzer alarm, but I didn’t need it because I woke up on my own. My first instinct was to check my cell phone for text messages and to look at the time. Luckily, I was smart and put my phone on my dresser the night before. When I was getting ready to leave, I felt naked without my phone in the right pocket of my jeans. My boyfriend, Jesse, and his mom came to pick me up, but the radio was off, because they knew I was doing the project. When we got inside Denny’s, I noticed a somewhat ominous background noise: the radio. That was the first thing I noticed. I just brushed it off because I figured any place I would have gone into would have had background noise. After Denny’s I found out the Jesse had to go to the doctor because he was having back spasms. I already had plans to hang out with people at noon, and I had no way to contact them about this issue. I decided to go home and meet with my friends so they weren’t lingering around aimlessly, wondering what was going on. I got home around 11:00 AM and took a nap. Around 12:15 PM, I was awoken by my dogs barking their brains out: my friends had arrived. At first we sat around and made some jokes about some pictures in The Washington Post, but eventually we head out to the woods. I am lucky enough to have a State Park behind my house, so we wandered around for about 2 hours. We then decided to head to the mall. Surprisingly, I did not come in contact with any media because I did not really enter any stores. When I got home, I remembered my dad needed the truck, so I had no way to contact Jesse to see how his appointment went and how he was doing. I already felt like an insensitive girlfriend for not going with him to the doctor, so I gave into the media and texted him. Of course he was feeling better. When my dad got home, I drove over to his house and sat with him at the television. Mission failed.
The day is Saturday, May 21, 2009, and I am currently deprived of electronic media. This day started out as much more successful. I woke up at 9:45 AM with no alarm and got ready to go to the rock climbing gym with my mom and brother. Once in the car, I reminded my mom about my project and asked her to turn off the radio. Once we got to the climbing gym, there were no electronic media devices present. We all talked and got caught up with personal events when we weren’t on the wall. For lunch, we went to this restaurant called BD’s Mongolian BBQ in Bethesda, MD. I scoped the room from my table and saw a television, and quickly switched to the seat facing the window. Luckily there was no volume. After a scrumptious lunch, my mom and I dropped my brother at the house and I went driving with my mom to learn how to drive a stick shift. After about an hour of practice, I was doing okay. When I was dropped off back at the house, I sat on the couch for about 10 minutes thinking about what I could do. I finally decided to get a head start on homework, even though every fiber of my being did not want to. I tried reading my Psychology text book and after about 15 pages, I put the book down, put my head on the pillow, and let out a heavy sigh. I was bored. I encouraged my brother to help me walk the dogs by telling him I would play Warhammer, a tabletop war game, with him. After about a 30 minute walk, my brother taught me how to play Warhammer. I kind of knew how to play by watching him play a little bit before. It is basically a dice game that’s less nerdy than Dungeons and Dragons. My brother created all the terrains and painted all the little figures, so it was neat to play with all homemade items. After we finished, the time was 6:30 PM. The phone rang. It was my dad asking us what we wanted from Subway. I told my brother my order so I wouldn’t directly be using the landline. After we ate, it was about 8:00 PM, and I did not know what to do. I drove by Jesse’s house and asked him if he wanted to go to the store. We ended up going to Safeway to get some toothpaste and deodorant for school. It is 8:45 PM and time is dragging on. This time I knew I could not give in to my boredom because I was already so close. “Just 3 more hours,” I thought. We drove back to Jesse’s and got out a board game. At first we played Monopoly, but that got boring very fast, so we switched to Clue. We got his brother and sister to join us and played for about 30 minutes. It was Professor Plum, with the wrench, in the Ballroom, and I was the victim. Only two more hours left. I got a sudden urge to bake, so we made a double layer yellow cake with chocolate icing. The first layer came out fine, but the second layer crumbled. I failed (It was still delicious!). Jesse’s mom runs a home daycare program so there was a plethora of coloring books. I haven’t colored since middle school. One hour left. I took a nap on the couch. Mission Accomplished.
