TBers: Re the article: In many of my intro sections of my courses I lead students into a discussion about how much of our mental landscapes are populated by 'people' who never really existed- movie characters, TV characters, people in ads, and now virtual characters. The second half of the 20th century saw not only a vast extension of the human life span and the number of people simultaneously on the earth, but an explosion of virtual characters of every kind. I carried on like that for a while until it struck me that this is nothing new. It goes back at least to the 18th century with the invention of the novel. Although I don't watch much TV or as many movies as most people, my interior life is richly populated with all of the characters, places and events in Dickens, E.M. Forster, Rex Stout, Dorothy Sayers, Philip Pullman,Thomas Hardy and, of course, the inimitable and vast population of Jane Austen's England. They seem as real to me, often more real, than real people, and I know they have all helped shape the person I am today. I am a voracious reader, and for most of my adolescence I wandered around in a fog of imaginary events and people engendered by more hours of reading than was probably good for me. As a child I remember being ridiculed for years for saying at the dinner table that the car I most wanted to own when I grew up was a 'roadster' because both Nancy Drew and Archie Goodwin drove one. I believe reading is a different experience, though. I recently had a conversation with a student about Jane Eyre. That book still rivets young women in particular with the astounding intensity of that character and those events, and she was as galvanized by it in her first reading as I am by my fiftieth reading of it. But I suppose that's why it's a classic. Do I lose consciousness of time, place and global warming when I'm reading it? You bet. Is it productive? No. Is it healthy? Who knows. As usual, the answer is probably 'all things in moderation' and 'this AND that, not this OR that.' (My new slogan.) Just my 2 cents. Patrice Macaluso On 10/20/10 8:07 AM, "Jim Greenberg" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: I'm considering having a discussion about this article (see below) in my New Media class. If you have a few extra minutes to read it, I'd be interested in your take on it so I can frame a meaningful discussion. Thanks. http://www.alternet.org/media/148449/our_country_is_lost_believing_in_what_it_sees_on_screens,_and_we_are_going_to_pay_a_nasty_price_for_it/ Hedges is a fellow of The Nation Institute. He spent two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans, with fifteen years at the New York Times. He has written a number of books including Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 blog: The 32nd Square at http://32ndsquare.blogspot.com wiki: The 32nd Square at http://32ndsquare.wikidot.com email: [log in to unmask] phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3677 IM: oneontatltc Twitter: greenbjb "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever" P Think before you print! Please consider the environment before printing this email