Evidence for Selfe’s Claims

Our group worked with "The Un-Gendered Utopia and the same old gendered stuff" in Selfe’s Article, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution Images of Technology and the Nature of Change”. One of the main claims in this section is the following: "computers are complexly socially determined artifacts that interact with existing social formations and tendencies-including sexism, classism, and racism-to contribute to the shaping of a gendered society" (Page 306). Evidence to support this claim is provided through an advertisement which can be found on page 314 in the article. This advertisement targets women by implying that Nokia’s Monitors are of class and beauty. Another claim Selfe states in her article is that "men use technology to accomplish things; women benefit from technology to enhance the ease of their lives to benefit their families," (308). I believe that this statement is highly controversial and is a sensitive issue touching on the gender roles in society at the time. Selfe uses yet another advertisement to support her claims. This time she uses an advertisement for Netbooks. The advertisement states “We’re mapping a whole new whole world.” But the image above the writing doesn’t seem to match. The image portrays the power men had over women during the 50’s. The man holds the computer keyboard while his family, child and wife, gather around to watch. This is strong evidence to support Selfe’s claim about gender roles in a family household.

Selfe"s claims

In the essay “ Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution, Images of Technology and the Nature Change” by Cynthia L. Selfe, she claims that our culture is using images of women in traditional roles to advertise technology. Selfe says “ and they are familiar roles-the seductress, the beauty, the mother-all relationships ratified by historical experience, easily accessible to our collective imagination, and informed by traditional social values” (315). She supports this claim with figure 17, a woman gripping the Samsung which shows the role of the seductress. Men are treated with the same stereotypical views as women, “men are shown to adopt the equally traditional and retrograde roles of bikers, nerds and sex maniacs”(316). Selfe uses figure 22 to back up this claim, a man is riding a motor cycle and it says “Easy Rider, Pop a Wheelie On The Internet”(319). Her reasoning for this is Companies are using these stereotypes because it’s easier than breaking the mold. People are able to relate to the roles and clearly understand what the message thats being portrayed.

Selfes Claims

1.Claim: “Quite simply put, like many Americans we hope computers can help us make the world a better place in which to live.” (Cynthia Selfe Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution, pg 293)

Reasons/Evidence: Selfe is saying that we are hoping that computers make our world a better place in which to live and in her essay she says a lot about how computers actually hurt the world. She says that English teachers are hoping that computers are going to make students more productive in the classroom and other instructional settings. So as you can see there is a lot of hope that computers will make our world a better place to live in and also make things easier for our teachers. Even former vice president Al Gore said that Global Information Infrastructure would increase opportunities for intercultural, communication among the people of the world. So Gore is one who is also hoping that computers can help make our world a better place.

2.Claim: “We find ourselves, as a culture, ill equipped to cope with the changes that the “global village” story necessitates, unable, even, to imagine, collectively, ways of relating to the world outside our previous historical and cultural experiences.” (Selfe, pg 294-295)

Reasons/Evidence: Some evidence that really supports this claim is all of the ads in the first narrative. She has pictures of people who are a lot different from what we see and are from completely different cultures. They are showing us that we do not try to relate to these people but instead all we do is try to make these people relate to us. We try and give them all of this technology so that they can try and be more like us. Like the ad on page 296 where it shows a man from a way different culture and says we must work together as one tribe, this just shows that we don’t care about their culture we only care about making them be more like us.

Reading Response 7

Nathan Barbo
Eng 100 A
Feb. 23 2010
Reading Response 7
Susan Sontag writer of the book “In Plato’s Cave” argues that, “Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced as sex and dancing –which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power. Basically Sontag is saying that photography has become very common place, as common place as sex and dancing. She states that photography is rite or a way for power. I could not disagree with Sontag more. Not only do I disagree I also find what she says to be offensive. To take the act of sex and compare it to photography is tragic. I think it speaks to how casually people have come to look at sex. Sex is not widely practiced in the same way as dancing. I think this entire statement is an insult to the sanctity of sex. I recognize we live in times where people miss use sex, but I have never heard it so badly represented. Sex is an act between a husband and wife to bind a couple and procreate. I recognize her article is not about sex but about photography, however I simply cannot understand how she could see photography as a deep bonding experience that binds two people physically, spiritually and emotionally. My disagreement with her continues into her next sentence that photography is a rite of passage or a tool of power. I simply do not see photography as highly as Sontag. I see it as profession, a hobby or a collecting of memories. What concerns me even more is that she seems to state that sex is as mass art form and then goes on to say it is a tool of power. In her attempt to elevate the importance of photography, which I agree has some importance in documenting history and capturing beauty, she has destroyed the importance of sex and miss defined sex.
The countering strategy I used is arguing the other side. I argued against her comparison of sex with photography. I argued that by making this comparison she has not put either thing in its proper place, sex to be sanctified and photography a profession/hobby.

Reading Response #7 Sontag

Susan Sontag wrote a story called “In Plato’s Cave.” She describes how photographs are related to guns in the interpretation that they are predatory. She states, “Eventually, people might learn to act out more of their aggressions with cameras and fewer with guns, with the price being an even more image-choked world.” By this she means that when Joe the Ragman gets pissed off at someone, they won’t shoot them with a gun, they will shoot them with a camera. Joe won’t kill them. Instead, he will have a photograph of them. I don’t believe it will get this far. To me, taking a photograph of someone isn’t very satisfying. I don’t experience any type of catharsis when I take a photo. That emotional all happens when I pull the trigger of a shotgun multiple times. I see a camera as a fun thing. I use it when I want to remember something later on in life. They are happy moments like a vacation or a special occasion (i.e. weddings, parties). Why would I want to remember getting pissed off at someone for something that was really dumb?
Cameras can be used to blackmail someone. For argument purposes, let’s say that Obama has killed someone rather brutally. Also, for argument purposes, let’s say that I witnessed it and took a picture of it with my phone. I could use this photo to fork some money out of him or control the government. The use of camera’s can also be used predatorily in the courts. They offer up some very convincing evidence. That same photo graph I took in the hypothetical situation could be used to land him in jail. This would be the only way I could get satisfaction from taking a photograph. If the photo compromises someone else, it will satisfy me. I know that I am not the only one that feels this way. This leads me to believe that our world is driven by hurting other people. Humans try to accumulate as much wealth as they possibly can. If I hit Joe Schmoes car and I don’t have insurance, I know that he will sue me for the damages. I gave him the excuse to screw me, and he is going to take it. When it comes to possessions, humans get very testy and passionate. People will defend their possessions until it gets deadly.

Response to Susan Sontag Blog-Post

In Plato's Cave, Susan Sontag conveys the idea that photos are becoming the reality instead of real objects and experiences. She feels that “a photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened,” regardless of the fact that photographers manipulate the angle and view of their subject to get that perfect shot, which records the image in a way that distorts the true reality of the scene. Sontag feels that photographs are “no generic exception to the usually shady commerce between art and truth. Even when photographers are most concerned with mirroring reality, they are still haunted by tactic imperatives of taste and conscience.” Meaning that a photographic image does not portray the object like it really is because all the manipulation techniques photographers use to capture their subject in a certain way.
Although I do agree with Sontag that photographers use special angles and tricks to butter up their image, withdrawing from the true physical reality, I think that she overlooks her onlookers and the purpose of particular photographs. Not all photographs are meant to show the looker what a scene looks like in reality. Many photos are taken to show you the feeling of being there. For example, a picture of a waterfall taken at a certain angle can make it seem more vast then it is in real life. But waterfalls are an amazing aspect of life, and being up in a forest somewhere with a small waterfall is still an awesome naturalistic experience. If the photographer can catch the right photo to portray this feeling of nostalgia and pass it on to the looker even though they weren't there, then it is a part of reality achieved that is harder to do in a painting or drawing. Lots of photographers want you to feel the feelings of being in the certain place they are capturing so they thrive to get the best shot. Making a photo seem more dramatic than it is in reality is an attempt to share a part of the scene and a way for the photographer to communicate their feelings of being there to their audience. No the viewer wasn't there, but with the best efforts you can get a tiny taste and leave the rest for longing and imagination. I also think that Sontag slightly overlooks her audience. Today the technological world is full of ways to manipulate photographs and it's almost to be expected now. Lots of people are not naive and automatically assume the photograph is an exact figment of reality. Adobe Photoshop has become a regular partner in lots of photography, and a person is just as likely to comment on an editing style than the actual image, acknowledging that the photograph has been manipulated. Of course there are people who see what they see in a photo and imagine that if they jumped inside it's frames it would be just like that in real life. But overall society is becoming accustomed to the power of technology and the distortions that can come with it.
My second paragraph is a countering paragraph because I acknowledge the truths in Sontag's article but then I go on to explore my own ideas that I think she overlooked. I do not disagree with her statements but I don't think she took into account all the values of photography. At first I came to terms with her passage, then I argued the other side. Being very interested in photography myself I used information from things that I have personally done and seen.

