Garbage, Garbage, and more Garbage

The more I watch television and the more I mature, the more I see shows that have no point to them at all. Shows that revolve around celebrities, the making of "celebrities", or reality shows with wannabe celebrities are all garbage and detrimental towards society. But while some of us know this, we watch them anyway. Even as a huge sports fan, I am increasingly realizing that males like myself put athletes on a celebrity pedestal as well. While some of these "celebrities" have actual talents and passions that are the drive for their stardom, the rest of the people on TV are doing what they do for one reason only; to make money. The determination to make as much money at all times can be seen everywhere in today's society among those who live immorally. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml?tag=hdr

After seeing this piece on 60 minutes tonight, it makes complete sense as to why our celebrities are wiling to sacrifice their privacy; because they will do anything to make money. Just like celebrities, our congressmen are willing to neglect our interests and take office in order to make money. Our government is turning into a business, and politicians are willing to sacrifice their "duty" to the people they serve in order to make money.

I think their motives are pretty clear. But as far as we're concerned, why do we just sit on our couch and watch these people who just want our attention so that they make more money? And why do we just allow our elected officials to get away with neglecting our interests?

I think its because we dont realize how these things actually affect our lives. Admittedly, it is very hard to see the effect of one person watching Jersey Shore for an hour. This is the problem. As self-interested humans, we often fail to see how it is in our interest to NOT watch reality television shows. If we want to do something, regardless of the reason, we are going to try to do it, if we find it possible. So while we want there to be more "morally correct" people on the planet, we arent able to make the connection as to how watching reality television is working against that goal. And why dont we see that? Because its easier to just look away and pass the buck. We are all always looking for an easy way out, and when faced with a problem or decision, its human nature to take the easiest possible way. Its all too easy to just watch useless garbage on tv. Its all too easy to just wait until election time to raise questions about your interests. Its all too easy to just follow a sports team that just wants your money and viewership. How do we fix this though? And do we care enough to actually fix this? It starts with learning about our flaws as people, and teaching each other how correct them, starting asap and teaching it to our young. But, having said that, the majority rules, and the majority doesn't care. So step one is convincing them to care.

The Grand Scheme

Both Emerson and Thoreau were able to hone in some very important aspects of life, including solitude and conformity. What most impacted me was the clarity of which they were able to see the big picture of life. These men saw the world much different than almost anyone does today. They possessed the insight to see past all of the material and social aspects of culture and lived their life as just one small piece of the grand scheme of life.  To live in solitude, free from all of the easiness and vices of society, must be a truly liberating experience. A favorite quote from Emerson is "We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents." He is referring to God, but there is something dear to everyone in this world, whether it be religion, family, or even recreation, and most of us are sometimes afraid to let the world in for fear that we may be outcast by society for it. That is just one of the hurdles that everyone should overcome at some point in their life, if they choose to feel complete.
All of the authors seem to be centering around one idea and that in order to see the big picture, which in my opinion is the continuance of life on Earth forever, the need for self indulgence and materials is nonexistent. They are trying to show us that a life of fulfillment is ripe with selflessness. Those who actually make a positive impact in this world live their lives everyday aiming to make lives of others more fulfilling. In today's society people point towards religion as something of the past, something that is so radical that it must not be a "correct" way to live life. But if you take a deeper look at religion, you can see that it represents something bigger than those who follow it; it represents all of the selflessness that Emerson, Thoreau, Lasn, and Anderson depict in their works. I am not a religious person myself, so who am I to say that those who closely follow religion have it right? But again, in the grand scheme of things, it's about living life to the fullest, not the FULLEST, and doing your part to ensure that those who follow you have not a lesser, not an equal, but a greater chance to experience the things that you have.

No Contest?

