Open Your Eyes

People really need to speak up in their lives, it is so simple if you see something that does not seem right and you have an opinion this somewhat educated, speak up. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, yes I agree with it but some opinions just are not necessary. For example, if you have no idea about what is going on in an election, do not say anything about it. First, inform yourself then give your opinion. The world has a lot of issues and problems that are swept under the rug and people just ignore them. It's like what world do we live in that an issue that affects many people is ignored. A big factor to people not knowing everything is social media. People are so focused on what happened to a celebrity then what's happening to the honey bees right outside their doorstep.

But then the question that comes about is “Why can't we get anyone's attention?”. Personally, I believe it is this whole social media trend. All these young adults that are America's future are temporarily distracted by the media. Don't get wrong, there are people out there that are aware of this issue but the mass audience are not and it’s quite aggravating. Yeah, I use Snapchat and twitter too but damn there are people that make a living off of their followers. These people are bought out by advertising firms and the firms use their followers to pretty much distract them and get them to buy their products. But this is definitely not a new thing. Celebrities are literally advertisements at this point. Anything that shines just a little bit brighter in the like turns into an advertisement. But in today's corrupt society it seems like the advertisements can be seen as the rug and the problems are the dirty billboard that the ad is placed on. No one looks at the billboard (problems in society), everyone looks at the ad and goes on with their day. At this point in time advertisements seem like a cover up.

I am a college student who is trying to get a major and degree in marketing. So yes do I know some knowledge of how an ad works. I would say so but damn I am literally bashing them and next thing I know I will making a living off of them. But let me first expose the fine print. No one in a corporation cares about how their customer truly feels. As long as you buy their products, they will be satisfied with the money going into their pockets. Like we are talking about human beings here, the ones that are supposed to care for one another, right? But that is not the world that we live in anymore.

But let me get to the point, I am in the second semester of my first year of college. In literature class, we have read and studied the book written by M. T Anderson know as Feed. Yeah, I understand that the book was published in 2002 but we are getting real close to being one our way. What I mean by this for those who have not read it (98% of the general population), it is a book about how a computer like device is implanted in the brain and how the user can use it anytime took look up anything they could possibly imagine without a screen or anything, they just have to think about it and watch it through their own eyes. Just like in today's society how not everyone has the internet, not everyone has the device known as The Feed. But just like computers and websites, the Feed also has advertisements on the pages that pop up and block the user. I thought our society as a whole was getting covered with billboards and banners electronically and physically but the people in the novel really can not unsee them. Imagine getting flooded with advertisements while looking at a blank wall. I mean come on, that makes watching paint dry interesting.

There will always be someone or something that tries to revolt against the system. And in this case, it's a girl named Violet. She also has the feed so she understands what others are going through. But she is trying to mess with the system. People do the same thing these days, you would be surprised of people trying to mess with things like electricity and the internet. Service providers like optimum stand by a certain code and expects those customers to live by that code. If a customer is causing problems to the provider or abusing their services in any way shape or form. The corporations don't care about you, they just stop providing for you. And do not be surprised this happens more often than you think. So what does the Feed start to do for violet, it starts depleting. The corporation realized she was a treat to them, so what do they do, they start to pull the plug. But this not like she can just get another provider if the Feed dies in her, she also dies. The corporations are taking over people's lives and even deciding if they live or not.

A big thing in our society is trends. Once something has the ability to become popular and profitable, corporations stop what they're doing and focus on it to try to figure out on how to make the most amount of money.  I am going to use YouTube as an example. YouTube had a good start and it seemed the future of video watching so what did advertisements firms do. Flood the website with ads. Over the past few years the advertisements have become excessive and out of hand. Every video has an ad in the beginning and if the video if long enough, one or two more ads will pop up in the middle of it. It’s like trying to brainwash me or more or less piss me off. Just like in the novel, the Feed overwhelms the kids with advertisements and at some points, it’s just a block. Kids in the novel and in our society are become less educated on what the main problems are. And I am not saying it is just kids, everyone is buried in their phones physically and figuratively. People these days are daredevils, we literally walk across the street blindfolded. With people looking down all the time and not focusing, what’s stopping from society turning into one just like in Feed.

On another note, what really bothers me in this society is ignorance. People go around acting like they are Einstein or something just because they read a headline of a news article they found somewhere in the twitter archives five minutes before opening their mouth. And it is not like this happens once in a blue moon. I completed an ethnography paper last semester for my writing class and I'll be honest, I eavesdropped, that was the point of the paper. And damn I heard some stupid things but what is causing individuals to not be educated. We all literally carry around computers to look up correct information. This same concept occurs in the novel, the Feed users have an unlimited supply of knowledge at the edge of their fingertips but damn they are not even fourth-grade education worthy. Is it because we are too lazy to look up the truth or is it we can believe everything we hear (which is also a saying our parents flood into our heads as children). The kids in the novel literally can not formulate sentences properly without needed assistance from their Feed. What are the school systems for if I have all the information at my finger types? I could look up anything and everything there is no need to be taught something, I could just look up how to do something, but I guess that is not the case because the kids can't even use correct grammar.

Overall, corporations are brainwashing each individual one step at a time, the mass audience is too big and too distracted to even realize what is going on. Yeah, everyone thinks differently but we only one voice to be heard to make a change. The big companies block us from the truth and reality, everything important gets covered up by a Kardashian or someone that is temporarily important. We see it all the time, a school shooting in the next state over, or a murder on the run, and what? These conversations last one night over dinner. It is truly pathetic at this point. Open your eyes people, we need to see what's happening behind the scenes and what's happening right next to every single person.

-Peter C (1470 Words)

Source- Anderson, M. T. Feed. London: Walker , 2002. Print.