Selfe Claims

In her essay, Selfe claims that technology “would increase opportunities for intercultural, communication among the peoples of the world” (293). Communication efforts are becoming easier for government agencies, corporations, political groups, and information resources. Communication is becoming more accessible, but there are still groups of people who are often being left out of public discussions in other venues. In this article, Selfe also claims that people focus too heavily on the “positive changes that are associated with technology” (293), and take our attention away from real social issues that cannot be solved with technology. There are many good things that come out of all of the new technologies of our world, but at the same time, not everything can be solved with all of these new inventions like many people believe. There are still many world problems that cannot only be fixed by technology, but technology may be worsening them.

Selfe claims

Selfe claims americans often think that the internet will bring about a utopic world in which gender is not a concern or predictor in success in our daily lives (305). She explains that this is not the case. She says that to this day men dominate the computer industry. You don't hear about very many women designing software for microsoft,nor hear of women entering the advanced fields of computer science compared to the number of men. She isn't saying that there aren't any women just that the men far out way the women. To add fewer girls use computers in secondary school enviorments and video games are designed for males specifically.
She also claims that having a un-gendered utopia could be both a good and a bad thing.
She explains "Creating an electronic un-gendered utopia means that we might have to learn how to understand people outside of the limited gender roles that we have constructed for them in this country,..." In other words understanding people would not be nearly as simple as boy or girl and the tendencies of the given gender. Rather everyone would be their own separate entity which we most decipher on our own.

All the ads in the world

The belief is that computers will bring us together is a way that no other way will. Its an idea, a thought, and sometimes a misconception. But can we really come up to all of these levels that the average mind has in store for us?It is even stated by Cynthia Selfe, in her article "Lest we think a revelotion is are revelotion" "In fact, we find ourselves, as a culture, ill equiped to cope with the changes that the "global village" story neccassitiates, unable, even, to imagine, collectivly, ways of relating to the world outside our previous historical and cultural experineces." Trying to keep up with technololgy is the easy part, but trying to tell ourselves that we are all equal on the internet is even easier, but trying to put that idea into pracitice is the hard part. It scares us that we are all equal in some way, shape or form, and thats because of the prejudice that has been going on for so long in our world. Cynthia Self brings up many different addvertisements in her article "Lest we think the Revelton is a Revelution., on page 299 we see one of the many ariticles that she brings up is one with a picture of a women in a rainforest nursing a human child and a monkey on the other breast. This picture is supporting a piece of softwear to sell. It takes us far away from the world that we know, and far away from relatity. It shows us something that we have never seen and draws us in, makes us want to bye it, it tells us if we own this we are helping people like this, but we arnt really. There are thousands more of articles like this in the world, they may not be as extreme like that, but we dont always see them representing "our world and the world we live in. Even Cythinia Selfe mentions this, " Americans, in these four ads, you'll notice, go almost unrepresented in terms of images. Instead Americans are the canny and sophisticated minds behind the tesxt, behid the image, behind the technology." (298-299) We dont put oursleves on these ads, we make these ads for these technologys, which we sell to people like us. When it comes to soemething like this we become very narrowminded and dont really care or put alot of thought into it. We dont really help anyone but the company we are byeing this product from. It circulates in a giant circle and the picture on the ad really has nothing to do with it but catch our eye.

alterations

In the essay “In Pluto’s Cave” by Susan Sontag, she expresses her view photography in a unique and mesmerizing way. A passage I find interesting is:

“Photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored, tricked out. They age, plagued by the usual ills of paper objects; they disappear; they become valuable, and get bought and sold; they are reproduced. Photographs, which package the world, seem to invite packaging. They are stuck in albums, framed, and set on tables, tacked on walls, projected as slides. Newspapers and magazines feature them; cops alphabetize them; museums exhibit them; published compile them.”

She states how photography is transformed and used in everyday life. Photos often end up in magazines or in photo albums. She states that the pictures are “stuck” making them seem as if they are forced and have no freedom. They are commonly altered and distorted from what they originally were. The technology today with picture workshops and being able to airbrush and change photos has really influenced photography. Sontag shows photography in a negative way, showing the beauty being taken away from it. These pictures can be anything from beautiful to horrifying. Some pictures remind us too much of suffering and began to numb our feelings. They want news to be heart wrenching so they add disturbing photos that stick in your mind. It can also be used for amusement by simply taking photos of your friends or a party you were at last weekend. These experiences become images that we can remember forever. She words it as being souvenirs of our daily life.

Just by reading this passage, she overlooks the positivity of photography. She makes it sounds trapped and warped when the only photos that are retouched are the ones shown on the media. Most of us are aware that the media is filled with unreal beauty and lies. Real photography is the art of taking breathtaking photos of nature or simple innocence. The photos we take with our digital cameras and cellular forms are still images of a memory of an event. It helps us retain experiences that we cannot always remember in our head. Special events such as birthday or our wedding day is a memory we want to hold on to forever. They are stuck in albums and framed because it is something we want to keep safe and have for a lifetime. Some photos are passed on from generations of our grandparents and great grandparents. This is something that resembles our family history and our way of life. I demonstrated the strategy of arguing the other side because I feel Sontag speaks of only the negative side of photos in this passage when really it is a small percentage. The media distorts images because they like the change the image of reality; something we know can never be altered.

Reading Response to Susan Sontag

I read Susan Sontag’s “In Plato’s Cave” in which she talks about almost every aspect of photography and how it has affected our lives and our society. In part of her essay she compares photographs and their effects on people to that of motion pictures. During this she states “Photographs may be more memorable than moving images, because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow. Television is a stream of underselected images, each of which cancels its predecessor. Each photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again.” She then goes on to give examples of situations where photographs have left a lasting image on the American people and claims that in these instances moving images just wouldn’t have done the trick.
While I think that photographs give us strong memories in a sense that they seem almost classic to us I disagree with Sontag’s overall thesis of photographs compared to moving images. I think that the things that stick in our mind are the things that are highly promoted in our society, and in our society moving images are one of those things. Here in America we have almost made pictures seem boring with our emphasis on the fast lane and movies and advertisements seem to fit that profile better. Movies have the ability to keep us enthralled for great lengths of time and therefore can send us a host of messages over the course of a captivating film without ever losing our attention and possibly without us even realizing it. Motion pictures also have the ability to instill more emotions within us such as suspense and foreboding that a picture would be hard pressed to produce. I especially disagree with Sontag’s statement “Television is a stream of underselected images, each of which cancels its predecessor.” It seems to me that she is referring here to the fact that technology is constantly getting better and older films are being replaced by the latest and greatest. I would argue that photography is undergoing much the same process with digital altering of images and new photo cropping technology. So my overall argument with Sontag’s passage is that moving images are actually the more memorable of the two especially in the fast paced society of America today.
I used Countering according to Joe Harris and started by arguing how moving images actually leave a strong lasting impression which contradicts what Sontag is saying. Then I go on to analyze her little summary of moving images and state where I think it is flawed and how, and I topped it off by dissenting with her statement of what a photograph is compared to a moving picture.

