Uncle Sam

I would go crazy if I lived in the version of 1984 George Orwell created. I would not want to live a life where I was lied to, brainwashed, and stripped of every ounce of freedom. The thought of anyone being about to monitor my throughts creeps me out. Today we live in 2011 and there is no thoughtcrime and we learn about time when the earth was formed until present--amen. We have so much freedom and opportunity today I think people don't take advantage of it as much as they should.

America though it represents freedom and equal opportunity, we have slowly shown signs of Orwell's 1984 world. We have survallience cameras in every store and on every corner outside. The government can screen our calls. Our home address, family tree, gender, marital status and house value is open to the public on http://www.spokeo.com/. Everything is taxed and everyone must have an American Express card and Starbucks everyday. What kind of society are we going to turn into? Are we slowly being sucked away from freedom? The answers to those questions can be debated in the discussion whether we should give up our freedom for security. I believe we have the freedom to choose. Its your decison to have to government protect you from a bombing or whether you build yourself a bombshelter. That's a dramtic example but that's just I believe.

Dear Journal....Sincerely, Henry David Thoreau

Dear Journal,

Today, I woke up not in my bed in my rustic, simple cabin in the woods, but in an awfully oversized and extremely too fluffy bed in a room so large my voice echoed. I jumped off the very high fortress and wandered to the nearest door. In search for the door, I gazed upon all the things around me. There were mirrors,  lonely furniture everywhere, about 8 sources of light, and magazines with pictures of random people with their lives printed for the public. Also I found it very strange there was a huge, I mean huge, black picture frame on the wall, facing the bed, with just a black, slighty shiny, picture in it and a glowing dot in the bottom left corner of it. Is this supposed to be art?



I found my way to the oversized door, and opened it into a hall of about 20 doors just like mine. It seemed like a never ending corridor of identical doors and floral pattern floor to ceiling. A couple suddenly comes out of a door. This man and women seemed frustrated and unhappy. They were arguing over how to carry their 5 large suit cases out to the 'car?' I'm not quite sure what a 'car' is or why they have so much to carry. They seemed like they knew where they were going so I followed them. They stopped at a large metal thing on the wall, pushed a button, and suddenly this metal contraption opened! We walked in, the metal door closed, and with a sudden jolt we started moving. The couple continued to argue with each other until something started making noise. It was in the man's pocket. He interrupted the women, quieted the noise, and then started arguing into this object like it was another person. It was so strange.

Finally, the door opened again, but not to the corridor with duplicate doors. It opened to a huge open area filled with bustling people dressed head to toe in colors, textures, and shiny things. Someone came up to me while I was in awe. "Good Morning Mr. Thoreau! Hope you slept well. You have breakfast and coffee waiting for you if you could just follow me to your table. " All I could spit out was a mumbled "OK" and a nod yes. I followed him through the hectic crowd of people going in all sorts of directions, talking to each other or to those objects like the man had in the metal contraption. Next thing I know, I was in another incredibly large room with a million tables it seemed like. And the smells of all sorts of warm cooking infused my nostrils. I was seated at a table that could seat about 10 more adults. I could not believe what I saw in front of me. There was a plate larger than my head, stacked high with food--pancakes, eggs, bread, and things I have never seen before. There was about 3 types of meat I think, all in different shapes and forms. There were about 5 different utensils around this mound of food, all shapes and sizes. Along with this meal, that could last me about 2 months, was 3 different glasses of liquid. One was water, one was murky brown and steaming, and the other was bright orange, as orange as a setting sun.



"Here you go, when you're ready for seconds just ring this bell right here and I will bring you a new plate with more goodies. And if you need anything else just ring this bell and I will assist you with anything--you don't need to lift one finger here. Enjoy your stay Mr. Thoreau."

I looked down at this feast in front of me, and the extravagant ball room I was in, and asked myself "Where the hell am I?'' I miss the woods. I want my cabin back.


-Henry

Why I would go to the woods...

About 20 minutes south east of Shippensburg is a lake in Pine Grove state forest. My friends and I drive out there any day of the week, any season. Today we are actually driving out there for a bit, have lunch and just hang out. The best part about it, there is now cell phone service and no civilization--just water, woods, and blue skies. In the summer, we lay out in the sunshine, swim in the crystal clear water, and enjoy everything natural around us. In the winter, the lake is frozen with a foot of ice and blanketed with snow. Any little tree branch that falls or a bird that chirps can be heard from a half a mile away. This lake is one of my favorite places to be.

