Informing ourselves to death by Neil Postman Personal Statement

Informing ourselves to death by Neil Postman - Personal Statement Example As long as we were Neanderthals, planet earth was a cleaner, greener and a safer place to live in. The environment was void of hazards, disease, danger and pollution and the world was free from poverty, hunger, homelessness and crime. All these are our gifts to ourselves, which come in a package deal with the technological zenith that we have achieved. We perceive the present scenario as the best of all possible worlds because this the farthest we have come in terms of advancement. There is no dearth of anything in this rose colored world of ours. (The "children of the lesser God " might not think so but have we ever given them a care!). We are so busy wallowing in this shallow, materialistic and cushioned lifestyle of ours that it has never occurred to us that we have lost a very precious part of us along the ages- we have lost our humanity! We might have attained knowledge but we are still far far away from wisdom. That is the reason why our world has become a "either -mine-or- yours" place. What if we never knew that the earth was such a vast planet with so much land and so much water, would we have then cared to split it up into blocks we call "countries"' Had there been no "mine and yours" territories" would the word "WAR" even exist in or dictionaries' What is it about our knowledge that instills in us the greed to simply possess apiece of land even if that means killing all our fellow beings living on it' From here started our dividing spree and we have never stopped ever since. In our attempt to systematically organize the human existence we bred complexities that we have never been able to come out of. First we made countries, divided them into states, broke the states down to cities, towns and districts, built huge walls around ourselves thus physically isolating ourselves from the rest of the world. . In the process and without our awareness, the mental and spiritual component of our being got entangled deeper and deeper into the web of "worldly wisdom". When we were done with physical divisions and the pieces of earth could not get any smaller, we never let ourselves give up. Our knowledge never let us deter and inspired us to go on. Then, we came up with this concept of religions (I call them "mass gangs") and for obvious reasons we had gang wars although they were at a much smaller scale than the nuclear or biological wars of today. First we fought over" mine- and- yours" and then we fought over " mine-is-better -than-yours" and the vicious cycle went on. Our intelligence (or rather the lack of it) has blown the light of knowledge into an satanic fire which is eating into the heart of humankind and emptying the core of our existence. Spiritually we have turned into weak, in secure, greedy, selfish and conceited individuals. Our conditioned psyche does not allow us to think beyond possessing and climbing up the ladder of success irrespective of whose face we step on in the process. I don't cal this living life; I consider it just a spiritually worthless existence. Imagine, our present day generation needs special classes and seminars on "soul searching". Isn't that ridiculous' Does it mean that we are so disconnected with out souls that we need to search them all over again'We are not to be entirely blamed for our plight.

Listening activity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Listening activity - Essay Example Specifically, I noted that the ability to engage and provide active participation and listening within calculus class was the most difficult of all that had been measured. This does not come as much of a surprise due to the fact that calculus itself is one of the least engaging subjects that I currently engages within this semester. However, when it came to developing a key theme or rational for what topics were distracting or in what way the participant was ultimately led astray of the main topic, the fact was that there was no solitary reason. Instead, the fact that was analyzed centered upon the fact that merely because the subject matter was dry, it was ultimately easier to simply zone out and choose not to engage with the given topic or discussion that may have otherwise been taking place within the classroom. Once a clear determination has been made with regards to what subjects and/or topics provide the greatest level of â€Å"zone outs†, the reasonable question for the author to consider must then become – in what ways would it be possible to effect a positive change on these negative habits. Naturally, the first answer to such a question is simplistic and states merely – â€Å"pay attention†. However, the fact of the matter is that paying attention and not zoning out is merely a byproduct of a series of mental choices (Hamouda 5). Therefore, instead of merely stating that the byproduct itself should be avoided, the better point of attack would be to seek to understand and minimize the thought processes that ultimately lead to zoning out or lack of attention. As the analysis that has been performed illustrated, the main determinants to this byproduct were the inherent personal understanding that the subject matter is boring, rather useless in the grand scheme of things, and overly laborious. As a means of combating such a point of view, the better