El Fin

In the last paragraph of Amusing Ourselves to Death Postman states that the problem that stems from television is not being entertained, but what the entertainment has done to our thoughts and culture.  He said that we must recognize what the trivial side of television has done to our lives.  Postman thinks that by continuing to indulge in entertainment and trivia, "serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk".  This clarifying paragraph is crucial to understanding Postman's purpose.  He is not trying to discourage entertainment, but to warn his audience that if we continue to be engrossed in entertainment alone, discourse may dissolve into giggles.
He also warns that serious television distorts the logical thought process that is required to comprehend printed material.  If we continue to deny that too much entertainment can be bad, there may no hope for a cure.

The quiet game

Thinking that I was not that talkative of a person, I was ready to face an entire day (well, a school day) without my speech.  As I walked through the doors, I realized my day was going to be tougher than I thought.  Within the first 5 minutes, I realized that I did not study for my memory quiz.  I almost asked someone, but I remembered my quest and headed off towards the computers.  I soon enough discovered my memory verses for the week and was ready to face the day ahead of me... until I had a question on a test in my first class.  The question seemed so clear in my head, yet my drawing was not as simple as my thought.  The rest of the day proved to be a challenge, especially at the lunch table.  Lucky for me, I was not the only kid who had to remain in silence.  The toughest part of the day was not being able to answer the common question of "Why can't you talk?".  Some of my teachers were not happy when I tried to draw out my explanation, and once, I was commanded to speak by one of them.  I have now come to conclusions that words make up a majority of my day, which proves that there is no way I will ever be able to explain a philosophy with smoke signals.

Facebook is the stone tablet of today!

Neil Postman has the same opinion on entertainment in both his book and speech.  He says that every problem that people encounter will be originated from human nature.  People have always tried to improve technology and mediums of communication.  Postman explains how the human nature to strive for improvement has great consequences.  He believes that as technology improves, we are further separated from our spirituality.  His example of the clock helps better prove his point.  Without clocks, there is no time.  People would not be able to put a number to time without clocks.  This invention caused people to focus on time management more, and the concept of our creator less.  We are continually moving further away from our spirituality.
     Our communication has also changed with time.  It began as just speech but people then developed a way to write their language.  People saw it as a communication of one person with an unseen and sometimes unapparent audience.  This, like every other human invention, was quickly built upon.  People now "talk" to machines such as computers, cameras, and phones, rather than speaking to a piece of paper.  According to Postman, time will continue changing the way that man perceives the world, as way as altering the way man sees God.

A wordy choice

1.  Chavez's opening sentence states that being proper and civil should not affect people's choice of words.

2.  Chavez used the word "bellicose" to express that politics has always been fueled by competition, which is sometimes aggressively hostile.  The choice of this word also supports her opinion on the importance and power of diction.

3.  Chavez emphasizes the importance of word choice while explaining how the impact and meaning of some words have changed with time.  I think the best example that Chavez uses to express the power of diction is when she writes about politic metaphors such as "a candidate 'took his best shot.'"  She explains how it does not mean he literally aimed a gun at his opponent.

4.  I completely agree with Chavez on the importance of diction.  The English language is very diverse and has many "tools" that help best convey a meaning or emotion.  One of the commonly misunderstood  language devices is the metaphor.  People often take the literal meaning that was stated instead of looking at the true intended expression.  Disallowing rhetorical devices would "deprive us of the ability to express ourselves fully".  These devices are meant to enrich our language, and without them, our expressions become diluted.  People sometimes think that the words themselves are the problem, but it is really their meaning that matters.  Some words are historic and literary.  Changing them would remove the authenticity of the literature.  Choosing the correct words is what makes thoughts unique.  Different words have different meanings, and to change a word will also change the meaning.

Conserve, reuse, and recycle.... YOURSELF!

1.  Semrau's main point is "Quite simply, use what you have until it can no long function."
2.   Semrau expressed his positive attitude toward recycling, without revealing his true intention until the end.  He kept his opinion broad, while using unspecific examples.  Semrau narrated the story of his job.  He spoke to Fred Keller, who said the first 50 years of life are for learning, and the next 25 are for giving back.  Semrau realized that he is past this point, so he decided it is time to "recycle himself".  He recalled his childhood dream of becoming a surgeon.  He looked forward to his future, until he saw a surgery on a television.  He discovered that is was not as neat and clean as he thought. As years passed by, he once again took up an interest in surgery.  He enjoyed watching surgeries, even if they were performed on him.  He then suddenly announced that he wanted to go to Harvard Medical School.  His shocking decision pieced together everything he had previously talked about.  His intention is to "recycle himself", and to restore his old interest in surgery.  His strategy in revealing his intention worked well.  He promoted recycling as a good thing to get the reader to agree with him, and then stated he is going to recycle himself.

Dangling decorational distractions of doom

1.  Anything that hangs from a rear view mirror is illegal.  Many people break this law all the time and now it is being considered to abolish or reform this law.
2.  "I call it a 'gotcha' law. It's an excuse to pull someone over."  Cops are not allowed to pull over somebody just because they think the driver is suspicious looking.  My dad has many stories on how he caught drug dealers because he them over for minor things such as a burnt out tail light.  Pulling someone over for hanging something from their mirror is a good way to help catch criminals, not innocent people who want fresh smelling air.
3.  I agree with the ban, not because it obstructs the vision of the driver, but because it is a good excuse for a cop to pull someone over if they think they look suspicious.  Also, if the ban were changed to only larger items, it would be hard for a cop to be able to tell how big an object is just by looking at it.  This would make many arguments between people and police and may result in more court cases, which causes tax payers to be taxed more.

Ego or Race?

1. Mitch Albom states how people often rely on their racial differences to attempt to get out of trouble.  Instead of taking the blame themselves, they blame it on their race.  LeBron James changed teams, only to bring attention to himself.  When some people were angered by the attention that he brought himself, LeBron replied by saying that people were being to hard on him because of his race, when they were actually ripping on him because of his big ego.

2. Mitch Albom has a great point.  Even an amazing athlete such as LeBron James falls back on the race card.  His massive ego is keeping him from seeing that people are not being hard on him because of his race, but because he has a gigantic ego that blocks him from seeing reality.  LeBron is surrounded by too many people who idolize him, which only makes him think greater of himself.  The bigger his ego gets, the less reality he sees, and the more he thinks that people are racist toward him when things go wrong.

3.  Albom clearly states that "ego knows no color."  This shows that no matter how popular you are or what race you are, your cockiness can always hurt you.  LeBron seems to think that he is too famous and well loved for anything bad to happen to him.  As soon as someone criticizes him, he immediately blames his race.  LeBron lets his ego get ahead of him by thinking that his fame will act as a cushion to any of his wrong acts or words.  Albom thinks that LeBron needs to re-think why people think of him the way they do: ego or race.