This project was very difficult to complete. I learned that we are all connected by an invisible limb known as electronic media. It is much easier to sit mindlessly staring at a television than trying to finish a board game like monopoly. Just reliving the day through this essay made me realize how long that day actually was. After I failed the first day, it dawned on me how essential electronic communication is. It is the quickest way to get the information you desire. Our fast paced society requires fast responses. We as a society would become extremely frustrated if we did not have our cell phones and internet. This project would have been loads easier if I could have gone camping with all my friends and play kickball, roast marshmallows, and end the day with a sing-along on the guitar. Instead, it was a day filled with the anxiety of not knowing who wants to contact you and the boredom of trying to find something to do.
The day is Wednesday, March 18, 2009, and I am currently deprived of electronic media. I started my day off waking up at 8:30 AM to go to a delicious breakfast at Denny’s. I set my buzzer alarm, but I didn’t need it because I woke up on my own. My first instinct was to check my cell phone for text messages and to look at the time. Luckily, I was smart and put my phone on my dresser the night before. When I was getting ready to leave, I felt naked without my phone in the right pocket of my jeans. My boyfriend, Jesse, and his mom came to pick me up, but the radio was off, because they knew I was doing the project. When we got inside Denny’s, I noticed a somewhat ominous background noise: the radio. That was the first thing I noticed. I just brushed it off because I figured any place I would have gone into would have had background noise. After Denny’s I found out the Jesse had to go to the doctor because he was having back spasms. I already had plans to hang out with people at noon, and I had no way to contact them about this issue. I decided to go home and meet with my friends so they weren’t lingering around aimlessly, wondering what was going on. I got home around 11:00 AM and took a nap. Around 12:15 PM, I was awoken by my dogs barking their brains out: my friends had arrived. At first we sat around and made some jokes about some pictures in The Washington Post, but eventually we head out to the woods. I am lucky enough to have a State Park behind my house, so we wandered around for about 2 hours. We then decided to head to the mall. Surprisingly, I did not come in contact with any media because I did not really enter any stores. When I got home, I remembered my dad needed the truck, so I had no way to contact Jesse to see how his appointment went and how he was doing. I already felt like an insensitive girlfriend for not going with him to the doctor, so I gave into the media and texted him. Of course he was feeling better. When my dad got home, I drove over to his house and sat with him at the television. Mission failed.
The day is Saturday, May 21, 2009, and I am currently deprived of electronic media. This day started out as much more successful. I woke up at 9:45 AM with no alarm and got ready to go to the rock climbing gym with my mom and brother. Once in the car, I reminded my mom about my project and asked her to turn off the radio. Once we got to the climbing gym, there were no electronic media devices present. We all talked and got caught up with personal events when we weren’t on the wall. For lunch, we went to this restaurant called BD’s Mongolian BBQ in Bethesda, MD. I scoped the room from my table and saw a television, and quickly switched to the seat facing the window. Luckily there was no volume. After a scrumptious lunch, my mom and I dropped my brother at the house and I went driving with my mom to learn how to drive a stick shift. After about an hour of practice, I was doing okay. When I was dropped off back at the house, I sat on the couch for about 10 minutes thinking about what I could do. I finally decided to get a head start on homework, even though every fiber of my being did not want to. I tried reading my Psychology text book and after about 15 pages, I put the book down, put my head on the pillow, and let out a heavy sigh. I was bored. I encouraged my brother to help me walk the dogs by telling him I would play Warhammer, a tabletop war game, with him. After about a 30 minute walk, my brother taught me how to play Warhammer. I kind of knew how to play by watching him play a little bit before. It is basically a dice game that’s less nerdy than Dungeons and Dragons. My brother created all the terrains and painted all the little figures, so it was neat to play with all homemade items. After we finished, the time was 6:30 PM. The phone rang. It was my dad asking us what we wanted from Subway. I told my brother my order so I wouldn’t directly be using the landline. After we ate, it was about 8:00 PM, and I did not know what to do. I drove by Jesse’s house and asked him if he wanted to go to the store. We ended up going to Safeway to get some toothpaste and deodorant for school. It is 8:45 PM and time is dragging on. This time I knew I could not give in to my boredom because I was already so close. “Just 3 more hours,” I thought. We drove back to Jesse’s and got out a board game. At first we played Monopoly, but that got boring very fast, so we switched to Clue. We got his brother and sister to join us and played for about 30 minutes. It was Professor Plum, with the wrench, in the Ballroom, and I was the victim. Only two more hours left. I got a sudden urge to bake, so we made a double layer yellow cake with chocolate icing. The first layer came out fine, but the second layer crumbled. I failed (It was still delicious!). Jesse’s mom runs a home daycare program so there was a plethora of coloring books. I haven’t colored since middle school. One hour left. I took a nap on the couch. Mission Accomplished.
