Blog # 9- World Without Books?

"Thanks to the fireman, you can be happy all the time..."

A World Without Books?

A world without books would be no world at all. Today we burn books in amny different ways. Everytime that we go to the internet and type in Sparknotes into the browser to look up summaries of the book that we were supposed to read for class the next day is figuatively burning books. We rely largely on the internet now-a-days instead of actually picking up a book and reading it. Or instead of using a dictionary we just get on Dictionary.com. Without even realizing it we burn books every day. If we really stop and think about how important books really are, I think they we may start to pay alittle more attention to our "burning" of our books. Without books we would not be able to study and learn from our past. A world without books...is no world at all.

The End is Upon Us..... Blog #10

I have been so privaledged this semester to learn so much. I find myself thinking more outside the box. I find myself analyzing more of what I read and excepting less without asking questions first. I have grown so much over this semster not only scholarly but as a person as well. I have broadened my horizons of thought and learned not to just except something because it is in writting. We have read many great things this semester. They have all caused me to experience many emotions, as well as made me think.

I think that out of all of the works we have read, all the videos and pictures, etc. that we have discussed, the one that has disgusted me the most or has sparked the most emotion within me was the video that we watched in class about the woman who raises her kid to hate gays, lesbians, etc. Yesterday when we watched that video it took everything that I had not to scream at the screen (even thought that would have done no good). The thought of someone boycotting a soldier's funural because they died defending a corrupt world with "fags" in it just horrifies me. For one, I have to wonder if she has even read one page of the book that she claims to be preaching. God loves everyone, no matter what. And I seriously doubt that "He" would want anyone to treat a person with such disrespect, even if "He" didn't support their lifestyle. Secondly, how a person can be so disrespectful, and crude and heartless as to boycott somthing as seriouse as a funural is just way bewond my world of thought. A funural is part of the morning process for a human being. Inside that cascette that she is shouting her rediculous beliefs at is someones loved one. Inside is someone's son, daughter, mother, father, aunt, uncle, husband, wife. Someone is really hurting, because a person who they have had in their life, who means a lot to them is now gone forever. And thirdly, that soldier who she is boycotting the funural of, he/she died defending the country that she lives in. He/She died to make sure that our country stays the same so that she can continue to voice her totally assinine theories, and opinions in public. If not for that soldier, everything that she knows could change. What a way to show your respect and gratitude for someone huh?

Im just going to say this. This woman is absolutley out of her mind insane. She has totally gone off the deep end, and I think its too late to save her. If someone was at a funural that I was at doing what she does, I would get in their face. I would probably punch them in the face, no matter the reprocusions.

Not only is that disrespectful, but its totally rediculous. In my opinion, love is love, no matter the sex. Everyone deserves to be happy, and who are we to say that has to be a specific thing. I will be the first one to admit that I stand for gay/lesbain rights. I have always felt this way and watching this video in class has just reasured me of how I feel and why. To me, people are people, no matter who they love. Everyone deserves to have that one person who makes them feel like the most special person in the world, and I think that if you find that in someone, you should hold on tight, no matter how different your relationship may be.

Ohh and a word to the crazy woman from the video, "You are crazy, and maybe you should think twice about shoving your rediculous theories of this so called "Bible" that you speak of down the throats of others. We are all people, and you, are not God, so hows about you leave his work to him, hmm? Oh and stay away from me, because if you meet me, I promise you that you will not like me!!!"     :)

To Dr. Shannon, you have been a great professor. I love that you welcome our opinions and our thoughts with open arms, and an open mind. It is not often that the student is asked to speak their mind and encouraged to feel the way they do. I really enjoyed your class. I have grown as a student and as a person as a result of your class.

Can We Blame "Them"?- Blog # 6

In some ways I believe that we, as a society, have "lost" our "right" to privacy. Things in today's world have become so corrupt and there are so many people out there with the intent to harm, that our society feels so unsafe, that the government feels they need  to watch our every move. Whether or not this is for our own "protection" as they tell us, or that its just that they want to spy on everyone at all times, merely for their own gain or because they are simply nosey, I am not sure. But there is no doubt that our privacy has definitly been compromised. In even the simplest ways our privacy level has gone down. Whether it be a security camera placed at the most rediculous of places or monitoring of one's every move on the computer, our privacy is compromised.

