America the ILL?

Hedges opens his argument by stating that “we live in two different Americas” –one based on print (minority) and one based on non-reality, or images. I thought that this was a very ill-advised way to start his article. This sensationalist statement is purely black and white with no room left for gray. In his opinion, we must live in one or the other with an ‘unbridgeable’ gap between each educational process.

I find it very troubling, and very believable, that politicians prey on the weakness of the illiterate to gain a vote. “Campaigns that succeed… manipulate fickle moods, emotions, and impulses.[1]” This to me is a very hard pill to swallow because of the words manipulate and campaigns used together. Hedges goes on to state that after a campaign, the previously empowered, illiterate, voting citizen goes back to a life in which he or she has no way of truly understanding what is going on around them. This is very disturbing because it raises the question: What do we truly know about our own lives?

Much like Carr, Hedges believes that today’s society hungers for instant gratification and constant stimulus. However, the similarities end there. Carr used the phrases to enhance the point that our way of thinking is changing, whereas, Hedges used it to drive home his point that maybe Google truly is making us stupid.

The article gave several interesting theories about the progression, or rather, recession of our reading and speaking abilities. The comparison of debate transcripts from modern debates versus previous debates was shocking and raised yet another question: No matter what political party we put our trust in, who are we electing to make the decisions of our country? Hedges drove his point home when he said “Voltaire was the most famous man of the 18^th century. Today the most famous “person” is Mickey Mouse.[2]”

The point of this article was to prove the point that our culture is changing. Hedges accomplishes this goal in the last page with two lines: “Culture is being destroyed in order to yield entertainment. [Arendt ]” and “The core values of our society… are dying.[3]” However, he does not entertain the notion that American culture is changing, not dying. In addition, this article offers no solution to the problem and only succeeds in being a rant, which may well have been its intent.