('tis Laurie) This seems like a difficult question to answer because putting an end to our culture's ways is much easier said than done. I believe that everyone has the power to stop being like the people in F451, they just have to want it and try enough. The obvious way to avoid becoming like F451's culture is to limit distractions from meaning. We get tuned into television or constantly use our cell phones because we want to avoid and block out thinking. We don't want to contribute or seek knowledge, because it is comfortable for us to do nothing. We should stop being so attached and devoted to our electronics. We should take the time in our day to talk about what really matters. We should talk about things with meaning, instead of television shows with no depth.
(Because television shows can have depth) Like Faber said: "The same infinite detail and awareness [of books] could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not. No, no, it's not books at all you're looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in youself" (82). It does not matter what medium we get our depth and quality from. We could get it from television, from music, from any medium. So people should start with a medium they are used to: television. Find entertainment with depth. Something that makes us think. Then talk about it. Make time for talking about what is important. Try not to watch mindless television, the more quality we see, the less garbage we'll want to see. We'll want to have quality and high-level thinking in everything we do because once we see the light, we won't want to go back. Even if we can't persuade others, we can live by example. So what do you guys think?
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(I am angry I just typed a long response and my internet backfired so here I will try to revoice it)
Overall I somewhat aggree but somewhat disaggree. Our society could be influenced by other people to possibly eliminated garbage programming, however it is not practical in America, because the bulk of American TV show watchers are stupid. Also alot of shows like Big Brother, Survivor, and CIS emphasize specific subconscious terms. Big brother is a highly addictive show (since I have watched a few seasons) because of the inner ring feeling. Basically the show depicts a bunch of lazy people who form alliances (rings) and try to stay in the camera-infested-house for three months, just to win some money. Survivor is again similar and depicts rings as the security outlet in both irreality and reality. But most Americans do not really realize this in the first case. As mentioned by Erich Fromm "Confronted with the power and size of the parties as demonstrated [..the] voter cannot help feeling small and of little significance." This is true. We alone can not really decide the fate of America. Media is the controller so unless they do something, our society is going to move closer to F451's culture.
(sorry that happened, that's happened to me a lot before, its frusterating) Yes I agree that we alone cannot decide the fate of America and I think you make good points. Its just really hard to try and figure out how to change our fate, and any ideas proposed probably won't work. But that's no excuse. Yes, there is tons of garbage on American television. A lot of Americans don't want to think about things and contribute, they just want to consume. But they don't have to listen to the media. They don't have to conform. Yes, it is very hard to be different and have more depth than the rest of America, because it seems like everyone is trying to dumb things down for people and weed out the intellectuals. But it is possible. We aren't forced to have a lower-level of thinking, but we are certainly encouraged to. However, we can overcome everyone encouraging it. We can form relationships with people who think like us and ignore everyone who wants to bring us down. Even though this does sound impossible.
EDIT: We aren't forced to have a lower-level of thinking. We might be encouraged to, but we can overcome this encouragement. We can form relationships with people who think like us and try to convert everyone who wants to bring us down. Even though this does sound impossible.
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