Reading Response 6

While recently reading the article “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution: Images of Technology and the Nature of Change,” written by Cynthia L. Selfe, something clicked in my head and I realized that we are so distracted by our lives that we don’t realize how certain things are targeted to specific audiences. Selfe discusses how advertisers for computers and their parts target men with their ads and commercials. She first brings up the fact that we all agree with the fact that “computer-supported environments will help us create a utopic world in which gender is not a predictor of success or a constraint for interaction with the world.” What this means is that we have created this cultural narrative for ourselves that somehow this computer advancement is going to help us share a non-sexist perfect world between ourselves. Selfe believes that we seem to be so caught up in this idea that we don’t really realize that the advertisements that we are being shown are somewhat sexist. Computer games are designed for boys, computer commercials are aimed mainly at men, and computer environments are still constructed for males. We still see men as the main provider in households all over the United States so many things are target just towards men instead of women. Today, women are making themselves visible a lot more. Women can do whatever a man can do now, so why are we still sticking to our sexist ways? If a man can fix a computer, use it for recreational purposes and do work on them, then a woman can too if she wants.

I can’t even begin to think of a solution to this because we have had these types of stereotypes since the beginning of time. We seem to get a little better with time, but there is always going to be that vision of the working man coming home to the wonderful housewife. Selfe believes that “creating an electronic ungendered utopia means that we might have to learn how to understand people outside of the limited gender roles that we have constructed for them in this country, that we may have to abandon the ways in which we have traditionally differentiated between men’s work and women’s work in the market place, that we may have to provide men and women with equitable remuneration for comparable jobs, that we may have to learn to function within new global contexts that acknowledge women as Heads of State as well as heads of households.” She was able to come up with a number of solutions to think about. It is basically saying that if we put all of the gendered stereotypes behind us, we will be able to grow as a nation because men and women can be equal for the first time ever. A move like that would change our nation as a whole. We would be able to see women in a whole new light. We wouldn’t see the same old vision of them in the kitchen cooking, but maybe by the computer trying to fix it herself without a man’s help.

My thoughts on Cynthia's article

While reading the article "Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution," by Cynthia Selfe, she talks about how technology has created a change so that it can "help us create a global village in which the peoples of the world are all connected, communicating with one another and cooperating for the commonweal. According to this popular social narrative, the computer network that spans the globe will serve to erase meaningless geopolitical borders, eliminate racial and ethnic differences, re-establish a historical familial relationship which binds together the peoples of the world regardless of race, ethnicity, or location." Taking this idea of today's technology, we will simply create an electronic colony; as in all the people in the world are going to be connected to each other and communicate with each other through the world wide web. For example, people in Canada are communicating with people in China; they don't know each other in person, but with technology, they know each other through communication. The idea of creating a "Global Village" through technology can happen, but it won't likely happen because we can just communicate through technology thus making us an electronic colony (people who are connected to everything). We like to believe that technology will be the global village, but it turned out to be the electronic colony. While reading these segments from the article, I believe that this is the most important part that Cynthia talks about.

Coming out of this part of the article, I believe that we need to know what it is to be in a global village instead of an electronic colony. First of all, let's take a look at world hunger in Africa. There is a lot of people starving all over in that country and they will have the first-hand experience in that subject. Then take a look at someone in the United States that has access to the internet. That person will look on there and find out what's the latest situation in Africa and find out exactly what is going on. He can choose to send a donation if he please if he cares that much; but that's all he is doing, he is simply clicking around on the internet and absorbing all the information and possibly sending a donation by clicking a button. He has no idea (no first-hand experience) of the troubles in Africa, he has only seen it on the computer. In order for it to become a global village, the people that are the donators will have to travel to Africa and experience the hardships first-hand. They will have to step in their shoes and contribute to the cause locally. There will certainly need to be more traveling among races to fully communicate and contribute to each other's causes. But for right now, I believe a lot of people will just have to use the good old technology to see what's happening around them; no matter what race or ethnicity, we will all contribute through the web and first-hand for some people.

