In Chapter 7: "Now...This", Postman mentions a few times about how people on the television can lie as much as they want, but as long as they provide good looking people and/or music accompanied with pictures to look at, we'll pretty much absorb whatever they say. The worst part of this is that I know it's true because I have fallen victim to it myself; if television programs are too wordy or the people aren't good to look at, I'll most likely turn. But if there are plenty of images, catchy music, and good looking people, I'll stay on the channel, even if it's the news bringing up a depressing or boring topic.
What really interests me is that it's happening before our very eyes right now with the California govenor elections. If you truly pay attention and think about it, it's actually really funny how we all fall victim to it all. The candidates put up crazy photographs on exaggerated problems they plan to stop, put up pictures of them looking all serious, and then play the most menacing music when they're shooting down their opponents. It makes us think, "wow, they're an amazing candidate, and their opponents are horrible people. Let's vote for them!", but it's all a bundle of lies tied together. I challenge you to do this: whenever a candidate commercial comes on, write down what they say about themselves and their opponent. Then compare with the next candidate commercial. You'll be shocked at how much each lies and how hard it is to find the truth in it all.
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Don't turn from depressing or boring topics! Bring on the beauties if necessary, but don't turn away. Example: Oil spill. Both depressing and boring (often), but dang. This is historic, the snafu of a generation. You'll be hearing about the aftermath of this for a decade at least!
ReplyDeleteWhen someone my age talks about Chernobyl or Three Mile Island, people your age say, "Huh?" This is your Chernobyl, your Three Mile Island.
Comment #2: Don't LISTEN to candidate commercials. Read their position papers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with AFletcher's second comment. Those commercials are meant for people who can't be bothered to really get a grasp of what is going on, and they couldn't care any less about who California's next governor is. This is where the mentality that written words are better than spoken words comes from. For those who do care, read about the candidates because in this case, the written word is much more reliable than the spoken word.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Cheyenne Nation and AFletcher's comments. Those commercials are for the ignorant, the people who truly don't have a clue what's going on and they will fall into those "victim" categories and vote blindly by information they grasp from those commercials. In other words, they are being scammed or having the wool pulled over their eyes. Lies, Lies, Lies; That's all those commercials are. It almost seems as if the candidates don't want you to research into their positions because they are "hiding" some kind of truth like Orwell tries hard to make people recognize in his work "1984". If you really want to vote for a good candidate you will go to some legit source, like position papers. For me, I listen to those lengthy "boring" lectures than the "glam" candidate because they are educational, I know for a FACT I'll leave on a good note after listening to that candidate with some new knowledge.
ReplyDeleteCheyenne, why don't you also agree with my first comment? :)
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Those commercials are for people who don’t know about the candidates and don’t wish to learn. Unfortunately, its probably the majority of us who base our votes on those 30 second commercials that have no chance in showing us any of the truth about the candidate we could be voting for. I think it is important that the politicians stop focusing on television as their address to the public because it is basically just a beauty pageant. In my opinion, it is when politicians reach out to the public in other means that they are better liked, and better understood. If they reached out to the voters and explained the issues at hand and how they planned to deal with them more and forgot about these ridiculously unnecessary commercials, the focus on looks could possibly be reduced, but of course it would not stop completely.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. I have no argument against your first comment, so I agree with it as well, Mrs. Fletcher! :) Speaking as a typical teenager, I will admit that I have been somewhat avoiding the oil issue, for example, because I am living in the peak of my selfish phase, and choose to care more about my own needs than our nation's. I realize this is wrong, but I also realize that people assume it is okay that I feel this way because I'm young and don't know any better. This leaves me to ponder, at what age is it necessary to "begin" to care about our country's crises?
ReplyDeleteI apologize for lingering on this particular post, seeing as others have long passed it (hahaha.)
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point! My parents are always talking about how our generation is different from theirs and that we have technology as our best friends. Like I said before, what will technology lead us to? Will we end up like the people in the film Wall-E? They don’t interact with each other and don’t notice their surroundings. They are all obese and just go with the flow believing everything. For example when the computer voice said, “Try blue, the new red” and everyone changed their clothes to the color blue. Hopefully we don’t end up like them.
About Cheyennes second comment, she wrote how it's ok for her to not care about major global issues because of her age. I completely disagree. She wrote how people brush it off and say she's young and she doesn't know any better so it's ok. But Age has nothing to do with it. Dealing with our issues is one of the first lessons we learn at a young age. when you spill your juice, you clean it up. You don't ignore it and wait for someone else to clean it up for you.
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