I guess that one can not really blame "them" for wanted to spy. The world today, as I mentioned earlier, has become such a violent, and corrupt environment with so many people who's goal is to cause harm that people feel unsafe and are willing to give up a certain amout of their freedom for the feeling of "safety". I guess that it is our own faults for our loss of privacy though when you think about it. When one turns on the news in the evening or in the morning, how often is there somthing positive on it? Hardly ever is there a story about a man who saves a child from being hit by a car, or a person donated a million dollars to the Breast Cancer Foundation, or two people fell madly in love and are engaged to be married. Do we ever really hear anything like that on the news? Not really. When we flip on the news to see what is going on in the world, ninety percent out of one hundred times it's negative. Its a man with a bomb strapped to his chest ran into a crowded building and killed two hundred people, or a child was taken from their home in the middle of the night, or a woman was raped and killed and her body was found outside a bar in an allyway, or another bank was robbed, or a woman was shot during a robbery at a nearby gas station. Like this is what our world has come to. So can we really blame people for wanted to feel "safe"? Can we really blame the government or whoever "they" are for wanting to monitor our every move and have acess to all of our most personal information? I don't know if we can really asnwer "Yes" to that question anymore.

"Lead Me Into The Light"- (Blog # 5, Choice #3)

My favorite song right now is E.T. (Futuristic Lover) by Katy Perry and I absolutly love music. When I wanted to listen to musci this would be the firat song that my Feed would play. Music is my escape from the world and when I listen to this song I totally leave reality. Its somthing about the music and the words. The entire song just takes over my whole body and mind! When I wanted to listen to music to escape and leave the world behind, this would be the first song I would listen to.  The lyrics are amazing:

You're so hypnotizing
Could you be the devil
Could you be an angel

Your touch magnetizing
Feels like I am floating
Leaves my body glowing

They say be afraid
You're not like the others
Futuristic lover
Different DNA
They don't understand you

Your from a whole other world
A different dimension
You open my eyes
And I'm ready to go
Lead me into the light

Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me
Infect me with your love and
Fill me with your poison

Take me, ta-ta-take me
Wanna be a victim
Ready for abduction

Boy, you're an alien
Your touch are foreign
It's supernatural
Extraterrestrial

Your so supersonic
Wanna feel your powers
Stun me with your lasers
Your kiss is cosmic
Every move is magic

Your from a whole other world
A different dimension
You open my eyes
And I'm ready to go

Lead me into the light

Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me
Infect me with your love and
Fill me with your poison

Take me, ta-ta-take me
Wanna be a victim
Ready for abduction

Boy, you're an alien
Your touch are foreign
It's supernatural
Extraterrestrial

There is this transcendental
On another level
Boy, you're my lucky star

I wanna walk on your wave length
And be there when you vibrate
For you I'll risk it all
All

Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me
Infect me with your love and
Fill me with your poison

Take me, ta-ta-take me
Wanna be a victim
Ready for abduction

Boy, you're an alien
Your touch are foreign
It's supernatural
Extraterrestrial

Extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial

Boy, you're an alien
Your touch are foreign
It's supernatural
Extraterrestrial

My favorite movie ever is Black Swan featuring Natalie Portman. It is by far the most amazing movie I have ever seen. When I left the theater I felt indescribable. I didnt even speak to my friend who saw it with me. We both didn't speak for probably twenty minutes after we left the theater. We both felt like it changed our lives. I have never felt like that after seeing a movie. So when I wanted to watch a movie this would be the first movie that my Feed would recommend.

My favorite thing to eat is strawberry ice cream so when Im hungry for somthing sweet this is what my feed would recommend that I have.

Gossip Girl is my favorite series on television. It is on every monday night on the CW channel. Every monday at 9 o'clock my feed would show me this to remind me to watch. I love this series and have evr since the first episode that I watched. It sucked me in and I've been hooked ever since.

Why Yes I Can!

When we were given the assignment of living a week without technology I thought to myself "There is no way that I can live without my cellphone or the computer." But then I actually thought about what it would be like without technology, a thought occured to me. "I have som many other things that I could do with my time than spending hour on Facebook or spending my entire day texting while I carry out my usual tasks. I could spend time with the people that really matter to me. I could put more emphasis on my family, my friends, and my education. I could get together with my friends and have a personal conversation face-to-face. I could look into there eyes as I talk to them. We could have fun and do a million things without technology. But heres the thing, I dont really want to live without technology, maybe just monitor how often I use it. Technology can be a great thing, the problem is when it starts to take presidence over family, friends, education, religion, etc. When the television becomes a huge part of a family dinner, or text messaging keeps a mother and daughter from talking in person, or when Facebook becomes the only concern of a high school student who had final exams to study for, this is when technology becomes a problem. When technology begins to take over that is when we need to look at our lives and evaluate what is really important. So after all that, let me ask myslef that question again, "Can I live without technology?" "Why yes, yes I can!"

Are We The Dumbest Generation?"