In the article “In Plato’s Cave” Susan Sontag expresses her ideas on the art of photography and how it is affecting our everyday lives. Photography started out as an amazing thing that can capture a memory worth remembering. She explains that now it is used for many other things, in some ways it’s good because people can express themselves, however it can also ruin people’s lives because pictures remember things that don’t want to be remembered. The world is made up of pictures, our lives are totally affected by pictures, our lives run off of movies and face book, for at least the newer generations of this time. We can’t help it that our lives are like this, its part of the technology that is presented to us in our ever day lives. When we read news papers, or magazines, watch TV, go on the internet, and even walk down the street. We are always affected by what they have to offer, we are all about what we see now, its never behind the picture. Face book runs a majority of teens lives and we cant help that the pictures on peoples profiles are affecting how half of their high school will think of them. Teens can alter pictures of them selves easily with our new technology, only because of what we have to look at on magazines and movies. We cant help but feel bad about our selves even when most of us know that those pictures of movie stars and models are altered, because that is what we are supposed to look like. I know that deep down every one might be a little affected personally by what most of those pictures have to offer us. I can say that I am very insecure about my self because I know that I don’t look like that even though I know that that is not what I need to look like to be happy it will always be at the back of my mind. These are just ideas off of the top on my head, and I can’t help but not like pictures right now, when I am taking pictures I love them. I really enjoy taking pictures of sunsets and mountains and horses, just nature in general. However I feel like I have nothing to do with them but post them on a facebook page of mine. I could print them and frame them, but our world is so filled with pictures that my pictures, I feel are just ordinary to every other picture, and they wouldn’t mean anything different if some one was to see them.
After writing the first paragraph of this response I realized that I don’t really like photography any more, I came into this response thinking that I was going to write about how good pictures are for our world and what beauty they can bring to our world, which it can. However now I find that I really don’t like that photography is so ordinary now, if I want to see real beauty I think that because of how many pictures there is in the world I really need to see it with my own eyes. I want to see beauty for myself; I see it all the time. I just want to see more of it. I’m trying to stay on prompt right now, but its hard to because I’m angry that my mind is changed about pictures. I though it was a beauty, another form of art, but now its normal to have and doesn’t really help anyone. I am totally agreeing with what Susan Sontag has to say about what photography offers. That it is great because of its originality that it can bring to the table but it has made everything in this world seem a little less amazing.

Selfe's Main Claim

In her essay, Selfe claims that America is not the free land everyone believes it to be. In fact, it is actually still segregated in some cases, and still has the old stereotypical gender roles that it used to. “This Landscape, Americans like to believe, is open to everybody - male and female regardless of color, class, or connection. It is in some fact at some level, a romantic re-creation of the American story…”(301-302). Selfe backs this claim by stating later in the essay that Americans history is full of minority groups that are less fortunate. Selfe shows us examples of multiple advertisements and shows the stereotypical roles that were once played in our nations history that we claim to have overcome and gotten passed, yet still show up everyday in the media. There are still occurances of racism, gender discrimination, and other segregations within our great free nation. “Our cultural experience, indeed, tells us something very different - that America is the land of the free for some”(304). After this, Self continues to talk about the great amount of the segregation and racism that America has had throughout history. Self concludes by saying that “opportunity is a commodity generally limited to privileged groups within this country”(304).

Summary of Cynthia Selfe's "Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution"

Isaac Shantz-Kreutzkamp

English 100

23/02/2010

Summary

Using the example of a still frame of a woman elegantly dressed in extensive jewelery and a black dress staring at a computer monitor; a robot applying lipstick to it's metallic features and staring into a mirror; Cynthia attempts to portray how the advertisements are attempting to show us how great and forward-thinking their products are, but require tapping into a tradition of stereotypes and gender inequality. (309-315)

The picture of a smiling woman with the caption "Irma Speaks Fluent Internet" seems to provoke a progressive outlook, but it pigeonholes women into the role of secretaries, as a secretary in the 1950s might have spoken french, they now are thought to be required to speak "Internet". (311, 308)

Selfe's main claims Ben

In the article, "Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution," Cynthia Selfe believes that, "One of the most popular narratives Americans tell ourselves about computers is that technology will help us create a global village in which peoples of the world are connected-communicating with one another and cooperating for the commonweal" (294). Her reasoning behind this is the fact that computers and the Internet would connect everybody together in a giant network where no one could be left out. There wouldn't be any geographic boarders or racial boundaries, everybody would be able to cohabitate peacefully and help each other out in times of need.

Selfe also states that, "This story, as you can imagine, is appealing at a romantic level to many Americans. It is also, incidentally, quite terrifying" (294). She believes that this global village would be appealing at first to the common man, but after analyzing the situation it could quite easily lead to bad scenarios. This village would basically issue a common identity to all who are a member, so in turn it would be asking people to surrender their true identity. To other less privileged citizens within this village, they would highly benefit, but the average American would be forced to surrender so much that they hold dear.

Selfe's Main Claims

"The Un-Gendered Utopia and the same old gendered stuff" was my group's section. In Selfe's essay, one of the main claims is, "computers are complexly socially determined artifacts that interact with exsisting social formations and tendencies-including sexism, classism, and racism-to contribute to the shpaing of a gendered society" (306). The evidence Selfe provides for this main claim is the advertisement on page 314 about the nokia monitors. It shows an elegantly dressed woman staring into the computer screen as if its another set of eyes. It's projecting the image that since she uses these monitors, that other people (mainly women) should do so as well. They want it to project a sense of beauty, by saying that if you buy this monitor, you can be like her. In this advertisement, they are targeting women.
Another claim Selfe makes is, "men use technology to accomplish things; women benefit from technology to enhance the ease of their lives to benefit their families," (308). Her evidence is displayed on page 309 (figure 10) when it shows the family all gathered around the computer screen with the keyboard in the father's hands. This shows that the man is "in control" of the computer and productively entertaining his family while the wife and children are enjoying it. Both of these advertisments display strong examples of the gender roles of different sexes. Selfe wonders if, as old fashioned as they may be, are they still present among us today?

Selfe claims and evidence

In Cynthia Selfes essay titled “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution Images of Technology and the Nature of Change” she writes about three narratives or myths associated with technology and its effect on the societal change of the world. The first narrative she writes of is the “Global Village” and the “Electronic Colony” (294). The “Global village” is the idea that technology can connect the world together, thus making everyone equal. Selfe implies in her essay that the “Global village” sounds good to Americans in that it should “erase meaningless geopolitical boundaries [and] eliminate racial and ethnic differences” (294). This sounds good in theory to Americans but she states that this can be “terrifying” implying that Americans would in this scenario, become equal to everyone within this global village. As Americans are part of one the most technologically advanced countries, the thought of being equal to those not as well off as us, causes a breakdown in the global village narrative. Selfe cites in her essay evidence of this “privileged status of Americans” using Negroponte who says that “twenty percent of the world uses eighty percent of the worlds resources”.

From there Selfe goes on to say that due to these social factors that we deal with in our culture, we as Americans are unable to “cope with the changes that the global village story necessitates… unable to relate to the outside world outside our cultural experiences.” (294) Selfe uses advertisements as evidence to support this claim of Americans not fitting in with this global village narrative. This claim is further expanded on by Selfe implying that we don’t venture away from our own “socially familiar contexts” (295). We have a long history of being the dominant power in the world; we see the world and its less fortunate inhabitants as people that need our help, people that we can impart our knowledge, technology and beliefs upon. She uses evidence of this by citing different programs that help the world advance like Lend-lease, Peace Corps, and the space program. This develops her idea that the idea of the global village is actually an “Electronic Colony” (295) This meaning that only affluent countries are actually able to benefit from this connectedness of the world, as she states “Americans are the smart ones who use technological expertise to connect the worlds people.”

She uses evidence of the Global village narrative in an advertisement for Virgin Sound and Records. In this ad it says that “For the world to have a future, we must work together as one tribe”. The same ad though, also supports her “Electronic Colony” or revised “Global Village” narrative. Where the in the ad was shown a man of a unknown tribe with the idea of everyone working together for a common goal the ad also shows in the same breath a man who is “presented as a wandering savage”(296) who is dressed in native garb and is seen as exotic. We feel that he is connected to us as a member of the “one tribe” but is also a world away from us. He is someone who to us is also a foreigner.

Colin Apt
English100m
2-22-10
Self’s Claims

This Landscape, Americans like to believe, is open to everybody-male and female regardless of color , class or connection. It is in some fact at some level, a romantic re-creation of the American story…”(301-302). Self proves this claim by stating later in the essay that Americans history is full or minority groups that are less fortunate. Self looks into multiple advertisements and shows who the minority groups are in this land of opportunity for some.

“Our cultural experience, indeed, tells us something very different-that America is land of free for some”(304). Self goes on to talk about all of the segregation and racism that America has had through out history. Self concludes this to say that “opportunity is a commodity generally limited privilege groups within this country”(304).

