Alvin Toffler Analysis

According to Alvin Toffler, we Americans living in this century need to start redefining our basic notion of what it means to be literate. For the past century, the American standard was to be able to have basic reading and writing skills. However, the development of technology, globalization, and communication have raised our standards now to be able to learn, unlearn, and relearn, which is what Toffler is arguing for us to be able to handle as a necessity in this new era. Even though he did not state that directly in his quote, it is directly implied that is what he wants Americans to lean towards as a basic skill. However, Toffler is directly comparing the standards of the past to our standards of today, which I believe is a highly …show more content…
Many of the real people on the ground reporting there were using social media to spread awareness of police brutality and actually are telling us the opposite of the quote, by trying to have the outsiders of Ferguson get the information correct the first time and not be influenced by the softening of the movement by the media and government, which we were able to see in Tweets, Facebook, and most social media websites instantly online. Along with Ferguson, the Green Climate Marchers in the past few weeks are another prime organization that have shown how we need to get the future right with our new generation and take action right this moment, versus waiting to solve problems later, which does not support Toffler’s claim because the marchers want us to save our planet the first time and not make any mistakes, leading us to “unlearn” what we did to ruin the planet. We saw examples of this in the film, “Disruption”, where the leading team of the New York marchers walks us through their organization’s daily activities of gathering people to support them along with spreading the correct information on global warming. In addition, the example of the anti-green movement can also be used to refute Toffler, such as the program piloted by the billionaire Koch brothers who are based on making others stick to their ways and follow them, rather than learn from the protesters what we are …show more content…
To support his argument, “Source E: The Tide is Turning on Climate Change, but American’s Must Take Action Now”, views the American Public as needing to change their standards on how they view climate change, as the writer even sates, “Americans care more and more about climate change as its effects become more immediate to them.” The article supports Toffler’s point of view on literacy because it views it positively on how Americans are starting just now to care and respect the planet more, thus causing them to become involved and more “literate” on the topic, as they are “unlearning” their old habits. Along with the Article E, “Source G: Americans Do Care About Climate Change” poses the view that rather than completely not taking direct action at all, the American people along with wealthy companies such as Apple, Facebook, and Google are starting to go green and participate in more environmentally-friendly cutbacks. “Customers and employees of tech giants are pushing companies to switch to renewable energy-already Apple, Facebook, and Google have committed to power their clouds with 100 percent renewables.” By cutting back, the article proves that the mentality of choosing to be ignorant is changing in Americans, as we head to transforming our principles from being environmentally illiterate to literate since we have unlearned and relearned what it means to make