In “Great to Watch,” Maggie Nelson talks about the ways in which violence has become a norm in everyday culture and the process through which people’s “blameless ignorance” leads them to ignore the ramifications of violence (Nelson, 300). In “Selections from Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other,” Sherry Turkle claims that when children spend a lot of time around life-like toys like Furbies and Tamagotchis, children experience a shift from a “psychology of projection to a new psychology of engagement” (Turkle, 290). In “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism,” Jonathan Lethem discusses the gift and market economies and how they overlap in their primary purpose. Nelson’s view of people accepting violence
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Nelson elaborates on this by introducing the idea of “image flow” as the constant bombardment of images or ideas which leads to “distractions fatal to the primary issue” (Nelson, 304). She connects image flow to the incidents of Abu Ghraib in which the United States government decided to “suppress the release of…photographs that depict the abuse, rape, and torture of Afghan and Iraqi prisoners in American custody” (Nelson, 305). To justify this decision to the American people, President Obama claims that the release “‘would…further inflame anti-American opinion and…put [American] troops in greater danger’” (Nelson, 305). Since the release of the images from Abu Ghraib further puts America in an unfavorable view, Obama uses the distraction of “anti-American opinion” to go away from the overall issue of the abuse. His use of this reason understates the cruelty of American soldiers, and paints it as being trivial, because he wants to remain popular in the eyes of the public yet does not want to let the world access the truth. Furthermore, Obama’s remarks on keeping soldiers from “greater danger” again keeps the American public distracted from the truth and stalls a potential solution to the torture of prisoners because Obama does not directly confront the issue of brutality. Nelson claims that, “If you don’t want to inflame …show more content…
Turkle states that children learn to shift from a psychology of projection to engagement with their Furbies because they understand that, “You have to continually assess your Furby’s ‘emotional’ and ‘physical’ state” (Turkle, 470). Children come to see more than just the physical toy characteristics of the Furby because the Furby makes it seem that it requires the care of the children for its advancement. Since children view these dynamic characteristics of the Furby as those of a living being, they form the misconception that the Furby is in fact a living thing. Turkle talks about her studies on the interactions children have with Furbies as Daisy, a child in her study, says “‘You have to teach it; when you buy it, that is your job. It’s alive, I teach it about whales; it loves me.’” (Turkle, 471). Daisy describes the task of playing with her Furby as her “job” which depicts the seriousness she attributes towards caring for the Furby. Furthermore, her use of the word “teach” portrays that she conceives the Furby as dynamic because she thinks that it will learn to do new things based on the information she provides it. She also states that the Furby is “alive” and has love for her which portrays her treating her Furby through a psychology of engagement, as “a pet or person” (Turkle, 470). Since Daisy thinks the
Nelson elaborates on this by introducing the idea of “image flow” as the constant bombardment of images or ideas which leads to “distractions fatal to the primary issue” (Nelson, 304). She connects image flow to the incidents of Abu Ghraib in which the United States government decided to “suppress the release of…photographs that depict the abuse, rape, and torture of Afghan and Iraqi prisoners in American custody” (Nelson, 305). To justify this decision to the American people, President Obama claims that the release “‘would…further inflame anti-American opinion and…put [American] troops in greater danger’” (Nelson, 305). Since the release of the images from Abu Ghraib further puts America in an unfavorable view, Obama uses the distraction of “anti-American opinion” to go away from the overall issue of the abuse. His use of this reason understates the cruelty of American soldiers, and paints it as being trivial, because he wants to remain popular in the eyes of the public yet does not want to let the world access the truth. Furthermore, Obama’s remarks on keeping soldiers from “greater danger” again keeps the American public distracted from the truth and stalls a potential solution to the torture of prisoners because Obama does not directly confront the issue of brutality. Nelson claims that, “If you don’t want to inflame …show more content…
Turkle states that children learn to shift from a psychology of projection to engagement with their Furbies because they understand that, “You have to continually assess your Furby’s ‘emotional’ and ‘physical’ state” (Turkle, 470). Children come to see more than just the physical toy characteristics of the Furby because the Furby makes it seem that it requires the care of the children for its advancement. Since children view these dynamic characteristics of the Furby as those of a living being, they form the misconception that the Furby is in fact a living thing. Turkle talks about her studies on the interactions children have with Furbies as Daisy, a child in her study, says “‘You have to teach it; when you buy it, that is your job. It’s alive, I teach it about whales; it loves me.’” (Turkle, 471). Daisy describes the task of playing with her Furby as her “job” which depicts the seriousness she attributes towards caring for the Furby. Furthermore, her use of the word “teach” portrays that she conceives the Furby as dynamic because she thinks that it will learn to do new things based on the information she provides it. She also states that the Furby is “alive” and has love for her which portrays her treating her Furby through a psychology of engagement, as “a pet or person” (Turkle, 470). Since Daisy thinks the