9/14/09 Posting

Now a day it seems like everything everyone says or does is being watch by some person, group, or organization. Now sometimes these words and actions are praised and respected, but most the time the person under the spotlight is being securitized or degraded. Regardless of if the person’s actions were right or wrong, one question always comes to my mind. Do people think about what will happen because of their words and actions? I’m not trying to sound angry or cynic, but I just wonder if people realize what their doing all the time. Did Martin Luther King Jr. realize that his words and actions would change civil liberties forever, or did Mother Teresa realize how many lives she would directly and indirectly change?

It seems like now days, people don’t really consider the repercussions of their own actions and words. Recent events like the outburst of Rep. Joe Wilson, Glenn Beck, and Kanye West have been seen all throughout the media, but has anyone stopped to see what has or will come from these actions. As seen in the movie Network simple words such as “Mad as Hell” almost started riots in the streets. Now riots in the streets may be unlikely, but then again, many famous events in history have started with simple public speaking.

At the end of the day, we’ll probably never know the full extent of what our actions have caused. But even if this is so, does it mean that we should still not think about? I guess all we can really do is be careful of what we say, and only say something when we really mean it, cause you never know when a voice will change the world.

Waking Life Blog

Between the class exercise and the “Waking Life” clip I learned that language itself is only symbols and sounds. These symbols and sound can be spoken or written differently depending on their origin. However what is more interesting about language is that words can mean the same thing in different languages, while the same word can be interpreted a million different ways in one particular language. One reason for these variations on the meaning of a singular word was discussed in the “Waking Life” clip. It was discussed how one word could have different meanings was due to the fact that words are intangible and people can define certain words (like love, frustration, hate, etc) due to experience that they may or mat not have had in their lives. A final interesting though on words is that in the clip it discussed how words were formed from necessity to unify people, and now words can be some of the most diversifying things between people.