It is hard to say yet what will become of the internet and how it will affect us in the future. Will we become the machine-like people Carr envisions us in the future, or will the near endless abundance of knowlege that can be found by "surfing the web?" I have mixed feelings about which I believe will be the end result of our technological "advancements" in a computerized world, but while this brings to life some realistic consequences, there are some criticisms that can be made about this essay.
The first, and most obvious criticism that could be said about Carr's essay is that it is itself an article that has been spread through the use of the internet. While it may seem silly to be so critical of him trying to reach his words out to more people by using the internet, this makes him somewhat of a hypocrit and weakens the power of his essay, and it may have been more effective to me personally had it been origionally published in a newspaper or magazine.
Another criticism that can be made toward his on a mechanical mindset that the humans will develop as a result of this. He makes the reference to manufacturers making their workers into a near robotic staff of efficiency by systemizing their jobs to best fit a profitable result. However while this action might seem problematic, it has allowed for, in many cases, scientific developement through effieciency.
While these criticisms can easily be made, there are some things Carr brings up that he should be applauded for in this essay. First and foremost is his questioning our idolization for efficiency. He notes our need to be quick, but he questions this efficiency and his well used sources to help refute the idea that the efficiency we have come to admire is really thorough. While we are able to find what we want quicker by using search engines to find snipets of information, we lose sight of the whole that comes from these sources of information. He mentions skimming through blogs and articles longer that a few paragraphs. What details does our mind skip by this skimming, and what will we miss in our search to get things done quicker.
The other thing that works toward his side in this essay is his openness to the thoughts of people who may disagree with him. He does not impose upon his reader that they should listen intently to what he says because he is right without a reasonable doubt, because he realizes that very well might not be, but he cautions us to think about how we use the internet and if it could lead us into a type of thought that lessens our intellegence and ability to think creatively.
While writing this blog kind of demeans the effectiveness of his essay toward me, I did enjoy the the thought provoking questions that were aroused in my head as a result of reading this essay and I hope I consider what I use to read on the internet in the future.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Skunked
Louise Erdrich's "Skunk Dreams" I found to be very confusing at the start, but as it went on some themes began to reacure and rereading certain part helped the ideas to be more easily defined. I found that the prominent themes of this essay were:
1. Nature and her change of view as to what it is
2. The ability of dreams to leave people wondering what is real or what to believe
3. How to progress through obstacles and man's foolishness in confronting them
Growing up in the warm western plains of North Dakota, Erdrich's view of nature was of the agricultural advancements and the openness of the area. As she had internally grown up to know it, nature was the change induced by man, through "advancements" in marketing and roadways that left land barren of its origional growth and wildlife. But despite this had its own beauty of vastness, with the open sky and as she says the endless horizon stretching across the land. Older, she has the dramatice change of scenery to the colder forests of New Hampshire. The change can be tough and for her the claustrophobia of being trapped on the inside, without the freedom of openness, wanting to go outside. Yet after some time she found that this area had its own vastness in the expanse of the woods and the area they encompass and finally had the feeling of being outside. But she never forgot the horizon.
This idea of being outside continues into the dream theme. The concept of never knowing if you are in a dream, or not. Are you the man dreaming himself a skunk, or the skunk dreaming himself a man. The complex idea that we may be trapped inside our dreams. When she happens to have stumbled upon the fence she had seen years earlier hundreds of miles away, in a dream, she wonders if "I had dreamed of this place...or it had dreamed me." Though the answer is unknown, this example does show that there is a connection between dreams, and what is real, like a link between two worlds, one dream and one reality, and one thing I like about this essay is the unknowing if she dreams her trip into the park and the obstacle she must overcome.
Obstacles are a part of life that every being, be it human, animal, plant, or nature, must overcome. As she quotes Adam Phillips "'Whithout obstacles...the notion of development is inconceivable. There would be nothing to master.'" But mankind often thinks of itself as the master of obstacles. Always finding a way to advance by dodging around the boulder in front of instead of taking it on directly. As in agriculture where instead of going through the hard work of growing and harvesting with the help of nature to guide the growth, we use herbicides and pesticides with machinery that allow us to avoid these problems. The skunk, as Erdrich says, is ready to fearlessly face its obstacles bravely even if it may seem arrogant. We take pride in our ability to think creatively to give other solutions while trying to hide our cowardess of confronting problem head-on like the skunk, but in doing so we neglect to notice the foolish consequences of our not-so-direct course of action. As with the example of skunks in New Hampshire, we applaude our ability to get them out by moving them into the nearby state, but fail to recognize the lack of accomplishment as people from the otherside just bring them back over. We overthink things and miss the simplicity of how a skunk takes on its life.
After taking some time to stop and think, thisk seemingly complex essay makes much more sense than I origionally noticed and the ideas become clear as it connects nature, and dreams to the obstacles that they present in our lives.
1. Nature and her change of view as to what it is
2. The ability of dreams to leave people wondering what is real or what to believe
3. How to progress through obstacles and man's foolishness in confronting them
Growing up in the warm western plains of North Dakota, Erdrich's view of nature was of the agricultural advancements and the openness of the area. As she had internally grown up to know it, nature was the change induced by man, through "advancements" in marketing and roadways that left land barren of its origional growth and wildlife. But despite this had its own beauty of vastness, with the open sky and as she says the endless horizon stretching across the land. Older, she has the dramatice change of scenery to the colder forests of New Hampshire. The change can be tough and for her the claustrophobia of being trapped on the inside, without the freedom of openness, wanting to go outside. Yet after some time she found that this area had its own vastness in the expanse of the woods and the area they encompass and finally had the feeling of being outside. But she never forgot the horizon.
