The Eye of the Beholder

I am currently reading Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography in digital form so this topic really hit home with me. I do not think that ease of access limits the quality of information or devalues the knowledge gained from it. Instead I believe that the easier information is attainable the better off  we all are. 

What is wrong with people being able to access information previously unavailable to them? Just because you can hold some artifact in your hand does not guarantee that you understand it any more than someone who has not seen it or touched it firsthand. If that were the case history experts would have no relevance unless they had touched the garments actually worn by Napoleon or held an original copy of the Iliad.  I agree with the writer of the article when he said asked the question about the view from the top of Mount Everest.  In the end who is to say which person thinks the view is more majestic, it is all subject to personal interpretation. 

I think that by giving more people access to limited information or artifacts perhaps more people will gain a greater appreciation of rare items and strive to see them in person and take a real concern over the preservation of them.  I believe that in order for humanity to continue advancing education must always be expanding, opening new doors and discovering new ideas.  We cannot find ourselves stuck in rut just to preserve the sanctity of research.

Wikipedia, My Guitly Pleasure

I loved this article and I personally use Wikipedia all the time. I like to go on there to get quick information on topics that randomly catch my attention. If I want to know the name of Flash’s rogues gallery or what planet Darth Revan is from there is no better source but I do understand why it cannot be used as a credible resource for academic research.

I often go to Wikipedia on topics I am having to research in order to give me some quick ideas. I like to use it as a launching pad for my research. I will usually take any information that I find relevant and do further research to gauge its level of credibility. I will also use the reference sites at the bottom of the page to search for further detail, although those sites must be carefully screened for credibility also.

I found it fascinating to learn about the ongoing battles behind the scenes from site editors about language, opinion, and credibility. I never gave much thought to the people behind the entries. I also enjoyed learning how the site itself was created using nothing more that wiki software and how it grew so rapidly after it was introduced. I found the information on how the site is monitored and edited interesting as well.

I know that a lot of people have strong feelings about Wikipedia but it should be seen for what it is, a fun site to go and get quick information on topics of interest without having to do a ridiculous amount of research.

A Great Cliffhanger

When reading Acts 2&3 I was reminded of Frankenstein’s monster. The way the creature felt abandoned by Victor is similar to how Eliza must have felt. She was a creation of someone else, no longer herself.  Even during Higgins and Eliza’s argument on page 76when refereeing to her he says, “The creature is nervous after all.”

Eliza felt used and less human that Higgins. She wanted to be happy again and be the person she wanted to be. She wanted to have a job, a happy life and fall in love. Instead she had been turned into something that had nothing. She was still the same poor girl she had been before but now she was educated, clean and “civilized”. She could not fit in with the upper class because she had no money but she could not go back to the lower class because she would have been seen as too snobby.

Higgins mother had warned him about this in Act 2 but he dismissed it with little care as to how this experiment would affect Eliza just as how Victor abandoned his creation. However unlike the monster Eliza had someone that had fallen for her, Freddy, waiting just outside her window. The monster had no one and hunted Victor to the ends of the earth to force him to make him a mate.

Not knowing what happens in Act 5 leaves the audience in a state of suspense after Act 4. Does Eliza find happiness, does Higgins realize the folly of his way. It’s a good “Empire Strikes Back” cliffhanger and I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

Pygmalion First Impression.

I found Act 1 of Pygmalion to be very funny, it had a Hard Days Night feel to it. I can picture everyone feeding off each other with quick jabs and sarcastic tones.  I love conversation and Act 1 was great.

Without ever having read or seen this play it seems that it is going to try and make a statement on language and class. It appears to be that those in the higher classes even middle class people look down on lower classes. It was clear that Higgins wants little to do with someone he sees as below him when he first refused to buy a flower from the girl but later just tossed her money.

The use of language also appears to be something that will play a large part of the play as it moves forward. When we first meet the flower girl she is using a dialect that the other characters do not understand. She has to change her speech to speak to them. Also where she comes from seems to be looked down on.

Higgins is described in Act 2 as someone who is, “careless about himself and other peoples feelings.” That seems to be a common way to portray someone from a higher class. It is easy to make them look like snobbish pigs with no regard for anyone else’s feeling. It will be interesting to see where the play goes from here and finding out what commentary Shaw is making on society from that time.

The Simple Way is Always the Best Way

As I was reading the essay by Orwell I thought about my British Lit class. One of the issues we discuss in class is the acceptance of the English language by the so called civilized world.  We have learned that the English language was considered barbaric and only to be used by the uneducated. It took champions like Chaucer to gain acceptance of the language from the rest of Europe not only as a spoken language but written as well.

I was fascinated by Orwell's argument that the English language was in decline. How can a language still growing be in decline? A language that just 600 years ago was largely unknown and rarely used has grown to be the most widely spoken language in the world. There is almost no where in the world that a person can go and be unable to find someone or more likely many people who do not speak English, however I do understand what he is trying to say.

When people attempt to write sometimes they will use overly complicated words that they do not understand or predictable phrases that require no effort on the part of the writer. He argues that some writers will attempt to use Greek or Latin based words where simple English words would work. I agree with him in this argument. When I write it can come across as overly simplistic with some seeing it as not at the correct intellectual level for a university student and perhaps they are correct.

I decided to go back to school for so many reasons and  becoming a better writer is at the top of that list but until I become an expert in this language I think I will stick with Orwell’s advice from the end of his essay, “(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. (ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do.”