http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/06/obama.newspapers.ap/index.html
Last issue I wrote my op ed about how written journalism is about to die out to internet journalism. This article proves that while the trend is there, there is something about written news that will most likely live on. Why? It could be habit – people have always bought newspapers, so when an important news story comes along, their subconscious minds make them by the papers. I, however, don’t think that’s it. I think that while millions of Americans watched the election on television and knew the results ahead of time, and while the articles proclaiming President-Elect Obama’s victory didn’t reveal any “new” information other than his win, Americans wanted that tangible proof of the historic event.
In my life I’ve come across historic newspapers a few times, and there is something about them that pulls you in, or at least, pulls me in. When man first walked on the moon, when Pearl Harbor happened, newspaper articles declaring the events feel almost like landmarks – marks in time in our country’s history. The Internet changes everyday, and while there is that stigma that what gets on the internet never leaves, stories do change, and aren’t physical in the way that newspapers are. I think that element of constant change (cnn’s webpage is different ever day, as are most online news sources) and the idea that reading an article online is so instant – you pull it up, read it, and click off – can be viewed as negative. Sure, the Internet is fast, but do we really want this information to go by so quickly? When there is an important historic moment in time, people don’t want it to end just like that. I know I don’t. And so perhaps the Internet, while expanding and overcoming all other written media, won’t push over the edge to replace newspapers entirely – at least, not when something truly life-changing happens to our country, or to the world.
As for the way this article was written, and I liked how the writer followed my train of thought with the internet vs. newspaper thing. The inclusion of so many quotes enhanced the article, I feel, because it gave it less of a straight news style and made the story more relatable - you got to find out why people were buying so many newspapers and how they felt, rather than just hearing statistics on how many newspapers were sold out in how many minutes.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
two dimensional love
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081030/tod-japanese-man-petitions-to-marry-comi-c359f57.html
There are a lot of crazies out there. Fortunately, whoever wrote this article isn’t one of them. I can’t say how impressed I was at how the author of this article wrote on a topic most people would find ridiculous.
Firstly, they gave some background on Japan for anyone unfamiliar with the culture. That is important to try and see the problem from this man’s point of view.
“Comic books are immensely popular in Japan, with some fictional characters becoming celebrities or even sex symbols. Marriage is meanwhile on the decline as many young Japanese find it difficult to find life partners.”
With that piece of information, it is still hard to relate, if not impossible, but at least readers are aware that we aren’t dealing with this problem in the U.S. for a reason.
Also, I liked how the author hinted that the internet might be an instigator in this situation. The man set up a petition online, and through the wide web he has found people who (amazingly) agree with him that marriage should be opened to include fictional characters.
If this problem were happening in the U.S., I’d be very afraid for our country, but mainly for the future of marriage. Already the idea is being expanded to include same-sex couples (which I am not opposed to, because they are human, and there would be physical and emotional love involved, the same as opposite-sex-marriage), but if it is expanded to include inanimate objects, animals, cartoons, then the entire idea of marriage becomes a joke. The idea of loving a two dimensional character, though “it is still love,” it is not, and cannot be returned. A marriage is supposed to be between two people who want to be together. If anything, it is unrealistic to suppose that the two dimensional character loves the human back. So on any level, sane or crazy, this guy’s idea doesn’t work.
There are a lot of crazies out there. Fortunately, whoever wrote this article isn’t one of them. I can’t say how impressed I was at how the author of this article wrote on a topic most people would find ridiculous.
Firstly, they gave some background on Japan for anyone unfamiliar with the culture. That is important to try and see the problem from this man’s point of view.
“Comic books are immensely popular in Japan, with some fictional characters becoming celebrities or even sex symbols. Marriage is meanwhile on the decline as many young Japanese find it difficult to find life partners.”
With that piece of information, it is still hard to relate, if not impossible, but at least readers are aware that we aren’t dealing with this problem in the U.S. for a reason.
Also, I liked how the author hinted that the internet might be an instigator in this situation. The man set up a petition online, and through the wide web he has found people who (amazingly) agree with him that marriage should be opened to include fictional characters.
If this problem were happening in the U.S., I’d be very afraid for our country, but mainly for the future of marriage. Already the idea is being expanded to include same-sex couples (which I am not opposed to, because they are human, and there would be physical and emotional love involved, the same as opposite-sex-marriage), but if it is expanded to include inanimate objects, animals, cartoons, then the entire idea of marriage becomes a joke. The idea of loving a two dimensional character, though “it is still love,” it is not, and cannot be returned. A marriage is supposed to be between two people who want to be together. If anything, it is unrealistic to suppose that the two dimensional character loves the human back. So on any level, sane or crazy, this guy’s idea doesn’t work.
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