Final Draft

Here is the link to the final draft of my essay.

The Final Reflection

After making my way through this semester and this, the final English class of my entire life, I cannot say that I have many memories that particularly stick out in my mind, but I feel that this class and everything that it taught me has strengthened my writing abilities and has helped me learn to form my own opinions. Let me elaborate. For instance, one particular quasi-revelation that I had was when I was writing the blog post in response to Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” I distinctly remember reading that article and wondering why someone would bash the use of the internet. I had never really heard of people claiming that the internet is a bad thing; I just assumed that it was assumed that the internet was a good thing for our society. Hearing a different view than mine caused me to have such a deep and heated reaction and I am sure that that showed in my blog post. So because of this “revelation,” I feel that I have learned new methods of debate and I feel that I can now hold my own in an argument.

As I said before, I feel that blogging really helped me open up to be a better writer. The audience I was writing to was expanded to my peers, not just to the teacher. For this reason I wrote in a different tone in order to suit my audience. This tone forced me to write in more of an aggressive and persuasive manner, which I have never really been exposed to before.

As for my reading habits, I feel that they still have not changed very much. Even after reading two blogs and the New York Times on a daily basis for half a semester, I still do not find much enjoyment in reading the news. Yes, I do feel like I benefit in being informed on what is going on in our world, but for some reason it is very difficult for me to find the time to sit down and search out the news.

1st Draft of 2nd Essay

This is a very, and I mean very rough draft of my essay.

Approaching the Approach

In Harris’ Rewriting, he describes “Taking an Approach” as “working in the mode of another writer” (74). He also goes further in describing it by breaking it down into three component methods of relating one’s work to another: Acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, and reflexivity. Acknowledging influences is to define those writers whom have served as a model for you to write. Turning an approach on itself deals with asking the same questions that another writer has asked of something else. Reflexivity can be described as turning inward on the choices that you have made in order to construct your text. All three can be ways of taking an approach to what you are writing in the respect of the views of another writer.

I like the analogy that Harris uses to describe taking an approach when he compares it to a musician covering a song. Taking an approach is like covering a song in that it requires taking the work of another musician, staying true to the original phrases and ideas, but at the same time fusing it with your own creativity and expression.

Taking an approach is evident in a blog post by Andrew Sullivan that describes all of the times that Sarah Palin has “lied” to the public. Sullivan compiles a list of about thirty different lies that Palin has told spanning the time that she has been in politics. He accumulated this list from other sources that I am sure were not as forward and hurtful as he was, and made them seem his own and laid them out for the reader to see. Even though he did not come up with the information, he makes it seem like it by laying it out in a simple manner for the public to view.

Using the New Method of Countering to Refine

This is my revised edition of the post where we responded to Chris Hedges article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” I used Harris’ method of countering to respond to the article. Whereas in my first post, I was genuinely trying to completely nullify Hedges’ views and opinions, in this post I am trying to point out his valid points but at the same time, “counter” them with my own views.

In Chris Hedges’ article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he brings up some very valid and probable points, but I will say that I do not really agree with what he is saying. Hedges claims that the use of the Internet is making the general public more lazy when it comes to research, which may possess some truth. However, I believe that even though the innate laziness that is created in this medium of information and technology, the benefits definitely outweigh the downfalls. The uses of the Internet are limitless, and I believe that we should make use of this tool as much as we can.

Even though it may be easy for laziness to settle in while making use of the Internet, I believe that we still have the capability to overcome this laziness. I feel that laziness falls under personal control, though it may be difficult to avoid. If anything, it will add a challenge to our lives which will make us stronger people.

In my own personal experience, I am just as distracted when I read a book or a newspaper as when I am surfing the web. There are just as many distractions around the house, workplace, etc. as there are on the Internet.

So, in conclusion, I feel that my response to the initial question, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” is that maybe yes, the Internet may be making us lazy, but it is not making us stupid. No matter if it is making us lazy, we are still being exposed to more information, which is in turn making us smarter.

Harris' View of Countering

To Harris, “countering” is not what I suspect that one would typically think. Most would think that when countering, you would offer an argument against a point of view. The term countering seems to have somewhat of a negative connotation in that it is a method of “fighting back” against something that has attacked you. However, in Harris’ view of countering, it is more of a peaceful way of responding to someone else’s idea. He defines it as “not to nullify but to suggest a different way of thinking” (56). He also breaks the term up into three ways of attaining this: arguing the other side, uncovering values, and dissenting. Arguing the other side is the process of noting problems with a term or idea that the author has argued for. Uncovering values is the process of bringing forth a word or idea that the text has failed to completely define or examine. Dissenting is the process of identifying a similarity with your own views that the text possesses in order to note its limits (57). So, as you can see, Harris’ view of countering is probably not as in-your-face or aggressive as you would think.

Countering is evident in Andrew Sullivan’s blog, “The Daily Dish” in his post entitled “The Development Cure.” This post is in response to the DiA’s (Democracy in America blog) critique of John Nagl’s prescription for Afghanistan. The DiA agrees with Nagl when he says that threats are not coming from the overpowering states, rather they are coming from the weak states. They also agree with him when he says that responses need to be made economically and political-diplomatically, not militaristically. However, they criticize him when he suggests to build an enormous organization to solve the problems through heroic expeditions. This is an example of dissenting, because the DiA shows where they agree with Nagl, but they then point out where they believe that his view are limited.

The Art of Forwarding

Joseph Harris breaks up his idea of “forwarding” into four different criteria: illustrating, authorizing, borrowing, and extending. Each of which is a particular method for an author to use to forward or pass on a previous author’s ideas to another group of people. Basically, I believe that in this chapter of Harris’ book, he is saying that in virtually every reputable text, be it a book, an essay, a movie, or what have you, it is imperative to have the reinforcement of a prior source in order to strengthen the work. However, just citing the source is not all that it takes to make an excellent statement. Harris makes this clear when he says, “Quoting the lyrics of a song doesn’t always get at how it feels to hear it performed, and describing the subject of a photograph or painting can only begin to suggest its total impact as an image” (41). This is a very relevant point in that it shows that once you cite an example from another source, you need to be able to add your own description to elaborate on the issue. Writing would be way too easy if you could simply use other people’s words alone.

An example of forwarding that I found came from one of the blogs that I have been following, Xtreme Music. The title of the blog post was, “Have Your Ears Adjusted to MP3’s?” The author of the blog post alludes to a study from a professor at Stanford University who researched how teenagers of today have become accustomed to the sound of mp3’s. Mp3’s are of lower sound quality than typical files that are on a cd. The study concluded that over the past few years, it seems that teens have more and more preferred the sound of mp3’s over the files on cd. I would say that the category of forwarding that this blog post falls under would most likely be illustrating. Harris defines illustrating as: “When you look to other texts for examples of a point you want to make” (39). The author of this post is using an example of a study to illustrate a point. The only real problem with his act of forwarding is that he does not really provide his own explanation to the story. This is what Harris warned about in this chapter. It is important to not fall into the trap of only using information from another source.