Wait... what's so funny?

Postman makes the distinction between those not knowing why they were laughing or why they had stopped thinking to those who are laughing instead of thinking.  He illustrates to us that "we are in a race between education and disaster." The media of our time is ruining the desire to learn. Which sums up his whole book, Postman isn't against all television or electronics, he is against the negative affects it has on the community. Through the cahnges and improvements, people have lost track of the original purpose. Not just merely using entertainment as a substitute for more important information.

My lips are sealed

Friday's activity of using only "charades" or illustrations to communicate with others was quite difficult.  It's extremely hard to express how you feel about something or to draw something out which takes forever compared to just saying it really fast.  During Spanish class we were told that our assignment was to complete the back side of a worksheet. Miss Schaidt told us that we had the worksheet, and Kendra, Russell, and I were the only ones who realized that we didn't have the worksheet, but we could say anything to get her attention.  So we had to wait for someone else in the class to realize and tell her for us. In the end we didn't get homework. And we made it through the day :D

Just text me.

In both Dr. Postman's interview and in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, the point is made that we basically talk more to machines (answering machines, voice-mail, of through text) more than people these days. As humans, we become too obsessed with the new ways of communicating, whether it's texting, facebook, myspace, email, etc. We soon may become just as comfortable as talking with "inanimate objects." People need to learn to take a break from this increase and what we consider improvements in society because it is pulling us away from face-to-face human interaction.

Image is another main topic present in both the book and the interview.  Postman uses the fact that cloning is currently becoming more and more advanced.  To the point that animals such as a monkey, a sheep, and a frog have all been cloned and humans are the next step.  This will allow humans the security that if something goes wrong with their body, they can just replace it with the one from the clone. Also Postman writes in his novel about people only being concerned with their looks.  That even newscasters are more concerned about their make-up than their script.  America desires those good looking people to look up to, that most people with jobs at a news station must work behind the camera because their looks don't stand up to another person's. The American society is becoming too selfish and concerned with the little things in life such as looks and not as concerned with the relationships, jobs, and events in life.

CIVILITY IN POLITICS

1- In Linda Chavez' column, she begins with the phrase, "Civility in public discourse is important.." This phrase  illustrates that decency or politeness is key when speaking to the public. Not that certain sayings should be avoided because of the opinions of some, but that foul language should not be used and can clearly be eluded.
2- Since "bellicose" means to be inclined to fight or aggressively hostile, this thoroughly describes many of the political debates.  It clearly represents the now slang terms used to describe the occurrences in  a debate. These terms and sayings are a major part of politics and all know that they should not be taken so literally. As she uses the example, "When we say a candidate "took his best shot," we don't mean he aimed a gun at his opponent." This really helps prove her point that since that phrase is not taken literally, why should it be removed?
3- Chavez is clearly trying to persuade her readers that it is not necessary to remove certain sayings. Just to be cautious about what is said in front of the public. Seeing as many words in our vocabulary have been commonly known as unacceptable in public, the non-literal phrases shouldn't be removed because the society has grown and changed the meanings of words to unacceptable slang meanings. Like in the example "We've already virtually eliminated certain words from our public vocabulary -- or revised the meaning of others to conform to political correctness. Former Washington Mayor Anthony Williams forced the resignation a decade ago of a white staffer who used the word "niggardly" in a private staff meeting, even though the word means miserly or parsimonious; its etymology, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, traces from the Old Norse to Middle English and has nothing to do with race or color." The society has changed the meanings of words so that the original meaning would be acceptable to be used, but no one considers that meaning, the slang version becomes the new application of the word that comes to mind first.

4- Yes I agree with Chavez, that with a careful choice of words, it’s simple to be sarcastic, derisive and not “bland” without using foul language in front of the public.