Mark Twain quote

“The black philosopher’s idea was that a man is not independent, and cannot afford views which might interfere with his bread and butter. If he would prosper, he must train with the majority; in matters of large moment, like politics and religion, he must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors, or suffer damage in his social standing and in his business prosperities.” – Mark Twain from Corn-Pone Opinions

Twain is saying that no man is truly himself. They all form to try and be the same because it’s the safe thing to do. If a man tries to venture out on his own and stick up for what he believes in he will risk losing everything.

 

I agree with this quote, I know we are all supposed to be given our rights since we do live in a free country but honestly we have a lot of restrictions. The person Mark Twain was talking about was a black man so his ability to speak and do as he pleased were a lot more limited than they are today because of the time frame. If someone says something that other people don’t agree with that person looses most credibility to ever be listened to again. Sometimes a lot of people agree with what they are saying but just won’t admit it because they don’t want to risk their reputation as well. He is completely right when he says everyone must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors. Even at a young age kids go along with what the majority of other people are saying and doing. People strive to be accepted and they think the only way to do it is to form into the mold that everyone else has already become. While we supposedly have the freedom to say whatever we want, no one really has the courage to use that to their advantage.

“The Autumn of the Multitaskers” by Walter Kirn

 

The main claim of the paper is how multitasking is messing up people’s brains a their ability to function normally

 

In the Midwest town..

The claim of this section is that when he was younger anything that could be used for two things like a car-boat was a “bold stride toward the future.” He then switches to the camera phone and explains how combining two electronics that don’t really need to go together can be a very bad thing.

 

The abiding, distinctive feature..

Here Kirn claims that after we have certain technologies for a while they stop entertaining us and we completely forget about that thing and start expecting the next big thing.

 

We all remember..

His claim in this section is about Microsoft’s quote “Where do you want to go today?” although it’s a rhetorical question and doesn’t necessarily mean actually getting up and going somewhere, it means that if you aren’t using some sort of technology to surf the web ect. then you aren’t living.

 

It isn’t working..

 In this section he claims that multitasking messes with the brain in several ways and then goes on to give examples of studies that have been done to back his claim up.

 

Much of the problem..

He claims the brain is a computer. A CPU except that it’s not a CPU.

 

After the near-fatal consequences..

He goes back to his near fatal experience and claims that we keep coming out with better more improved ways of multitasking that aren’t really necessary and that old things that are used for just one task are more safe and work just as well

 

Here’s the worst..

He claims that multitasking with things like talking on the phone and driving are a huge cause of death and that the people they are talking to are to busy multitasking to even notice what is happening on the other line.

 

I’ve been fired..

He claims that multitasking makes us rude and inconsiderate of others.

 

There may be..

He claims multitasking is having an enormous impact on business income, and that hypnotism is easy to practice on an audience whose brains are already half dormant from the stress of multitasking.

 

Here’s one item..

Here he claims that stupid thing like articles about Kevin Federline can distract you from getting what’s really important done. Like saving money on a plane ticket.

The night the bubble..

Here he claims that we really have no explanation for why we multitask and that it’s no wonder we are so messed up when we try to do so many different things at once.

 

What happened..

Here he claims that these great inventions used to multitask don’t always turn out to be so grand usually have a flaw and will end up costing us more than they are worth.

 

Where do you..

He goes back to the Microsoft quote and claims that he doesn’t want to go anywhere besides away where he can think without so many stupid distractions.

 

The Graff Template

The general argument made by the author Susan Jacoby in her work “How dumb can we get” is that Americans are arrogant of being anti-rational and anti-intellectual. She writes, “Americans are in serious intellectual trouble- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.” In this passage Jacoby is suggesting that American dumbness is “not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge.” In conclusion, Susan Jacoby’s belief is that Americans are dumb because they don’t care not because they are incapable of being smart. We don’t mind that other countries have way more knowledge in every subject than we do.

In my view Jacoby is right, because many people I know say, “why would I learn about that I am never going to use it later in life” and then they go home and play video games or watch TV instead. More specifically, I believe that as a nation we would be much more successful if everyone read a book instead of watching a television show and actually tried to learn in their spare time. For example, if people looked up the countries shown on the news to give them some knowledge of geography that would help them learn important info without that much effort. Although Susan Jacoby might object that “there is no quick cure for this epidemic of arrogant anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism” I maintain that if people just took those small little steps it would help quickly without much effort. Therefore, I conclude that Americans may be dumb and below standard compared to other countries but if we take small steps we can greatly change that.