“Learn from Las Vegas: Spectacular Vernacular”, by Stephen Duncombe
The connection I made is with “The Medium is the Metaphor”, by Neil Postman, I found that Las Vegas can count as a medium just like Postman talks about. “Las Vegas was an architecture of bold communication commercial persuasion which scorched the cool theories of respectable design,” communication is a major medium of culture and Las Vegas is a boiling pot of culture, there are many form of mediums that have led to many different outcomes. Like Postman talks about in his essay communication was what gave birth to culture so Las Vegas trying to present its self with having bold communication is an appeal to all cultures to come and enjoy a place that was built with entertainment of all in mind.
“Why Johnny Can’t Dissent”, by Thomas Frank
I connect this with “The automation of knowledge” by Lewis Mumford. The machine is the man and the man is the machine, An idea that is behind  Lewis Mumford’s essay. People very easily  now accept what they are told. “Why Johnny can’t dissent” talks about how society tell you to be an individual while at the same time making sure you conform to the norm. “In television commercials, through which the new american businessman presents his vision and self-understanding to the public, perpetual revolution and the gospel of rule-breaking are the orthodoxy of the day”  this talks about how society tries to feed you what you need to know based on what it thinks is right, “The automation of knowledge” also talks about how we are trying to improve, but then, we start to think there are certain ways to go about certain things. We conform to ideas the way we conform to ideas of technology. We are making the human mind obsolete with the way society tell us trough TV what we should be thinking.
What I am doing for the exploratory paper is going to take the sources that I have, and the more I will to try get, to make a paper that allows anyone who reads it to understand each issue individually. The paper will have a flow from issue to issue so it does not seem overwhelming. The sources will help to allow people to understand the deeper meaning of each issue and understand that each one is something that is relevant.
For your response on the Thomas Frank essay, I agree that with the notion that some people do conform to what is normal in today’s society. Do you think you have ever conform in any way in your life and how?
I felt the same exact way when I read the piece by Duncombe and I feel like your connections between the stories were very strong. I too made that same exact connection. Las Vegas is a metaphor for so many things. As for the piece by Thomas Frank, I’ve also made that connection between the stories. Large groups of people rebelling against a common “enemy” oftentimes become the very thing they are trying to rebel against. Great points.
I feel like you made some strong points and connections between both essays, especially on the Frank piece. I did not think to connect it to “The Automation of Knowledge” that was a great connection. Good post!