“Because our culture subscribes to several powerful narratives that link technological progress closely with social progress, it is easy for us-for Americans, in particular-to believe that technological change leads to productive social change” (293). She proves this through the fact that the advertisements that she has in her essay are showing a better world through the use of the technology that they are selling. Then the fact that these ads work and people buy this new technology so they can be like the people in the advertisements.

“This optimism about technology often masks in a peculiar way, however, a contrasting set of extremely potent fears” (293). To prove this point she uses her narratives about what we think technology is going to save the world and then shows how the advertisements for these technologies prove these claims wrong. For example where she tries to show that technology has not ended sexism, racism or hunger.

Selfe's main claims-Narrative #2

(301) "A second favorite cultural story that we tell ourselves in connection with computers and change focuses on equity, opportunity, and access-all characteristics ascribed to the electronic landscape we have constructed on the internet and to the computer use, in general". The author backs up her claim by explaining that ALL Americans like to think they have an opportunity, founded on the values of hard work and fair play, to succeed. They place value on innovation, individualism and competition, and still have the neighborly concern for others, the hallmark of democracy.

(304) "Unfortunately, Americans have no collective imaginary context for, or historical experience of,a real global village, nor do they have any real experience with an undifferentiated land of opportunity". Cynthia expresses how it is only the land of opportunity for some, not all. There seems to be a line that separates different races, different countries, and the poor people from the the privileged groups of people within America.

She believes that if everyone had an equal opportunity to the access of technology and the opportunities it provides, it isn't evident in the images she has chosen to portray in her article.

Jeremy, Shae, Hope, Claire, Nate
Plato’s Cave
English 100
Feb 22, 2010

· Photographs are experiences
· Images of images
· Furnished evidence
· A photograph- any photograph- seems to have a more innocent, and therefore more accurate, relations to visible reality than do other mimetic objects
· Show something out there
· Treated as a narrowly selective transparency
· Authority, interest, seductiveness, the work that photographers do is no generic exception to the usually shady commerce between are and truth
· Photographers are most concerned with miring reality; they are still haunted by tacit imperatives of tastes and conscience.
· Capture reality, not just interpret it
· Are as much an interpretation of the world as paintings and drawings are.
· Is relatively undiscriminating, promiscuous or self effacing
· Ascetic consumerism to which everyone is now addicted
· Photographs can not create a moral position but they can enforce one
· Photograph happens after an event
· The person who intervene cannot record the person who is recording cannot intervene
· Like sexual voyeurism, it is a way of at least tacitly, often explicitly, encouraging whereis going to keep on happening.
· Tool of power
· Ghostly traces- stand in for extended family
· Reminder of death
· Corrupt
· Provide a sense of immortality
· Toy of the clever
· Art
· More memorable than film
· Photos replace experience
· Furnish evidence

Interesting: We found that guns and cameras both share a level of responsibility and need to be handled carefully because like a gun, a camera can ruin someone’s life, if for example you take a picture that shows a person discriminating someone else and they go to court.

Plato's Cave Discussion Q's: Jill B, Jennifer C, John C, Ian C

Q) Sontag says that “photographing is essentially an act of non-intervention” but later in the essay, she argues that cameras are like guns. What do you think she is doing with this apparent contradiction? What is she trying to get her readers to understand by including both?

A) She’s explaining the ignorance that people have when they don’t fully understand the meaning behind the photograph. How the intentions of the photographer gives a positive or negative meaning. She later explains to us that cameras are similar to guns, in the lethality of them. Not in the sense of mortal wounding, but moral and knowledgeable corruption. How the object of photography provides a feeling of danger for those in power, how the “clever” can use these tools to overthrow others. By providing examples of both of these, she shows us an example of how the purpose of a photograph determines whether or not the picture is harmless or lethal.

Q) After our previous exercise, do you ultimately view photography as a positive or negative practice? Or is it more complicated than that? How would you characterize the practice and the art?

A) It is more complicated than that because of the accessibility of it, people are able to see what they want to see, how America is such a visual culture. How we need photographs to understand how we view things. And because of the accessibility of it, it provides a negative view on it because it provides images that can desensitize us, how the images shown will dull us to photographs that would otherwise impact our view on things.

most important idea.

kyle b.
gurjot r.
maria g.
corey n.

Photography is basically the same as filming because now we can capture so many images in short intervals of time that each can act as each other. Sontag might say that photography has developed over the ages amplify the ability of photographs into these new technologies. And she might question photographs now because of ways to alter photos such as photoshop.

Impact of technology

There needs to be a line drawn with what people want to see and what we think is too much. There are many things shared to the public that a lot of people do not want to hear, but have to. Then there are things shared that people get offended by suck as seeing death on the news.

Photographs

1. To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.

2. What is written about a person or an event is frankly an interpretation, as are handmade visual statements, like paintings and drawings.

3. Photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world themselves, get reduced blown up cropped retouched doctored tricked out.

4. Photographs which package the world seem to invite package.

5. Photographs furnish evidence.

6. A photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened.

7. A photograph can be treated as a narrowly selective transparency.

8. Photographs are as much an interpretation of the world as they as paintings and drawings are.

9. Images which idealize are no less aggressive then the work which makes a virtue of plainness.

10. Photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing.

11. It is mainly a social rite a defense against anxiety and a tool of power.

12. Through photographs each family constructs a portrait chronicle of itself a possible kit of images that bears witness to its connectedness.

13. A way of certifying experience taking photographs is also a way of refusing it.

14. Picture taking is an event in it itself and one with ever more peremptory rights.

15. While real people are out there killing themselves or other real people the photographer stays behind his or her camera creating a tiny element of another world: the image-world that bids to outlast us all.

16. Although the camera is an observation station the act of photographing is more than passive observing.

17. All activities that unlike the sexual push and shove can be conducted from a distance and with some detachment.

18. Like a car a camera is sold as a predatory weapon one that’s as automated as possible ready to spring.

19. Like guns and cars cameras are fantasy-machines whose use is addictive.



Digital cameras and camera phones have had a negative impact on photography because they are always readily available and the pictures taken are insignificant and take away from the importance of film. We think Sontag would concur with this and she would have a feeling of disapproval of these technological advances of photography.

reading response 6

Manipulate the coding
In the very beginning of Cynthia Selfe’s “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution.” She explains what she thinks the internet is doing to the world as a whole and what conceptions it brings about from people all over the world. She believes that there are the 2 different narratives, one which every one wants to believe that is “the global village” and one that represent truth and reality which she named “the electronic colony”. In the idea of “the global village” everybody that uses the internet has the same rights, everyone is equal and everyone respects each others cultures she relates this with the one world one tribe yanomami cd advertisement. We all wish that this were the case and that this magical Christmas land truly existed, but in reality not everyone is equal and everybody doesn’t have the same rights. Selfe explains this narrative with “the electronic colony” where she states that those with greed and power do not want to have to give up any of this greed and power she relates this narrative with the American colonial story ad. She shows this idea by stating that Americans take up 20 percent of the population and we as a country use up 80 percent of the worlds resources which isn’t fair to the rest of the world. When it comes to the internet Americans will want to maintain this same status and try to be pioneers of this new land. Why I think that everyone can not be equals online is because different people have different abilities, so people can display their views more persuasively or manipulate the coding of computers to get other users to follow them thus giving them a way to get things that others couldn’t. Also the internet is more like an extension of peoples personal views so all cultures will not be evenly tolerated and accepted because I have seen forums and blogs where this disrespect has been shown.

I would say that I uncovered values in this passage because in Cynthia Selfe’s essay she covered both the sides of an argument for the two narratives so that is definitely out of the picture for me. So I think that I an somewhere in the mix of dissenting because I identify with one of her two sides and uncovering values because I expanded on this common idea in which we share.

metaphors and junk

Kyle B.
Gurjot R.
Maria G
Corey N.
· Picture taking is an event in itself.
· Photography is mainly a social right, a defense against anxiety and a tool of power.
· Photography has become one of the principle devices for experiencing something, for giving an appearance of participation showing that you were there.
· A photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence.
· Reminder of suffering.
· The ability to reinforce or build morals.
· To collect photograph is to collect the world.
· Photograph became part of the general furniture of the environment,
· Photography implies we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it.
· Like guns and cars cameras are fantasy machines whos use is addicting.
· Today everything exist to end in a photograph.
· Photograph is an elegiac art, a twilight art.
· Photographs more memorable than moving images because they are a neat slice of time rather than a flow.
· Photographs are as much interpretation of the world as painting or drawings are.

