October Snow - Smugglers Notch

t r u t h o u t- Censored

I am saving this so I don't lose it for when we talk about Censored 2010. I thought it was interesting, after what I have been revealed from reading it. 

The world has a better document to work by ‘The Communist Manifesto’: “Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the
products of society; all that it does is to deprive him of the
power to subjugate the labour of others by means of such
appropriation.”

Or compare the CEO’s outlook with that of modern Communist thought:

“[Bob]Avakian [Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA] shows how the sights and aspirations of people today, the world over, are funneled and hemmed into looking at things in terms which do not go beyond the outlook and values which capitalism engenders and thrives upon, and the social relations in which those ideas are rooted. Today these are deemed to be the result of “human nature.” But another, radically different world is possible, with a different and far more liberating conception of rights and freedom. Avakian paints a compelling picture of a world where people would have the right not to confront each other in antagonistic relations…where there would be the right to eat for every human being—and no one would be worked to death for the profit of others, but people would work cooperatively to meet the needs of all…where all of humanity would have the right to engage in the arts, or in science and in other intellectual thought, and where the research and discovery in medicine and science that today is subordinated to the economic, political, and ideological demands of capital would be emancipated from that. A communist world where people are no longer constrained by the narrow horizons which are the product of and demanded by capitalism.”

Lets Take A Break...

LOOK AT ALL THE OPEN SPACE! 

                                                        

Michael Wesch Explains Web 2.0

1. Give us, IYOW (In Your Own Words), a one sentence thesis for this text - what is this text's central argument?
2. Then, using one sentence IYOW, make ONE critical observation about the text, using the concepts and language from our four tool sets. BE SURE NOT TO REPEAT ANOTHER STUDENT'S OBSERVATION - read previous posts closely.
3. Finally, respectfully respond to another previous student's observation or comment in the C4 "thread" about the text. This must be at least 2 sentences long AND in the first person.

1) We can now due to Web 2.0 take words we are evolutionally only used to seeing on paper or rock to a virtual "space" changing the way we interpret the content, bringing up issues of rhetoric, identity, and image in todays media society. 
                                 
2)The aesthetic shift I noticed was seen multiple times in the video by the mention of television, cell phone, and web time. We now are able to get media on many different platforms. It is with us when we use our phone, turn on the tv, open up a webpage, and walk outside. We have gone from one way to get the news, when all we had was the newspaper in print to complete convergence of all media through multiple mediums. 

3) I agree with what Colt has high lighted when talking about how we have become the machine, and the machine has become us. Describing the shift in that we become flat and Web 2.0 becomes this think tank of information. While looking for supporting posting in my Postman research, I came across a new term I had never seen before, but I think we talked about something similar in class about how because we consume the media we ultimately create it. The term was prosumer. Something also to keep in mind while watching our class video The Persuaders.

A Vision of Students Today

1. Give us, IYOW (In Your Own Words), a one sentence thesis for the text - what is the text's central argument?
2. Then, using one sentence IYOW, make ONE critical observation about the text, using the concepts and language from our four tool sets. 
3. Finally, respectfully respond to another previous student's observation or comment in the C4 "thread" about the text.

1. The traditional classroom has been lost in a web 2.0 media world and become out of date and out of touch with teaching students about the media education they are surrounded by and tools to utilize and store in their tool box for a rainy day. 

2. The production techniques use plain folks, fear, timing, and group dynamics to construct a "reality" of college students today, highlighting epistemological, technological, and personal shifts all within the 21st century classroom. 

3. I agree with you Jackie, in that the way they display their findings from the study give us the viewer just enough time to read the text and about half of a second to see if we can personally relate.

Neil Postman- Amusing Ourselves To Death Part 2

1. Discuss THREE specific ways in which Postman explains how the medium of television transforms the epistemological nature of each of the following:

 A. Public discourse about religion

B. Public discourse about politics

C. A public discourse about education

A) When religion is transferred to the TV screen all sense of “spiritual transcendence is lost” pg 117 What Postman is saying here I think, that once you remove the ritual of having a service in place designated only for worship you lose that feeling of being in a serene, open space with whomever you go in front of in times of prayer. Also what ties in with transcendence is also translation. What happens with face-to-face worship is entirely different than what is heard on the television. The message may be harder to understand and what is trying to be portrayed through imagery and an audience can be lost in translation. Second, the concept of space is entirely different when you are watching a religious television show while trying to cook, clean, do cartwheels or fold laundry. Places of worship are specifically designated for that purpose only. We have now begun to turn our living rooms into worship areas and again it cannot be taken seriously when there are kids running around. Finally, we associate the screen of the TV to entertainment only. We turn on the TV and expected to be amused, how can one turn it on and wipe out everything in their mind previous to watching a show on religious topics. 

B)  Politics has begun to associate imagery rather than words with the public through commercials, that being problem number one. We are assuming our politician of choice has xxx amount of experience when all I have actually seen his him on a tractor mowing his lawn, telling me he is working on environmental issues. Secondly, because television is the world’s largest stage to convey a message we accept what we hear, on the basis we know that everyone else is seeing the same thing. It is very easy to accommodate what is being circulated throughout a country. Finally, which is very true I think today what the political commercial also asks of us is to think that problems can be solved quickly; we anticipate the drama over the exposition. Also you are associating the politician with movie stars, and comedians taking them away from their what we hope well-educated political background, and seeing them as an entertainer of the screen.

