Blog #5

In "Two Cultures," I'd have to say that I believed Neil Postman's argument more than that of Paglia. I completely believe in what Postman's idea of the word being very powerful, maybe more powerful than we realize. Words hold so much power because they play on our emotions. One single word could brighten someone's day, or drive them to tears. Images hold almost the same power on us as well.

One example of the power of the word is the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King, as we all learned in middle school, was one of the leaders of the American civil rights movement. This Baptist minister from Atlanta, Georgia led thousands of African-Americans through pivotal moments in American History such as The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington. Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech united hundreds of thousands blacks to fight for the same cause. These words spoken by one man liberated an entire race. Blacks and whites have lived in equality ever since. If those don't qualify as powerful words, I don't know what will.

Another example of the power that words hold on people, this time not so nice, is the cult originating in Indianapolis, Indiana in the late 70's led by a man named Jim Jones. This cult grew from a few members to almost one thousand in a short amount of time. Jones took his followers from Indiana to San Francisco, California, and then finally in Guyana, naming this final resting ground Jonestown. The words of Jim Jones filled the heads of his disciples with lies about God. Ultimately, once pressure from FBI became too tough for Jones to handle, he organized a mass suicide, killing approximately 900 people. Now, we have already seen how words can be used for good, but here it's evident that words hold evil powers as well. Jim Jones manipulated almost one thousand people to basically throw their lives away.

Images, along with words, are also very important in understanding people in general. Images and symbols can sometimes take the place of words in a conversation. Some people even base their entire lives on one image. This is seen in various religions around the world, but possibly most prevalent in Judaism. The Star of David represents the beliefs of the Jewish people. When you see that symbol, you know exactly what it represents. The same goes for the red cross, for example. Although not religiously affiliated, when the red cross symbol is seen, you know that someone has been injured and medics are on their way to help.

In conclusion, as I previously stated, I agree with Neil Postman's argument. Words are very important in our culture as well as powerful. Images can sometimes even take the place of words, which makes them almost as powerful.

A Day Without Technology

Living without technology for a day was one of the most difficult things I've ever attempted. At first, I thought the assignment would be a piece of cake, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. I didn't realize how large of a role technology plays in my life until now. Of course, larger technologies like the television and the computer play large roles in everyone's life, but it was living without smaller technologies that caught me by surprise.

One mini technology that I had to go without was my iPod. Music is an extremely large part of my life. In addition to listening to music casually, I listen to my iPod while I do homework, work out, and even while I drive. The phrase "you never really know what you've got until it's gone" definitely applies to my experience because as soon as I couldn't use my iPod, I realized how large of a role it plays in my everyday life. Spending a day without being able to use my cell phone was just as hard, if not harder, than not being able to use my iPod. Not being able to call someone is a terrible feeling! I felt completely isolated from the rest of the world. I found myself surprising my parents at home because I couldn't call in advance to tell them I was coming to visit.

A lot of the technology that we have learned to live with is just extra. Technology is a great thing to have but things like the electric razor or the foot massage machine are things we should be able to live without. One technology, however, that I believe is essential in this day and age is the telephone. being able to talk to someone that isn't right in front of you is a great advantage. It helps transfer messages, warnings, and anything else you can think of. Living without one for 24 hours was hard enough, but I think it would be impossible to live without one forever.

One thing that this experience has opened my eyes to is how important technology is in our society. Millions of people all over the world rely on technologies like television and radio to obtain information about current events. Before technology, people would use newspapers to read about what's going on in the world, but technology has changed the way we live. For many Americans, technology makes obtaining information like this a lot more convenient. My experience without technology was also very similar to those interviewed in the article by Danna Walker titled "The Longest Day." For several hours, I found myself with absolutely nothing to do. Usually when I'm bored I watch t.v. or surf the web, but unfortunately, those weren't options at this time. One comment that I completely agree with was the one that said maybe we have over media medicated ourselves. I think that as a society we have become very dependent on technology, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. We are a technological generation so is it really that bad to be dependent on technology? I think it's safe to say that it isn't a bad thing at all because with technology comes more technology. Technology will continue to evolve until we are able to get dressed in the morning with a clock of a button, and will also continue to make our lives a lot easier.

Our recent discussion about early motion pictures and how they began reminded me of how the world was when the technology outbreak began. Much like motion pictures, both were instantly popular. The first movie houses in 1918 only took a few years to become popular. Pretty soon, the thousands that paid a nickel to see a fifteen second clip turned into millions. Due to this popularity, the length of the showing began to increase, and so on. The growth of technology is almost identical. St first, only a select number of people owned technologies such as television's, radio's, computer's, and car sell phones, however, it didn't take long for the rest of the world to count on. Now, basically every home in America owns at least one t.v., radio's come with cars, and computer's and cell phones have become portable so you can take them wherever you'd like to go.

