Huxley vs. Orwell webcomic critique

After reading the Amusing Ourselves to Death webcomic the first time I was immediately drawn to Orwell's argument in Nineteen Eighty-Four which he positioned as "what we hate will ruin us." After reading the webcomic a second time I completely changed the way I was thinking and found that I agreed with Huxley's argument in Brave New World that "what we love will ruin us." I read it a third time and realized that although I agreed with both arguments Huxley's argument seems more relevant for the times. 

The webcomic section on Orwell focuses on wars, pain, and the intake of information. This focus was probably taken from World War II where the focus of the world was on sending troops to fight and keeping up morale through media which may or may not be the truth. The section on Huxley however is more relevant for today because of all information and media that is constantly bombarding us in every form. Orwell was worried that we would be a "captive culture" but Huxley thinks that we have become an insular culture, one that can choose to ignore what we don't want to see. I really felt the impact of that when Arab Spring came up in class and none of us were willing to speak up about it even if we did know what it was. In general, our generation is quick to talk about the newest reality tv show, video game, or youtube sensation but we have a hard time speaking intelligently about current events within our nation or in other countries.

I think that the author chose to present his views through a webcomic because it is an eye catching way to express information and it gets the reader thinking about not only the message or the picture but how the picture and message relate together and with the rest of the comic. Personally the "captive culture" image really resonated with me because the eye had no choice but to see what it was being directed. That image contrasted really well to the idea that we live in a "trivial culture" in which so many meaningless things are filling our sight and knowledge that we have no time for things that actually do matter.

Honey Child Boo Boo & Social Media Identity topic

Unfortunately I have been posting these the wrong way on my blog:

Here is my blog post for Honey Child Boo Boo: Honey Child Boo Boo makes me sick. I was unfortunate enough to catch it on TV when it aired on Toddlers' and Tiaras. I happened to turn onto the show just as Alana began to talk and I couldn't stop watching. Albom likened it to a train wreck, something so horrible that you stop to watch and then move one. However, that episode of Toddlers' and Tiaras was not something I could just move on from. My mother walked in as I was watching the show and questioned my decision to watch it however she ended up watching the episode with me even though it goes against all of the values in our family. So why did we watch? We watched because we were seeing a perceived reality of someone else's life/morals/values.

Albom links Honey Child Boo Boo and Scott's death together because they are both extremes of what people are willing to watch: one is the disgusting lifestyle of a six year old and her family and the other is the horrific suicide of Tony Scott. Have people become so apathetic that they have lost sight of reality and see everything and think "hey a lot of people would watch this video" and care less and less about the real lives and problems of the people being portrayed?


As well as my social media identity topic: For my social media identity essay I will be exploring how my relationship to Facebook has changed from the time that I first started my account up to now. 

why are we so serious about reality TV?

I have a secret: I watch Reality TV. Every time I turn on the TV I tell myself that it is televised drama that isn't worth anyone's time. So why are we so serious about reality TV? Somehow I find myself watching it when I do happen to watch television. I've seen it all: Bachelor/ette? Check. Hillbilly Handfishin'? You better believe it. Virgin Diaries? Unfortunately once. 

Some of these shows are fairly harmless like Hillbilly Handfishin' on Animal Planet or MTV's Made. If you haven't seen Hillbilly Handfishin' it is about two fishermen who take fairly well-to-do clients out in their boat to a swamp in order to noodle (fishing without hooks or lures and using arms, legs, and fingers instead) for catfish. Personally, shows like this and MTV's Made are just ways for people to have new experiences that they have set as a goal and their reactions and successes are televised. 

Other shows are based on a dating premise such as the Bachelorette, Love in the Wild, and Disaster Date. Shows like these keep interest through televised sex, heartbreak, and drama. Why are people so drawn to this type of TV? Do humans really have that much of a need to watch other's get hurt? Why do we even care? 

As much as I despise shows like Jersey Shore, The Real Housewives, and Bad Girl's Club the one I despise the most is Virgin Diaries. A reality television show making fun of people who chose to remain abstinent until they got married has no place on TV. Those people made a decision and were courageous enough to stick with it despite what our culture and society thinks is important and they deserve to be respected and not made fun of. 

I think that reality television is a cycle of destruction in our community. TV producers found sects of people extreme things and chose to televise it, as viewership rose people began to view that as normal and acceptable behavior. As people began to realize that they didn't have to be famous to get on TV, they began to do more and more outrageous acts in an attempt to get onto TV which has only perpetuated the cycle. 

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