#2- "They Say"

In this introduction, Rushkoff explains that we as citizens tend to listen to authority figures when they have information for us. Regardless of what that information might be, we usually accept it as fact without actually doing any research on the topic oursleves. In a sense, these authority figures "seem to dictate our lives, decide our fates, and create our futures," as Rushkoff says. "They make our decisions for us. They do our thinking for us. We don't have to worry about our next move--it has already been decided on our behalf, and in our best interests. Or so we hope."

Rushkoff shows how these "authority" figures use manipulative techniques to encourage us to do certain things, or even to behave in a certain manner. He illustrates how a saleswoman undoing a few buttons on her blouse may lead to more men buying things. This is a form of "hidden coercion"  and many times we are unaware that these techniques are being used on us. Rushkoff says, "It's not always easy to determine when we have surrendered our judgment to someone else. The better and more sophisticated the manipulation, the less aware of it we are." This is very true, and the subconscious advertising and persuation plays a major role in our daily lives.

These techniques are constantly changing and upgrading as people become used to the old ones. "Our attempts to stay one step ahead of coercers merely provokes them to develop even more advanced, less visible, and, arguably, more pernicious methods of persuasion."

I agree with Rushkoff, in that we are constanly at war with mass media advertisement. Our minds hang in the balance, drifting between individualism and conformatism. We must always be aware of the things happening to us and around us. We must not fall victim to commercials and compulsiveness. Knowing is half the battle.

#1: Sheltered Living

In the article, Ryan demonstrates how people often are deluded by their society into believing that their way of life is the only normal way that people can live. We have been brainwashed by popular culture and the media to ignore the perspectives of others not only in our own country but also others around the world. We are quick to criticize and judge others for not being the same as us. He believes that these traits have developed and evolved over time, based on several factors including the culture in which we were raised. He also believes that society is more or less survival of the fittest, lending to the richest people in the world remainimg rich and living lavishly while others work their whole lives for modest wages. He says that often times, the fairy tale-like histories of the colonizaton and creation of countries is in stark contrast to the reality of the situation as it was, and that things are sugar coated so that the people don't have negative views of the founders and how they established themselves.
I tend  to agree with Ryan, I believe people often are misguided and inaccurate in their beliefs about other cultures and are naive in a sense. They too easily accept what they are told through the media and what they are led to believe by popular culture. People won't truly know or be able to understand the complexity of the world as a whole until they realize that they may have been lied to at some point. We should all take it upon ourselves to research and develop our own unique beliefs and values, rather than simply accepting what is considered to be true and normal in our society. Just because there are differences in cultures doesn't mean that one's way is right compared to the other. We just have different ways of thinking and going about things.