Photograph metaphors

Photographs give us the sense we can hold the whole world in our hands.
To collect photographs is to collect the world.
The camera is the ideal arm of consciousness.
Photographs are miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire.
Photographs seem to have a more innocent, and therefore more accurate, relation to visible reality than do other mimetic objects.
Political Conceiousness.
Photographs are corrupt.
Photographs are a privileged moment.

Photographs are a time line.
Like a car a camera is sold as a predatory weapon, one that is automated as ready as possible ready to spring.
Like guns and cars, cameras are fantasy machines thats use is addictive.
A photograph is both a pseudo precense and a token absence. Like a wood in fire in a room.
The act of photgraphing is more then passive observing.
Photgraphs are more memorable then moving images because they are a unique slice of time.
In situations where the photgrapher has the choice between a photograph and a life, to choose the photograph. The person who intevenes can not record, the person who records can not intervene.

In Cynthia Selfe’s Essay “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” she describes how technology has had the stereotype to be for men. She also describes a world where technology would be for anyone whether it is for men or women. She says this change is possible, but very difficult. She states, “These roles exist, and are reproduced, within a set of over determined social formations that makes radical change hard to imagine and even harder to enact-especially when technology is involved.” This quote means that the role of women computer geeks is out there, but the stereotype is that a computer geek is a man. Early technological advances have been made by guys. The car was invented by a guy. The internet was invented by a group of guys. This stems from how society is run. Western society is usually run in a patriarchal manner. Men have oppressed women for thousands of years. So while women are staying at home, changing diapers, the men are at work inventing something new. This may be the case. I think that because a woman’s brain is physically wired differently than a man’s, men have an easier time with technology and machines. Women may have an easier time with reading and literature due to the difference in brain wiring. This may have driven the early civilizations to be patriarchal. I think that because of these reasons, the role of women technology geeks will either stay where it is at with regard to how many there are, or decline. Most women that I talk to are just not interested in science and technology. Right now, I am helping fix a girls computer. All she said to me was, “I don’t care what you do, just make it work.” I have heard this said by many other women many times before. My mother says it to me all the time with the home computer. She either wakes me up or my father. Another friend has computer problems, but doesn’t want me to tinker with her computer in the fear that I’ll severely damage it. I have never once seen a woman even try to explore a hard drive. With every woman that I have worked with on a computer, I had to tell them what I was messing with. I had to tell them what it did and what not because they had never heard of it before. This I believe contributes to the oppression of women. There are so few out there that can immerse themselves in technology and not get confused.

response 6

Claire Janigo

Anna Wolf

English 100a

20 February 2010

Writing Response 6: Cynthia Selfe’s

“ Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution.”

The essay written by Cynthia Selfe, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” is a powerful piece in the successful way in which it enlightens readers on influences, good and bad, that technology has incorporated out of societal norms. Selfe points out that despite the many advantages with the growing media and technology industry, there are flaws in the practice that are hidden beneath layers of attractive ideals. Technology has learned to incorporate societal norms within their messages, including gender rules, racial diversity, and common wealth in order to sell an ideal that will most likely be accepted and encouraged by viewers.

One of Selfe’s main focuses in her essay was put on gender roles. People like to believe that men and woman have equal access to the same opportunities and interests as to not discriminate. Yet despite these ideals, the marketing for technology still discriminates between the use of devices between men and woman. Gearing more of the homemaker, mother and wife properties towards the woman, and marketing men rising up in the working world. Selfe observes, “… woman use technology within a clearly constrained set of appropriate settings: to enrich the lives of their family and to meet their responsibilities at home- as wife, as mother, as seductress, as lover… as secretaries, executive assistants, and loyal employees… Men in contrast, use computers at home to expand their personal horizons beyond current limits- for excitement, for challenge, to enhance their own private lives as explorers, pioneers, and builders… to support their historical constructed roles as bosses, leaders decision makers”(Selfe, p. 207). Although technology is selling the ideal circumstance that men and woman are equally capable of using it, the activities marketed are separate for men and woman and continue to follow the American culture generated roles for men and woman.

The idea that gender is not an issue with technology is an ideal that Americans like to believe because of societal instinct to be accepting and open towards innovative ideas. The marketing is clever in the way that it supports equality progress while still supporting the internalized gender roles in American society of woman as homemaker and man as hunter-gatherer. Technology sells the idea that it is a leader in the movement towards equal gender rights, but at the same time only reinforces the already internalized roles. Therefore, because the marketing reflects society the roles of genders will have to be internally changed in society before technology will successfully market and sell the idea to viewers. Despite the fact the Americans love to believe in change for the better, internalizing and practicing change comes at a much higher cost to their current comfort. This laziness seen in society is what the technology marketing feels off of, telling people they can be part of a change by keeping up with the latest gadgets

Shae Hughes Reading Response #6
Computer games of now day’s era seemed to be thrust into the direction of the male population. Though the male gender may be diamond in the eye of computer marketers, it is not only men that are allowed to use them in an off work bases. Cynthia L. Selfe writes and essay about the technological era of what she calls the “Global Village.” The view that by using technology we can get rid of diversity, racism and separation. More basically be accepted all as one. Within this essay she begins to explain about how the, “Un-Gendered Utopia”, a belief that Americans want to see that women are no lower than men in the technological age, but a utopia none the less. “….women use technology within a clearly constrained set of appropriate settings: to enrich the lives of their family and to meet their responsibilities at home-as wife, as mother, as seductress, as lover…,” she pushes her tone towards the utopia debate. “Men, in contrast, use computers at home to expand their personal horizons beyond current limits-for excitement, for challenge, to enhance their own private lives as explorers pioneers and builders.” Selfe is depicting the revised narrative of how common Americans actually view the genders and their use of technology. As a mother of children and a spouse to a working husband, women are use technology for their at home use only, such as finding recipes and tips on how to make the perfect meal. The father or more viewed as the money maker, uses this technology for personal gain and enjoyment, maybe playing a video game after a relaxing day of work.
I think that Selfe is mistaken because she overlooks how women are now a standing role in society, maybe not as much as men but have the same overbearing presence that they are there. Maybe it is due to the feminist ideals and motivations that causes her to lean toward this myth that women are still supremely unequal being to that of men. A working man once had the opposition standing at him to be only that of other white males. Where he could go in not having to worry about the mother of the neighbors kids butting in to take the job that he needs. Now in this day and era, men must go in to the battle of employment armed with weapons that are able to compete with every race but importantly gender. As male competing for jobs I look no less on the females ability to be chosen above me. As Selfe throws around the above belief that women are viewed as not using technology for the meaning of work is no more viable evidence than the word of a drunken bum. A very vast majority of jobs require the use of computers, whether it be cash registers or making excel documents to show the CEO of the head corporation. With the use of such technology and women being such an equal employee as men, this claim cannot be considered true. Even in the career areas where one would think that only men should be, such as a security guard where I work, why then is my boss female.

Reading Response #6

Nathan Barbo
Eng 100 A
2/19/10
Reading Response #6
Writer Cynthia Selfe argues in the book she co-wrote, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” that American advertisements did not fairly show all of America. She talks about how the advertisements use only white American men. Selfe says, “if citizens of all kinds are to have access to technology and the opportunities it provides, we do not see such a narrative imagined in the land of difference; if technology is to improve the lives of all Americans regardless of race and class and other differences, are collective ability to envision such a world is not evident in these images.” Basically Selfe is saying that advertisements to not use enough of the racial and class differences to sell their products. I do not disagree that this may have been true back in the time of her grandmother or even when she wrote this book, however I do not believe it is true now. The commercials we see now have people of all different ethnicities and both males and females. One example of this would be the use of athletes to endorse products. Many of these athletes are black men and women. Now this certainly does not address the class issue, but it does show role models of different races being used to sell products. I would even argue that most commercials now have an African American in them. I do not feel that our generation is being raised with such narrow images; we see a much broader scope of race and class being used. I believe now companies are looking more at who they are trying to sell to then just using the traditional white American. If the commercial is directed to women they are using women to sell the product. If it is directed to single parents they use a single mother. The race or class of a person in an advertisement or in a office is not as big a deal to my generation. My generation sees a person selling a product or doing a job, not a certain race.
The countering strategy used in this article is arguing the other side. I tried to show the progress that ads have made in the use of people of different race in class that her article did not point out.

