Chapter 11 Interesting Facts

I really found Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's theory on spiral silence to be particularly interesting. What Elisabeth says this idea is, is when people who don't agree with the messages being broadcast they don't speak out. They fear being isolated from the social norm so they do not share their concerns,but rather stay silent. It takes people like Martin Luther King Jr. brave souls who are willing to stand up against what society says is normal and right and be willing to fight for the silent voice. I think that if more people were willing to fight for what they think is right and not just what is socially normal then our world would be a much different place.

Chapter 11 Mediums and Logic

Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

I would have to say I feel lukewarm about McLuhan's thoughts on mediums being the actually messages. I would agree that the medium in which something is communicated by does play heavily into the way we see, hear and interpret the message. However, I disagree that the medium is actually the message itself.

I also agree that the medium is very important when choosing how to report news and information and every medium goes about it in a different way. According to the text print media uses linear logic because every word is carefully planned and one point leads to the next. Television on the contrary to print media takes the opposite approach in that it uses mosaic logic which means we are being bombarded with several images at once and we have to decipher them.

I found the explanations on hot and cool mediums a little bit puzzling. What I gained from McLuhan's writing is that on television people need to have cool tempers and be able to handle the intensity of the news on camera. Some people are not "cool" enough for television, so the text suggests radio would be a better fit.

Chapter 11 Cyber relationships

· Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

I have never been one of those people to go into chat rooms online in order to meet people and I am also not the kind of girl that likes to go out to the clubs and start dancing with perfect strangers. I was brought up on to many law and order and criminal minds episodes to take the risk of talking to someone I have never met. I remember when I got my first sn and I was so excited to be able to talk to my friends on the computer. My parents were so paranoid that some rapist would find me and kidnap me.

I have a facebook which I use daily but it is set up to be very private. Only my friends can view my full profile and also my pictures. I never give information like where I work or live because I don't want the wrong people finding out. I also don't just add anyone as my friend on facebook that I don't know or have not met in person. My thinking is it is not safe for a 21 year old women to be accepting friend requests from strange men she has never met. I guess you can call me paranoid and I am, but my motto is I would rather be safe then sorry.


The one exception to my strict safety rules I have made in the past, was this last summer. I studied with Duke University in London. I didn't know a soul attending this program so we set up a facebook group for everyone who was going on the London trip, so that way we could get to know each other. There was one specific girl named MaryEileen who I started chatting online with frequently because she was also from CA. It was really nice when I arrived in London and felt like I already had a friend. She is also the person I keep in regular contact with since the trip, and maybe this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't started chatting online before we met.