Fringe event

So I've been having some technical difficulties trying to get blogger to work through temple's network.. But! I joined in on the trip to see a dolls house, because I love ibson, especially Hedda Gabler, and also because I haven't seen any of his plays staged. Rather than a traditional performance, there was a more meta aspect taken as one person actually using a literal doll house in order to push the concept further and actually portray the concept of a doll house as domesticity. Personally, the play was always very radical, and I didn't feel as though it was entirely necessary to veer so far from traditional staging. While it enhanced the concept and made it more post modern, and was no doubt interesting, it limited the character depth and complexity that made the play so historically controversial. Overall, an interesting experience!

The Best Thing(s) on the Internet

(Don't think about the implications of these videos for too long, they will cease to be funny and eventually become incredibly depressing. )

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Amusing Ourselves to Death, continued.

Postman's argument really takes shape in the last few chapters, especially regarding religion, politics, and news. By commercializing these things, they are greatly warped and turned into a form of entertainment that ultimately eliminates a dialogue and inhibits many from actually learning anything. While entertainment is not inherently bad in the slightest, disguising news, religion and education as entertainment sets a precedence that makes the general public disinterested in anything that is not first and foremost, a form of entertainment. 

Another rather nice aspect of the book is that Postman, after spending almost 160 pages addressing a problem, also made the attempt to provide solutions. While they were a bit idealistic and most likely unattainable, I always have a great deal of respect for intellectuals who can criticize social structures, but also offer solutions. 

Thoughts on Readings

By now I'm creeping my way up to chapter 7, and Postman's argument is beginning to develop. While I'm always very skeptical of someone who makes sweeping generalizations (especially vehemently against technology), so I'm excited to see how this argument develops.
Thus far Postman has discussed the world's slow transition into television culture, which leaves me entertained he was never able to live to see Toddlers in Tiaras. The argument is becoming a bit stronger with development and empirical data regarding just how available television was made to all income levels, making it a dangerous way of spreading unnecessary, commercialized information. So far, I've really enjoyed the argument that television has meshed capitalism with political and social news, creating an entertainment industry in the place of an information outlet.

My Day With Limited Technology

Yesterday, to celebrate Memorial Day as well as my only day off in the foreseeable future, I embarked on my day-long mission to use as little technology as possible. Naturally, we all understand how difficult this can be. For me, personally, as someone who lives alone, there were certain unique precautions I had to take to ensure no one was concerned for my safety. I had to send out a text to my two best friends, parents, etc. saying that I would not be available to chat and if there was any sort of pressing matter, my cell phone would be in my bedroom and act as a house phone. I made sure not to take this phone anywhere I went, did not use the internet or watch TV.
Personally, this was not very difficult, and I got a lot of reading done, took a run, and went to visit a friend. One area I also cheated on was using music. I played music through speakers in my house to prevent the inevitable degradation of my sanity.
The aspect of technology I have mostly taken for granted is the aspect of humans as isolated entities. Before the cell phone, we had one particular place in which we were not to stray too far from in order to still be reached. I left my first voicemail for the first time in years, which felt strange, and found myself waiting around the house wondering where certain people were in their travels. I also realized I would have to rely on outside help and the kindness of strangers if there were any problems such as getting lost, my car breaking down, or any related type of day-to-day emergency.  Now, humans are independent and in a way, our home becomes our phone. Since the phone is always on us, our home becomes our body. This allows for extreme transience and independence when wanted that is often not accounted for. Many people would be simply too anxious to leave their main station and live as a mobile entity if it weren't for certain technologies.
While it was an interesting, thought-provoking, and often irritating experience, I am sincerely more thankful for the peace of mind technology has provided me and aided in creating a mostly independent and autonomous person.

Solitude and Leadership

Solitude and Leadership was an enjoyably comprehensive and intuitive speech given in regards to the correlation between isolation and unique thought that can be transferred to the benefits of humanity. While I found most of it to be insightful, sensitive and well articulated, I found myself feeling a bit skeptical as to how pragmatic or fool-proof this system was. A key argument is that we should learn to think for ourselves by reading and isolating ourselves, but these can have unintended consequences in practical application.
One issue that I had was the concepts of books as isolated knowledge. A book, while often more educated and peer reviewed, is still at the root of it, an opinion. Books are also limited to their socio-political conditioning and prevailing ideologies; even the concept of who gets published arguably adheres to a classist and racist institution. When looking through history, there is a habit of certain people (generally not white males) slipping through the cracks of what is considered intellectually relevant. While I believe books are a lot better than the internet, there are certain draw backs to simply reading "old dead white guy" literature.
Additionally, there are limits to what solitude can do. Heart of Darkness is used as an example to bolster the argument that solitude is an important part of contributing to mankind, but also shows the contrary. While Marlowe finds himself discusted with the system and is able to think critically about empirialism, there is still the issue that Kurtz was also isolated, and became an incredibly dark and hedonistic entity. This shows a bit of ethical ambiguity, which isn't something that would benefit a large group of military officers. Sometimes, an inherently selfish human being in isolation is only going to keep them in a state of unquestioned authority. One way of examining this particular interpretation of Conrad's work is that it's idealistic and assumes mankind is inherently altruistic.