This project was very difficult to complete. I learned that we are all connected by an invisible limb known as electronic media. It is much easier to sit mindlessly staring at a television than trying to finish a board game like monopoly. Just reliving the day through this essay made me realize how long that day actually was. After I failed the first day, it dawned on me how essential electronic communication is. It is the quickest way to get the information you desire. Our fast paced society requires fast responses. We as a society would become extremely frustrated if we did not have our cell phones and internet. This project would have been loads easier if I could have gone camping with all my friends and play kickball, roast marshmallows, and end the day with a sing-along on the guitar. Instead, it was a day filled with the anxiety of not knowing who wants to contact you and the boredom of trying to find something to do.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Blog # 3
Oral vs. Written Cultures
Our society today cannot be defined strictly as an oral or a written culture. Many times, the two go hand in hand. While we are a very heavily video-based society, videos do not usually simply pop out of nowhere. All of the hundreds of television shows, movies, documentaries, shorts and news reports (apparently out there in order to make people dumber) had to have a beginning: the script. With the huge, well-known writer’s strike, people had to suffer through terrible dialogue. This, however, made some people realize the importance of the true foundation of a video: the text. Script writers and playwrights spend their lives writing stories, tales, and scripts for other people, the actors, to read, comprehend and memorize. Then, after the actors have done their part of the deal, they convey the ideas of the text in their own manner, as their own defined character, to the normal citizen. Without the text of the script, the actor would not be able to be imaginative, creative, or innovative. Basically, without text, video would have no soul.
Videos have come to define the current culture. Whether it is the new Angelina Jolie movie or a funny YouTube clip, videos influence our conversations, which friends we choose, and what groups we are in. This can plainly be related to how books and novels used to influence past cultures. While some, probably old-fashioned or traditional, may believe that this mass eruption of video translation is condemning our country, others may understand that literacy is in fact changing into a different form.
Howard Gardner, a professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard Graduate School of Education, wrote an article for The Washington Post, entitled “The End of Literacy? Don’t Stop Reading,” that explains how “literacy -- or an ensemble of literacies -- will continue to thrive, but in forms and formats we can't yet envision.” In my perspective, most people are accepting this inevitability with open arms. Our culture has created a unique community that intertwines a combination of written and oral literacy. With a new day and age come different minds that think, process, and invent things differently. With new ways of processing information come different outcomes. It’s not that we’re becoming dumber, per se; it’s that we, as a society, are adjusting to the new wave. Great examples that Gardner uses are his references to historical figures and events: Plato feared that a written culture would diminish the human memory and the first printing press scared religious people who wanted the word of God to be kept sacred. Today, the implication of video is acting as the written culture and the printing press, in this sense. Change is frightening, yet inevitable.
Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, also wrote an article for The Washington Post. This article, entitled “The Dumbing of America,” however, was on the different side of the spectrum. Jacoby believes that video is making America dumber. We seem to be falling in this realm of what she calls “anti-intellectualism” which has caused our attention spans to sharply decrease. It apparently also leads to an “erosion of knowledge.” What I feel Jacoby is overlooking is that fact that the culture of the 21st Century is much more high-paced than any other. Even though the reading statistics may be low, and people do not know where Iraq is, the culture is still smart in a literary sense; it is just processing different information. Ultimately, a person acquires the same information from watching an accurate history channel documentary as he would if he read a textbook. The decreasing of attention spans is due directly to the thirst of America for a higher quality of entertainment; it takes more than a simple string puppet show to keep our minds on track nowadays.
Back in the time where oral tradition began to diminish and writing began gaining precedence (a perfect era for Jacoby) people did not have PS3’s or Xbox 360’s to keep them occupied. Instead, they had the comfort of another man’s word and the intriguing, unknown, and introductory writing system. Writing in this period was seen as scholarly and extravagant and usually only nobility were able to write. However, the introduction of papyrus, as explained by Harold Innis in Communication in History, explains how writing became more accessible and available. More people began writing. The introduction of Papyrus in turn began the diminishment of writing. While this may seem like a farfetched, paradoxical, and extraneous statement, writing just made everything easier. This leads us to the situation we are experiencing today: convenience is a necessity and we need to get as much done in as little time as possible. Anything that has easy, fast, reliable, efficient, and/or convenient written all over it (figuratively speaking) would earn an A+ in any person’s grade book.
Means of communication have vastly changed over the past decade. Text messaging by phone, instant messaging, checking and writing emails and on facebook by internet are means that have come to dominate today’s culture. Is this really creating a culture enriched with dumbness? These types of video (according to Jacoby, video is “every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones”) are simply just the advancement of literacy. Take facebook, for instance. One can now send video messages to friends and family members that convey more than a simple letter. However, the written aspect has not diminished completely. We can still send and comprehend messages, advertisements, online articles, or any other sort of written language that information can be gathered from quickly and effectively. Our culture heavily relies on both written and oral aspects. While it is dependent on video feeds and television programs, any thing official (law documents, important invitations such as a wedding) is still processed in ink. Even though our reading rate has lowered, and we may seem dumber because we have a less developed vocabulary, we are still a striving culture, dependent on both written and oral aspects.
Our society today cannot be defined strictly as an oral or a written culture. Many times, the two go hand in hand. While we are a very heavily video-based society, videos do not usually simply pop out of nowhere. All of the hundreds of television shows, movies, documentaries, shorts and news reports (apparently out there in order to make people dumber) had to have a beginning: the script. With the huge, well-known writer’s strike, people had to suffer through terrible dialogue. This, however, made some people realize the importance of the true foundation of a video: the text. Script writers and playwrights spend their lives writing stories, tales, and scripts for other people, the actors, to read, comprehend and memorize. Then, after the actors have done their part of the deal, they convey the ideas of the text in their own manner, as their own defined character, to the normal citizen. Without the text of the script, the actor would not be able to be imaginative, creative, or innovative. Basically, without text, video would have no soul.
Videos have come to define the current culture. Whether it is the new Angelina Jolie movie or a funny YouTube clip, videos influence our conversations, which friends we choose, and what groups we are in. This can plainly be related to how books and novels used to influence past cultures. While some, probably old-fashioned or traditional, may believe that this mass eruption of video translation is condemning our country, others may understand that literacy is in fact changing into a different form.
Howard Gardner, a professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard Graduate School of Education, wrote an article for The Washington Post, entitled “The End of Literacy? Don’t Stop Reading,” that explains how “literacy -- or an ensemble of literacies -- will continue to thrive, but in forms and formats we can't yet envision.” In my perspective, most people are accepting this inevitability with open arms. Our culture has created a unique community that intertwines a combination of written and oral literacy. With a new day and age come different minds that think, process, and invent things differently. With new ways of processing information come different outcomes. It’s not that we’re becoming dumber, per se; it’s that we, as a society, are adjusting to the new wave. Great examples that Gardner uses are his references to historical figures and events: Plato feared that a written culture would diminish the human memory and the first printing press scared religious people who wanted the word of God to be kept sacred. Today, the implication of video is acting as the written culture and the printing press, in this sense. Change is frightening, yet inevitable.
Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, also wrote an article for The Washington Post. This article, entitled “The Dumbing of America,” however, was on the different side of the spectrum. Jacoby believes that video is making America dumber. We seem to be falling in this realm of what she calls “anti-intellectualism” which has caused our attention spans to sharply decrease. It apparently also leads to an “erosion of knowledge.” What I feel Jacoby is overlooking is that fact that the culture of the 21st Century is much more high-paced than any other. Even though the reading statistics may be low, and people do not know where Iraq is, the culture is still smart in a literary sense; it is just processing different information. Ultimately, a person acquires the same information from watching an accurate history channel documentary as he would if he read a textbook. The decreasing of attention spans is due directly to the thirst of America for a higher quality of entertainment; it takes more than a simple string puppet show to keep our minds on track nowadays.
Back in the time where oral tradition began to diminish and writing began gaining precedence (a perfect era for Jacoby) people did not have PS3’s or Xbox 360’s to keep them occupied. Instead, they had the comfort of another man’s word and the intriguing, unknown, and introductory writing system. Writing in this period was seen as scholarly and extravagant and usually only nobility were able to write. However, the introduction of papyrus, as explained by Harold Innis in Communication in History, explains how writing became more accessible and available. More people began writing. The introduction of Papyrus in turn began the diminishment of writing. While this may seem like a farfetched, paradoxical, and extraneous statement, writing just made everything easier. This leads us to the situation we are experiencing today: convenience is a necessity and we need to get as much done in as little time as possible. Anything that has easy, fast, reliable, efficient, and/or convenient written all over it (figuratively speaking) would earn an A+ in any person’s grade book.
Means of communication have vastly changed over the past decade. Text messaging by phone, instant messaging, checking and writing emails and on facebook by internet are means that have come to dominate today’s culture. Is this really creating a culture enriched with dumbness? These types of video (according to Jacoby, video is “every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones”) are simply just the advancement of literacy. Take facebook, for instance. One can now send video messages to friends and family members that convey more than a simple letter. However, the written aspect has not diminished completely. We can still send and comprehend messages, advertisements, online articles, or any other sort of written language that information can be gathered from quickly and effectively. Our culture heavily relies on both written and oral aspects. While it is dependent on video feeds and television programs, any thing official (law documents, important invitations such as a wedding) is still processed in ink. Even though our reading rate has lowered, and we may seem dumber because we have a less developed vocabulary, we are still a striving culture, dependent on both written and oral aspects.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Blog 2
In order to fulfill social needs, people used to have face-to-face conversation, write letters, have “tea-time,” and use many other forms of meaningful communication. Today, means of communication have vastly changed. It is uncommon to meet up with a person solely to talk and even more unlikely to receive a letter. People’s intentions have changed; they are more interested in the convenience of communication rather than the quality and meaningfulness. Due to the demands of society, one must succumb to the new style of communicating: if one wishes to have a social life, one must conform to the requirements of society (AKA get a cell phone with texting and a facebook page). Whatever happened to the days when someone wanted to see a person in the flesh?
A cell phone is a form of communication that many forget is a luxury. People have grown to believe that a cell phone is a necessity. In more ways than not, a cell phone is a necessity in the society we live in today; it is one of the only means of communication that is regularly used. Most people do not even use the cell phone for a means to verbally speak to another person; it is used for texting. The value of communication has greatly diminished over the last decade or so. I think face-to-face communication is very important and people seem to have forgotten this importance. While at school, I call my family and my boyfriend by phone all the time. I would prefer to speak face-to-face, but there are many times, such as school leave, in which I cannot see them. I prefer speaking to them on the phone rather than texting, email, or facebook, because it is similar to speaking to them in person, but unfortunately, texting and messaging dominates our conversation. This may sound contradicting, but many times it is just easier to text them about something simple and insignificant. Also, texting and facebook messaging are the main mode of communication. If I chose not to text or own a Facebook, I would never hear from my friends whatsoever. Texting and Facebook, though seen as obsolete in my eyes, are the only means by which I can communicate with my friends.