This experience definitely taught me not to take anything for granted. Of course it's nice to have fun things like cell phones and iPods, but they don't just fall out of thin air. I really want to emphasize the fact that technology isn't a right, it's a privilege. It becomes very easy to think that everyone has all these different technologies given the time we live in, but the reality is that everyone doesn't. I have now seen how horrible life would be if I didn't have these technologies and if nothing else, it has motivated me to work so that I will always have the privilege to have them.

Speech vs. Writing: The Superior form of Communication

Evolution and change occur naturally in the world we live in. Early in history, before technology began to modernize almost all of our daily appliances, the only way people could communicate over long distances was to write letters. Eventually, over many years, communication devices such as the cell phone and e-mail have changed the way people communicate with one another. Now, although the cell phone is both popular and easy to use, in today's society, e-mail is the superior form of communication because it's both quick and easy to use, can be done from any type of computer anywhere in the world, and most importantly, it's the newest technology that's absolutely free!

The first reason that e-mail has become the superior form of communication in today's society is because it's extremely quick. We are very impatient as a generation and are always looking for ways to make our daily schedule move a little faster. For example, the microwave was invented to heat things faster than a conventional stove would. As I was saying, think of how many Americans drive to work every day, sit down at their computers at their desk job, and write countless e-mails to people all over the world. An e-mail can be sent in less than a minute, no problem. Some phone calls can take you nearly a half an hour to say what you're trying to say. In in e-mail, you can simply write what you want to say and wait for a reply. Typing an e-mail is also, for most people, faster than writing out what you want to say on paper. The essay written by Susan Jacoby talks about the decline of books, newspapers, and other forms of written literature among younger Americans. There is such a decline due to technological forms of communication. Now, people can write newspaper articles on the computer rather than writing them by hand. You can even read then entire paper online, which cuts out the steps of leaving home and going to buy a newspaper. Everything becomes more modernized by the second.

The second reason that e-mail has become the superior form of communication in today's society is because you can send and receive an e-mail from anywhere on earth. Phone calls made across the country take longer to complete because they're being made over thousand's of miles. With an e-mail, no matter how far apart the two computers are, the e-mail will get there in the same amount of time. The fact that you can sign onto your e-mail account from any computer is extremely convenient as well. Our generation always wanting to stay in touch with one another is a point that Howard Gardner made in his essay. According to psychologist Sherry Turkle, "...young people seem to have a compulsion to stay in touch with one another all the time; periods of lonely silence or privacy seem toxic." All the new technologies around us like the computer and the iPod have isolated us as a generation. People don't communicate face to face nearly as much as we did in the past and the e-mail's easy to use style has definitely contributed to this fact.

The final reason that e-mail has become the superior form of communication is because it's free. I think that a lot of people are starting to use e-mail more frequently because it doesn't cost any money to set up your own personal e-mail account. Cell phone's cost hundreds of dollars to buy, not to mention the extra money spent on plans and insurance. E-mailing serves the same purpose as calling someone, but it doesn't cost any money. E-mail, along with other computerized technology are also the newest form of communication. Since my generation is a very technological one, we seem to always be interested in the newest technologies. Telephones were invented before i was born, but the e-mail is relatively new in our society. In the essay by Howard Gardner, he mentions how those born in the 1950's weren't exposed to computers as much as we were. Given our interest for new technologies, it only took us half a century to have more than a billion people communicating via e-mail and other computerized forms of communication.

Having these various types of technologies around us makes it very easy to adapt. Given our natural instinct to evolve and better ourselves, it's no wonder that technological communication like the e-mail have changed the way we communicate. It'll be very interesting to see what form of communication takes over next.

The political blog that I decided to follow throughout the semester is moveon.org. The main theme of this blog is Senator Barack Obama and his efforts to become the next president of the United States. The blog follows Obama around the country, reporting on everything he does. Not only that, but the blog also has lots of different links so the people are able to help Obama first hand. A few of the links go towards donating to the Obama campaign, and others enable you to register to vote then and there. One link in particular hooks you up to news feeds from YouTube so you can see what's happening all over the world. With a blog like this, it's no wonder that Barack Obama has revolutionized the was technology is used in a campaign.

About me

Hey everyone. My full name is Maxxwell Anthony Davis, Maxx for short, and no that is not a typo, my name is actually spelled with two x's. I'm a sophomore lacrosse player here at UMBC and I don't have time to do much else. The term "lax is life" really does apply not only to me, but everyone else on the team as well. When I'm not playing lacrosse or doing homework, I like to watch television. Anything from football, to reality t.v., to cartoons: if it's on the television, I'm probably watching it. Other sports like soccer and basketball usually take up whatever time I have left over. Another interest of mine having to do with college is graduating. As of now my major is undecided, so I'm taking this class in hopes of finding something I like to do so I can turn it into a career, I mean, isn't that what we're all after in the end? I think it is! if you want to learn more about me and the rest of the team you can visit http://www.umbcretrievers.com/sports/mlacrosse/