Essay on Thomas De Zengotita’s Mediated
After reading the selections from Thomas De Zengotita’s Mediated (the “Introduction” and Ch. 1, “Learning to Love the Blob”), select a quote of your choice from the text and respond to it in a “passage-based short essay.”
What to Do:
1). Type your selected quote at the top of your document, citing the page number in MLA format. In a way, it’s a epigraph – a quote before your essay begins that situates an idea to work with.
2). From there, write a response to the key quote you selected by interpreting it and making further connections to it.
Include the moves we’ve practiced so far:
explain what you think the quote means,
discuss what it implies and what it makes you think about,
then keep going to add to the ideas raised by the text.
For clarity (and to better establish your understanding of the text), be sure to also cover the following layers as you develop your essay discussion (in any order you see fit):
Explain De Zengotita’s guiding thesis for his book. What is his main theory or guiding claim for the project?
What is “mediation,” in the sense that De Zengotita is using the term?
Discuss at least one of the following metaphors/similes/analogies in Chapter 1:
“The Blob”
“Justin’s Bike Helmet”
“Surfing the Options”
“The Moreness of Everything”
Consider: What is De Zengotita describing with this particular rhetorical device (a way of framing a big idea for readers)?
Tips:
Remember to stay in the mode of ideas and analytical thinking, beyond opinion (simply agreeing or disagreeing with the text). Feel free to offer your own examples/evidence (including images) as you consider De Zengotita’s claims.
Avoid trying Google an answer to any of this. Go with your own reading (there is no way to bypass it!).
Writing your way through a response like this is a good way to unlock the meaning of a text, through the lens of one key quote you find interesting, significant, or challenging.
“Some people refuse to accept the fact that reality is becoming indistinguishable from representation in a qualitatively new way. They find permanent refuge in the belief that nothing is new under the sun” (Zengotita 25).
There have been massive changes in society due to the proliferation of technology in the age of data and information. Despite how immense these changes have been, there seems to be a carefree acceptance of the roles that they play in people’s lives. To an extent, Thomas De Zengotita’s writing reflects the idea that people should not simply accept things as they are. This quote reiterates the fact that people are in a state of rejection; they do not want to accept that the world has changed so intensively to the point that it has become indistinguishable. There are numerous options available for people in the modern world. Because of modern technology, people have become spoiled with options that have very little difference from one another. A refuge may be considered a positive thing for others because it signifies that people have found comfort. However, in this particular situation, refuge pertains more to an escape due to a refusal to see the world for what it is. It signifies a delusional understanding of where society is heading towards.
