Silence!

After being given the task of communicating for an entire school day using only charades or illustrations, I was able to better understand the importance of medium when communicating a message. Being a poor artist, I struggled trying to effectively draw what I was thinking and still have it be interpretable to somebody. I also found that acting out my needs did not accomplish what I needed either. I couldn't express myself in a comfortable or descriptive way. My audience had a tough time figuring out what I was trying to say. When asked by a teacher to describe what I had done over the previous two snow days I found it near impossible to describe two days of activities with my limited amount of artistic talent and poor acting skills. These expeirences proved that how information is presented is crucial in revealing the purpose of a message.

Technology Takes Control

            In both the book, Amusing Ourselves To Death, and his speech author Neil Postman talks about the negative effects technology is having on society. He says that humans readily adapt to changes brought on by technology, sometimes without even knowing it. In his book, Postman uses the invention of the clock as an example of how technology changed society. Before time was measured with a device people based their schedules off of the Sun and Moon. Now as clocks have made time a quantifiable measure people try to fit as much into one day as possible. In his speech Postman also highlighted that cloning is an attempt by humans to control what has previously been left up to God. This change of events put people in control from one calculated point to the next, not God controlling moment to moment. This belief has contributed to reduced belief in God and an increase in man’s ability to control nature.

            Neil Postman also reveals through his book and interview that while intentions may be pure the results are often lacking. In the book he discusses news people and how they present their information to television. More anchors focus on their own appearance rather than how the day’s news can best be presented. The media has increasingly placed a greater emphasis on display rather than ideology in the news. Once again the example of cloning is used to illustrate Postman’s point. While the intent is to provide a repair body to aid a person in reality it undermines the gift of life. If man can create life from scratch then there is no need for a supreme being or god.

Civility in Politics

1.      Chavez’s intent with the first six words of her article is to tell the reader that while it is necessary to be civil in what you say it should not detract from the meaning of what you are trying to say. People should be cautious of who they could potentially be offending but should not let civility interfere with expressing their beliefs.

2.      Chavez used the word bellicose to describe the type of metaphors used in politics that are often controversial. These are terms that come across as aggressive and argumentative. She stresses that just because these terms can have an offensive connotation they should not always be taken that way as they are usually used to enrich vocabulary.

3.      A) Chavez is attempting to persuade the reader into believing that if her readers change their words to be politically correct they risk losing getting their point across. She stresses that it is not the words that are the problem, it’s how they are used. If used in the appropriate context a phrase can be insightful without being offensive.

B) The best example Chavez uses to support her point is when she poses the question of whether or not the word “nigger” should be replaced with “slave” in the novel “Huckelberry Finn”. She reveals that by switching the words the cultural understanding of racism and prejudice is missed.

4.  People should not change things that they say just to be politically correct because the purpose can be lost. However, they need to be careful of whom they could offend.