There are many connections with everything we are given to read this summer. In the text
Amusing Ourselves to Death, the author states how we hardly see the whole truth. I wholeheartedly believe this because everyone has emotions that they hide. We may not admit it, but we never tell anyone exactly how we feel. This is the hidden story. Sometimes it never is revealed. Sometimes we trust someone enough to tell them exactly what is on our mind. Postman's examples include historians and philosophers of the past. We will never know the whole story of what was going through their minds when writing or what their lives were like because we were not there to witness it. Both then and now we are in the dark about certain details of a story, some we didn't even know are hidden.
Now to my point of how this connects to our other readings. In our debate Media in the Age of Trump, each journalist has their own point of view and biases. Some see Trump as a liar and see most reporters as scared of writing stories related to him. Others are less harsh but believe there should be precautions. According to them, we aren't given the truth. They attempt to swat us to their side but do not provide any counter arguments to let us really think about what we prefer. Instead, we must read multiple articles to give us more of an idea of what is happening in our world today, but we never get every detail.
-Aniya Steele
As I read your post, I began to realize that this is something that I did not realize. I am glad to have read your thought on the whole truth because I now think of the book with what you said in mind. I believe that though Postman's examples were relevant to his claims, it is true that we will never be able to fully understand their thought process. Postman is giving readers examples to support his claims without being able to provide enough information on the whole background.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Aniya on how we don't always know the full truth. There's always something hidden away in the dark, never to be revealed or just really hard to figure out. Despite all of the information and ideas given to us by historians and philosophers, there's never a for sure on what they were thinking or a story's wholeness. Furthermore, there's so many different ways to interpret things if not stated clearly, and this goes for practically anything such as theory. This adds on to the whole idea that we, as readers and not witnesses, do not know everything based on the textual "evidence" we are given.
ReplyDeleteAs for the debate, there's always a bias to them. It's always only just an attempt to get readers persuaded rather than try to reason and also provide the other side's perspective. That's why nowadays, it's essential to analyze a multitude of articles to assure you are given the right information and come to an all rounded conclusion.
While reading Amusing Ourselves to Death and researching on the topic of Trump's media, I never thought to interpret either of those pieces of literature in such a way. However, I do see how these two pieces can insinuate such a viewpoint, since each is written with a specific bias. Any persuasive work, as you indicated, is bound to tell a one sided truth, where anything and everything has a specific tone and context built around the way the author wants the reader to perceive the topic. Yet, it is imperative as Emily said to see in the eyes of either side in order to grasp the entire, neutralized truth. Audiences are accustomed to looking at the world in the eyes of the author, when it is apparent readers must form their own opinions alongside the author's point. Your post was very introspective and inquisitive though, and I enjoyed reading something with an interpretation so unique!
ReplyDeleteTruly our society today must form their own opinions alongside the author's point. But, as we have moved into television and other electronic media, and as Postman argues, our opinions are being forced upon us in a world full of irrelevant facts and information. Our society today is indeed a "peek-a-boo" world, as Postman puts it, as we are constantly bombarded by useless information. This can make it hard for readers, or viewers, to develop their own opinions or even analyze the original point, as information is given and then replaced with astounding speed.
ReplyDeleteYou’re right, a whole truth doesn’t exist. People only know the things about ourselves that we tell them. I believe it’s important not to judge what people tell us because what they tell us might not be the entire story, there could be more and us not knowing. It’s true that no one will know exactly what we’re feeling except for ourselves.
ReplyDelete-Emma Reyna