Lost My Ideas, If Found Write Them on Paper

As Ms. Fletcher was lecturing the class about the importance of writing as a tool, one frightening thought came to my mind: The dangers of ideas on paper. Have we ever just sat back and taken a world view on writing? It is pure evil, a screwdriver that screws backwards.

"Ideas are dangerous, not people." The phrase should be changed to "writing is dangerous, not ideas". A perfect idea is ruined without proper declaration. Orwell was well aware of this in his "Politics and the English Language," using examples from doctors and scientists whose thoughts were lost in a jumble of confusion and sophistication. What is more prevalent, however, is how writing can morph ideas into forms that shroud the author's point of view. For example, the Bible, Koran, and The Communist Manifesto are books of immense importance to many people, though different interpretations of each have resulted in uproars of death over clarification. How a thought is expressed through writing, and writing alone, determines its reception , which determines its importance.

My question, then, is: Can an idea stay in its original form in writing? Yes, a medium changes the message, but is writing not the most basic medium that is able to stand through time?

America Oh America!

I remember when we read the poem America by: Tony Hoagland in class, I fell in love with it because it was so true! When he says, “I am asleep in America too.” I agreed as well, I’m not saying that we live in a bad place just that I wish I saw more cultural appreciation. Not where as he describes, “Whose walls are made of Radio Shacks and Burger Kings, and MTV episodes, Where you can’t tell the show from the commercials.” My favorite part is when he is talking about his dream with his father in it, “It was not blood but money, That gushed out of him, bright green hundred-dollar bills, Spilling from his wounds, and—this is the weird part--, He gasped, “Thank god—those Ben Franklins were Clogging up my heart--…”” I enjoyed it because is describes how money takes over us and makes us different, it can also warn the possessiveness and deadliness of money.

spanish dummies

Today I was in my spanish class and the class was answering warm up questions. Everyone was saying the same thing, the right answer. Then as we go on this guy answers a question incorrectly but he screams it. I knew in my head that the answer was wrong but I found myself and the whole class repeating him! I suddenly remembered brain-dead megaphone. I was shocked. It is true that we will listen to the loudest person even if we aren't paying any attention to them. At first when I heard brain-dead megaphone I thought it was silly. I was thinking to myself this couldn't happen. Today I was proven wrong when my whole spanish class became spanish dummies. If this happened without anyone noticing they said the wrong answer due to the loud guy that no one was paying attention to, what could happen in our society when people don't notice what they are saying?

Explosive Growth In Technology: Good or Bad?

Ray' Kurzweil enthusiasm on the subject of accelerated growth in technology is highly disturbing. I find his view on technological evolution to be atrocious and unethical. Yes technology is very useful and the improvements made on it very helpful, but going as far as to use it in order to stunt aging, control emotions, our thought process, and manipulating our memories is exceedingly extreme and frightening. I don't write this as way to knock down Kurzweil I just don't agree on his fixation with technology. What are you guys opinion on Ray Kurzweil view on the expansion of technology? Are you guys as highly opposed to these things? If not why?

Is America becoming progressively dumber?

Susan Jacoby believed that America was gradually becoming less intelligent. This is absolutely true. As the media continues to dominate our contemporary society, we are continually becoming more ignorant. Reading has declined, not just among those who are less educated. Instead of enjoying the full experience of reading a book, many would probably just watch the movie, or go on the internet for sparknotes.

A test was given to some high school students in California where they were given pictures and tested on whether or not they could identify the people. The result was that 92% of the students were able to identify the celebrities, like Katy Perry, Tom Cruise, Lady GaGa, Rhianna, and Zac Efron. But, sadly, only 26% of the students were able to recognize all of the political figures, like Barbara Boxer, Condoleezza Rice, and (then senator) Barack Obama. This really shows how ill-informed our society is becoming.

Science and Religion dating?

Jane quickly walks up beside Joe, taking up whatever space was left of the sidewalk.
"Hey Joe!" Jane exclaims with a large grin on her, which threatened to cut her head in two.
"Oh, hey Jane, how are you today?" Joe asks, returning Jane's grin with a smile of his own.
"I am doing well, but", Jane stops mid sentence as she glances around, "Have you heard that Science and Religion are dating now?" They both continued to walk, but Joe was gaping at Jane.
"What?" Joe questions, unsure if he heard correctly.
"Science and Religion are dating" Jane shoots back bluntly.
"How did that happen? They are like, polar opposites!" Joe replies with utter bewilderment as he throws both of his arms in the air.
"I don't know, and I'm not sure if their relationship is going to work out", Jane lets out a sigh, "Expect drama." Joe groans at her last statement as he slaps himself in the face with the palm of his hand.

Conflict between science and religion has been going on for ages. An example may include the Roman Catholic Church's opposition against the claim that Earth went around the sun, which starts around the 1600s. The conflict even continues today, although it may be less prominent than it was in the past.

Education and religion conflict with each other in some classrooms and schools. IN TODAY'S SOCIETY it is seen less, but it is definitely there. As stated in one of the podcasts presented to us, some classrooms teach things more ambiguously, especially science, due to their stance with religion.

Anyway, religion and science have not always been on the best terms. Will they ever be able to "get along"? I think that may never be the case. The best each side can do is debate and not start a huge brawl. "Science VS Religion! Come watch the long-term rivals duke it out in the octagon!" Looks like they are even taking it into the octagon. Anyway, religion is based on faith, which is, "belief not based on proof" while science is a study, "dealing with facts". They are just like non-polar and polar, or angel and demon. They just won't mix.

No Shame in Media

Maybe this is related to Susan Jacoby. Maybe even Postman. I don't care; I wanted to bring this up.

Recently (and I'm sure Ms. Fletcher has heard of this), the Los Angeles Times did a review of LA County's teachers and gave them all a score. Now, this ruffled the feathers of teachers' unions, parents, and administrators. But none of this is compared to what has just happened.

A 5th grade teacher, who was a favorite of his students and was cited as a motivational influence, committed suicide out of apparent depression from his low score in the Times. Worse, this story gets the front page on the LatExtra section of the paper.

Without remorse.

I lost a little bit of respect for my favorite newspaper from this. This score system is needlessly affecting the effective. It is also letting teachers' bosses get some background when it's time to hand out the pink slips.

I want to know what YOU think about this. Media exploitation? Teachers getting flak from the system? Comments appreciated.