It is all about me, the individual. When I first read the two assigned articles I was offended by what the author had to say about not my generation, but about me. Heck I was more than offended I was enraged. So much so that I stormed across the hall right into my friend’s room and I went off on a tangent about how absolutely ridiculous this man was, insulting me and other such things. After my rant I calmed down and went back into my own box, and continued on with my work. As I was picking out quotes and asking questions about them and divulging my thoughts to my paper that’s when I began to realize that this book was not all about me.
Just like it’s not all about you. It’s about the bigger picture. It’s about the future. In class I feel like I heard people just going off on how none of this affects us and who needs politics and history and literature and fine art. I heard people get angry about the things I was angry about in the beginning. That what he said doesn’t apply directly to me. I read, I’m not lazy, I am busy, I am smart, so on and so forth. And that is true, you do read, you are going the distance, doing your work and getting a degree. You may not be the lazy one who watches 3 hours of TV a day or who spends their time playing video games. That may not be you, but when you step back and look at America as a whole, and you look at our generation as a whole, it’s not talking about you. It’s talking about a statistic. It’s talking about us as a whole with numbers on our heads all averaged out. And me being a math major who am I to argue with those statistics?
So when I look at those numbers and see that we don’t know about politics, I think yes this one does apply to me. I don’t know nearly what I should about government, and one day I’m going to need to because one day this generation is going to be our government. So we need to take the initiative for the rest of our generation and learn about these things. Same thing about history. The common phrase among us is history repeats itself. We learn from our mistakes so we don’t make them again. We learn from our history so we can prevent bad things from happening. Next on my list of why we need to learn, is literature. Sure you might not like reading, you might not understand why you have to read a bunch of shit written by a dead guy, but I only see why it’s useful. My first point in this is that reading builds your vocabulary. The less we read the smaller our choice of words becomes. I fear that one day all of words will be wiped out and we will be reduced to grunts. My next point with literature also has to do with art. It’s the art of words, the art of story, the art of a picture, or a piece of music. There is something about reading a great book or seeing a mesmerizing piece of artwork that just makes you think and question and appreciate things or see things differently. Why would you want to not read a book or go to a museum? Why wouldn’t you want the rest of our generation to do those same things so you can talk about it for hours so you can have something to say to fill the void or to replace the monotonous video games or TV shows? Wouldn’t you rather hear these ideas than read somebody’s status update about how the ate a taco and then took a nap? To me these questions seem simple seem easy.
As my last contribution I just want to address the technology aspect. Yes we have all of this technology and we are updating it and coming out with new things on a daily basis, but why would you want to chain yourself to a computer or a phone? Why would you want to put so much faith in relying on a machine? Wouldn’t you like to see the world with your own two eyes? Or hear about your best friend’s day with in person rather than over the air waves? Well, I guess to go back to the beginning because if you haven’t noticed yet that’s something I like to do. This post is all about me. All about how I feel and how I view our generation… how I view MY generation. All about ME in America.
Good post, I really liked what you were talking about. I however think Bauerlein was being ignorant and stereotyping all of our generation, even though most of us feel like what he says doesn't pertain to us. I liked when you said "I fear that one day all of words will be wiped out and we will be reduced to grunts. " That made me want to start reading more because I fear that will someday happen to me. Also I agree with what you said about about seeing the world with our eyes instead of over computers and stuff, we all know it is much better to be there in person.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I understand your argument basis. I have always been opposed to the quote,"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with it, and I feel like its incredibly overused. Do most students learn that George Santayana said this? I have my doubts. As an art major, I have been to museums and seem some really cool, and really disturbing art. Now as nice as it is to look at other people's art, I think one needs to take what they see and apply the concepts elsewhere. For example, if you read a good story or hear a good quote, write about it. Think about it. Share it. Be inspired. But Don't just stare at it blankly. And too your last statement, In that big long link with Bauerlein, he did mention that technology wasn't bad and was potentially useful so I don't think we should exterminate it or anything, but instead use it to enhance our understanding of the world around us.
I can relate, i did think he was talking directly to me when he mentioned the dumbest generation, and yes that may be based off of statistics, i can agree with your argument history does repeat itself and its up to us to make it better as one whole generation. i think that your last paragraph was person and i liked the way you owned it ! good job :)
ReplyDeleteYou honestly bring up the best points and always get me to see something in a different perspective. I agree that it really isn't us as individuals but how we are as a whole. Statistically, we aren't doing too well. In a recent post, I pointed out that I definitely will not contribute to a Virtual frontier, and I definitely support your choice to prefer things that are real and valid.
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