In my opinion, I do not personally think that we are the dumbest generation. I do believe that our generation has different goals and a different list of priorities than those of the older generation. I think that the opinion that we are the dumbest generation may have somthing to do with this fact that we have a different list of priorities and thing that are valued by us today. Times have changed and different things become important to us. For example for the older generation top of the priority list may have been things like religion, and family, etc.  Today's generation may have a  different list such as facebook, friends, etc. Not every priority has changed but many have. Although i do not feel that we are the dumbest generation there are instances that do disapoint me and make me doubt our generation, such as the video that we watched in class of the beauty pagent. I was highly disapointed by the answer that was given by the girl featured in the segment of the pagent. When I was watching it I thought "What is she even saying? She is making no sense at all." The responce given made me even feel dumb, however it was a good laugh because I guess you don't realize how unintelligent some of today's generation is. I don't that speak for all of the generation though.
I will admit that our generation does have its weak moments, and our values and priorities may be swayed just a bit. I will be the first to admit that I love social networks, such as Facebook. I actually have it up right now while I am writing this blog. I love to stay connected with my friends and family, and I love to know what is going on. I like to stay " in the loop". But at the same time I do not revolve my entire life around it. I do not put it ahead of my real priorities such as my education, and real interaction with friends and family.  I do think that it does frighten the youth of today to be uninformed, and not included as mentioned in the one article we read for class. I think this may be one reason that todays youth puts so much emphasis on sites such as these.
I think that I would definitly say that we are not the dumbest generation. However we may be a lazier one. There are those that want everything handed to them on a silver platter, or don't want to have to work for anything that they have, but there are those out there dedicated to their work and education.  It is unfair to lump our generation all together and call us the dumbest generation because although there are those of us who are less motivated and put more empahsis on things that maybe  shouldn't be on the top of our priority list, this is not the case for all of us.  I feel that we are the most computer savey generation, and we are the most education motivated generation. We have many people going to higher education. I think that speaks for somthing.
Overall I disagree with the articles that we read stating that we are the dumbest generation. I will admit that our values and such have changed drastically when compared with the older generation, but you know what they say..."The times, they are a changin'".

A Choice Or An Addiction?- "A Puppet On Strings"

I can't believe how this world has become so dependent on technology. This documentary sucked me in completely. It consumed me as soon as I started watching it. I think the thing that shocked me the most about the video was that the one woman said that she sees playing World of Warcraft with someone and talking to them online as going out to dinner. In my opinion, that doesnt even come close to comparing. Virtuality is emotionless. There is no personal contact, no looking into someone's eyes. There is no physical contact. There's nothing intimate, or personal, or loving or caring or anything about virtuality. It is a world that does not exsist.  Then the same woman started talking about how she had fallen in love through the internet. I couldnt believe this. I am a huge romantic and the thought of falling in love with someone when you have never met, have never had so much as a kiss, or a touch, or a real face-to-face conversation with just blows my mind. It makes me feel like there would be no real substance or reality to the relationship. The statistics that were stated within the documentary were that one in three female gamers date someone they met in a virtual world. That baffeles me. Completely just consumes my thoughts. For me, it would never compare. I just can't imagine basing my relationship on a virtual world, or basically a character. A fictional character within a world that does not exsist. 
Another thing that I couldn't believe was that the one man said that most gamers see their jobs as dead-end jobs, where they are paper pushers and see them going nowhere, and within the virtual world they have power. I think this is absolutly rediculouse. If someone is not happy with their career or job, then they need to find one that will make them happy. Not turn to spending 12 hours a day online in a world that is not real. 
Another aspect that is completly astounding is the fact of time. I mean 8 hours at work, 4 hours sleeping, 11 hours gaming. That leaves 1 hour for free time, for things like eating, showering, hanging out with friends,family, etc. I just couldn't imagine spending that much time on a computer.  A quote from the video that rang in my ears was, "Three days later, I realized I hadn't slept."  How could someone become so involved in a game that they don't realize that they havn't slept for three days? With this question comes another topic: When does it stop becomming a choice and when does it start being an addiction? When does it start to tale over a life, and ruining a life? The one guy that was interviewed on the documnetary stated, "I knew I was sick from playing it, I knew I had to stop....I just wanna keep playing it, I'm not going to stop...fourteen to sixteen hours a day easily." Then he proceeded to say that he would urinate into a plastic soda bottle instead of getting up to go to the restroom. He said that he had a great relationship, and that crumbled down, and he lost his business, and they forclosed on his house.  This is an addiction. When one can't notice that their life is suffering and falling to peices around them, or they can see it, but continue to do what they are doing. Thats when it becomes an addiction.  That same guy said that he felt like a "Puppet on a string" when referring to how he felt when playing the game.
In my opinion, I would never be able to become so utterly wrapped up in somthing like this. To me my real life is just too important. This documentary made me ralize how bad it really is getting. Where a virtual world starts to repalce our reality. It makes me want to ask, "What is the world comming to?"