An Analysis for "Shipping Out"

In David Foster Wallace's essay, "Shipping Out", he uses a highly sarcastic tone to relay his feelings after taking part in a 7 day cruise. He has made a good mention of the brochure for the cruise that he had looked through prior to, as well as during his cruise. He argues that an authoritative tone and glossy images of "luxury" make the cruise seem enjoyable, thus causing people to empty their pockets and pay up for pampering. He talks about many of the ways the brochure psychologically effects the viewer. He sort of slowly lists the different parts of the brochure, from the inviting "essay" excerpt to the lines telling you that you WILL NOT have to do anything for yourself. It emphasizes the fact that whether or not you wish to relax, you will.

Freud who?

In Peacocke's essay, Family Guy and Freud, she attempts to prove that, although crude at times, Family Guy satirizes American values in an honest and effective way. She seems to be younger, and uses a more friendly tone. Mostly, she uses a good amount of outside sources, as well as examples straight from the Family Guy script. She chooses excerpts that further her argument and help legitimize her ethos. This is very effective. Another effective measure she take is to plant naysayers, such as statements made by Carol Burnett when she sued Family Guy for the use of her image. One attempt she makes that simply fails is her title. She tries to draw in readers with an interesting title, then she writes little to nothing about Freud. He is rarely mentioned.

Reason.tv

According to the Reason.tv video, "Your Flight is Being Delayed - and It's Washington's Fault," America is in dire need of a switch in power concerning air traffic control. Currently, the government has the power over it, while the people at Reason.tv think it should be a privately owned corporation. Canada has done so, with great success. Although the amount of planes used today has increased three-fold since the forties, the technology has remained the same. It is outdated and inefficient. Al Gore made an attempt to reform these problems, but sadly, it was to no avail. Unfortunately, "Congress doesn't like to give up control of anything."

Response to "Watching TV Makes You Smarter"

Steven Johnson does a very good job of establishing his credibility in his article, "Watching TV Makes You Smarter." He explores the possibility that as America becomes evermore entranced by television, the shows become more difficult to follow, making the viewers more intelligent. He uses different shows as examples. He utilizes charts to show how in different shows, there are different amounts of story threads. The more difficult to understand shows charts spike up and dip down all over the place. This use of charts is ingenious. It is a literal interpretation of what he is trying to describe. It just goes to show that sometimes, the most obvious path is the best to take. It is simple, clean, and easy to get. Anyone could figure it out.

If your kids are awake, they're probably online.

It appears to me that everyone needs a scapegoat for everything.

Firstly, there has always been, and probably always will be, a portion of kids who don't do well in school, who don't care, and who go against the grain. The fact that some 47 percent of "heavy media users" get C grades proves nothing. For one, all teenagers use these types of media, which dampens the point, and secondly, I don't see the correlation between bad grades and media use. I'm going to make an assumption that kids who make bad grades probably don't spend a lot of time studying, so why not take advantage of the wealth of media available during their free time? The texting capabilities and facebook do not make children have bad grades. They give kids who aren't focused on more important things something to do.

Secondly, technology is not something to be feared and used as an excuse for children who can't get their act together (if you want to blame someone, I say look towards those who raised the child, peers, etc). Technology is the advancement of our future. We are breeding a generation of super computer competent citizens. Some people see this as a bad thing, foreseeing some catastrophe where all of the worlds citizens become apathetic video gamers.

Simply put, and for a lack of better words, I say this is a big deal for nothing. Yes kids use media, but which kid doesn't?