Reflection of the Class

I am not one who enjoy's reading or every thinks critically about what I read. I just read things because I had to. This class has taught me alot about think critically, and has helped me realize that it is okay to express my opinion about issues. Before I never cared enough to say what I thought, but now I see it is important to express your beliefs. One aspect of class that I really enjoyed was having smalled groups that we talk in about the material in class. I am not always comforatable speaking in front of class, so by having smaller group I could still share my thoughts. The Dumbest Generation reading really bothered me because that is a stero type our generation has had to live with and it is so frustrating. We are not dumb, we live in a society were technology allows us to not have retain as much common knowledge as people use to. It is harder to have to look up information in books compared to getting online and looking it up. That being said it is clear that we do depend on technology a lot, but I think Culture Jams over exaggerated that. We are still in touch with nature, and care about people. We have not lost empathy because of all of the violence in movies. But that is just my opinion, and it not right or wrong. What I really learned in this class is that knowing other peoples opinions are important because it helps you be able to justify why you feel the way you do and it also chanellegs you to think about issues differently. Towards the end of the class when we started talking about censorship I realized that I would miss books it they were gone. Although I do not read often I do enjoy siting down with a good book every once and awhile. I don't agree with the banning of books, if you don't like what they say don't read them, simple as that. Authors take time to wirte books and it is not right to get rid of their work because it is offense to someone people. Over all I truly did enjoy this class. It has made me realize that general classes are just important as our major classes and that I want to retain the knowledge taught in them.

Hunger Games Connection

Watching the clip of the Sleeping "Anti-Flim" in class I realized how embellish our movies and reality shows truely are. If movies were of how life really is no one would want to watch them. If instead of seeing people fight we saw people just eat and sleep on reality TV no one would watch them. We like to watch excitment on TV and in movies and we tend to find violence extremly exciting. This is where our society ties together with the ideas in the Hunger Games. The people who were not in the games were so excited to watch the charaters kill each other. The thrill of the violence is what entertained them, just as our socitey today enjoys watching killing movies like Saw. I don't think tha makes us immune to violence that occurs in the real world though. I know if I saw people fighting right in front of me I would be very upset about it. I hate seeing peopel fight it makes me sick to my stomach to watch, yet on TV it doesn't seem as bad. I am not sure what makes me feel that way but I guess it is because it doesn't seem as real on televsion than when it is happening right in front of you. The Hunger Games is a dramatic example of what our society finds entertaining. We like watching people fight and kill each other in movies, so if peopel from our town and to fight for their lives against peopel from other towns would we find that entertaining also? I personally would never be able to watch someone I know have to fight and kill other people to survive. I think that is sick if you would enjoy watching people fight for their life. I believe there is a fine line between all of this and everyone had their own opinion on how they feel about violence. My question to all of you is, would you enjoy being apart of the Hunger Games and watch your loved ones fight for their life?

Reality Television

Everyone has their own opinion on reality television, some people live for it, others can't stand to watch it. I personally do enjoy watching many reality tv shows. I enjoy watching the Kardasians, Jersey Shore and The Real World. I think what I enjoy about these shows is that they are real. It isn't someone reading from a script or acting. It is much easier to relate to these people on reality shows. I do not think there is anything wrong with watching show like this for leisure. It doesn't corrupt people or keeping them from doing other activites, it is just entertaining. I understand where Gabler is coming from when he says people want to be on tv to become famous, and get money. I mean I wouldn't mind becoming famous. Jersey Shore has become a huge television show and it is crazy to think a few years ago the cast were ordinary people like you and I. This show is entertaining to many people and I think it is because the drama that is formed through the show as well as just the stupid yet, funny aspect of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QKqcYuj60&feature=related

This is a clip of "funny" things that occured on Jersey Shore. I don't agree that all the physcial fighting is funny but the verbal arguments and the different saying the cast comes up with are funny. For instance saying t-shirt time before they leave or "smush". These are now sayings that people use and are printed on t-shirt and sold. It is amazing how what people do on television becomes what people do and say in real life. I think Jersey shore is very entertaining and I watched it every thursday and I do not see anything wrong with enjoyinh watching shows like that.

1984

In 1984 Big Brother is the symbol of "the party" dominance. Big Brother is always watching you, is a commonly used phrase in the novel. This refers to the fact that the people of Oceania are under watch 24/7. They can not think outside Big Brothers core beliefs or will be vaporized for thought crime. The Party install's how everyone in society should think by controling what they know. For instance, Wiston's job is to recreate fact into false information. I think the party has this done in order to keep people froming thinking about how life use to be and also to know that they have complete control. Big Brother is able to say any lie and society believes such because the people know no better. This idea Orwell presents relates directly to our modern world and technology. Clearly the book is much more serious then what occurs in our world today but it is still a problem or situation that should be looked at. Due to technology our private lives can be accessed with a click of a mouse, and to some people that is very frightening. People can post any false information, and although we are not forced to, most people believe whatever they read. This idea relates to Wiston rewriting false information and everyone in society believes it. The internet can invade our privacy and that is where Orwell's ideas and our modern world collide.

Living in the Woods

I personally would not be able to live in the woods alone for more than a day. I don't think it's as much as not having technology but for me it is about being alone. I would get bored, and probably start talking to myself. That may sound crazy but I love talking so having to spend any extented amount of time with no one to talk to would be the most difficult task for me. The only reason why it would be hard to not have my phone is because of not being able to make plans. For instance, my cheerleading coach contacts the team via text so I would not know when to go to practice or what time to meet for a game. I do understand the idea of living in the woods by yourself and why some people may want to experience that. You could get to know your natural self better. I think it would be very interesting to try it, but I know I would not last longer then a day, if that.

Dumb Generation

I can not say that the author of this book is completely incorrect with the things that he says about our generation but I do believe it is a bit far to call our generation the "dumbest".  As most people would agree there is information that everyone in our society should know like historical facts but not knowing that information does not keep you from functioning as a citizen.  Clearly our society now is much more technology based so it is not necessary to know specific information off hand because it is so easily accessed on the web. I don't think by us taking advange of that makes our generation dumb. The world is based on our technological advances now so the fact that our generation is so tech savy is a good thing. I would be more worried about our future if we didn't understand how to use the technology we have. By no means do I think having a well rounded knowledge about general information is not important, it is but everyone has their strengths and weakness and their own interests. Chosing to not care about general knowledge depends on the individual person and our generation should not be generalized as being the dumbest because of  it.

Second Skin

Finding out that 50 million people engage in MMORPG's really shocked me. At first I found it hard to believe because when we did the survey in class I could not find someone who plays War of Worldcraft nor do any of my friends or family play. But then when I thought about it there are so many more people in the world then those that I know. I personally think it is not possible to fall in love with someone through gaming. That's not saying when they meet eachother and spend time together they may fall in love but not before then. You can't truely fall in love without meeting a person. We have always been told growing up that meeting people online is dangerous and you need to be careful who you talk to. This video is a prime example of that because Kevin said he fell in love with five different gamers and all but one was violent towards him. One even pulled a knife on him. It is one thing to play games like War of Worldcraft because you enjoy to but when it starts to take over your life and becomes your first priority then there is a problem.