Juels - Thoughts

Well, bear with me as I get back in the swing of blogging. I have to say I don't really do much(blogging is my sister's thing more than mine). After our class I really had many thoughts running through my head. I needed to take a moment and digest it all. After considering everything that was said and one word that seemed to stick out for me was "faster". That in a postmodern world faster is better. Dr. Rog stated in his lecture that people want faster technology, transportation, results....instant gratification in the pursuit of progress. So when I heard this my first visual was of I-4 and all the people that were weaving in out of traffic try to get a few inches ahead of someone else and a few minutes extra to their day. Unfortunate this same imagine produced also the image of the three separate car accidents I also I saw on my way into work earlier that morning. So, at that moment I saw postmodern culture as a car accident waiting to happen or perhaps an accident about to happen.

The postmodern culture is extremely dynamic and yet complex. Trying to get my thoughts around the concept of postmodern culture I also thought of a recent conversation with my father. He and I were talking about perception and how one perceives their surroundings and the society they live in. Looking back I realized that growing up faster,quicker, easier seemed to be the motto of the society I lived in. As a child I was always amazed at the new gadgets that came out to make things easier or the latest technology that made going places quicker or getting results faster. But did this new way really make life better? This question made me think of the many discussions I have had with my father regarding progress. You see my father was born in 1930 and grew up during the Depression and WWII and with that said was greatly influenced by the WW II generation. Even though he he grew up quite poor and endured many hardships he was always fond of of the "simpler times". He always would tell me that even though new technology was great and it was wonderful that people didn't have to work has hard he believed that it also gave people an excuse for not having to think.

Hence the reason my father's opinion holds the idea that without independent thought people are subject to believe what ever is put in front of them. He went on to tell me that this is not a new idea by any means that is solely specific to the "postmodern era", but rather an idea that has been perfected through time and magnified in today's society. Faster came to mind again. Faster technology and communication systems make it possible to deliver such messages and over saturation of media makes it hard to escape the "faster" approach.

What I find interesting is what is the cause for the sudden change in the mentality of civilization to move at space where in the end we are consistently trying to catch up. Was it the Industrial Revolution that first set the pace for building industries that always need to increase their productivity beyond what the actual need is? Or was it a competitive nature in the human makeup that makes people addicted to "one up" one another. How does the postmodern era differ from ideals from that of the Renaissance period where free thinking and innovated ideas were the wave of the future. How is that the postmodern era has made faster a bad word. I know that not everything that the postmodern era has presented is bad, but I do think that it has created an attitude of indifference and acceptance that is to easily gained without thought.

So, where does that leave us. Perhaps this class will help me understand where it will at least take me. Will I continue to follow the fast track and not take the time to slow down and set my own pace that still breeds progress. Maybe......we will wait and see.

Thank you for reading!