HELL NO!

     During this last week in class, we have had some good conversations about the readings that were assigned. Emerson and Thoreau have some good views and beliefs that I find interesting and that resonate my own. Emerson talks about how if we want to become men, then we have to be non-conformists. By this he is saying that we should not do things just to fit in, but instead we should do what we what to. I agree with this because if we are worried about fitting in constantly, then we do not really get to enjoy the time that goes by. This is because we are constantly trying to find and adapt to the next trend instead of sitting back and enjoying life. 
     Thoreau talks about how we are in sort of a trance and that we need to desperately get out of it and change our ways. Basically, as Thoreau puts it, we need to stay “awake” and progress. I agree with him because we do not even know what we like or why we do what we do anymore. We just like whatever is popular regardless of what we think of it. It is like our own thoughts that make us all different and unique are being taken over. 
     Like Thoreau, I do believe I could give up all of my worldly possessions and technology for a year and live a life of solitude in the woods. But, for what? If I got paid enough or received some special thing for it then yeah I would. The question here should not be "could you" but would you. I am sure we all could if there was no other choice, but most of us would not if we were not forced to. I just do not see why it would be so beneficial to give up all of this progress we earned over the years just to say “yeah I could do it.” 
     However, I suppose if I did follow through and do it for a year, that I would learn a few things about myself that I had not previously known. Some examples that I would probably learn would be that I do not need all this technology to survive and enjoy myself. I would also probably learn to enjoy the world more and appreciate the little stuff in life. Lastly, that my generation for the most part has been so dependent on this technology, that we do not really know what to do without it. In a way I do see how this would benefit me greatly, but it would still suck to do. I think in the end if someone dared me to do this, I would have to turn the offer down.
     I think that the conversations Thoreau, Emerson, Lasn and Anderson create as a whole is that we need to enjoy life as we are brought into it. We should just take one day at a time and be happy to live. We should not run away and drift from the world we once knew and rush into this new technological age. In short, we should not be “determined to be starved before we are hungry.” So I guess my “verse” that I would like to contribute to everyone would be...to just live.

Who's Generation is REALLY the "Dumbest"?

Over the last week of class we have watched a viewing about Mark Bauerlein and what he thinks about our generation. According to Bauerlein, we are the “dumbest generation”. My reaction to this is that I am pretty annoyed with how he chooses to say what he does. I understand, in a way, where he is coming from, but he makes our generation seem a lot worse than it actually is. From the online article I read and the interview we watched in class, he is saying that our generation doesn’t know anything about history, politics and just the world in general. He is saying that we rely on internet sites like google to do the work for us. Without these sites, he is saying we wouldn’t know anything.

In addition, Bauerlein is also saying that the people in our generation only use the computer for social networking purposes, instead of trying to learn about more important things in our world. The funny thing is that our IQ tests show that we are, in fact, the “smartest” generation. Also, during the in class viewing, Bauerlein questions a bunch of random people and they did not know simple stories and phrases. The thing is that most of us in class knew the answers. Half of the people that were getting questioned weren’t even in our generation because they were definitely over thirty years old.

During our in class groups, we talked about how most of the people in our generation are not even like Bauerlein is describing. Bauerlein is acting like everyone in our generation doesn’t know a thing about the world, history and politics etc. Bauerlein is looking at statistics that may even be a bit biased and basing everything he says off of them. Basically, our generation is getting a bad rep because a few people in our generation fit the statistics he is talking about. I am sure I could find people in every generation that could fit some of those statistics. 

I believe that if Bauerlein would have grown up in our generation, he would be just like the majority of the people in it. The thing is that technology has a big impact on generations. I believe this is a good thing though because without it, generations would never evolve. In the end, it is not only our generation that is to blame for this lack of knowledge about the world and history etc. The people who taught us all these years are in Bauerlein’s generation and they are at fault too. This is because growing up, they never enforced what they thought was right. Instead, gradually this older generation sat back and watched this new technology wave take over our generation.

