Response 1

Hello folks,

My name is Rownak Choudhury. As many of you know, I was a part of this class in the prior semester. I had to leave due to some personal reasons. I realize that there are some changes which have been made to the course for this semester, which I am excited about. The reading material is presented in a much more structured way where it will be easily accessible. I am looking forward to the thought-provoking discussions we will have in class with all of the interesting personalities present in this particular class. I am in the major of Professional and Technical Writing. I hope that this class along with the many others in the major will help me to rediscover myself and become a better communicator of my thoughts and ideas.

Neil Postman continuously dismisses the fact that he is not a technophobe in “The Judgment of Thamus”. Even though I find myself agreeing with many of the points made by him regarding technology in this chapter, I find it peculiar that in order to earn the regard if his reader, he continuously tries to pass himself off as only a spectator who has not taken a side. Even though I tend to be optimistic on the verge of gullibility regarding the effects of technology in our world, it cannot be denied that the elite hold a power over the 99% of our population through technology. Whether it be carefully designed advertisements created based on the population’s psychological state, or the close monitoring of our personal computers and search preferences, we are not alone in our heads. Another entity is present there, always evaluating our mental state to their benefit.

Neil Postman uses many scholarly references in his chapter to give the reader the most understandable insight possible to the effects of technology. He ponders on the idea that any type of technology always exists in two sides; the positive side and the negative side. Either is always accessible to us as a community, and it is our duty as a part of the community to realize the outcomes of our actions in using a piece of technology. He also discloses to the reader that technology can often create a barrier between the elite and the commoners of our world. According to him, the elite, winners in his view, will always promote the technology which benefits them the most. They will make it seem glorious to the commoners, losers in another word, despite its real end-result for the commoners. The commoners will, for the most part, blindly follow. Those who do not blindly follow will inevitably have to succumb to the ways of society.