This idea of being outside continues into the dream theme. The concept of never knowing if you are in a dream, or not. Are you the man dreaming himself a skunk, or the skunk dreaming himself a man. The complex idea that we may be trapped inside our dreams. When she happens to have stumbled upon the fence she had seen years earlier hundreds of miles away, in a dream, she wonders if "I had dreamed of this place...or it had dreamed me." Though the answer is unknown, this example does show that there is a connection between dreams, and what is real, like a link between two worlds, one dream and one reality, and one thing I like about this essay is the unknowing if she dreams her trip into the park and the obstacle she must overcome.
Obstacles are a part of life that every being, be it human, animal, plant, or nature, must overcome. As she quotes Adam Phillips "'Whithout obstacles...the notion of development is inconceivable. There would be nothing to master.'" But mankind often thinks of itself as the master of obstacles. Always finding a way to advance by dodging around the boulder in front of instead of taking it on directly. As in agriculture where instead of going through the hard work of growing and harvesting with the help of nature to guide the growth, we use herbicides and pesticides with machinery that allow us to avoid these problems. The skunk, as Erdrich says, is ready to fearlessly face its obstacles bravely even if it may seem arrogant. We take pride in our ability to think creatively to give other solutions while trying to hide our cowardess of confronting problem head-on like the skunk, but in doing so we neglect to notice the foolish consequences of our not-so-direct course of action. As with the example of skunks in New Hampshire, we applaude our ability to get them out by moving them into the nearby state, but fail to recognize the lack of accomplishment as people from the otherside just bring them back over. We overthink things and miss the simplicity of how a skunk takes on its life.
After taking some time to stop and think, thisk seemingly complex essay makes much more sense than I origionally noticed and the ideas become clear as it connects nature, and dreams to the obstacles that they present in our lives.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Two Thoughts on Two Towers
On the fateful day that came nearly a decade ago, this nation found itself stunned by one of the most tragic incidents it had seen in many years. As the first tower was hit and began to fall, people saw this as a horrible accident that would bring grief to families everywhere. When the second tower was hit soon after, people no longer saw this as an accident, but a threat, and while the families who had lost loved ones to this act of terrorism would still grieve, people would begin to think and feel other beliefs and feelings almost as strong. Some feared for their safety, and others questioned the ability of the government to protect them. Many, like Susan Sontag felt anger, both at the government for being to high thinking of of itself to be hit so off guard, and at the people who committed this . Yet much fewer, including John Updike, used this to see the glory of this nation and find its ability to recover from this tragedy. These two share these opinions in essays, and it is interesting to see how their views are also expressed in the voice of their writing.
Sontag shows her feelings of frustration by writing insults with sarcasm toward the U.S. government, mocking its labeling of the kamikaze plane hijackers as cowards in their attacks on civilization, by calling the U.S. a coward by fighting from the sky, bombing Iraq, but out of harms way from any retaliation. She claims that these terrorists are in fact not cowards, but brave in that they, morality set aside, are willing to kill themselves for what they believe in. She then criticizes the government as trying to make things seem less bleak than they really are and convince people that they are strong, and that congressmen are happy to follow the President. She uses this voice of writing to help fire up the reader into agreeing with her and seeing the follies of the government.
Updike has a much calmer voice in his writing and he uses this to let the reader better see his faith in the glory and ability to rebuild that he believes the U.S. has. He does this with an elegant use of vocabulary that defines the horrors through metaphors and ends his essay by instilling hope in the thoughts of the reader. He does not try to hide the horrors, but rather to explain that despite this horror, the United States has the strength to pull through and renew itself.
It is interesting to see the difference in the writings these two writers have and how their feelings are shown in the voice of their writing.
Sontag shows her feelings of frustration by writing insults with sarcasm toward the U.S. government, mocking its labeling of the kamikaze plane hijackers as cowards in their attacks on civilization, by calling the U.S. a coward by fighting from the sky, bombing Iraq, but out of harms way from any retaliation. She claims that these terrorists are in fact not cowards, but brave in that they, morality set aside, are willing to kill themselves for what they believe in. She then criticizes the government as trying to make things seem less bleak than they really are and convince people that they are strong, and that congressmen are happy to follow the President. She uses this voice of writing to help fire up the reader into agreeing with her and seeing the follies of the government.
Updike has a much calmer voice in his writing and he uses this to let the reader better see his faith in the glory and ability to rebuild that he believes the U.S. has. He does this with an elegant use of vocabulary that defines the horrors through metaphors and ends his essay by instilling hope in the thoughts of the reader. He does not try to hide the horrors, but rather to explain that despite this horror, the United States has the strength to pull through and renew itself.
It is interesting to see the difference in the writings these two writers have and how their feelings are shown in the voice of their writing.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Introduction
Hello and welcome to my blog. This is a quick introduction as to who I am. My name is Kevin. I enjoy many sports including: swimming, soccer, and running distance track. I enjoy watching TV and using the computer, as well as reading books, though it has been a while since I have read one. My favorite book I have recently read would have to be "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", and my favorite movie would likely be The Green Mile. After High School I hope to go to college to study something to science and also swim on the college level. I really hope to enjoy this class as I enjoyed College Lit. very much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)