First Blog Post 9/4/07

The quote that I chose to discuss from Neil Postman's Technopoly is found on page 11. "It is to be expected that the winners will encourage the losers to be enthusiastic about computer technology. That is the way of winners, and so they sometimes tell the losers that with personal computers the average person can balance a checkbook more neatly, keep better track of recipes, and make more logical shopping lists" I found it quite interesting that Postman divided everyone into two categories, you were either a winner or a loser, there was nothing in between. There are people, myself included, that understand and know how to use technology, but don't try to force it onto other people. But going by his definition of winners and losers, those people would all be considered losers which is kind of a harsh statement. However, I will agree with him that there are people in the world, his so called "losers", who will do something just because someone who said they were qualified, the "winners", said it was the right thing to do.

Another thing that caught my eye was the fact that the whole section that Postman wrote on winners and losers in regards to technology, he never referred to a famous work or author like he did many other times in the first four chapters. By not giving any citations or evidence to back up this claim, it leads the reader to believe that the whole section is his opinion, how he believes technology divides people. Throughout the first four chapters, Postman uses famous works by people such as Aristotle, Galileo, and Copernicus, who are all considered to be credible authors, to back up his theories on the relationship between technology and culture. By doing this, he builds up his ethos and starts to convince the reader that he knows what he is talking about and has credible sources to back him up. But the section on winners and losers threatens that credibility, which I thought was a strange move.

All in all, I thought that this particular section was quite unique mostly because of the way it was approached by Postman and the potential effect it could have on the reader. Not everyone is going to appreciate being called a loser and that could possibly cause the reader to quit reading. I don't think Postman thought of that consequence when he wrote that section, but he probably should have.