From Bauerlein’s point of view, I can see why he is saying the things he is about our generation. When he grew up, things were a lot different. Growing up, Bauerlein most likely would have came home from school to a radio being on announcing the news and such. Also, he was probably more inclined to read and learn about history and stuff because he did not have all of these technology distractions. In addition, things were a lot more strict back then. This is what he grew up knowing so, to him, anything different seems wrong. He values what he did and learned while growing up just like the majority of our generation values what we did and learned growing up. Our values just happen to be more technology based. 

Finding your identity...

During class these last few days we have talked about Culture Jam and the Second Skin documentary. These have both discussed some of the same ideas and problems existing around us today. Technology is, in a way, the one to blame because of it’s impact in many ways. Where is this going to take us in the future?

I believe that the identities we occupy virtually have a really big significance, value, and meaning. For example in the documentary Second Skin, the gamers were able to pick how they looked in the games. To the gamers this is very valuable because for once, they could be the person they feel like inside. People no longer would judge them based on their looks because their real looks are unknown. Gamers get a sense of meaning from the identities they have in games because for once they feel important. This would especially involve people like desk assistants who just push paper all day. From playing these games, suddenly they are someone who has all this power and responsibility. This gives them a great feeling and makes them feel better about themselves. This is all significant because it explains why gamers get addicted to these types of games. Honestly, I don’t blame them for hiding from the real world and sticking with these virtual ones. To them, the real world is a harsh place where people judge you about everything you do or don’t do. 

I assume that to many, cyberspace is the “new frontier” because of all the benefits they feel they get from it. In a way they are hiding from who they really are in the real world. This is a problem because these gamers hide from the real world for so long that when they finally do return, it is too late. By this I mean that when they stop with their virtual world, they have destroyed the real world by, for example, losing their jobs, houses and friends. To me, I believe that cyberspace is a vast, endless wasteland. This is because at the end of the day, it is all fake and it doesn’t have a real value or importance. Though it may be fun, it is still in the virtual world.

At the end of the day though, I believe that as long as people are using their own hard earned money, they should be able to do whatever makes them happy. We talked about this in class about how other people sometimes don’t understand why we buy or do certain things.  People do what makes them satisfied, like the one girl in class said she would just go buy tennis shoes whenever, even though they were a lot of money. She did this of course because she liked them and to her, it was worth the money, even though others disagreed. 

Plenitude? No Thanks.

Over the last week of class, we discussed some of the reading in Culture Jam. One of the biggest segments of the book that sparked my interest involved Plenitude. When I read that the U.S. had a higher rate of depression than almost every other country I was a bit shocked. I became confused reading this because when you think about it, we (as in the U.S.) have it way better than almost every other place in the world. People that live in America have way more opportunities and materialistic things than most, if not all, of the eastern countries. Then as a kept on reading, I saw that data suggests that when those other places become more americanized, their rate of depression goes up. When you think about it, the data is saying that when you take a less fortunate country and tell them to stop working hard for what they have and just give them what they need to live, plus way more, they will become more depressed. To me, this is a unbelievable because how could having less make you happier than getting everything you need to live, plus more? How can all these materialistic things cause everyone to be depressed? Well later in the book I found out that “ When everything is at hand, nothing is ever hard won, and when nothing is hard won, nothing really satisfies. Without satisfaction, our lives become shallow and meaningless”. It is sad to think this is true and I guess it is just hard to accept how greedy and careless we have become today here in America. To tie back to depression, we as americans are constantly wanting newer and better things when what we have is perfectly fine and in working order. In a sense, if we had less but worked hard for everything we got, we would be happier and better off. The bigger picture here I guess is that nothing is ever good enough for us. We need to really take a step back for a minute and actually look at everything we have and appreciate it for what it is. Instead of saying “but the newer and better one just came out”  we should look at what we have, then put ourselves in someone else’s shoes that does not have everything we have. I bet we would all be pretty mad at ourselves for how spoiled we act.