Once again, Néstor has proposed to us another opportune topic for debate. With his article On a Pessimist view he has already launched a discussion on new technologies and their potential risks. I would like to begin our first forum this year by expanding Néstor’s concerns beyond Facebook. Our leading questions are simple, though answers may not be so:
Are new technologies positive or negative? To what extent? What are we gaining from their use? What are we loosing?
Join the debate.
We discussed in Language and Culture IV some aspects of feudalism taking into accoount Fisher’s text. We explored the relationship between vassals and lords, the act of Homage, and the centralization of power in the case of William the Conqueror.
May 20th - Néstor Cevasco
We continued reading Beowulf till a passage describing the appearance of a second female monster in Herot, who is worst than the former Grendel. We also read Borges and discussed the use of kennings in Anglo-Saxon poetry.
May 14th – Daniela Duhalde
We read Beowulf and reached a passage describing Grendel’s defeat in Herot. We discussed on some elements of Anglo-Saxon poetry and alliteration.
May 13rd – Jésica Pereyra
During this class, we talked a bit about our experience as teachers, having in mind that some of us have started with the observations for our Prácticas. Then, we started discussing about the new assignment. We gathered information and created our hypotheses.
At first, we compared a fragment (the first 20 lines) of the poem Beowulf in old English with a fragment of a new edition of the same poem. Then, we discussed a bit about the manuscript of the poem, and we also commented the main reasons why Beowulf is a very important poem. Later in the class, we made a few comments on the poem (from fit 3 to almost 9) and we talked about its origin and the role of Christianity in it.
This Thursday 7th, we discussed on Anglosaxonism and several issues related to this. One of these was connected to the belief, popular or not, of relating Anglo-Saxonism to the idea of a superior race. We concluded that this feeling just takes part of a mere nationalistic feeling, and negative for this matter. In addition to this, we explored the originary myths of the English as a race stating two main theories. One is the Trojan, in other words, conceiving the English as descendants of Trojans. The other one is the the Anglo-Saxon.
During this class we discussed about the 1st assignment.
Then, we started discussing the text Anglo-Saxonism and the Construction of Social Identity by Allen J. Frantzen and John D. Niles. We said that there are two meanings to the term Anglo-Saxonism.
Then, we mentioned that the Anglo-Saxon is considered an origin myth, that is to say, a myth that talks about the origin of the English identity. We mentioned that the Anglo-Saxon myth and the Trojan myth considered the origin of the English people.
During this class we commented on the text A poetics to Postmodernism, by Hutcheon, Linda ( 1988). We read the First part: “Theorizing the postmodern; Toward a poetics.”
First of all, we commented on the term ‘poetics’ which has to do with the analysis of texts from an artistic point of view and the elements that make particular a text. After that, we began talking about certain characteristics that identify postmodernism. Some of them were: discontinuity, disruption, dislocation, decentring, indeterminacy and antitotalization. As regards the past, the author argues that postmodernism rethinks history in an ironic, critical and even contradictory way. As an example, we watched the film Brazil, which illustrated some of the concepts mentioned above.
We commented on the text “The leading facts of English history”,” Fourth Period”, “The coming of the Saxon, the battles of the tribes- British becomes England”, by Montgomery.At first, we discussed on the battle between the Britors and the Picts and Scots (The Picts and Scots attacked the Britors from the north, who were also being attacked by the Saxons from the south). We also talked about King Arthur but we agreed that we are going to discuss this topic on our “Language and Culture Blog”. Another relevant topic we mentioned was Christianity and how it was introduced into the island, we made a few comments on its origins and on the political influence Christianity had, too. Then, we talked about the Danish and the reason why the Saxons were easily convinced to accept Christianity as a new religion.
During this class, we discussed Montgomery’s Leading Facts of English History. Third Period. Roman Britain,55 b.C.; 43-410 A.D. A civilization which did not civilize. Taking into account the subtitle, we tried to discover the writer’s point of view on what he wrote: how a stable civilization could not civilize barbarics.The author mentions Caesar’s campaigns to Britain and how the Romans did to establish there after several invations. He also mentioned the expedition against the Druids, kind of priests that were Britons’ religious image, and how the Romans introduced Crhistianity.Other thing that Montgomery mentions in this text is how the Romans built roads to join the five important provinces they had divided the territory into; also they built up enormous walls to prevent invasions.Finally, we discussed how and why the Romans abandoned Britain: there was a barbaric invasion, so the Roman emperor recalled their troops.
Honestly, never had I spent my time in asking myself if Facebook users could possibly become stupid either for investing a considerable part of their precious time in sticking photos on the Internet to expose these to a wide social net of friends and relatives or just for making insignificant comments on their routines which they would like to share with the rest. I should say that I do not agree in the least degree with this writer, although I must humbly recognize that since I introduced myself in Facebook, I have been spending vast hours of my time in entertaining myself, time that could have been used in reading an interesting book or in hearing a serious debate on the Internet for instance.
