Baron argues that all writing supplements go through the same stages of treatment by the public. Computers are treated no differently from how pencil or typewriter were treated by the public when they were first invented - with anxiety and outrage. However, Baron fails to account for the fact that different segment of the public view computer, as a writing supplement, with different level of enthusiasm. For instance, the more tech-savvy people welcome computers with open arms.
One question I have for this reading is: since the computer has a lot more utilities than just a form of writing supplement, is it fair to evaluate it the same way as we do to pencil and typewriters?
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One of the arguments that John Berger posits in Ways of Seeing is that the way we see things is largely determined by our personal beliefs, past experiences, and knowledge. I am largely in agreement with this point, and I will go so far to say that it is not only the ways we see things but also the ways we listen and feel things are largely influenced by personal backgrounds.
I will support my position with an analysis of an example of a multi-modal composition:
This is a whiteboard animation, which has been a popular choice of the multi-modal form of presentation on the internet in the last few years. The producer, Simon Sinek, uses verbal communication, visual drawings, and sporadic sound effects to sell his audience the reason why millennial are entitled and narcissistic as compared to the previous generations. However, the message intended by the animation would be viewed through different lenses based on the generation that the audience came from.
Viewers from the non-millennial generations would largely buy into his argument because many pieces of evidence Simon Sinek illustrated about the behavior of the millennials are, in fact, true and commonly seen in their interactions with the millennials. These behaviors, to them, are excellent examples of self-entitlement and narcissism. However, what this group of viewers fails to realize is the fact that millennials are growing up in a vastly different environment and landscape than that of the previous generations. The way they behave may very likely be the adaptations that they have to make to thrive in this time and age. And so, for the millennial viewers of this video, they would likely feel that the animation is unfair and untrue to them based on their beliefs and experiences in growing such in this time and age.
One question I have for this reading is: if the modern means of production of the visual arts destroy the authority of art, then what use do we have for the preserved old visual arts?
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