Response to Cynthia Selfe

In Cynthia Selfe's article, "Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution," she explains this romantic sort of theory of technology our how it creates this "global village" motto. She claims, "One of the most popular narratives Americans tell ourselves about computers is that technology will help us create a global village in which the peoples of the world are connected- communicating with one another and cooperating for the commonwealth. According to this popular social narrative, the computer network that spans the globe will serve to erase meaningless geopolitical borders, eliminate racial and ethnic differences, re-establish a historical familial relationship which binds together the peoples of the world regardless of race, ethnicity, or location." 115
The "global village" is the movement of all the tribes of the world becoming one; letting go of their differences. Many think that through the Internet, this movement is becoming more closely reached. Everyone would be working together as one, rather than separately. Each tribe would consider themselves and other tribes as equals. In other words, technology "blends" the world together, creating fairness and equality.
Although this may be true to some extent in the way that the Internet can connect the different tribes of the world together, but I see it more as computers being able to serve more as a mask for those who wish not to be seen for their true identity, which doesn't mean that computers necessarily "erase those meaningless geopolitical borders." Those differences between people still exist no matter what. Culture and different ways of thinking still exist despite the ability for computers to erase physical images if desired. People will always be different and nothing, not even a computer, can connect every single difference between people.
For my counterargument, I used the agree/disagree strategy from the "They Say/I Say" book. My paragraph demonstrates this strategy because I start out by agreeing with the point only up to a certain point, and then I disagreed, stating why.

Reflection of Selfe

As Americans we see our selves at the fore front of technology. We imply that with technology we can change the world. In an article written by Cynthia Selfe, Selfe tell how with advertisements we try to sell technology as giving to the global village. We use pictures of exotic natives from other land to sell products, by showing how that company is helping the less fortunate in becoming more advanced with technology. By buying from that company you are helping alleviate racial and class discrimination. In one part of Selfe’s article she says how “Americans are the smart ones who use technological expertise to connect the worlds people” (295) In this thought that we can unify the world with technology and put everyone on equal ground. It’s a nice thought but their will never be a time where everyone will be on equal ground. Someone will always be smarter then others, as well as wealthier and have better jobs. This is how the world works. If it wasn’t then everyone would have the same stuff and their wouldn’t be room for innovation or to excel in life. Will technology bring the world together? Doubtful but it’s a start. We as Americans like the thought though. That we are the ones that are going to unite the world. But for now we will just buy products that advertise that a portion of their profits from the sale will go to help a less fortunate land improve their technology.(296) In this we fill better about our selves filling the pockets of the corporate deities.

Reading Response #6

In Cynthia Selfe’s “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” it discusses the change that technology has brought upon education. In an interesting narrative “Land of Equal Opportunity” and “Land of Difference,” it goes on to explain that through literature, shows, and the internet that we all have this equal opportunity that is “open to everybody-male and female, regardless of color, class, or connection.” She claims that these ads are injected with images of middle class families, predominately white, with that typical “hallmark” image. I would have to interject from that statement and say that in today’s ads, it seems that there is a melting pot of races and diversity. Anywhere you look whether it is a pamphlet for a college, an ad for sports equipment, or a beer commercial you are going to find a group of mixed races and gender. I do however concur that you never see lower class individuals, it’s always middle to upper class. People turn on the TV, open a magazine, or look at a billboard to see middle to upper class attractive people. Nobody wants to watch a commercial with a bunch of people in poverty, it’s just how are brains are wired from a young age. They hammer the typical “American values” that are traditional and present in everything we view. As said by Selfe, “this cultural memory is a potent one for Americans, and these ads resonate with the values that we remember as characterizing that golden time-recalling for example, the down-home, no-nonsense comfort associated with a good dog, a good pipe, a warm fire, a comfortable pair of shoes, and the other very American comforts accruing from a good salary and hard work in a culture where effort is rewarded with capital gain, regardless of race, color, creed, or class.” These traditional values hit hard with today’s Americans because they are able to relate with the individuals appearing on the television, but this also leaves out a large portion of immigrants, as well as lower class families that we have in this country. If you look at states such as California, you will find being white in a lot of cities a white person will be the minority where Hispanics are actually the majority. These ads are leaving out that large portion of individuals present. I think that today because of the large number of immigrants, ads are adjusting to these differences.

“Computers, in other words, are complexly socially determined artifacts that interact with existing social formations and tendencies-including sexism, classism and racism-to contribute to the shaping of a gendered society”, (306) says Cythia Selfe, in her essay titled, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution”. The sectyion my group did talked about the gender gaps between technologies. Women held their own jobs when all of the men were away at war, but once they returned, the women were forced to quit, and stay at home.This took away from some equal learning opportunities for women. “Men use technology to accomplish things; women benefit from technology to enhance the ease of their lives or to benefit their families” (308). Now that women were out of the work force, they used the computers to benefit themselves and their families at home, while men had this opportunity, along with being able to use it in the workplace. Selfe says that technology may have been more originally targeted for men, “Computer games are still designed for boys; computer commercials are stilled aimed mainly at males,” (306).

Selfe is saying that technology is not as threatning as it may come off to be. She is also saying that english teachers are embrassing the technology. Technology should never be our enemy it is always going to grow and become more advanced.

Selfe's Essay Response. Youngblood

Part A:

Cynthia Selfe wrote an article titled “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” which addresses gender related issues in connection which the use of technology. “Computers, in other words, are complexly socially determined artifacts that interact with existing social formations and tendencies-including sexism, classism and racism-to contribute to the shaping of a gendered society”, - Cythia Selfe (Page 306). The author expresses bias and seems quick to judge that technology is to blame for gender issues. But the truth is that technology is not to blame, it is humans which caused these issues. She goes on to say that when Men came back from serving their country that they "displaced" women from the workplace. This may have some truth behind it, however I believe that returning vets should have jobs available for them when they come home. It is a shame that they have to "displace" women from the workplace, but if that's the case then more jobs should be created. I don't believe the author gives enough credit to those whom served our their country to protect the way of life we know today. Men in uniform should not be to blame for displacing women from the workplace, but the lack of available work should be to blame. “Men use technology to accomplish things; women benefit from technology to enhance the ease of their lives or to benefit their families” says Selfe (Page 308). It seems like this statement contradicts what her direction is in this article. This claim she is making says that technology can "accomplish things" if influenced by a man and while under influence by women can "benefit" or "enhance" their personal lives. Selfe continues to support her claim be stating that technology was and still is targeting men as apposed to targeting women. Selfe argues that technology is sexist and that she feels that men have the upper hand with technology use. Her bias is strongly felt throughout her writing, However she does seem to address some pressing issues relating gender roles with technology.

Part B:

"Creating an electronic un-gendered Utopia means that we might have to learn how to understand people outside of the limited gender roles that we have constructed for them in this country, that way we have to abandon the ways in which we have traditionally differentiated men's work and women's work in the marketplace." -Selfe (Page 306)

This quote seems to portray a possible solution to this gender role problem in the workplace. But to accomplish such a feat is such a great challenge. Because this solution means we would have to forget everything we know about the stereotypical man and woman and reinvent their roles to ultimately make them equal. This is an impossible task it would seem, to just give up all that we know about gender roles for the benefit of equality.

Student Council Representative

Hi,

As some of you might have already known, there is a student representative from the ASWCC (Student Council) in class who is able to help you with any comments, complaints or questions you have about the facilities or clubs on campus.

Isaac (reachable at luther.rehtul@gmail.com) is on the Campus Advocacy committee, and one of his roles is helping students find answers to questions that might not be answerable by faculty members, such as the computer access lab in Cascade (it's being moved to Heiner, with a pricetag of 61,000$). In fact, your input will have a direct impact on the decisions made on the Student Council (we're contemplating buying a 13,000$ piano for student use).

If you would like to be added to a mailing list of the minutes (actions taken on Student Council), please let him know at Luther.Rehtul@gmail.com!

Have a great day!
Isaac

Reading Response 6-HGowen.

