Amusing Ourselves to Death (Ch. 1)

“Amusing Ourselves to Death” is the title of the book and I think it also is a great focal point for the first chapter. Throughout the world we live in there are metaphors all around us that cause us to be easily amused. We might not notice it but this is true. Anything from the billboards of Las Vegas to the Statue of Liberty in New York, our nation is full of objects that have many in depth meanings. There is always that perfect stature that everyone wants to accomplish to become successful. People with better camera appeal tend to be more successful in todays society. There are also many techniques and technologies that shape the way we view our success in the world. We believe that success is equivalent to perfection. Speech is the core of communication and what creates human personality and the way we have such a divergent world. With this chapter as a whole I feel as if it is pin pointing the large and wide scale issues and complex thoughts of our society. Media also creates symbols that people relate to daily living. By the relation and perception of metaphors that the media uses, this creates conversation and the capability to use speech as our source of identity and opinion. With this explanation also comes the thought of metaphors and how they are present to represent many things in our everyday lives. Technology is also becoming dominate in our society. With this shift from writing and thinking, to everything being electronic, that will begin to form a new culture and way of thinking.