Blog #6 Orwellian?

I personally think Big Brother is everywhere. We have this thought that privacy is in our control when really it is not. I feel we have only a privilege to privacy and there is always a way to lose this privilege. We can do whatever we want, but within the limits of what the government or "Big Brother" will allow us. We have laws and such we must follow which are regulated by the government. We the people really don't have very much say of what we feel is within the limits for us or our peers, it's all left up to the people we elect to make those decisions. I will never understand why we give up our idea of right and wrong to someone else to make a decision for such a massive amount of people. 1 person representing a state? Or a county for that matter? That person will never have the best interests of every single person. Nobody will have the same mixture of views on privacy rights and such as the next person does.

After talking about it so much in class, I still strongly believe that we shouldn't fret so much when we give up SOME NOT ALL freedom to feel a sense of security. I for one do not care if I am searched at an airport of before getting on a boat if that is the precautions taken to ensure my and everyone else safety. If everyone is subject to the same searching, then there can not be any outcry of profiling. I don't care how much it would cost to do so, because a human life is worth more than any amount of money. Money doesn't heal the loss of a loved one in a plane crash or bombing, etc... Sure if you feel you can carry a weapon, get a license for it, conceal it, and only use in emergency. But if you are caught with something that may be dangerous to the other people around you, you are taking away there right to safety, which in result should allow authorities to take away your right to freedom.

I just found it bizarre that people in our class thought that we should have to give up nothing to help stay safe or feel safe with whatever we do because we do it everyday and they haven't had an outcry about it before. We aren't free to do whatever whenever, and there hasn't been a complete rebellion yet.  

Blog #5

Write from the perspective of Violet or her father (or a character that you make-up). What is life like without the Feed? What do you think about the Feed and the people who use it? --these are just starting points; feel free to go in any direction that makes sense to you.

Being in the perspective of Violet:

This is new. I am confused but oddly content with this way of life. With so many people relying on something so unoriginal and boring, I am overcome with joy of being rid of such an invention. I remember days of trying so hard to "deactivate" my Feed, that I began to give up on that dream, and would just deal with whatever filtered through my Feed. Sometimes I couldn't even sleep because my mind would be filled with Feed related things. Which unfortunately is EVERYTHING. I despise the Feed, I wish there was a way that I could forever be in the state I am now, Feed-less. That's it! Rebel, rebel, rebel against the Feed! Overtime, I will hopefully, for my own sake, be normal, or at least what I believe is normal. What everyone else thinks is normal is actually the thought of the Feed. So from now on, I will live opposing the Feed.
Now I wake, and I can think for myself and not worry about being characterized as someone I am not or do not truly want to be. I can believe in my own God, analyze things in my own way, ask questions of things I never truly understood, and maybe, finally live. Live my own way, joyous and carefree. No longer forced to hear about a new trend, or what is happening in the life of every celebrity that there is. In another aspect though, it feels lonely and distant being on a complete polar end of life than those around me. It makes me wonder if it is all really worth it. Should I be an outcast and stand up for what I think is right? Or should I conform to what is around me to forever be linked with everyone in the same way they are to me? But would I be able to call that a real relationship? Would we really be linked? Would we really connect on a level that can be seen as friendship? I sit here, thinking to myself, why do I so badly want to be different from those with a Feed when there is nobody to be different with me. Would I be contradicting what I want to accomplish? Even without the Feed, I still feel my head will explode with loads of uncertainty and confusion. The Feed will still dawn over me even when nonexistent.

Being in the perspective of Violets father:

I've never really been on the same level as those who had the Feed put into there brain. But I have a general idea of what it must be like due to me having a generic type Feed. I've always felt a bit of distance from my daughter due to the fact of our Feeds being on a different scale, hers being much more advanced in a way. I know she still looks up to me for wisdom and knowledge because I stay true to my belief that experience is always going to beat out technology. I miss the times where the Feed didn't run our lives and I could simply live freely. My mind was my own back then, and had nobody to tell me what to think and when to think it. I always wish I could turn back time and bring Violet along with me to show her a world that wasn't fully incorporated. A world where diversity was everything and people encouraged it, and not forced it. Those people that experienced what I did in my opinion "sold out" to what has become of today. Those who rely on the Feed are far beyond lacking a sense of reality. They will never fully understand what life is, was, could have been. They will accomplish nothing, but be told that they did it all within there time on this Earth. 

