Disaster and Education

Postman makes the distinction that the real problem today is not that people have started laughing instead of thinking, but that they do not know or understand what they are laughing at or why they have stopped thinking.  People today have stopped thinking about things or making their own decisions.  They have lost they ability to make their insights on different topics.  The people have lost the concept of having their own ideas and are not only depending on television to tell them what to think or do.  Postman pretty much sums up the whole book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, in the last paragraph. Television is changing everything about the culture of today and it is not exactly for the better. People are losing ideas and it changing the way people do things, which causes destruction to the way they think.

No Talking...?

I found that attempting to only communicate by means of drawings with a white board was probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life.  No one could understand what I was trying to say.  I would attempt to draw what I wanted to tell them, but it would fail miserably, especially if the person you were trying to have a conversation with also could not talk.  We would both draw sad pictures back and forth and not know at all what the other person meant.  You would almost need a translator to help you out, someone who could actually talk and guess what you were drawing.  It was almost impossible to get the full meaning of what you want to say by just drawing or simply acting it out.  Neil Postman is trying to explain this to his reader.  Your message is only as good as how you can communicate it.  If you can only communicate with a drawing or by puffs of smoke, no one will truly understand your point.  I will most likely never ever be able to do that again and ended up slipping up a lot anyways. Worst day ever.

Technology...

In Neil Postman's interview and in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he is attempting to persuade his readers and listener that technology is taking over our world, and they are completely unaware of it.  In the first chapter of Postman's book, he talks about the invention of the clock. He mentions of clock has a bigger idea than just telling people the time. It changed everything about how people do things and what they do not do. The clock created more than just time.  In his interview Postman talks about how they had successfully managed to clone a sheep.  He has the same idea as the clock when he mentions this. Cloning will eventually become so much bigger, bringing around more problems than it can solve.
In the interview, Postman talks about how people will eventually not care about how they communicate and will start talking to things that obviously will not talk back but it will not matter because they will never know the difference. People will get so used to talking to machines like computers that they will not know how to communicate to a another actual person.  In his book, he mentions the fact that people that are running for positions in government are now being judged on their appearance instead of their ideas.  A while ago, people would not be able to judge someone by their appearance because they would not be able to see them and would only be able to judge on the person's ideas.
Neil Postman is scared for what technology will eventually make the human kind. He knows that it can not be good and is trying to warn people. He believes that if improvements in technology are continuing to be made, eventually the world will not know what to do with themselves.

Say What You Mean To Say

1.)  Chavez' intent with the first six words of her column is that even though she believes that being civil in what a person says should not stop someone from having a diverse language and speaking with true meaning behind what they say, a person still needs to have that civility and respect in everything they are speaking publicly about.

2.)  She uses the word bellicose to describe the kind of words and metaphors that have been debated over in recent years.  Bellicose has the meaning of being aggressive and starting of arguments. She uses the word to explain how the controversial words have power to start fights and arguments between people and can cause a lot of conflict in our country.

3a.)  Chavez wants her readers to believe that if they change the words they use to be politically correct, they will most likely not be able to get the same point across.  Its not the words the speaker chooses to use, its the way the choose to use them.  If the words are used in the correct way and context they will be able to get their point across without offending anyone.

3b.)  Chavez' best example that supports he opinion is when she brings up the story "Huckleberry Finn" and how there is controversy on whether the should replace the word "nigger" with the word "slave" instead.  She explains how changing theses word would take away the point of the story and it would never have the same effect or meaning to it.

4.)  People shouldn't change the words they use just because they aren't labeled politically correct. Yet people need to be careful in the way the present them.

"Conserve, Reuse, Recycle"

Semrau's point is revealed in this phrase: "Quite simply, us what you have until it can no longer function. Then it's time to recycle."Semrau intentionally keeps some important information from you throughout the article until the end on purpose.  This helps the intent of the essay a lot. If you knew from the beginning that he was going to be a cadaver at med school, you probably would not have been as interested in the article from the start. A seventy five year old man just starting to go to school to be a surgeon seems a little strange and makes you think of all the things you could try until you die.  He only focuses on reusing himself and his abilities to help do things for other.  But in the end you learn that by going to med school he is actually recycling himself by donating his own body for research, a very big sacrifice to some people. By intentionally not telling us this kind of information makes the reader want to continue reading and find out how he was planning on doing this, and I am pretty sure that no one would see him becoming a cadaver coming at the end.

"Savior of the Nations, Come"

In the Lutheran hymn "Savior of the Nations, Come", by Martin Luther, is about how wonderful and glorious Christ's coming was, and how great His second coming will be.  In the hymn he uses diction to help better explain what he is talking about and put more accurate images in the readers head. In the phrase, "Wondrous birth! O wondrous Child Of the Virgin undefiled!", he uses the word "undefiled" which makes the reader know how pure Mary was at Christ's birth.  He was born of a virgin's birth, which shows how miraculous Jesus actually was. Luther also uses the phrase, "Boundless shall Thy kingdom be; When shall we its glories see?" and with the a word like "boundless," that explains how great and endless Heaven, God's kingdom will be. Luther uses great diction to explain how how grand Christ's first coming to the earth for His people and absolutely wonderful Christ's second coming will be. He praises Christ for everything he has done for everyone and how gracious we should be towards God and Christ. Luther does a good job of explaining all that Christ has done for everyone and what he continues to do for them every day.

The Correct Sermon

32; makes, slain, is, took, died, lives, died, rose, reigns, push, telling, calling, is there.

When comparing the theme of  Borghardt's sermon to the theme Edwards' sermon, it is safe to say that they are very different. Borghardt's sermon kept talking about Jesus and what He does for us. He kept talking about how Jesus gave his life for us so that we could one day be in heaven with Him. While Edward's sermon only talks about God and what He could to the people of the world. He goes on about how God could at any moment destroy everyone and everything and only the punishment we deserve, when people shouldn't be scared of loving God, but love God for sending His Son for us.