Is Bradbury Right?

Over fifty years after his book was published, do you think Bradbury was right?  Has television and the Internet destroyed Americans' ability to read and think critically about ideas?  Could we be heading toward a time when the authorities burn books for our own good, and the population allows it to happen?

Bradbury was as dead on as he possibly could have been. Technology has been an instrument that has destroyed reading and the internet has helped in erasing originality along with critical thinking and someday yes; books may seem more of a nuisance than a learning utensil. Our society has thrown away thought for convenience.

            Reading used to be the media used to influence thought and imagination. People used to pick up a book and drift into their minds to a place they had never been before. Today movies are the main source of this drifting but there is no need for constructive imagination because you get to see the characters on the screen in front of your face and the setting is obvious. When reading a book you have to envision these characters and envision the setting for yourself and the reading is what causes your mind to play out the plot inside your head however you would like. This is why most everyone who sees a movie that was once a book they read they say that the book was way better than the movie. You cannot put into a movie what the mind can envision in its imagination! No actor can play the emotions your mind can construct. The internet is also destroying our society’s originality.

            What is the need for paperback books when you can get anything on the internet? You don’t need to read stories because you can watch shows and movies on your television or computer? No longer is critical thinking necessary because Google will tell you how to complete just about any task and if not you can ask ask.com and someone will know. The internet is making it where you can play instruments without the instrument you just need the software. You don’t have to be able to sing because auto tune will make anyone sound good. Originality is dying and taking imagination with him. We would rather have everything be convenient than having to work for anything.
            Why figure something out when you can Google it? Why walk when you can drive? Why play the six string guitar when you can make songs on a Mac program? Why read a book when you can watch a movie. Simple, is the key to today’s society. If your not selling simple than no one will buy. If your not selling bottled imagination, than no one will buy your product. The simple and sad fact is that technology is bringing on a new kind of society, a hybrid that wants easy and not difficult to be its theme. Sweat is no longer needed to get the job done.

            Eventually books as hard copies may be burned. Their remnants will be on Ibooks and laptops ready to be read off a screen. Paper will be used as a fuel and reading will now blur your vision and imagination will become a myth told by today’s kindergarteners too their children.

Blog Assignment 1

Since the U.S. economy is based on spending I would say yes it is definitely patriotic to shop. Spending is what ensures jobs and ensures enterprise. The tax that you get charged for on every dollar you spend goes to help governmental agencies like the police that are vital to our country. Spending provides job security for the people working in the business you are spending at. Buying locally helps out your own place of residency and keeps money inside your town or city. Spending keeps everything going and actually helps when times are tough. Holding your money only makes times like now worse because companies go bankrupt, employees lose jobs and money disappears.

Change is needed in pop culture soon because I think the morals and ethics in this country are declining along with schools and the economy and pop cultures influence has a major role in this issue. Music is turning into sex, drugs, and basically womanizing. Young girls are listening to pop music portraying a girl half naked, drunk and ready for sexual intercourse as a desire for males and making horrible decisions. Young girls are getting pregnant and younger ages and STD’s are becoming an enormous problem. Television is also steadily going down hill with explicit language and sex being thrown around as casually as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Little children are cursing and have a complete understanding of what sex is at ages far too young to have an understanding of these things. Commercials are telling parents to let their kids be who they want to be and not to force anything on them. Parenting is pointing a kid in the right direction while preparing them for the real world. Letting your kid wear whatever they want and have an attitude whenever they want gives them the chance to consume drugs and alcohol underneath their guardians nose because parents are trying to be hands off because of what the tube is saying. I understand this is a free country but at what point is enough, enough? Maybe when junior high kids are getting pregnant and kindergartners are smoking marijuana somebody might say something. I say the people that are defined as part of pop culture need to have a soul search and see who they are affecting. Some sense of morality needs to be found inside are countries pop culture. I find myself cursing more than normal after listening to an explicit album or watching a rated “R” movie. If I shy away from viewing or including these things in my daily life I think I can be more moral based and have a more pure mind in sense because I sure as hell wont be allowing my son who is only two months old to watch or listen to the filth out now. I can only imagine at what point it will be at when he is in high school.

The internet has single handedly changed the entire world. People can use chat rooms to talk to anyone like a phone conversation. People can trade with one another through eBay or sell anything they please. The music industry has found major artists through sites such as YouTube and MySpace. The internet has made it possible for countries to easily communicate, has made information such as health concerns openly available, and changed schooling forever. The internet has been an extremely positive influence aside from maybe porn and people looking up how to build a bomb, but other than some inevitable kinks the internet has added convenience and security to the whole world.