When I'm in complete solitude, It almost has an erie feeling. Silence is so rare that it is kind of scary. The lake is as about quiet and natural as I can get these days. I feel like nothing bad can get me.

Even though I strongly feel offended when Dr. Baurlein says we are the 'Dumbest Generation,' I do feel that we can get too caught up in our blackberries and home theaters. Contrary to Dr. Baurlein, it is not just our generation, but everyone who is living in this technological era--including Dr. Baurlein himself. I wonder how long he could survive without his smartphone and GPS. Thank god we have not reached the technological level that the book Feed is about. Everyone has their moments caught up in all our electronic luxuries. I have to admit that I once caught myself in a bad mood because my car needed gas, I didn't know my pin number for my debit card, I didn't have my speed pass or cash--I was stranded. But I realized a few minutes while I waited at the gas station for my mom, that this is pathetic. I am pathetic that I was complaining about putting gas in my car when people don't even have enough food to feed their families. Anyways, getting a little off subject, it is hard not to depend on our technology when it's everywhere. 


I would love to not have to depend on my cell phone, computer and TV. I feel like people would have a greater appreciation for things made by nature and not in a factory in China. My favorite quote from Thoreau is "We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep." I believe Thoreau is saying how nature is always constant. The sun will always rise and will always set. Nature is not a fad. 

'The Dumbest Generation'

I am insulted when I hear Dr. Bauerlein describe my generation, the 'under 30 years old crowd' as the dumbest generation. I'll admit I don't know all the details about every war and I most likely can't name all of Antonio Vilvaldi's compositions but that does not mean the this technology era has turned my brain to mush. Yes, my generation loves the internet, computers, cell phones, iPads, iPods, video games, GPS's and all other new technology, but it doesn't mean our advanced interest in technology is dumbing us down.

Every generation rags on the newer generation for being lucky, spoiled, wild, reckless, or just naive. My grandparents thought that my dad was a wild child because he wanted to listen to The Beatles as opposed to Beethoven, and my dad doesn't understand why Facebook is so appealing. I'm sure when my generation is older we won't understand or agree with our children's interests but kids do what they wanna do. Kids learn from mistakes, just like our parents, our grandparents and great grandparents did. No textbook, classical composer, or website is going to prevent those mistakes.

In the interview we watched in class about 'The Dumbest Generation,' Dr. Bauerlein says that friend's don't expand your vocabulary, friends don't make you appreciate the Venetian Republic and that we need to pull ourselves out of our "little tiny social world." I disagree with him on this point, I believe that a big difference with our generation is that we learn an immense amount of knowledge from our friends, parents, teachers and people we interact with. Maybe our generation just has a little attention deficit disorder than previous generations because we would rather learn how to through interactions and hands on experiences than just reading about it in books--which in my eyes is far from being a bad thing. There is no doubt in my mind teenagers and people in their 20s spend immense amounts of time on Facebook or socializing with friends and coworkers. I can only really speak for my friends and I when I say, that we don't just talk about the latest break ups, what parties are going on this weekend, or what happened on Jersey Shore last week, we talk about our futures, our pasts, religion, what we enjoy and what we think is important or not important. I believe that our generation thrives off of social relations because everyone had some different and unique to contribute and life these days depends on social skills, who you know, and not so much about the Venetian Republic.

Now I do believe that there are some people under the age of 30 who have been brain washed by the digital divide. The youth is very fortunate to have all this social networking and leisure activities to enjoy, but they do have a tendency to suck people out of reality, morals, and nature. For example, Keisha's song Tik Tok is probably how Dr. Bauerlein see's every girl under 30.

Tik Tock by Kesha

I personally enjoy the parody of this song better.

Sing Talk (Tik Tock Parody)


Personally, I believe that Dr. Baurelein says our generation is lazy and ignorant because of people like Kesha who flat out say all they care about is drinking and looking good but also Dr. Baurelein is lazy and ignorant for generalizing our whole generation as people like Ms. South Carolina and Kesha.