Blog #10 Class Reflection

I really enjoyed this class because it opened my eyes to how relevant even non-fiction books can be to our world. The books and articles that we read meshed well together, painting a picture of a not too distant society. That really made me consider all the things we do to go down that path; between us destroying literature with our advancing technology and fast paced days/nights, and allowing our freedoms to be taken away because of our ignorance of the effects it may have on us in the future. I contribute to this myself. I immerse myself in video games (I do still read a lot outside of the class books). I always want things to happen NOW. I'm stressed on a daily basis and at this point I can't focus or function without that stress. I watch multiple reality shows and my favorite genre of movies is horror and gore because frankly it doesn't really affect me anymore. I give up rights of privacy every day (thanks to the internet). I'm attached to technology. And the list goes on. But since this class, I have really tried to make an effort to pull myself away from my normal crazy schedule and appreciate the world around me.
I have also begun watching CNN and looking up news articles again. If you don't know what's going on in the world and claim that it doesn't affect you; then you're ignorant. As we have seen in the texts, everything affects everyone, especially when it comes to freedom. We read about the book burnings in Fahrenheit 451. The people allowed this to happen because they decided TV and equality was more important. If everyone had the same opinion, I swear I'd go crazy. I don't believe the world could function without varying ideas. Who would be there to decide whether a plan for this country is bad or not when they agree to do what they are told. Do we really want to end up like the mindless drones in 1984, buzzing around in a society that clearly has been brainwashed to think that what they have is happiness? But these people don't understand true happiness. I think that we are beginning to lose that feeling too. Some of us seem to hate our lives so much that we would rather watch the lives of others for the "excitement". Have a problem? Feeling down? Pop this pill and this pill; we have the blues ones, and the yellow ones, and even purple. Get high, get happy.
Why do you think so many people are drowning themselves in liquor and illicit drugs (or in the recent cases in our modern world, prescription pills)? Because they are never happy with what they have thanks to our need to buy newer and better things, the images that the media displays, so on and so forth. We think that these societies that we read about could never happen to us. We're Americans; home of the free. Live the American dream. But how are we free if gays can't marry because the church says it is wrong and pushes this belief on the government? And what is the American dream anymore? Have a couple of kids, smoke some pot for the anxiety, work a job you hate because having money is more important, etc. I have tried to pay more attention to the area closest to me and it seems that every one is somewhat miserable and we really shouldn't be.
I think that overall I'm trying to say that we need to stop the madness around us and ensure that we can continue living in a world of different viewpoints. We built this country and use to take pride in our freedoms, but now we just seem to be tossing that away. Hopefully we can begin to realize this is wrong and stop from going towards those dystopian societies.