Thursday, October 14, 2010
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.
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Why? Why does he do nothing? Why do we? Fear? Short-sightedness?
ReplyDeleteI believe Klosterman takes no action because he is so secure in his day to day life. He says he loves the Internet and he can't imagine a life without it. He is content using his devices as long he doesn't think about what is actually going on. This is the same mentality most people have too. People are so used to living with this advanced technology, using cell phones, ipods, computers, televisions, etc. on an everyday basis. I personally would love to follow in Christopher McCandles' footsteps. However, I know that escaping this reality and losing communication with those people still stuck in it is not a real option. My parents would worry, I would have a hard time supporting myself, I would lose touch with most people in my life and it just is not very conceivable.
ReplyDeleteThis paper and this class has made me re-evaluate how I view the Internet and other electronic devices. I am aware that television is really just a waste of time and phones, video games, and cyberspace are all taking away from the personal side of things. On the other hand, I have not ejected all of this stuff from my life. I think the internet can be valuable if used in the correct ways. Anything I want to know, I can reach in a matter of seconds via Internet. I am a biology major and I use the internet all the time to clarify things I'm learning in my classes. For example, last year, watching DNA Replication videos on youtube really helped me visualize what I had to memorize. The Internet also allows me to see pictures and videos of places I've never been to and possibly will never go to. This opens my eyes to the world and the possibility of traveling it. Without the internet, maybe I would never have seen that beautiful, exotic beach in Kerala, India.