In this day an age, letters are only sent by friends and family in order to celebrate a holiday. Many people do not send a letter just to say ‘hello.’ This is a shame. Receiving a letter in the mail is on the same level as opening a present on Christmas: it is an exciting event. I sent my boyfriend a letter in the mail for a Valentine’s Day surprise and he really enjoyed it. While reading a handwritten letter, one can almost hear the person reading the message aloud. The importance of handwritten communication has been lost even longer than the importance of verbal communication. Handwritten communication started on stone. This was a very tedious process that involved chiseling. However, the introduction of papyrus allowed for easier inscription, so more scholars and scribes began to indulge themselves in the gift of writing. Once writing became more accessible, many others began to write as well (23-24, Crowley & Heyer). In the days of ancient Egypt, people saw writing as a gift. Today, writing is a form of communication that is seen as outdated or “unfashionable,” if you will. Writing is a skill that most of us take for granted. The development of writing has shaped our early history and many people used to crave the intelligence to write a simple letter. Now, we accept it as something that is second-nature.
Throughout the near future, with new technologies, new ways to control our minds, communication will begin to dissipate. At the rate technology is advancing, more and more hot items and fads will be up for distraction. Facebook, though still fairly popular, is past its prime. What will come next? Will it be a robot that does all communicating for you? Even though direct communication may seem like an inconvenience, it is important to keep that face-to-face relationship, a true relationship, intact.
A cell phone is a form of communication that many forget is a luxury. People have grown to believe that a cell phone is a necessity. In more ways than not, a cell phone is a necessity in the society we live in today; it is one of the only means of communication that is regularly used. Most people do not even use the cell phone for a means to verbally speak to another person; it is used for texting. The value of communication has greatly diminished over the last decade or so. I think face-to-face communication is very important and people seem to have forgotten this importance. While at school, I call my family and my boyfriend by phone all the time. I would prefer to speak face-to-face, but there are many times, such as school leave, in which I cannot see them. I prefer speaking to them on the phone rather than texting, email, or facebook, because it is similar to speaking to them in person, but unfortunately, texting and messaging dominates our conversation. This may sound contradicting, but many times it is just easier to text them about something simple and insignificant. Also, texting and facebook messaging are the main mode of communication. If I chose not to text or own a Facebook, I would never hear from my friends whatsoever. Texting and Facebook, though seen as obsolete in my eyes, are the only means by which I can communicate with my friends.
In this day an age, letters are only sent by friends and family in order to celebrate a holiday. Many people do not send a letter just to say ‘hello.’ This is a shame. Receiving a letter in the mail is on the same level as opening a present on Christmas: it is an exciting event. I sent my boyfriend a letter in the mail for a Valentine’s Day surprise and he really enjoyed it. While reading a handwritten letter, one can almost hear the person reading the message aloud. The importance of handwritten communication has been lost even longer than the importance of verbal communication. Handwritten communication started on stone. This was a very tedious process that involved chiseling. However, the introduction of papyrus allowed for easier inscription, so more scholars and scribes began to indulge themselves in the gift of writing. Once writing became more accessible, many others began to write as well (23-24, Crowley & Heyer). In the days of ancient Egypt, people saw writing as a gift. Today, writing is a form of communication that is seen as outdated or “unfashionable,” if you will. Writing is a skill that most of us take for granted. The development of writing has shaped our early history and many people used to crave the intelligence to write a simple letter. Now, we accept it as something that is second-nature.
