Tom Sumner lecture

Last week's guest speaker left something to be desired. I found his lecture informative, and could see myself reading one or more of the novels in the series which featured political commentary in the form of compiled blogs. But when asked how he felt about the technological forces have affected publishing, I felt like Mr. Sumner dodged the question.

"Asking me how I feel about that is like asking me how I feel about air. It's there.."

I thought the question was well said. As I recall a student asked how Mr. Sumner felt about how new forms of technology have affected traditional publishing. The discussion was revolving around the Kindle, the blogosphere, and "home brew" publishing.

I feel like Mr. Sumner has a biased opinion on how new technology has a perverse and often baffling affect on traditional forms of publishing.

Perhaps he could elaborate further on the topic via the class blog.

The Persuaders

The video we watched in class last Tuesday was interesting. We're all subjected to a seemingly endless stream of advertising. Even if you don't own a TV, you're still just as likely to be force fed some sort of advertising on a daily basis. I suppose if you lived completely off the grid, read nothing but advertising free literature, never logged onto the internet, and never listened to the radio, then you could increase your chances of never seeing advertising. However, you never know when an airplane wrapped in vinyl advertising may fly by your small slice of ad-free land.

The part of the documentary that stuck out in my mind was the piece about the protesters down in Georgia rallying in defense of the state flag. The narrator explained how you may intend to send one message, and that message may be clear to your target audience. For example, by defending the confederate flag that encompasses half of the GA state flag, you may intend to send the message that you're supporting the history of the state, and the confederacy was a major part of that history. However, an African American male living in Cleveland may interpret the message as supporting segregation and racism. Newton's 3rd law of motion applies in this context. "Every action has a reaction equal in magnitude and opposite in direction."