The questioned I wanted answered before this past week was over was whether or not there have been extreme cases of video game addiction in the U.S. like what was seen in South Korea in the video. The documentary discussed the death of man from a gaming marathon, and I was interested in seeing if these take place in the US. If so has anyone actually died on American soil from it? From what I could find, no. In fact, the story of the South Korean is the only story I could find of someone actually dying from too much videogames, and the story changed throughout the sources. Some sources claim it was a 50 hour marathan, others an 86. Either way, it was a ridiculous amount of time that I'm the vast majority of Americans wouldn't devote their lives to.This week has been interesting because we shifted gears entirely into a new direction. Abandoning the technology unit almost entirely, we started a discussion on relationships and the different forms of mutual encounters with other humans. I found it interesting that Aristotle's findings so many years ago are still relevant today. Humans may evolve, but human interaction never changes. We have the same principles of friendship that Aristotle described over 2000 years ago. We still have friends that only share on common interest. We still have friends that are friends solely for business. We still have the "friendships of the good," or real friends. Cicero even described traits of friends that are still important to look for today, like his idea that honesty is the most important trait.
We shifted gears a little more midway through week to start the documentary "Sound and Fury". The film looks at life from the perspective of a deaf American family and their daughter who wants to undergo a coch
lear implant surgery. What's so interesting is that most deaf people are actually highly opposed to this kind of surgery. It's hard for people who can hear to wrap their minds around why someone wouldn't want to be able to hear if they had the opportunity. Some would argue that because they don't know what they're missing, they don't really have a huge desire to become just like everyone else, which I believe is the case. If I've lived my whole life one certain way and someone comes along telling me that their way is better, I wouldn't believe them. Even if hearing is so much better (which no one can say that it is, because none of us have been deaf), I wouldn't want to change my way of life and step outside of the community that I've become a part of. I actually had no idea that there was this "deaf culture" among those who can't hear or are hard of hearing. The common language, interests, and "disability" bonds this huge of group of people that is quick to shun those that don't agree with their way of life. Now I don't know about you, but if I was part of this community for such a long time, I would do what I could to remain part of it.
lear implant surgery. What's so interesting is that most deaf people are actually highly opposed to this kind of surgery. It's hard for people who can hear to wrap their minds around why someone wouldn't want to be able to hear if they had the opportunity. Some would argue that because they don't know what they're missing, they don't really have a huge desire to become just like everyone else, which I believe is the case. If I've lived my whole life one certain way and someone comes along telling me that their way is better, I wouldn't believe them. Even if hearing is so much better (which no one can say that it is, because none of us have been deaf), I wouldn't want to change my way of life and step outside of the community that I've become a part of. I actually had no idea that there was this "deaf culture" among those who can't hear or are hard of hearing. The common language, interests, and "disability" bonds this huge of group of people that is quick to shun those that don't agree with their way of life. Now I don't know about you, but if I was part of this community for such a long time, I would do what I could to remain part of it.Over this next week, I'd like to look a little deeper into the arguement over deaf culture. What are some other opinions on it? What makes it a culture compared to a community? Is it even a culture? Why do they hate those who have cochlear implants?
Sources:
Cochlear Implant. Photograph. Dizziness-and-balance. Web. http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/hearing/hearing-aids/images/cochlear-implant-small.jpg.
Aristotle. Photograph. Wikipedia. Web.
No comments:
Post a Comment