The Braindead Megaphone

Theory of Writing Assignment Forums Discussions The Braindead Megaphone

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #273
    Sam
    Keymaster

    Post your thoughts on “The Braindead Megaphone” by George Saunders.

    #275
    Merla Ramos
    Participant

    I think that “The Braindead Megaphone” by George Saunders was very informative. Chapter 2 was that part that resonated with me because I’ve seen it happen before. Sometimes people at parties tend to follow a person or even in real life there is always that follower that does not think for themselves because of a person’s rhetoric. At times I tend to be convinced by someone’s rhetoric and not think for myself and then my opinion becomes meaningless. Media also tends to have rhetoric that can distort our thinking about a topic and makes us believe what they are conveying.

    #276
    Mohammed Mia
    Participant

    I’m the beginning of “the braindead microphone”, I had a strong gyst of the overall idea and I agree with what was happening. Usually, whenever the speaker at an event starts talking, everyone’s attention shifts. Their conversations die out and they lose their train of thought due to the speaker being on the stage giving some words. From there, I didn’t really see where this story was going since Saunders went on a bunch of tangents. Reading through it, I read all the different scenarios and in the end, I had a moment of epiphany when realizing what Saunders truly meant to say after giving these different stories. We are our own enemy and if we can’t see that, then we’re living in a world for others to please because it’s only about doing what you desire and aspire to be in this world.

    #277
    Escarlen Ibadango
    Participant

    <span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Saunders’ “The Braindead Megaphone” discusses the idea of society being led by the news, or what’s exposed to them on a daily basis.  Throughout the article, the constant use of the “Megaphone Guy” at a party, serves as a metaphor to represent the ideas being put out there and becoming societies topics. The guy with the megaphone intends to distract people and make them talk about random topics that he keeps bringing up. Although, at some point his audience stops discussing what he is saying and he fades away into the background without being noticed as they lose interest in the topics. In the same way society today loses interest when they don’t seem interested in a topic. For the main role of “the Informant’s main job is to entertain and that, if he fails in this, he’s gone” (Saunders). Therefore, if society is not interested in what is being said we have to take it into our matters to use our voice to reflect our ideas clear, “precise, intelligent,  and humane as possible” in order for people to relate and make a change (Saunders).</span>

    #278

    My thoughts on “The Braindead Megaphone” by George Saunders are quite simple. Saunders is basically talking mostly about the media and the fact that they are shouting senseless information at us to capture our attention and make money. Saunders compares this to the guy at the party with the megaphone. He describes this man as “not the smartest” person at the party and because he has a megaphone and he is been the loudest everyone listens to him. Everyone at the party will start subconsciously talking about what they are hearing and believe that man because he has taken the attention of everyone. Saunders says that this is what media is now days but they do this for a profit. They put different ideas into people’s head and make them believe its true for profit. As Saunders says, “Is some of our media very stupid? Hoo boy”.

    #279
    Anthony Liang
    Participant

    I think “The Braindead Megaphone” discusses about society feeding us stories, where some have the truth stretched. The biggest offender is the media, where, “In surrendering our mass storytelling functions to entities whose first priority is profit, we make a dangerous concession: “Tell us,” we say in effect, “as much truth as you can, while still making money.” (Saunders) This is not the same as asking: “Tell us the truth.” What we read and listen to daily is us being fished into keeping our attention to the media. (This is probably why Trump hates the media with their ‘Alternative Facts’) With us listening to what the media feeds us, Saunders see us as becoming more braindead. An it does still happen, with some stories to capture audience, the media would twists some facts to get the article to dictate the overall perspective of the piece and possibly defame someone just for the overall money it racks in. In a sense; we will listen to anything that interests us: a guy with a megaphone or comedy for example.

    #280
    Tatiana Lema
    Participant

    When reading the analogy that the author had made toward a man in the 1200, I had already began to understand what the rest of the reading would be about. Given that the comparison between two different time frames  allows for an understanding of how different dialogue and communication could be when used in rhetorical situations. When given the example from the guy at the party he begins to describe how the guy uses a megaphone and instantly the audience stops what they are doing, and subconsciously start listening and mimicking whatever the guy is saying or doing. This subconscious attitude can be reflected in our society now and how many people follow whatever happens or is talked about in mass media.

    #281
    Xiaoqin Jiang
    Participant

    In my opinion, I think “The Braindead Megaphone” by George Saunders was a very meaningful essay because George Saunders used many new different metaphors to describe some events. In his paper, based on what he saw and heard, he felt that we should turn that Megaphone down because it can distort some truths, and leads general public to believe something.

    #282
    Mohammad Rahman
    Participant

    The book “The Braindead Megaphone” by George Saunders, I would say, is a really interesting piece of writing that really capture’s the way one’s mind thinks, behaves and reacts. As the writing suggests, a person with a very loud voice are likely to attract more attention than one with a low voice. Even if the person has no idea what they are talking about, just because they are loud. I found the writing to be a bit random, in which it went from talking about a Mr. or Mrs. 1200 and his thinking to a guy with a megaphone. But both had a general theme of volume attracting attention.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.