Blog #4: No technology for a year?

Although the Thoreau Challenge we were proposed with in class seemed very tempting for those looking to get some extra points, I couldn't even lie to myself to think I could even try it. No cell phone, no text messaging, no calling, no chat messaging, no Facebook, no status updates, no Google, no ESPN.com, no Pennlive.com, no video games, no television watching, and the gut wrenching  list goes on. How would I wake up for class in the morning? Wake up to the rising of the sun? Impossible. To us now, I feel this challenge is way more difficult than it may have been back in the time of Thoreau because the advancements and developments we made in technology were not around back then. We have more things to tempt us than Thoreau had to deal with. What I ask is: what did he really have to "give up" when he stayed isolated from society in that wooden cabin?

If I were to ever give up all of the treasures I desire so much and rely on everyday, I think I might surprise myself with what I could do. I could just sleep for long periods of time to pass the time and just do nothing but wait with anxiousness to be relieved of my self-invoking promise to steer clear of technology. Instead, I think I would be able to read a lot more and analyze many writings like I always have wanted. I am interested in topics of life experience, but never reach out and find those novels to obsess myself with. I am sure that there is plenty of great literature out there that I have not been fortunate enough to stumble upon. Also,  I would use my time to think deeper than I ever have before about life. I took a philosophy class and was dumbfounded by the concepts and realities that were taught to me. I wanted to understand but I felt as if I was never supposed to, and maybe giving the topic another chance I could maybe have a better light shined on it for me to grasp it all. I have always wanted to fully "understand our universe" or something of the sort.

Hopefully by the end of my time in solitary confinement, I will be able to contribute something back to the world. Rationalize something or even curing a disease would suffice, just something to prove that I has some sort of success of something when I did what I did. I would want the world or anybody who would listen to see that without material things, we have a gift, the greatest gift, and that is our minds. It's something that can't be taken away, it is ours to utilize however we choose, and if we allow it to be fed with societal norms and media or ideas such as consumerism, then we have lost. We will never gain a greater satisfaction if we stick to what is expected or the predetermined pathway. The "verse" I would want to contribute is one of rebellion to the world today. Show that social ties can be broken, everyone can get along if we really put forth an effort, money isn't something that should drive us to do things and run our lives, and such ideas relative to that. If we all rise up together, we can't all be knocked down in defense.

Blog # 3

After reading the article of the LA Times review of "The Dumbest Generation", I was not only appalled by how true everything that was said is but also I felt depressed that I am within that "population" that is so closely being mocked. You and I both are part of the force that is shaming our society as a whole. Many young adults can't go without all of the technological advances we now enjoy and obsess over. We troll Facebook more than we research scholarly journals on topics that are actually important to the world. Instead, we care about what some kid we graduated high school with that you talked to maybe 5 times is doing next Friday night as opposed to the current conflict that has risen in Egypt.

I also liked the statistic included that stated "two-thirds of U.S. undergraduates now score above average on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, up 30% since 1982.." because it further proves how self-involved we are becoming. We are beginning to only care more about the small aspect of life close to us and events meaningful to us rather than things that are important to all of society. I want to think that I myself am taking upon a greater challenge to start caring about world events and not just things that are happening in Pennsylvania or the United States for that matter. I have begun to frequent websites such as PennLive and and CNN to gain a greater sense of what is happening around me within a greater radius than just my Facebook.

Lastly, I found it really upsetting that a college student actually expressed to Bauerlein that "American Idol IS important", when he was trying to make the point that we know stupid things that we will never use in real life rather than historical facts or concepts in politics. Have we become programmed to believe things like American Idol winners and who won the Super Bowl 10 years ago are actually important because they are entertaining to us? Is what we enjoy becoming more important than facts that actually mean something and contribute to reality? I sure hope not...