{"id":11299,"date":"2024-11-05T15:33:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T20:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=11299"},"modified":"2024-11-13T10:57:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T15:57:45","slug":"newmedia2024november06","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/newmediafall2024\/newmedia2024november06\/","title":{"rendered":"November 6: Hank Green\u2019s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Plan for the Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Election Day tomorrow\u2013get out and do your civic duty (if you haven\u2019t already)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/newmediafall2024\/newmedia2024october30\/\"><strong>Social Construction of Sexuality<\/strong>\u2013Wednesday, 10\/30<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Steven Seidman &#8220;Sex Work&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Children&#8217;s Shows<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hank Green\u2019s&nbsp;<em>An Absolutely Remarkable Thing<\/em>&nbsp;(<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/newmediafall2024\/newmedia2024november04\/\">Part 1<\/a><\/strong> and maybe 2&#8211;p. 215)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ENGL\/AMST 3050 \u201cScience Fiction and American Culture\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Spring 2025<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tuesday\/Thursday, 1:00pm-2:15pm<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Only 2 seats left!!!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Personal Social Media Research<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Last class, I mentioned that you should consider following or viewing social media accounts you don&#8217;t agree with. The algorithms are giving us what we want, so that technology maintains our echo chambers, which I&#8217;m arguing is what we want. Of course, I&#8217;m thinking about accounts from people you oppose politically. I&#8217;m not saying &#8220;you need both sides&#8230;&#8221; because that&#8217;s more akin to the fallacy of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/False_balance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">false balance<\/a><\/strong>; instead, the rhetorician in me feels it&#8217;s important to hear how those opposed to you frame their arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time permitting, we should list social media sites and commenting on their purposes. After all, some are more useful for some activities\/discussions than others: Facebook vs Pinterest vs eHarmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hank Green\u2019s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, pp. 119-222<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s think about some more questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Again, why is this novel relevant to this semester\u2019s class?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What makes April popular or able to be so popular?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I&#8217;m asking you to think culturally beyond the text and not literally. April is a type, perhaps a stereotype, with attributes that make her conventionally well-suited to the attention she garners.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Or is she?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gender\/sexuality anyone?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How does celebrity operate in the text?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Random quotes from the second third of the book:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>pp. 121-122: April&#8217;s 5-tiered fame scale<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 143: The President says, &#8220;It&#8217;s a democracy, April. Our citizens have access to their representatives in government.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 145: &#8220;The Dream seemed to be a harmless call for people across the planet to work together.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>p. 149: &#8220;&#8230;the Carls had clearly altered the brains of humans, which was not simple intrusion. It was significant. It was scary.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collective consciousness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">pp. 151-158: April meets Peter Petrawicki<\/span>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>p. 152: &#8220;He looked exactly like every guy I had ever seen walking down Wall Street:&#8230;&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What does she mean? What characteristics does he have?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Should we consider stereotypes?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If we haven&#8217;t discussed those <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl4182-5182fall2017\/engl4182-5182september18\/#textual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">candidates&#8217; campaign ads<\/a><\/strong>, let&#8217;s go there!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Which car would they drive?<br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/depositphotos.com\/editorial\/big-pick-up-truck-79617418.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vehicle 1<\/a><\/strong>      <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cadillac_XLR#\/media\/File:Black_Cadillac_XLR;_Hastings,_MN_(41324714390)_(cropped).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vehicle 2<\/a><\/strong>       <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vehiclehistory.com\/evox_compressed\/toyota\/prius-hybrid\/2006\/3498\/toyota-prius-hybrid-2006-089-3498-640.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vehicle 3<\/a><\/strong>       <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/img.freepik.com\/premium-photo\/white-van-with-tinted-windows-parked-background_1270829-78643.jpg?w=1380\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vehicle 4<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 153: Petrawicki asks, &#8220;why, in the face of this immense threat, would we assume the best? Wouldn&#8217;t it make more sense to exercise even a little cuation?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 154: Petrawicki warns, &#8220;&#8230;in the history of our planet, advanced civilizations meeting less-advanced cultures doesn&#8217;t usually end well for the less-advanced people.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 155: &#8220;[Petrawicki] was one of thousands of people who scraped by filtering reality through their <strong>ideology<\/strong> and then yelling really loudly at the internet.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;[April] was pitching a particular <strong>ideology<\/strong> that fit for some people but didn&#8217;t for others.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 157: &#8220;&#8230;there were two sides you could be on. It was a huge mistake, and also great for views.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 158: &#8220;In the end, my brand was <em>me<\/em>, so whatever I said became something I believed.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 165: &#8220;&#8230;we&#8217;re just starting to get used to the impact that the social internet is having on us culturally and emotionally and socially.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 178: &#8220;What is <strong>reality<\/strong> except for the things that people <strong>universally<\/strong> experience the same way. The Dream, in that sense, was very, very real.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 190: &#8220;&#8230;the  Defenders have been harassing me online. Their conspirac theories just kept piling up on each other until I was literally nonhuman&#8230;.Dehumanization&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 210: &#8220;I stayed on Peter Petrawicki&#8217;s talking point instead of moving t my own.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 213: &#8220;Reasoned, caring conversations that considered the complexity of other perspectives didn&#8217;t get views. Rants did. Outrage did. Simplicity did. So, simple, outraged rants is what I gave people.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"background-color:yellow\">pp. 215-216: <strong>April&#8217;s Overview on Passionate Believers<\/strong><\/span><ul><li>p. 215: &#8220;Human beings are terrible at accepting uncertainty, so when we&#8217;re ignorant, we make assumptions based on how we imagine the world.&#8221;<\/li><\/ul><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><ul><li>p. 216: &#8220;Some of [the Defender movement] were religious extremists&#8230;.Some were purely secular, deeply believing that America and possibly the world was going to be destroyed if nothing was done&#8230;&#8221;<\/li><\/ul><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><ul><li>p. 216: &#8220;I felt very strongly that the Carls were a globally unifying force. For the first time ever, humanity was literally sharing a dream.&#8221;<\/li><\/ul><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Next Class<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s no class on Monday, 11\/11, Veterans Day. Finish reading Hank Green\u2019s&nbsp;<em>An Absolutely Remarkable Thing<\/em>. We\u2019ll finish discussing the novel on Wednesday, 11\/13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plan for the Day Personal Social Media Research Last class, I mentioned that you should consider following or viewing social media accounts you don&#8217;t agree with. The algorithms are giving us what we want, so that technology maintains our echo chambers, which I&#8217;m arguing is what we want. Of course, I&#8217;m thinking about accounts from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":11036,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11299","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-2Wf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11299"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11317,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11299\/revisions\/11317"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}