In the article, “Lest we Think the Revolution is a Revolution”, Cynthia Selfe discusses how advertisements try to paint a picture in people’s minds, that is that America is a land of ‘Equal Opportunity’ for everyone of things such as gender, color, and social rankings, and that everyone who is willing to go along with the American way is welcome here. Cynthia Selfe argues this in her essay saying, “America is the land of opportunity only for some people. The history of slavery in this country, the history of deaf education, women’s suffrage, and immigration remind us of this fact; as do our current experiences with poverty, the differential school graduation rate for blacks and whites and Hispanics, and the face that we have never had a woman president. All these things remind us that opportunity is a commodity generally limited to privileged groups within this country.” This long passage stated by Selfe made me think about how our history and also today’s issues and problems are put together to state that these advertisements are what we want to see instead of what we know is actually happening and what is there. People do not want to see advertisements of ugly people or poor people or anything unhappy. Things like that doesn’t make us happy or make us think good thoughts. People want to see positive advertisements and positive people and people who look attractive because attractiveness is what makes advertisements. It catches people’s attention, rather than non-attractive things people see. In America, people have so many opportunities and options for them in life. In other countries, when they are born, their life is already set in stone for them. They cannot make their own choices like us Americans can. America has so many options for people and what they want to do with their lives and also second chances. If people are willing to work hard for something, anyone can achieve it.

I used countering according to Joe Harris. I argued the other side of how America is not equal and used examples of how Selfe argued that as well. I explained myself by arguing and disagreeing about what the word ‘opportunity’ really is in this essay.

A) In pages 292 through 294 Selfe introduces the idea that we only look at the benefits of technology and try to hide from the bad side effects. She also says that we believe that the advances in technology will cause only positive productive social changes. She then goes on to say that she will demonstrate how Americans are trying to use technology to save the world, with her evidence being the images that we use in our advertisements for technology.

B) It is said that as a society even though technology is changing how we live our lives it is not changing the roles that our society stereotypically places on individuals because of their race, gender, orientation, etc. Cynthia Selfe attempts to prove this in her essay “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” through examining advertisements for various forms of technology and seeing how they represent the people in them. In her conclusion she states, “They do indicate, however, that it will be exceedingly difficult for Americans to imagine an electronic landscape in which individuals enjoy new kinds of opportunities to relate to each other and new kinds of opportunities to make positive changes in their lives (Selfe 316). Selfe is saying that people will not be able step out of their traditional roles and expand into new opportunities even with the new technologies. I disagree in that she says that the technology will not break down gender roles, on the internet there is no gender you can be a boy, girl, or whatever else you want to be. Also technology opens so many more doors for the average Joe that they are able to improve themselves to be what they want to be.

Cynthia Self Response

In Cynthia Self’s essay “Lest we think the revolution is revolution images of technology and nature of change” during her second narrative of the essay she focus on how America is not the land of the free. Self analyalizes a few advertisements that help prove the America is not the land of equal opportunity. Self says “We are told that America is the land of the free but history tells a different story. America is the land of opportunity for some. The history of slavery, deaf education, woman’s suffrage, immigration labor unions, graduation rates for blacks whites an Hispanics and that their has never been a women president. Opportunity is a commodity generally limited to privileged groups”(304). Failure to provide equally opportunity for minority groups is most evident in advertisements such as the ones the Self uses in her essay.
I think that I would have to disagree with what Self is saying about how America is the land of opportunity for only some because in today’s world you can pretty much make a living doing anything you want but it’s jus a matter of working hard for what ever goal you wish to accomplish. But I could see how things might have been a little bit different when this article was written, but I still feel that her views are wrong because in America you can pretty much accomplish what ever you want to do it just might be a little harder for some but defiantly not impossible.

Summary & Quote from "Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution"

Cynthia Selfe, in her article "Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution", comments on how the Internet is not a tool that will dramatically change the way we see ourselves and the world, but is instead a facet of former communications taken to a new level. The essay deals with the "Ungendered Society" that the Internet supposedly creates, but actually is a facade.

The Ungendered Society that is apparently portrayed by proponents of the Internet only reinforces some traditional elements, as Cynthia preaches:

"But the roles of parent, housewife, and secretary/boss are not the only ones open to women in the new cyberlandscape represented by the Same Old Gendered Stuff narrative." (Selfe. 309)

As it stands by itself, all the altruism that the optimistic people who attempt to further the idea of an Ungendered Society on the Internet, only furthers the traditional stereotypes that dominate the area.

Works Cited
Selfe, Cynthia "Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution". Class Handout. English 100. Whatcom Community College. Winter 2010. 309

Reading Response #5: Selfe's Essay

Gurjot Ram
February 21, 2010
English 100A- Reading Response #6

In the chapter, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution: Images of Technology and the Nature of Change,” in Cynthia Selfe’s book, “Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies,” Selfe discusses the impact of technology in the 21st century. Selfe exemplifies her ideas in three narratives in the chapter. In the second narrative, Selfe states, “Our cultural experience, indeed, tells us something very different- that America is the land of opportunity only for some people.” What Selfe means in this narrative is that we want to see what we want. Most of us would like to see a middle income family rather than a family living in poverty. Most Americans would want to see that we are living as a successful country and we have no problems. As many as other countries, this is not true because we are faced with problems just like every other country out there. America, like any other country, wants to be a perfect country with minimal problems and an equal chance at success for everyone. Selfe explains that, “If citizens of all kinds are to have access to technology and the opportunities it provides, we do not see such a narrative imagined in the Land of Difference narrative; if technology is to improve the lives of all Americans regardless of race and class and other differences, our collective ability to envision such a world is no evident in these changes.” Selfe means that if everyone is able to have access to technology it does no incorporate into the Land of Difference. Technology will be available to Americans regardless of race and class. There is no classification who can have technology and who cannot.
In my opinion, I believe that Selfe’s statement is partially wrong because America is the Land of Opportunity for those who know how to achieve it. It is equal for all people to earn that opportunity. If people are willing know how to achieve they will have a chance at opportunity. America allows equal opportunity because they that everyone has a chance at earning it. Otherwise it would be only fair for some people. I, personally, think that not everyone has a fair chance at earning the opportunity, but there is an equal chance for opportunity. America is the land of opportunity for all people because everyone has a equal chance on getting the opportunity to achieve. In America everyone has a chance for opportunity, but it is within them to grab it for their success.

In the article “Lest we Think the Revolution is a Revolution, Images of technology and the Nature of Change” Cynthia L. Selfe explains that computers and the Internet are a huge aspect to the Americans every day life. She believes that this is not the best thing for us, it is taking away from many things and now we are brainwashed by this new technology, we are at the point were there is obviously no stopping. “At other levels, we fear the effects of technology, and the potent changes that it introduces into familiar systems.” , here she is just trying to show us that right now we are blind and forget where we are heading , we fear this change but are to afraid to change it. In her third narrative, she enforces her realization that the Internet clearly doesn’t want to make room for women, and that all new technology is still just aiming for the male gender of all ages. She noticed that when this technology began people thought that we were going to be more equal with each other, meaning genders, and that commercials and programs will be aiming for both sex’s to be using it equally, especially due to the times that we, Americans, have overcome. However those ideas sunk and everything is just gotten heavier for men because of the internet, women are totally shut out of this idea of the internet and were never taught how to use it to begin with. She found that men are the one needing it more for there high paying jobs while women are still at home mending the family and house, with out the new high technology. This is another opinionated narrative written by a feminist, which is not a bad thing, however these ideas are some what out of date for me to understand. However points are made that do make sense, I just don’t think that they fit into our new generation in the year of 2010. Women are now managers, CEO’s , and are standing right next to men at the top of the food chain. We even had a woman run for President this year, and that is a huge deal especially for this article. Women these days have a lot of respect for what they do because we can manage anything just as well as men could do. I’m trying not to sound like a little girl on the play ground arguing that girls are better then boys or sound like a crazy feminist woman that hates men and their ideals, however it is kind of hard not to get into that mind frame. I am just proud to say that women are at the top with men and some are very high above a lot of men, we have come a long way, and fought hard for it as well. These ideas that men are always pushing us down are sometimes true because that idea that women are meant to stay home and keep up house are still around in many countries but not in here any more. Women are completely capable now in this era, personally I feel like this is a style that that wont fade out and we will hold on to this spot or keep getting higher, but there is no falling off of this latter. We have worked hard for this spot and we wont be lowering for any one. Technology will keep us all at a high and for all genders now and every one young enough to make a real change in the world now is old enough to know how to use a computer and the internet.

