Tuesday, April 8, 2008
News Days
I looked over an article entitled, OLD-TIME NEW-YORK FRIENDS; SERVICES OF THE "PLAIN PEOPLE" IN REVOLUTIONARY DAYS. The Part Taken by John and Walter Franklin -- The Latter's Romantic Marriage -- A Member of the Provincial Congress -- Gossipy Letters from a Young Quakeress -- John's Correspondence with Washington -- An "Agency for Prisoners" in the City, published in November 19, 1893. The article in fact resembled an article that one could find in today's paper. The article was in a way like a tabloid, as it explained the rich man and the milkmaid. It is ironic that the people still thrive on other peoples business. The article also had some war in it. There is a letter from George Washington and a military event. The only things quite different about the article is the talk of farms around new york city. The farm talk was about the early years of America and technology was still a hot top just because new thing were coming out then too. The language of the article is not very fancy and eye catching, which i feel has changed with the competitive nature that human have evolved into.
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I have to argue you on that one. I think humans have always been competitive by nature. But competition stems off of complaining (which I feel is true human nature).
Let's rewind time: the days of cavemen. Had they settled with the basic needs of food and shelter, then humans never would have progressed. Think about it, the human mind likes to figure out "what else" is out there that could better life. So someone decided to create fire, and then the wheel, tools to hunt...
And it wasn't just complaining, it was truly competing. But then, it wasn't about competing with other humans, I feel that it was about competing with animals. We needed to prove that we were the dominant species...and therefore utilized our mind to the fullest by creating things that animals simply could not. In a sense, we wanted to ensure that it was a humans' world and animals were just living in it for our expense.
And then as people felt that they were the dominant species, they realized that all people couldn't be dominant - thus competition formed among the human race.
As we forward time, monetary value came into play...and later technology came into play [what I consider the downfall of the human race]. Both things are relavant to our society, but I feel that these things are used in a negative manner.
Money. For some it's only purpose is to outbuy things that others do not have.
Technology. For some it's just about making life so much easier...who can make life the easiest? I fear, with technology especially, that people will begin to devolve - machines will do everything for us.
With your post about the tabloids back in 1893, it doesn't suprise me in the least that people still had the same nature in the media, to "bring down" others. It's all about ego. It's all about competition. Survival of the fittest right?
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