I think there’s nothing wrong in getting banal with something new. Maybe banality is just a part of a natural process. There are plenty of examples showing that people generally get banal or entertained to the excess whenever they are faced with something new. For example, adolescents getting banal as soon as they get in love for the first time, a little boy that could possibly get banal because his/her father has recently bought a new play station. Constantly, people get banal whenever they are faced with something that attracts powerfully their attention. Sooner or later, this symptom changes either because one gets tired or because there’s a new entertainment ready to replace the previous one. Therefore, this symptom of ‘stupidity’, or in better words, of banality evidenced on people, as soon as it has easy come, must easy go.
Concluding, the idea that facebook can make its users ‘stupid’ is totally unjustifiable. On the contrary, sometimes this label of banality or triviality described by some pessimist, apocalyptic observers on people who naively entertain themselves is just a sign of a transitory symptom which does not last forever and naturally changes almost imperceptibly as soon as something different appears like a serious book, a change of habit or just a different life situations.
Together with the three powers of the democratic system, legislative, executive and judicial, the press has gained a fourth place and it is widely known as the fourth power. Its force has developed considerably during the last century and it has even been able to impeach some presidents, after the disclosure of dirty affairs of political and even sexual connotations. Words are not just symbols or grouped sounds, they are powerful instruments of communication. In the press code of ethics, the use of these powerful symbols is measured by two principles, objectivity and independence being the most important ones. Objectivity when writing prevents subjective consideration of any situation in order not to influence the readers, and independence is crucial to avoid being controlled by others in the manner the news will be presented or, what is more, whether it will be presented at all. These two principles go hand in hand, and the deficiency of one would represent the lack of the other. And although the press is said to be an independent power, many pressures are put on it, which bias and influence the news report so as to comfort or please different interests coming from the government, private companies or advertisers. This sharing of power seems to put the press ethics at risk, thus, ruining its credibility.
Words are made up of two dimensions, “action” –transforming the world, and “reflection” upon that action (Paulo Freire, 1993). When people interact, they do so by relating their perceptions of reality, and they act upon the interpretation of common knowledge, the real state of things being reinforced by their respective sensing. The press has in its hands the responsibility to use the language appropriately, without privileging any side, for it is totally responsible for forming public opinion. The only way to achieve this is by following its basic precepts of objectivity and independence. These rules are a model through which newswriters can measure their performance. These moral rules have been agreed by in order to obtain the highest standards of professional conduct. The real function of newspapers is to verify, sieve and deliver unbiased facts to readers without personal influence from their writers. The need of the readers to rely on the objectivity of newspaper writers is paramount, for newspapers are a relevant source of information for business men, politicians and ordinary people to obtain fair information.
As mentioned before, an element of relevance for the press is its autonomy. Only by being autonomous, will the printed media be able to fulfil its ethical principles of objectivity and independence. Judgement based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by personal emotions or external influences is a key element for any newspaper, for the press is responsible for the providing of reliable data. But many interests lie in the way to control what should or should not be written and even the mode it should be presented to the readers. Many times advertisers and the companies they represent -the ones who provide the biggest incomes to any newspaper, suggest what kind of articles could suit their products better, so that the advertisements should be placed more strategically within the paper, thus, pressing the editors to change and remove the articles which could damage their image. In many countries across the world, governments put pressure on the press by not advertising in their papers if they do not like the way they treat the information related to their decisions and policies, which represent a huge loss of money coming from that source. This notorious interference in the autonomy of the printed media erodes its elemental ethical precepts. The role of the press in any society is to act like a big eye which helps to preserve the moral basis of that society, providing the right to be well informed that any citizen has. The obligation of any newspaper is to be accurate, honest, fair responsible and decent. Truth should be its guiding principle. The press should serve as a constructive critic of all segments of society, reflecting in its coverage, its diverse constituents. It should expose duplicity or misuse of power, public or private. If the choice of the information to be presented and the way it is presented is influenced by economic or political forces in order to please their interests, its ethic will be under a serious risk.
The importance of the print media in the formation of public opinion has a remarkable power and influence in any modern society. Through the discovery and clarification of political and economic anomalies, the press has gained its prestige based on the credibility of its readers. Economic and political pressures on the press seem to deteriorate its independence while informing, and directly weaken its key ethical principle of objectivity. This disturbance in the normal development of this institution seems to put the real function of any newspaper –informing freely and without external intervention, at risk. Biased and influenced news reports are not helpful to any society, for they do not reflect the real state of affairs taking place in a certain time in history, and they only lead to confusion, misunderstanding and disbelief of the target readers.
Bibliography
· What Power of the Press? http://www.theguardian.co.uk
· Freire, Paulo (1993). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Penguin Books.
· (I do not remember the name of the book you lent me.)
· Media Communication and Ethics. http://presscouncil.nic.in/speech
· Journalism and Media Ethics. http://comslaw.org.au
© Copyright 2008-2010 Blas A. Bigatti (blasbigatti@gmail.com)
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