This article is fascinating and thought-provoking. It raises many questions about what constitutes intelligence and civilization, including a university education. Could the fantastic, which is not necessarily exhibited only via technology and the "electronic hallucinations," exists side by side with the mundane, which can be presented through both a linear "print-based culture" as well as a hyperlinked "image-based culture?" The author would certainly say no to this question because, according to him, "the images do not require them to be understood. Communication in the image-based culture is not about knowledge" but about entertainment or, even, about controlling and being controlled.

Hanfu Mi

From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Greenberg, James ([log in to unmask])
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 8:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Thoughts on Article?

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

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