C) Education I think is the most important and interesting one to look at. Here we are simply playing with fire in that the television has the most hold on our youth today, and Postman identifies three very clear tactics. First being that the TV undermines the traditional way of schooling, we think desk, chair, and blackboard. Sesame Street offers, steps, a garbage can, and cookies. In school we are able to develop our strength in language through conversation with others. The TV only ask that you interpret images, not words. Finally the TV is a choice, where as school in some respects may be a requirement. The idea that we can turn on and off the TV does not translate well if young people are assuming it is the same with their education.

 

2. What specific solutions does Postman offer to improve public communication in our "Peek A Boo" world, and our challenges to communicate in a thoughtful and rational manner in "An Age of Show Business"? In other words, how might we prevent a world in which we are "amusing ourselves to death"?

  Prevention tactics that I found were his idea to ban political commercials, but also to make televisions programs about why watching television is so bad. Why hasn’t anyone thought of that? The second option, for which I feel lucky to be in this class, is to take it to the schools of our youth and educate them on what they think they have been educated on from watching television.

3. HARD Question: Does Postman's thesis about television still apply to our public discourse in today's Age of the Internet? Please explain your reasoning in 4-5 sentences.

YES! I do think his thesis holds true to todays over connected world. It is scary to think how many companies have access to what you are viewing and then cater to your needs. How much more self-absorbed can you be when everything you ever wanted to know can come from something that doesn’t even speak. The world of Web 2.0 has certainally held up to Postman's thesis about television. The net absorbs the medium, and is re created in image, therefore having qualities similar to television.  It will be interesting to see where the next decade will take us. 

Neil Postman- Amusing Ourselves To Death Part 1

I have been given the opportunity to read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves To Death. Postman goes into what he believes will be the end all be all for humans referencing George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. Siding with Huxley in that what we enjoy most will ruin us, not what we fear. 

1. Describe three specific characteristics of the "Typographic Mind."

 All three of the characteristics I chose to explain further can be found in the paragraph at the bottom of page 63. The first, is people of that time had the “sophisticated ability to think conceptually, deductively, and sequentially.” The only way to communicate at the time was thought the written or spoken word. This medium forced the brain to hear, process, and understand the words on the page or to what they were hearing from the spoken word. Postman mentions on the bottom of pg. 41 “The resonances of the lineal, analytical structure of print, and in particular expository prose could be felt everywhere. For example, in how people talked” This sentence reinforces the above in stating that peoples brains were demanded to function at a higher level of thinking than compared with today. The second characteristic would be their “high valuation of reason and order” This is seen through their high regard for being literate. They found great value in “reading and writing school” They were able to transfer and manifest knowledge though the printed word, and also felt a moral duty to school the young. An example of this characteristic from Postman can be found on pg. 34 “One significant implication of this situation is that no literary aristocracy emerged in Colonial America. Reading was not regarded as an elitist activity, and printed matter was spread evenly among all kids of people.” This shows that material was everywhere for everyone to be exposed to and as Boorstin mentions, everyone could speak the same language. The final characteristic is “the tolerance for delayed response” In today’s world we are over connected and expected to move at a quick pace in getting back to people who leave a message. There is no fun anymore in waiting for a letter in mail, 

It would be interesting to see if people go to the post office because they cannot be patient and wait for a package in the wired world. “The printed word had a monopoly on both attention and intellect, there being so other means, besides the oral tradition, to have access to public knowledge.” And that is why in those days people had courteous relationships with the butcher, the postman, the general store, and the sheriff. 

2. Postman suggests that the twin inventions of 19th century Telegraphy and Photography challenged Typography's monopoly on public discourse. How, specifically did each of these two new media/communications inventions do this?

 The telephone, thanks to Samuel Finley Breese Morse created a way for Maine to communicate with Texas for no good reason, but once you invent something it will get used if at the time the thought was for positive change, and innovation. Ultimately though “These demons of discourse were aroused by the fact that telegraphy gave a form of legitimacy to the idea of context-free information; that is, to the idea that the value of information need not be tied to any function it might serve.” Pg. 65 I think that is the most profound statement, to think that during that time people were communicating for no constructive purpose to helping their social and political world. In that sentence alone, is stating our biggest disconnect today. There is a lot of chatter but no conversation, and also hearing, but no listening. Photography just created more room for less important information. At the time though it was new and exciting, people were able to take ownership of time and space through photos. But it was deadly again to the mind in the respect that “Pictures, Gavriel Salomon has written, “need to be recognized, words need to be understood” I think that is a good culmination of how telephones, and photos changed our discourse. Impact in todays world. 

3. What does Postman mean by "The Peek-A-Boo World," and can you give an example of this world from your own media experiences?

3. The Peek-A-Boo world is what I feel I walk out into everyday. Things are moving at such a quick pace, what is new today, will be old tomorrow. It is almost frightening, you buy a camera and you will need a new one in a year because the technology will have completely changed, and here’s the kicker, when you go and try to get it fixed, they will say “ohh, sorry that’s out of date and we don’t make that anymore” talk about a short life span. The above video is an example of how I feel when walking through my "peek-boo" day. The media can be a heavy weight to carry around and expensive on your wallet. My example from real life would be that it fascinates me that companies change their packaging and wording often, especially in the grocery store. To the customer they want you to think, “oh new label, newer, better, bigger, less calories, more protein…ect” it could go on for days, but its their peek a boo method of advertising and packaging I think that gets them their customers. When really what’s important to peek at is the ingredients!