Without a shadow of a doubt, Bauerlein is absolutely correct in his assessment that  we spend our time unlike those of the past.  Less and less time is being spent on productive activity and more and more is being spent towards leisure. We watch more tv than ever. We socially network like the end of the world is tomorrow and the only way to stop it is by posting as many things on Facebook as possible. We find better ways to distract ourselves everyday.  This is not a debatable topic. You win this round Bauerline. Congrats. You just concluded the obvious. So we're the dumbest generation right? Sure we are... if you share the same definition of "dumbest" that I do.
After getting the dictionary run around, I came to the root of dumb, which is "not sensible or intelligent". Intelligence- the ability to learn and understand. So Mark Bauerlein is stating that our generation is least capable of learning and understanding. While most will take hostility towards this assessment, I simply just see a man with a narrow minded view.  Yes we are more self-indulgent than we've ever been. But I'll bet my life savings that this is a trend that has been exponentially growing at the same rate that the rest of human traits are. Point being, Bauerline short sighted point of view of intelligence has him in the wrong. Our generation has evolved like every other generation has. While for the most part we don't indulge in the the history of our people or the current nature of our countries politics, both of which are certainly important, we've learned to trade those studies for advanced technology and innovation. The fact that I can make as good of an argument as I am in half as much time as I would have 30 years ago, due to technology, is living proof that we are smarter than we've ever been.
I respect that Bauerline wants to play devil's advocate to those who say that our generation isn't lazy. He's probably right. What he is trying to do is anger our generation, so that some day we buck the evolutionary trend that I believe we're in. Its a similar message to Culture Jam in that he's identifying that the power to change the world is in our hands, yet we throw it away everytime we self-indulge. Its a powerful message. I wish he was able to convince me that if enough of us became Culture Jammers that we could lead a revolution. But Bauerline should know better than all of us that history repeats itself. The same mistakes humans made 100 years ago will still reign true tomorrow. Its our nature, and there's no need trying to argue against it.

The Hype Machine

Pages 18-21 talk about "Hype", as in advertisements. Lasn describes advertisements as "the most prevalent and toxic of mental pollutants". The clip we watched in Super Size Me showed how much money food corporations spent in advertising in one year compared to organic food corporations. In today's day and age, happiness is "derived" through attainment of the all mighty dollar, yet we see extremely wealthy Americans everyday commit ludicrous crimes, while much of middle class go through life with nothing more than a blemish on their criminal record. We also see the rich come out to the public with some of the worst mental issues that some of us have encountered. Do the rich encounter just as many problems in their "paradise" as the middle class does? Or do the sayings "money is the root of all evil" and "more money, more problems" ring true today? Is the middle class better off without all of the money? I personally believe that money is just a hinderance to one's personal achievement, nothing more than the materials it pays for. Yes you can say that we need money to live. Everyone has bills to pay. But do I really need 365 million dollars to pay my bills? Does anyone who makes more than a million dollars per year need that much money to pay their bills? Is anyone with that much money truly proud of their life? Few are for sure, having honestly earned their money through business that isnt harmful to the planet. The rest? Well, they probably think they are, but aren't.

Tyler Musselman: The Man, The Myth, The Hyperbole

As an accounting major and economics minor at Shippensburg University, it's not hard to figure that my life could use a little more excitement than I'll get studying those two topics everyday. While I personally find each my major and minor interesting, I also have passions for all types of sports, music, and culinary arts. And when I say all types, I mean almost all types. I follow and play everything from football to table tennis, listen to everything from classic rock to electronic/ drum & bass music, and enjoy the taste of everything from asparagus to venison. Of course there are a few things I dont certainly have a palette for from each, but I am certainly open to trying new things everyday. To be honest, I am taking this class to fill a gen ed but I chose literature over the others because I know for a fact that my reading skills can use some improvement and I found no other class better to hone them than literature. The last book I read was Meltdown by Thomas Woods. It's a more left wing look at the reasons behind our current financial crisis. As I said earlier, I don't read a whole lot of books, though I can admit that I should as there is a wealth of knowledge within. Literature was never something that appeal to me growing up, so I read minimally and still continue to selectively read about topics in my field of study. I feel that literature is art in written form, whether it be through novel, poem, etc. Art was never a strong aspect of my character, so it makes sense that I'm not much of a reader of literature. So until I blog again, good night and good luck.