Boil the Frog Slowly

At the end of chapter eleven, Postman makes the distinction between being aware and being unaware of our changing culture. He wants to verify that the problem isn’t that we are being entertained. The true problem is that we are always being entertained and don’t even notice it. We are unaware of the effects that this entertainment overload is having on our thinking capabilities. This unawareness is the danger that our society is facing. If no one sees the problem, then there is nothing to fix. Postman's purpose of his book is to bring this problem to our attention so that we may realize that there is a problem and fix it before we "amuse ourselves to death".

Shhh

Mr. Brandt presented our class with a challenge. The challenge was to go an entire school day without talking. We were armed with a dry-erase board for illustrations and our amateur acting skills. The result was a very amusing but frustrating day. At the beginning of the day, simple events such as walking with a friend to class became awkward. It was too difficult to draw or act in addition to walking and carrying next hour’s books. At lunch, instead of the typical chatter going on, several picture conversations were started. We were trying to discuss our plans for the weekend. However, our conversations did not last long since it was very hard to interpret each other’s pictures. Most of us just ended up laughing at our drawings even though we never really understood the meaning behind them. If we could not communicate clearly our plans for the weekend, then it is obvious that we would be unable to carry on any sort of deep discussion. This goes along with what Postman says about not being able to teach philosophy with smoke signals. Our medium of charades and pictures limited us way too much. As a result, most of our “conversations” were meaningless but entertaining. We settled for simple amusement instead of trying to convey any form of real discussion.

Postman's Point

Neil Postman’s warning about the world’s collapsing culture do to the overuse of technology remains consistent in both his novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, and his speech at Calvin College. Postman draws his audiences’ attention to the shift from “the Age of Typography” to the “Age of Television.” In his book Postman writes, “our own tribe is undergoing a vast and trembling shift from the magic of writing to the magic of electronics.” He discusses this idea of a changing culture from the ancient time of smoke signals, to discovering the written word, and now to the era of television. He believes that not all changes are advancements. He mentions how the new way of “conversing” has in fact regressed from the magic of the written word. Postman expresses this idea of negative changes in his speech when he quotes Henry David Thoreau who stated that, “all our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end.” He continues to prove that same point that just because people make changes doesn’t mean they are going to provide a better end result.

            Postman also points out that the worth and capacity of humans is declining because of the hindering effects of electronics. In his novel, he compares today’s society with Las Vegas, a city known for its wild and over-the-top entertainment. Similar to his idea of human’s becoming slaves to entertainment; Postman speaks about how people start becoming their computer’s pets. He wants to show how people are no longer in control of themselves. Las Vegas is known for its excess which is part of his point that people now have become excessive with their use of technology. He talks of this excess in his speech when he brings up the idea of people talking more to machines than actual human beings. Postman is very clear in both his novel and speech that our society is changing but not necessarily advancing. He also sends an obvious warning about excessive technology use.

War of the Words

Linda Chavez opens her article with six key words to express her support of public civility. Throughout her article, she explains how certain phrases, although controversial, evoke more passion. Without Chavez’s first six words, the reader may skew her perspective towards thinking that she supports all emotionally charged words even vulgar statements. This is by no means Chavez intent.

After the recent events of the Tuscan murders, topics such as weapons and violence have become sensitive issues. Chavez connects this to her point by using the term bellicose. She wanted to show how phrases can become offensive under certain circumstances even though it is obvious that they are not meant literally. She also wanted to point out that warlike terms have always been linked to politics. For example, she explains that the word campaign came from the French word compagne referring to a battlefield. She shows that these phrases help describe the political aggressiveness rather than referring to actual acts of violence. By explaining her point through these bellicose examples, she shows how the recent Tuscan violence is not a result of the public’s use of these warlike metaphors. Her best example was her reference to the Los Angles Times’ style manual which restricted words such as “Hispanic” and “inner-city”. This example shows how careful people are about being politically correct. When in reality, the alteration of a society’s vocabulary won’t extinguish prejudice attitudes.

I agree with Chavez’s opinion that we should continue to use compelling language to express ourselves. However, we should not speak offensively or be uncivil to others.

An Anatomical Gift

Semrau’s main point of his article is written in the statement, “Quite simply, use what you have until it can no longer function.” He strategically writes his article to ease the reader into the very unusual idea of donating your body to science. He takes the popular idea of going “green” to engage readers and get their approval. He then proceeds to tell about his past careers and medical interest. By examining his past, some of his reasons for his decision become known. He had always encompassed a strong desire to be of constant use to people. The reader is then able to tie this desire to be useful to the well promoted idea of reusing items. Together they make it easier to understand the surprising end to the article. His rational reasons for wanting to donate his body in addition to his creative writing technique help to encourage his audience to accept his decision. His writing strategy was therefore very successful in ensuring that the donation of a cadaver could be seen as a useful gift to the medical field instead of a somewhat controversial act. Readers leave the article intrigued at the idea of reusing the human body.

A Hymn about Love

Most hymns are written to praise God. Likewise, this hymn, “Savior of the Nations, Come”, is used as praise to God for sending his son into the world to serve as our sacrifice. This hymn’s theme centers on the immenseness of God’s love for us shown through Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection. Christ lovingly chose to be humbled by becoming a human and dieing for us. This great act of mercy and love drives Luther to write this hymn of praise.

           Luther uses diction to emphasize this theme. For example, in the first stanza he states, “the Lord chose such a birth”. He uses the word “chose” to help emphasize that Jesus was not forced to become human rather it was his choice to come and save us out of love. In the second stanza, Luther describes Christ as “pure and fresh” to help focus on Christ’s holiness to show how undeserving he was of his earthly suffering. Luther then writes, “Boundless shall Thy kingdom be”. He specifically chose the word ‘boundless” to show how large and powerful God’s kingdom will be because of Christ’s loving sacrifice. Therefore, God’s love shines throughout the text because of Luther’s use of diction.

Reverend Borghardt's Sermon Compared to Edward's Sermon

In applying Pastor Wilken's diagnostic to Borghrdt's sermon, he mentions Christ twenty-seven times. Of those twenty-seven times most of them are the subject of the verbs. These verbs are makes, sets, slain, took, died, rose, reigns, lived, came, and makes.

Reverend Borghardt's sermon focuses on the theme of our salvation. He tries to get his listeners to see God as a caring God who sent his Son to die for us. This loving act allows for us to no longer live in fear. Therefore, we should be overjoyed to share the gospel of this wonderful gift. In contrast, Edward’s sermon focuses on the theme of possible damnation. He focuses on God’s wrath and our inability to follow the law. Therefore, we should live in fear of damnation and share the gospel in order to save others from this dreadful end.