Ian Barbour's Lest we think the Revolution is a Revolution Response

Ian Barbour
English 100 A
Anna Wolf
February 21st 2010

Lest we think the Revolution is a Revolution Response

After reading Lest we think the revolution is a revolution by Cynthia Selfe I can't help but feel that the article was written in bad taste by some one who is radically biased. The article is basically about how Americans are quick to believe that technology and specifically the computer will improve society and break down social barriers, but Cynthia claims that technology is doing just the opposite. Cynthia rants “Computers in other words, are complexly socially determined artifacts that interact with existing social formations and tendencies including sexism, classism, and racism to contribute to the shaping of a gendered society.” I think Cynthia Selfe is mistaken because she overlooks the fact that all of these prejudices have been around for thousands of years and are still present. Just because they show up online which is obviously going to occur considering racism, sexism ect. happens everywhere and online is just a world wide community, which is clearly going to be an extension of all those beliefs, does not make online the evil next step producing prejudices. Simply speaking the internet in nature would stop these negative tendencies, giving all 1st world (for now) people regardless of race or class the ability to find all of the same information any one else can, everyone's information pool is infinity large. Also it gives people of different cultures a chance to communicate easily online, this could break some social boundaries and therefore stop some people's racist thoughts. More over Cynthia claims that advertisements incorporate stereotypes, for example a women only using the internet to look up cooking recipes or how to clean something. I am not sure what made up ads she has been watching, but no ad I have ever seen would ever dare to get even close to being considered racist, sexist or anything. The most recent computer ads for windows 7 shows a little girl not looking up how to cook a meal, but she has mastered photoshop and is putting together professional looking collages. Some might argue that she wrote this article a decade ago and back then here arguments were more valid, but regardless in my english 100 class we were just watching an ad that was about 20 years old and they were already fighting stereotypes with their ad featuring a hard working black ump. For arguing with this passage I used the disagreeing with reasons strategy. My paragraph clearly shows this strategy as I immediately state how I disagree with her and then go on to list several reasons why.

Reading Responce #6

English 100A

Reading response #6

In one part of Cynthia Self’s article, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” self takes a very negative and outdated view of how existing social forces will deal with new technology and be able to integrate it into their lives. Self argues “This optimism about technology often masks in a peculiar way, however, a contrasting set of extremely potent fears. Moreover, and more importantly, an exclusive focus on the positive changes associated with technology, often serve to distract educators from recognizing how social forces actually work to resist change in connection with technology…”

I think the social forces that Self is referring to is the previous generations of parents and older adults that hold the purse strings of the education boards. If this is true then she shouldn’t be worried because technology is being greatly accepted by these generations also. As stated by Erik Qualman in his video text “Social media Revolution,” “The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females” This to me is showing older women are willing to learn the latest technology just to be able to stay in touch. That does not show me a very resistant behavior toward technology. Qualman also stated that it took 38 years for the radio to reach 50 million users. But it only took 4 years for the internet to reach 50 million. Facebook had 100 million users in only nine months. Self also states according to Moore’s law microprocessors double in speed every eighteen months. This allows technology to take tremendous leaps every year. If the “social forces” aren’t willing to keep up they will be replaced by a newer and faster model themselves.

I do have to admit that a lot of the users on Facebook are teens, and would not be part of the “social forces” that were mentioned by Self. The teen users have to have the technology to be part of Facebook and that is usually supplied by parents who are part of those social forces.

Response to Cynthia Selfe

Kyle Smith
Anna Wolff
English 100 A
21 February 2010

Response to Cynthia Selfe

In the article, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution Images of Technology and the Nature of Change”, Cynthia Selfe suggests that the advancement in computer technology is something that will both improve our lives as well as create fears of the introduced changes into familiar systems. In her article she writes about three different narratives. In the second narrative she is talking about how American culture is not fair to all people, as it is commonly viewed. She says “These ads are what my grandmother would call “mighty white.” There is a remarkable absence in all the images of people of color, and poor people, and people who are out of work, and single parent families, and gay couples, and foreigners. Selfe is saying that unlike the popular view that America is “The land of equal opportunity” which means that everyone in this country is equal and open to everyone. But she is saying that it is actually “The land of difference” which means that this country is not as fair to all people. She then says that if technology is to improve the lives of all Americans regardless of our differences, then this is not present in the ads she uses.

I disagree with Selfe’s idea that America is the land of opportunity only for some people. It might be because this article is outdated, but I don’t think that this is completely true. I think that technology does seem to be helping all people improve their lives, regardless of their differences. I think this because I have seen more people that used to be excluded from ads like the one she uses more commonly then before. This shows that technology is making our country more like “The land of opportunity” not more like the “land of difference.”

I used the Argue the Other Side countering strategy because I think that this article is somewhat outdated and how she describes what is happing with our country is not what I am seeing. My paragraph demonstrates this strategy by disagreeing with Selfe’s idea and giving my own idea.

Readers Response #6 Selfe's Essay

Eng100a
2/21/10
In the article “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” Cynthia Selfe talks about how advertisements often try to paint the picture that America is a land of “equal opportunity” for everyone despite things like gender, color, and social status, and that everyone who is willing to take in American values is welcome here. Selfe disagrees with this in her essay and she states “America is the land of opportunity only for some people. The history of slavery in this country, the history of deaf education, women’s suffrage, and immigration remind us of this fact; as do our current experiences with poverty, the differential school graduation rate for blacks and whites and Hispanics, and the fact that we have never had a woman president. All these things remind us that opportunity is a commodity generally limited to privileged groups within this country.” This long fact filled passage puts portions of our history and as well as today’s issues together to describe what Selfe believes to be the true America, that advertisements replace with the rich white dream family to give us what we want to see instead of what we know is there.
I think that America is actually one of the most opportunity filled nations in the world. Selfe can say that it’s not but the simple fact is, if you compare us to other countries, we are. In India you are born to a certain social status, and you stay that way for the rest of your life because it is believed that if you are born in the slums its because you did something bad in a previous life. In the U.S. Women can run for all the same offices as Men, and they do. Just this last election Hillary Clinton ran for president and Sarah Palin for vice president. That sounds like gender equality to me. As for slavery, America had slaves at a time when most of the world had slaves. While that doesn’t make it right I think its safe to say that slavery is no longer an issue in this country. It seems to me that America is the land of great opportunities, and second chances on top of that. Here if you make a bad decision like to drink and drive it won’t be your last decision like it is in many other countries. With enough hard work and perseverance almost anyone in America can be successful despite things like color and social status. For example, my dad (a Native American) was born to a family living off of welfare checks and food stamps. He worked his way through college with the help of financial aid and student loans and now has two rental houses on top of the house we live in and can easily send his son to college. There are countless lives that follow a similar story and it’s because we live in a country where the hard working and determined rise to the top. Selfe says “Opportunity is a commodity generally limited to privileged groups within this country”. I say opportunity is something we take for ourselves and is generally limited to those who seek it and are willing to work for it.
I used countering according to Joe Harris in my response. In the beginning of my paragraph I “argued the other side” showing how the examples that Selfe gives actually prove the opposite of the point she is trying to make and aid my argument. I then went on to analyze her statement about opportunity and say how I disagree about what she is basically saying opportunity is.

Selfe essay review Ben

According to the article, "Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution," written by Cynthia Selfe, there is something that exists called a global village. In the first narrative it talks about how technology has created a global village which is another way of saying that anybody in the world who has access to the Internet is a member of this village. Within this network, cyber society members help one another and create a better environment. Selfe also talks about how this village is connected to everybody in a way, and that we must all work together in order to survive in this world. This global village is connected to every race and class in society, no one is left out. Selfe uses many different images to show that the global village represents everyone, even though Americans are not represented in any of the ads, we are able to infer that the ads are in fact American technology (301).
This change of technology not only changes society, but it should also change the learning environment. Selfe believes that, "A good English studies curriculum will educate students robustly and intellectually rather than narrowly or vocationally. It will recognize the importance of educating students to be critically informed technology scholars rather than simply expert technology users" (Cynthia Selfe 322). What she is trying to say is that she believes that due to the increase of technology and the content of knowledge contained within this technology, students should be taught a broader spectrum of curriculum that doesn't go as deep into analyzing each topic. She is also saying that technology needs to be incorporated into the learning environment. By teaching the students how to use technology and the Internet properly, it is helping them in the long run. I agree with Selfe because technology makes practically everybody's life easier, so why not imbrace this technology because it is the future.