Amusing Ourselves to Death and You Just Dont Understand Essay

Amusing Ourselves to Death and You Just Dont Understand - Essay Example Part one deals with how the American media developed through the ages, with an emphasis on the printed word at first, and then the arrival of the telegraph and radio. These topics are discussed first, in a chronological order, to create a context and fill in the background. Part two looks at modern media, with an emphasis on show business, film and especially television. The structure offers two main arguments: how things have developed first of all, and then what this means for the modern world. Deborah Tannen’s You Just Don’t Understand is not arranged chronologically, but rather takes a range of different topics on the subject of men’s language and women’s language and deals with them one by one. It starts very generally, with a description of how women and men are socialized in separate spaces, and develop different techniques. The key phrase â€Å"Asymmetry† is introduced (chapter 2) and defined as the gap between the sexes. In the middle chapters more specific topics such as interruptions, and gossip are discussed, and then last chapter (chapter 10) revisits the idea of asymmetry and the author describes what to do about this mis-match, namely to open up lines of communication that both men and women can understand. An afterword written ten years after the first publication reports how successful the book was, and answers some questions which readers and critics have raised. The thematic structure suggests that the subject is being tr eated as a collection of observations rather than a single line of argument. It allows the author to range freely over many details. Question 2 Postman relies on the earlier ideas of media and culture scholar Marshall McLuhan and notes that â€Å"the clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation.† (Postman: 1985, p. 8) From this basic observation he moves to a close examination of American discourse, looking at cultural phenomena like Las Vegas, with its focus on high risk and materialism, and the medium of television which offers unintelligent and repetitive material to keep citizens quietly consuming its hidden messages. A key issue for Postman is that dictatorship need not be obvious and violent, like a fascist regime which dominates people’s lives with physical deprivation and misery. A dictatorship can be subtle and deceptive, and television is just such a force. It is not just the message that the media offer, nor even just the medium of presentation that is important, but also the far reaching implications of both of these things together as they impact upon passive viewers. The argument is very convincing because it sums up the commercialization and â€Å"dumbing down† of television in the 1980s and 1990s and points out a number of dangers which most people have not been aware of. Deborah Tannen’s book makes many statements about the different ways that men and women use language, and explains that this is often at the root of difficulties which couples have in their relationship. Her argument is based on the discipline of linguistics, and she uses linguistic terminology in quite a technical way, explaining how these features work, and what they imply about male and female gender behaviors. A big feature of the book is its insistence that male and female styles are both equally valid: â€Å"Throughout this book, and throughout my work, I take a no-fault approach† (Tannen, 2001, p. 30 1) This is a laudable aim, but unfortunately the book does not always stick to it, and there is more than a touch of pro-feminist argumentation, for example in chapter on â€Å"dominance and control,† which refers to other research but without clear indication of sources. There is a lot

Child abuse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Child abuse - Essay Example Taking a moment to know and understand some of these causes will help us to find ways of preventing child abuse. Some children have been found that they were abused by parents who had unexpected pregnancies and therefore resulted to unwanted children who end up being neglected and develop a very poor relationship with their biological mother or both parents. The parents who also physically beat their spouses are known to extend the same frustrations on their children. People who take drugs like alcoholic drinks and cigarettes or cocaine also have a tendency in abusing children. Other factors are unemployment and financial difficulties which are associated with increased rates of child abuse (Check, 1989). In a 2009 CBS News report, it was realized that child abuse in the US had become greater during the economic depression. An example was given of a father who was not a sole breadwinner . But when the father was in that role, the situation changed. In this discussion, I will talk about two factors, these two factors are; Alcoholic parents and Parents experience of violence. The problem is drinker parents and parent’s history of abusing by their family members are the most important reasons that lead parents to abuse their children. It is very important to prevent violence toward children. How do we prevent this issue? We have to stop and limit this concern by knowing the exact problem in terms of the effects it has on the children and then by addressing the solution. According to the studies from World Bank and World Health organization, â€Å"alcohol-related death and its impact is bad. The dangerous effects of alcohol use on health and the likelihood of becoming an addict have been recognized as dangerous issues of great concern for a long time (www.searo.who.int). Parents who drink alcohol or any other substances that cause them to get drunk will often abuse their children if the level of their drinking is too much. Drinking