Jon on Selfe

“An exclusive focus on the positive changes associated with technology, often serves to distract educators from recognizing how existing social forces actually work to resist change in connection with technology…” a powerful statement made by author Cynthia L. Selfe in “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution”. Selfe’s purpose through her writing is to inform the readers, or more specifically English Studies teacher’s, to be aware of the propaganda in images relating to technology and what the true purpose of that image may be. She later gives many examples to support her claim and goes on to show us the connection with the “Global Village” and the “Electronic Colony”. One of the common idea’s shared throughout this technology generation is that it can make us closer and keep us connected. “According to this popular social narrative, the computer network that spans the globe will serve to erase meaningless geopolitical borders, eliminate racial and ethnic differences, re-establish a historical familial relationship which binds together the peoples of the world regardless of race, ethnicity, or location.” Although this sounds like something that we would all hope for, unity, and understanding throughout the world, we can’t do this through a computer screen. Selfe shows that is impossible for us to truly be connected or to relate to someone in another country, especially one that is poverty stricken. That we “In fact, find ourselves as a culture, ill equipped to cope with the changes that the “global village” story necessitates, unable, even, to imagine, collectively, ways of relating to the world outside our previous historical and cultural experiences.” This gives us the feeling that we are a world away without ever leaving our homes. We like to think that we are connected to these people that are thousands of miles away when we truly are that far away.

I agree with Selfe with her narrative of the “Global Village” because my own experience with technology throughout my life can relate to it. Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, and Television can give you that feeling that you are really connected to these people in a significant way. You talk to a friend that you haven’t seen for five years and you find them on face book, you have a conversation about what you have been up to in your life and theirs and it seems like you might know them again. But in reality you are only getting the pieces you are allowed to see or hear. You don’t truly know them or understand unless you are experiencing it yourself. When you go on the computer and look at a picture of a tribe in the amazon it may make you feel like you can understand their plight, looking at the child’s starving face and feeling remorse and sadness for him. You could try and say you feel his pain, but until you walk in the shoes of these people you could never truly understand, further bridging the gap of human connection. It’s a belief passed on to us through the corporations to affect us emotionally and manipulate us to feel and think a certain way, and in many cases it is extremely affective. The goal of Cynthia L. Selfe is for us to know and educate others about these tactics being used on us the “Global Village”, to give us the tools to better understand, and to see things in a new light.

Reading Response #6

In the article “Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution,” Cynthia Selfe’s perspective on 21st century technologies is that there is a lot of change involved when it comes to our culture and leads towards productive socialism. She discusses three narratives to get her claim across. She makes the claim that “advertisements are powerful communication devices because they are so loaded with social significance to us.”

reading response #6

        Recently, I read an article by Cynthia Selfe about the change in advertisements. It has come to her attention that advertisements reflect of peoples culture and reinforce it. To put this into perspective, a picture of a white family in front of a large house might stand for how “perfect” America is, but us as the viewers know that isn’t true. As a society , and the group of marketers who take the pictures for the ads are trying to expand the culture of people and have more interesting and not so stereotypical images. To have pictures being taken in such a positive way, Selfe describes technology as giving us hope for the future. If we are given the chance to see what to strive for, then it helps us see that were all going to be okay. The positive social aspects of the new technology and way to look at ads over compensates the negative affects. For example, even though it is obvious to see that there is world hunger by looking at a picture, by never having to experience hunger on a personal level, it doesn’t effect the person as much. All the person looking at the picture has to do is send in money to a company and he or she has a sense of person satisfaction by feeling like they made a difference. To have this power to many people never experience the problems some people have to live with today makes it difficult for anyone to relate to them. People tend to not even try to put there selves into the person on the other side of the lenses feels or lives there life. But by having the ability to see what else is going on in the world, it also is helping the increase of people culture because they are becoming more aware of what’s going on around them. Selfe expresses this idea by showing ads about different cultures by seeing how differently they live than Americans do. This idea has large importance because it gives people the ability to explore and make a difference without having to step out of there comfort zones.
        By focusing on how to see a picture makes people stay in there comfort zones, Selfe over looks the deeper problem of the few people that the picture makes them come out of there so called comfort zones. If a picture is so intense or means a lot to a person, it might effect someone more than another person. If someone sees a picture that some how relates to them, it makes them more eager to help the cause or it will mean more to them. Another way an ad can make people want to do more would be if it is disturbing them. If it was something repulsive or tear jerking, it might make the person find passion and want to make a change. Personally , an experience with me was when I was seeing pictures and hearing about the poverty in Haiti. My friend Katelyn’s family was in the process of adopting two girls at the time. When I could see pictures in magazines it made me feel helpless but when I knew that I had the power to help those kids, I did my best to do all I could. I gave money to her mother to help pay for bags of rice and my family donated to the program that helped advance there orphanages. The power of advertisements changed my perspective and helped me make a difference in someone’s life.

