322 Page Views, and just the smallest handful of students posting. Come on, you lurkers! Get in here and talk to these brave young women who are writing out their thoughts and questions.
Found this article in the Guardian interesting; as Postman points out, the two novels (1984 and Brave New World) point to significantly different dystopian futures, and this writer is sort of lumping them together. I can't really get a handle on this piece. There's something in the tone that seems alarmist and maybe even petulant. I'll have to re-read and think about this a little later, when I have some time to reflect. In the meanwhile, take a look.
Teaching summer school. Stop by and say hello in Room 210 (I'm teaching in Pendleton's classroom) at 9:30 or 11:45. I won't be there most of this week, but starting next week, you can catch me there every day.
The article seems borderlining between paranoid and cynical. I do find certain similarities between our world and the two fictional ones, and similarities between the two themselves, however, I find much more freedom in the first-world countries of our world. I think that the author paired the two different societies because they both feature a totalitarian government making choices for people rather than allowing free choice. I *do* see that the government does have certain control (ie: government regulated school food, school standards, and even market standards), but a lot of it is because people sued companies/schools for their own shortcomings and disregard of situation.
ReplyDeleteYay! Somebody is talking to me. :D I'm the most unpopular person on the blog; I post my heart out, and few have the temerity to talk back to me. Thank you, Emma, for being a border-crosser and a risk-taker.
ReplyDeleteDeveloping nations seem to have more to fear from Totalitarianism, and we First Worlders live in a world of distraction and consumerism. As long as we have interesting YouTube videos and cheap plastic crap to purchase, and blue Slurpees, we seem content to leave the details of citizenship up to a few people with buckets of money.
I am less concerned about regulated school food and standards than I am about the drone attacks in Pakistan. We haven't declared war with Pakistan, so why are we flying into their country and dropping bombs on the people? Why isn't the entire country asking our government to explain this??
I am teaching summer school, and in class this week, I am using an editorial that former President Jimmy Carter published in the New York Times last Sunday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/opinion/americas-shameful-human-rights-record.html
When it comes to government acting without the people's knowledge or consent, you can't get any more egregious than this. I guess this does feel like a combination of Brave New World (Diistract me. Entertain me), and 1984 (The government knows best, and you cannot resist.)
I keep asking myself, "Wait. Where are the good guys? Oh, yeah. WE'RE supposed to be the good guys." I grew up believing that despite everything, Americans at least played fair and looked out for the underdog. I don't know if I can believe that any more. We're the bad guys, too.
Yes, as we see more of the world, it becomes apparent that nothing is what it seems. The article in the New York Times reminded me that even on a national level, the US is extremely human and displays traits like hypocrisy, fear, and even prejudice. What I have yet to see is the power of our nation to overcome those aspects. I'd still have to say that the government itself is not completely at fault for our situations because the government is useless without the people voting. I do hope that our nation finds a better means of taking care of foreign affairs in the Middle East. In this case, are we really the heroes, or simply fearful and prejudiced invaders? I agree, where are the people in such an issue, are we so ignorant of what we choose for our nation?
ReplyDelete