Journal #1: 1984

When I first got my cell phone, my dad told me that I wasn't allowed to text on it. When I asked him why, among several other reasons, he said that people who text don't even spell properly or use good grammar. I thought at first that this was silly. How could shortening words be such a problem? I didn't usually do it because I thought it looked dumb (using the letter "u" for the word "you" or "r" for "are"). However, as I thought about it more, I wondered how close humans actually are from writing and speaking in the most lazy fashion available.

We are, essentially, extremely lazy and will always want to perform tasks in the easiest way. I began to wonder how long it would be before students would be allowed to write in that way. How long would it be before children in elementary school wouldn't even know what real grammar was? Would people in the future, if they read this even be able to understand it?

The fear that began forming in my mind, and that was my dad's, became real when I read it in print. " 'Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten.' " (pg. 55), is how one character describes Newspeak and its goals. How similar are these goals to that of a lazy teenager, or even an adult for that matter?

Even beyond taking away many words in the English language, Newspeak also seeks to take away the freedom of thought that comes with having so many options to express one feeling. Human beings are so complex and therefore have complex emotions. We have worked on and honed our dictionary as best we can in order to describe those emotions. To see hundreds of years of work and development wiped away all in the name of simplicity is not only frightening but sickening as well. What better way is there to control us than to give us a limited number of ways to describe our emotions? When the ways of describing our feelings are inhibited, our thoughts will be as well. Without the development of expression, how will we grow? How will we overcome and move on? This is what the government that George Orwell describes seeks to create. The ultimate control over people is when you can control their thoughts. People always consider their minds as safe havens, even when the world around them is not. How scary is it to think that this may no longer be true in the near future?

Rant

I wake up in the morning to come to school. I am already thrilled about coming because of the fact that it's taken me away from my nice warm bed. Then I have to venture out into the cold in order to get to a destination that I am totally looking forward to going to. When I arrive, there it is. It's big, grey, monotonous, and devoid of any sort of life. Perfect! Even the statues out front are grey! To top it all of, in big, stupid letters that are extremely condescending, is the word "MAGGIE". Great, thanks a lot designers and architects. I would have forgotten that the nick name of my school is Maggie without your help. Hey, this way if I'm stumbling around drunk at 8:15 on Monday morning and can't remember what my school is called, or I can't find it because it's so grey that it just blends into its surroundings, I'll see "MAGGIE" and be saved! Hallelujah! I won't be late for class! Thank goodness the people who designed this realized that we would all be too stupid to actually remember what our school is called. Of course, it wouldn't occur to them that they could maybe use some colour to make it stand out so we can find it more easily. Thank you for your heartfelt concern and the wonderful choice of colours for this school. I just adore the fact that I feel like I'm walking into a jail in the mornings. It makes my day go so much better.

The Perils of Indifference Blog

1)The Hazards of Living in an Apathetic World

2) The story that is told in The Lottery is shocking and horrifying on many levels. It is told in a calm, clear voice and is set up to make the reader feel that these people are living "normal" lives up to the very end. The story lulls the reader into a false sense of security and then rips that security away with just a few statements. Perhaps the most horrific idea that this story presents is how realistic it really is.

A person experiences "normal" people committing acts of violence and not even realizing it. Human kind can be just like sheep in our ability to follow and ask no questions. Take, for example, either of the World Wars. An average man would sign up to participate, seeing it as the "normal" and right thing to do. He would become a soldier and then go into battle, killing the "enemy" without pausing to think of the personal ramifications that would come from killing a person. What of that person's family? What of his hopes, dreams, and plans? All are blown away in an instant with one well-placed bullet. A soldier would take orders from his superiors without a second thought. No questions would be asked as to why he was doing this. He knew he would be looked upon as a hero for years to come, and it was what everyone else was doing, so why break the tradition?

3) Elie Wiesel's speech relates directly to the townspeople in The Lottery. The characters of The Lottery do not seem to place a high value on human life. They see it as just another day. They get up, carry out their morning routine, stone someone, and then have dinner, all without expressing any sort of substantial emotion. They neither hate nor love the Lottery. It is just another tradition to participate in. When Wiesel states in his speech that "...for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbours are of no consequence," he shows the exact attitude that the townspeople have towards each other. They will exchange meaningless pleasantries and even form relationships with their neighbours, but they will just as easily turn around and stone them without a second thought. Therein lies the dangers of indifference. The danger of human kind's ability to kill without thought, or to witness an act of injustice and experience no emotion. This is what Wiesel fights against, and what The Lottery displays so clearly.

Top Three...

There are various ways to say that a person needs to use a toilet. "I need to use the washroom!", or "My bladder is about to explode!" are two examples of what I think are acceptable ways to say that they need to pee. However, there are some stupid sayings out there and I am writing about the top three dumbest ways people say they need to pee. The criteria that I am using to judge the idiocy of the different expressions include whether or not a person can state the sentence without smiling, if the words used in the sentence are actually related to the original words, and how intelligent the person sounds when making this statement.

The first ridiculous statement for this bodily function is "I need to go potty!" Firstly, the grammar in this statement is non-existant. Where are the prepositions? Secondly, how does one get the word "potty" out of the word "toilet". They are completely unrelated words, if you can even call the former one a word. Thirdly, the person saying this sounds utterly ridiculous, unintelligent, and uneducated. Thus the statement "I need to go potty!" is ranked, for me, as the worst way to say that a person needs to pee.

The second obscur sentence I have heard before is "I need to tinkle!" While this statement is slightly better grammatically, people really don't need to know that when you pee, it makes a tinkling noise. They can find it out for themselves, thank you very much. What if you were talking to someone who was deaf and you said this? They might find it slightly offensive, seeing as they don't know what "tinkling" sounds like. Also, I challenge you to say this without smiling, or causing someone else to smile after hearing it.

The third bizarre declaration that people use is "I have to piddle!" At least there aren't really any grammar issues in this statement. However, once again, I challenge you to say this without illiciting some sort of a smile or giggle from either yourself or your audience. Then there is the fact that the person most definately does not sound intelligent when they are professing their need to "piddle".

Thus, it is without hesitation that I condemn these three ways of asserting a person's desire to relieve themselves as being the worst in their category.

Topics for Blogging

I think that we should blog about books we have read and movies that we have watched. The discussions should revolve around how the topics discussed in the material affect us as a whole and/or individually. It is always interesting to see how a topic that can be extremely abstract can be applied to something very realistic.

I think that we should be graded on our blogs based on the amount of thought that is evident throughout the blog.

Superpowers

If I could have any superpower, I would want to be able to fly. I have always wanted to know what it would be like to fly without the assistance of any sort of technology. It would be so much easier to visit relatives. I wouldn't have to pay for any air flights. I would be able to travel all over the world, and see so many things. I would experience all sorts of different cultures and be extremely knowledgeable on many different topics. Then I could impress my teachers with all my amazing knowledge.

I discarded all of the other superpowers for various reasons. Your mind is your sanctuary. No one should be allowed to invade that, and so I would not want to be able to read minds. I would not want to have super-human strength because it's not really that exciting. "Yay! I can open a pickle jar now!" just doesn't get me as excited as it might for other people. If I had laser eyes and could shoot people with them, I would be way too frightened. Plus, other people would be frightened of me and I could easily hurt someone. I would feel too much guilt with that kind of a power. I think that flying would be the superpower with the least amount of responsibility and guilt, while still being extremely enjoyable.