Cult of the Amateur

Reading the first few chapters of Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen really opened my mind.  I completely agree with his points that the Internet is depleting the authenticity of experts and that the Internet is a place to advertise yourself. Because the title of this book is the cult of the amateur, I think Keen's major issue with the Internet is that the expert getting more and more distant away and the amateurs are taking over. "The cult of the amateur has made it increasingly difficult to determine the difference between reader and writer, between artist and spin doctor, between art and advertisement, between amateur and expert. The result? The decline of the quality and reliability of the information we receive, thereby distorting, if not outrightly corrupting, our national civic conversation." When you visit a website, you are never positive who is sitting on the other side of the screen, who made that website, or who designed a scam that you are about to participate in. When you visit Wikipedia, yes you are getting a lot of information, but what is the use of that information if it is not supported or written by the experts on that particular search subject.  After reading Keen's rant about how people are more likely to use websites like free amateur sourced Wikipedia rather than using expert verified websites like Britannica or other online encyclopedias, I made Britannica a bookmark so that I can leave it to the paid experts to give me my information.
Keen's other argument that the Internet is just a place to project yourself to others is very relevant. There are thousands and thousands of blogs out there, thousands of facebook pages, and myspace and twitter pages. Each page for a different person trying to get their information out to others. "The information business is being transformed by the Internet into the sheer noise of a hundred million bloggers all simultaneously talking about themselves." This statement only speaks the truth. People are so obsessed with updating their facebook pictures, or changing their statuses every next move. Personally, I think that everyone is so obsessed with their image, or how they are in cyberspace that they have no time to read up on anyone else's lives. People are trying to project their best image of themselves via Internet but no one cares to look at anyone else because everyone is so self-absorbed.

Reflection of Fail paper by Chuck Klosterman

It's easy to see why Klosterman titled this part of his book "Fail." The major point he is making is that regardless of our control, technology is taking over our lives and we are slowly loosing our freedom to think. Taken from the Unabomber's (Ted Kaczynski) manifesto, "people do not consciously and rationally choose the form of their society. Societies develop through processes of social evolution that are not under rational human control." Klosterman recognizes that his reality is constructed "through the surrogate activity of mainstream popular culture." He identifies that we have a major issue deciphering the real from the fake. We get information directly from the Internet, television, and photographs and then the information we have actually personally experienced gets lost among the fake.  Klosterman uses the example that even though he played basketball for thirteen years, when he thinks about basketball he immediately thinks of a Celtics-Lakers championship game from 1984.  He realizes that he too could make a drastic move to the woods like the Unibomber, or follow in the footsteps of Christopher McCandles and leave our current media obsessed reality behind. The problem is that Klosterman is so caught up with this life.  He says "instead of confronting reality and embracing the Experience of Being Alive, I will sit here and read about Animal Collective over the Internet. Again." Klosterman believes he is so wrapped up in the Internet that he is a slave to his own weakness and couldn't even image a life without the Internet. Although Klosterman is aware of this faulty life, he chooses to do nothing about it.

Overview:

 For one of my classes I have been assigned to create this blog dealing with my experiences, reactions to, and interactions with the media.

Today in class we discussed how our American culture is driven by technology and technological advancements.  This country is fueled by the output of media through increasingly electronic mediums and digital devices.  One of the problems with this overwhelming transition to the electronic world is that people are starting to be more and more dependent on material objects.  As the woman in the Story of Stuff video said, now more than ever, people are finding happiness through consumption of material goods. It is part of our daily routine: go to work, come home exhausted only to be bombarded by advertisements telling us we aren't good enough, then buying insignificant, arbitrary things that can readily be replaced insight of making us feel better, and then repeating the cycle.

After hearing this, I started thinking how this applies to my life.  Shopping is something that I have been doing for a while now.  My mom loves to shop and is sometimes referred to by others as a shop-aholic. She works very hard, which is why my dad doesn't hassle her too much when she comes home with more unnecessary things every week. One activity my mom and I do together is shop (mostly for clothes), so unfortunately over time, I was passed down the shopping "gene." Now that I think about it, shopping does make me feel better. Sometimes after a vigorous week of classes, some friends and I go to the mall and release our stress by trying on and buying clothes and jewelry. I find that sometimes I have cravings to shop and consume.  I realize now though that this is all part of the plan. The more I think about it, the less real I find this enjoyment that I get out of shopping to be.  It sounds ridiculous to say that it makes me feel better to buy a new material thing.  I am no longer going to compensate for my harsh work week by buying tangible goods.  It's time to stop recycling money to greedy corporations and to start finding satisfaction through real experiences.  Our planet has so much to offer and it really is time to start taking advantage of that instead of buying into all of our man-made creations.