Feed--Lit blog for 2/19

To be honest, at first I didn't think I would like Feed. I've read books like this before and didn't like them, but since this one is newer I think that helped. In the end, I really liked it. Some of the language is different, but its easy to catch onto quick. As you read further and further into the book you begin to realize just how much the feed runs the lives of the people. When the feed had to be shut down after the hacker touched Titus and some of his friends they had no idea what to do without it. It was rather pathetic actually, but most of them were born with it so they knew nothing else. Violet is the one who introduces to Titus what its like without the feed and how to fight it. It is sad though that the world had become what it had in the book. The people were physically falling apart, the feed ran parts of the body, and if there was a problem, like Violet had, the corporations decided if you were worth saving. The world they lived in was pretty insane. The world itself and the environment was falling apart as well. It sounded like hell to me. The world they lived in would be horrible. Having my life run by a corporation, ads coming into my head all the time, and basically having no freedom would be the worst life ever. The weird part is, these people are so brainwashed they don't realize whats happening. They just take it because thats what the feed says; everything is alright. I liked reading it, but it just makes you want to tell these people they're stupid...don't they see whats happening? How could you not? It gave me a new perspective on things.

Dr. Bauerlein--Lit blog for 2/12

First off the miss USA pageant girl was a poor example to show our generation is dumb. For one, it was one bad answer and coming from one person. I bet everyone else in the class would have answered it better and correctly so one person screwing it up doesn't make our whole generation dumb. The Jay Leno segment also doesn't mean anything. I'm sure some people they found might have answered them right, but would they air those ones. No, because they're doing it for laughs. The questions were also geared mostly toward literature. Dr. Bauerlein claims that some technology is making us dumb, mindless, and lazy. He said some people didn't know who our allies were in WWII but what does technology have to do with that. People in my high school who didn't know that and did poorly on standardized tests were the ones doing drugs, drinking all the time, and who just didn't care about school. There were people like that in his generation too. Technology had nothing to do with it. Its his generation teaching us so there is the problem. He also focuses on one area of study, like we said in class. I bet if we asked him a psych question or a CJ question he wouldn't know it...so I guess he's dumb too.

Advertisements--Lit blog for 2/5

I've noticed before that many ads used sex appeal to sell their products, but Culture Jam and the video Killing Us Softly really got me to analyze them a lot more. I never really noticed before that in many ads that girls are posed more passively and men look strong and dominant. The man is always standing over the girl or has some sort of control over her. Even race plays a part in advertisements. In one ad it showed a girl standing over a black boy. These are things I never would have noticed before but they seem to have a silent message. I also never really analyzed the ads where women are posed as objects. Advertising has turned people into objects. They degrade women in some ads and make it seem like men still dominate and are superior. I will look at ads in a new light now. I was surprised to hear that we see on average 3000 ads every day. I never would have thought it was so high. I am more aware of the ads I see around me now. In the Hook videos I do agree that for transformation to happen you need critical thinking. People need critical thinking to evaluate themselves and the situation and to know that they can do anything anyone else can do. They have to know they can succeed.