Dylan Langei's response to "Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution"

In Cynthia Selfe’s “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” her central claim can be seen that positive changes that are associated with technology often distract educators from recognizing how existing social forces try to resist change in connection with technology and how our culture, and the social formations that make up this culture reacts when educators support the status quo when technology threatens to disrupt the world in a meaningful way, even as we praise the changes is promises to bring.

One of Cynthia’s most important claims are when she explains that in the profession of English studies, the teachers hope that computers will create students to become “more productive in the classroom and other instructional settings, more effective as communicators, and more responsibly involved as literate citizens in world affairs.” This claims explains that in the English profession, teachers depend on computers to advance the knowledge of students which directly connects to her central claim that positive changes that are associated with technology often distracts educators from the fact that social forces try to resist change. Another important claim that Selfe leaves the reader is that “because our culture subscribes to several powerful narratives that link technological progress closely with social progress, it is easy for us-for Americans, in particular-to believe that technological change leads to productive social change.” Once again Selfe explains that we are blinded by technology strictly for the fact that our society believes we are exploiting social progress so well and so fast, that we don’t realize when technology threatens to disrupt the world.

I definitely agree with Cynthia Selfe’s central claim that technology often distracts educators because it sheds light on both her other important claims that our society is lead to believe that technological change leads to productive social change and in the profession of English instructors hope computers will better of their students. Technology can be a wall between teachers and students; they believe that technology automatically creates students to become more productive, more effective as communicators, and more involved in world affairs so this ultimately could cause instructors to overlook certain aspects of teaching because they just believe the students have advanced technology so teaching thoroughly is not required. This of course is not in every case, but is a possibility with such dependence on technology. This is not the instructors fault at all but mainly societies because our society is so wrapped around technology that we believe “technological change leads to productive social change.” We ultimately believe that everything that comes out of technology is positive, educationally and socially. This could cause teachers to overlook certain aspects of their subject when teaching because they might assume, oh my students can just look up this main point on Google or a word they don’t understand on Dictionary.com so in depth teaching could be thrown out. This of course shows that this technological revolution can have some very severe negatives socially and in the educational world.

Tristans 6th reading response

In the article “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” Cynthia Selfe discusses the marketing and advertisements of technology, mainly the usage of computers. Selfe explains that certain types of advertisements target specific people and can be analyzed to a deeper meaning than just what is apparent in the photos. This is all being disputed over with computers becoming more popular and schools starting to rely on the internet and computer usage to be successful. Changes have to be made in order for computers to keep momentum and stay useful, so advertisements of new technology, such as brands, processors accessories will always be apparent in our society.

The first narrative I have chosen to write about is the un-gendered utopia, in which it is said computers are made to give equal access and opportunity to either sex. I feel like this is not entirely true because computers and technology are things a lot of girls do not learn about because they simply don’t have a need for it. In my house when our computer crashes or our internet the girls don’t know how to fix it, my dad or I have to go unplug the routers troubleshoot and fix the error. This is only one point and if a computer never crashes it does indeed give equal opportunity but the procedure is not flawless yet, there are complications. Computers do in fact offer every thing they do to males to females. Girls can play video games, surf the web, use minor and ever difficult programs with lessons, the same goes for a guy. People are not born with the ability to use a computer, it is learned.

The second narrative is that the internet and computers form an online “village” and connect people from all parts of the world. I agree with this 100% because with web cams and chat sites you can talk with someone anywhere on the earth that has internet. The chef at my families restaurant would use his web cam every night to talk to his wife who had moved away for a short period of time to Vancouver. This isn’t a huge distance but they could talk face to face over the internet. Other sources such as facebook, blogs, myspace, twitter, and any chat site provide people the ability to talk and connect with others around the world. It is crazy that the internet has evolved so much and has given almost anyone the chance of experiencing things that never could have been done before.

This second narrative reminds me of the online gaming websites from the video we watched because the game gives you an opportunity to converse with others and basically live a second life if you are not a fan of your real one. With technology evolving more and more we can not begin to imagine what is still to come.