Throughout the near future, with new technologies, new ways to control our minds, communication will begin to dissipate. At the rate technology is advancing, more and more hot items and fads will be up for distraction. Facebook, though still fairly popular, is past its prime. What will come next? Will it be a robot that does all communicating for you? Even though direct communication may seem like an inconvenience, it is important to keep that face-to-face relationship, a true relationship, intact.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Blog #1
In this day and age, it is next to impossible to have no media interaction. As I sit here thinking about how media has effected my life, I can't even remember a time I didn't use any form of media. (To me, media is any electrical device used for means of entertainment or communication.) Even while out doors camping or hiking, I always carry my cell phone. It's amazing how fast media has advanced from a source of mere entertainment and convenience to an organization of mind control. Media has indeed taken over my life.
From an every day perspective, I use media almost every hour of every day. Whether it be texting my friends and family or typing up a paper on Microsoft Word, media interaction is inevitable. Nowadays, if a person does not have a phone, computer, and some form of mp3 player, that person is basically shunned from society. Interaction with a computer is a necessity to pass in school. Many assignments are turned in via internet.
Even though I mentioned how media is a form of mind control, I absolutely love it. This may be caused by the continuous brainwashing I encounter, but I have grown to believe that media is now a bare necessity for the sanity of life today. Without media, the world as we know it today would be completely chaotic. Nobody would know what to do without an HD television, a blackberry, a laptop, an iPod, and a game boy. Honestly, the world (at least the large countries with consumer-driven economies) would not know what to do with itself. This is one aspect of media, this effect it has on the many lives, including my own, is one I truly dislike. Even if one did not want to own a computer or a cell phone, he would have to. Whatever happened to the days of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? Oh, now I remember, children don’t go outside to play anymore. That would be heinous! Nowadays, children at the earliest stages of life are obtaining cell phones. Little Johnny is texting Little Jane, inviting her to play game boy in the basement. He guarantees her there won’t be a single ray of sun light.
When I was a kid, I was really into playing outdoors on the monkey bars and running around playing tag. I still remember the day I got my cobalt game boy color with a Pokémon Blue game cartridge. I didn’t realize it then, but that day marked the day in which I was transferring over to the media side of the world. My family owned a NES and a N64, but the game boy was different: it was my own, my precious. Even though I adored my game boy like Gollum adored the ring, I did still go outside quite a bit. I feel that kids today would never choose to go outside if their parents did not force them.
~Andrea
Why yes, that is a G36C Assult Rifle
And yes, it is an airsoft gun.
From an every day perspective, I use media almost every hour of every day. Whether it be texting my friends and family or typing up a paper on Microsoft Word, media interaction is inevitable. Nowadays, if a person does not have a phone, computer, and some form of mp3 player, that person is basically shunned from society. Interaction with a computer is a necessity to pass in school. Many assignments are turned in via internet.
Even though I mentioned how media is a form of mind control, I absolutely love it. This may be caused by the continuous brainwashing I encounter, but I have grown to believe that media is now a bare necessity for the sanity of life today. Without media, the world as we know it today would be completely chaotic. Nobody would know what to do without an HD television, a blackberry, a laptop, an iPod, and a game boy. Honestly, the world (at least the large countries with consumer-driven economies) would not know what to do with itself. This is one aspect of media, this effect it has on the many lives, including my own, is one I truly dislike. Even if one did not want to own a computer or a cell phone, he would have to. Whatever happened to the days of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? Oh, now I remember, children don’t go outside to play anymore. That would be heinous! Nowadays, children at the earliest stages of life are obtaining cell phones. Little Johnny is texting Little Jane, inviting her to play game boy in the basement. He guarantees her there won’t be a single ray of sun light.
When I was a kid, I was really into playing outdoors on the monkey bars and running around playing tag. I still remember the day I got my cobalt game boy color with a Pokémon Blue game cartridge. I didn’t realize it then, but that day marked the day in which I was transferring over to the media side of the world. My family owned a NES and a N64, but the game boy was different: it was my own, my precious. Even though I adored my game boy like Gollum adored the ring, I did still go outside quite a bit. I feel that kids today would never choose to go outside if their parents did not force them.
~Andrea
Why yes, that is a G36C Assult Rifle
And yes, it is an airsoft gun.
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