Wednesday, October 28, 2009
My RLiT Take-Away
I have to start by saying of all the reading material that was required for this course this was the one I was least excited about. I gave it a try and become a little addicted to it. Started reading it every chance that I could. I liked the fact that this is a first person account of how another part of the world lives, especially in the Middle East. We seem to receive a lot of information that is speculative on this region and it was refreshing to hear a few stories from the source. The main thing that I took away from reading this novel was the theme of basic freedoms. I look at the differences between those who don't have their freedoms and how they will fight to the death for them and how we, the people of the United States have become complacent with theirs. I think we can all take a lesson from the Iran situation. You know when people say, "You never know what you've got til it's gone?" I think this sum the topic up nicely. All they wanted to do was read books, classics, they wanted to learn. They weren't allowed, so they did it in hiding, in secret. That's how badly they thirsted for knowledge, here; we ban books for much of the same reasons. I encourage you to look at the banned book list for the last 10 years or so. Then look at the reasons why they were banned, I think it may be a shocker to you. This is just an example of how we take what we have for granted and have become increasingly less vigilant in our defense of these rights. It wasn't too terribly long ago that our country went through much bloodshed to acquire these rights that we take for granted today. Millions of people died, lives were destroyed, but what came from all that was wonderful. We are now faced with a challenge; we are in the age of information. Every kid, teenager, and adult has their face glued to a glowing screen of some kind or tweeting about their unimportant lives while there are important changes going on in our world. It makes me sick to see people who are totally uninformed about rights that they will readily take away because they were too busy on their favorite news source, TMZ. I am being syndical, but it comes from a real place and a real fear. Reading this book should be a wake-up call to everyone, take part in your democracy or lose it. It's real simple, I feel we're riding the coattails of those before us; we have to power to do great things, let's not waste it tweeting about what we had for lunch or facebooking.
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I do agree with you I believe that this book does show us why we shouldn't take the basic freedoms that we have for granted. They are at times so small but they are fragile and when you take them away it is like taking away the reason that we love the United States for. The books that have been banned in the last ten years have been banned for questionable reason as you have alluded to. With governments ad even our own they have forgotten with out the people that there is no country and that the people are the backbone of the government. There are times that these freedoms get take n away because of the fear that the government has of its people. You have a lot of Americans complaining about what’s going on but they do not get into the democratic process. Martin Luther King says it best that our inaction is just as worse as the action of those that are injustice. I look at it this way, if you want change do not take these basic freedoms for granted because you will regret it when they do get taken away. Just bullshitting about lemons is something that could be taken away at any moment.
ReplyDeleteHa I love how everyone’s most dreaded reading assignment is everyone’s most enjoyable. I to was hesitant about this assignment I was sure it was going to be boring and just a bunch of redbrick but I was surprised. I really liked how you mentioned you never know what you have till its gone. That’s kind of the way I took this assignment as well. We take so much for granted we don’t realize or even stop to think about the things other people must endure. We just think of the hardships we have, and in comparison our hardships are a good day for most. I like how you really understood that because that was the biggest thing I took away from this reading assignment. And as I said in my post not a day goes by that I don’t think about how lucky I am and how blessed we all are to have the freedoms we do. Good post for me you really hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteI too dreaded about reading this book and it did become very interesting. Your last sentence struck me and caught me laughing. It is really ridiculous about how people tweet about their lives and what they are doing. It is simply a waste of time and no one really CARES about their yummy turkey sandwich. People don’t realize what we have and they regret it once it is gone. For example convicts, they abuse their freedom and sometimes take others away as well. Some actually regret after they are in prison and some don’t care. I have heard that even in prison they have rights also even though it is taken away. They have “privileges” what the hell is that? Everyone should really appreciate what we have, when we don’t have a choice anymore then we complain. That has made me realize something about voting. I don’t vote because I hate politics, but I wonder how I would react if voting is not meant for citizens anymore. People are too busy into celebrities lives where they pay much attention to what they have. It is time that people should realize what is important and what is not.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post this week. I agree with you we in America have taken for granted all the freedoms we have while other people in oppressed countries would love to have the freedoms that we do. I think you really summed it up when you said, "The main thing that I took away from reading this novel was the theme of basic freedoms. I look at the differences between those who don't have their freedoms and how they will fight to the death for them and how we, the people of the United States have become complacent with ours."
ReplyDeleteI, too, thought by the title of the book that it would be a chore to read, but once I opened the book up and started reading I was hooked. The book was so informative and it really gave me an appreciation for the freedoms we have in the United States. It made me think what a wonderful place we have to live in and we just take it for granted until we read a book like this. When you stated, "Reading this book should be a wake-up call to everyone, take part in your democracy or lose it. It's real simple, I feel we're riding the coattails of those before us; we have the power to do great things, let's not waste it tweeting about what we had for lunch or facebooking." I agreed with you one hundred and ten percent!