Blog #4

I think that Neil Postman won me over in the argument of two cultures.  This article talked about how the emotion that tv promotes every five minutes a different and incompatible emotions.  The reason I think that Neil Postman won me over in the argument is because his argument that reading is an ordered process requiring us to sit at a table and make judgments of truth and falsehood.   He also talks about how TV with its random unconnected images breaks the habit of logic thinking.  I agreed with his statement that his two most dangerous words of this century are now and this.  He says that because of TV anchors talk about one strange really important thing like a natural disaster and then try and swing you to buy something.  I think that it was a little strange when they started talking about the bible and how the bible readings and passages influence their decision on the topic.  Neil Postman claimed in one of his arguments that this was the reason why Moses chose writing because the Jews borrowed the phonetic alphabet from the Egyptians.  Although I agree with Postman and his arguments I still feel that the bible arguments are tough to prove and something that he struggled with towards the end.  Postmans argument that readers become less physically active and not as sensitive to movement to dance or to other symbolic moves.  Paglia then argues that she found out the people born after World War II are turned off by the modern media and they cant understand how we who were born after the war can read a book and watch TV at the same time. 

            I really think that Postmans arguments were good and so were Paglia but overall I feel that Postman had the edge in his argument.  I think that watching TV really does not hinder anything like your motor skills or what not.  I also think that too much of anything is eventually bad for you and if you watch TV to much or you read to much then eventually you may want to change up your routine.  But overall I think that coming from two different times in American History it is hard for different types of people to relate on a specifc topic.  I do feel like we have the same ideas and opinions but we also may have different styles and also different morals.  Sometimes in different systems or a different time period it is hard to relate to one another.  I think that overall Postman’s argument was something that many people should hear and think about but you also have to have an open mind to Paglia’s argument and how she phrased her words and discussed the topic.  I feel that both had very good points but overall I would give the edge to Postman.  I think that what won me over was when Postman was talking about Dan Rather saying that 5,000 children just died in a plane crash and then he would say, we will be right back after a word from our sponsors.  I feel that it is something may really affect the way we take in the news and how people may feel about it.  I know I always hear people say they never read the front cover of the newspaper because it is always depressing or exaggerated but in this case I think it is discussing how there is a change of mood and we as a culture and society buy right into it.