With all the buzz about the upcoming presidential elections, it has reminded me about something Neil Postman commented on in Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman mentioned that people attended political debates because they were essential to their political education and social lives. They were able to endure long hours of political debate, in which Postman suggest that they had a good attention span and were smart enough to understand the complex speeches. Unlike todays society where people can only focus on something for a short amount of time. In addition, our society’s education on politics is often biased by social media and other people’s opinion. Instead of actually listening to what politicians have to say our society takes bits and pieces that are tainted by others peoples ideas and opinions off of social media. If you ask our society why they are against a certain candidate most will say it’s because their friends do not support them or have heard bad things about them online.
I agree that many people's opinions on presidential candidates are somewhat biased from what they hear on social media. I think many people don't research enough about presidential candidates as they should if they vote, but I don't agree that people will say that they don't support someone just because their friend doesn't support them. For example, people who usually don't support Donald Trump that I have talked to usually say they don't support him because he is rude and a racist.
ReplyDeleteI agree that many people's opinions on presidential candidates are somewhat biased from what they hear on social media. I think many people don't research enough about presidential candidates as they should if they vote, but I don't agree that people will say that they don't support someone just because their friend doesn't support them. For example, people who usually don't support Donald Trump that I have talked to usually say they don't support him because he is rude and a racist.
ReplyDeleteToday's media has definitely influenced the way others think. The internet glorifies whatever is the popular opinion, and in a way encourages people to think a certain way just because it is a trend. Popular opinions often hold people back from thinking for themselves and forming their own ideas/opinions.
ReplyDeleteYes, people's attention spans were a lot better in the past than they are now. While reading this book, I had trouble staying focused because I was too busy wondering why the author made it such a complex read. There were a lot of interesting points that he made, but it was incredibly difficult for me to understand without reading them over again. It's amazing how people could sit through such elaborate speeches and comprehend them so easily. Our society really has influenced us to prefer short and simple speech that will go by faster. Also I semi-agree that our society can be majorly influenced by the opinions of others, but that isn't always the case. Still most of of the time if it's a teenager discussing candidates, they may describe them the way they have been described by others.
ReplyDeleteIt is true most of our opinions for these candidates this election are based on what we have seen on the internet. I personally do not know much about each candidate and what they are standing for. On the internet all I can see are comments about Donald Trump being rude and racist. I have never really taken the time to actually learn about each candidate, which is shamefully, but it proves how our opinions are based on what we just hear or see online.
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