Ferguson’s views toward youth seem to be that we are a generation that is catered to and targeted. Also, his views seem to see the youth as having low attention spans and needing constant updates. I feel that this Ferguson’s quote from his article on the Media Builds a Monument to Itself best describes his views, “Like most public institutions in American life, from movies to libraries to baseball parks, museums are designed with the primary goal of seizing and holding the attention of a slightly hyperactive male adolescent, that cheerful, vacant fellow who has just clambered down from the school bus and has detached himself from the ear buds of his iPod and is in danger of growing fidgety from the sudden lack of stimulation.” I actually agree with Ferguson’s analysis of the “male adolescent” because I myself have a very low attention span and enjoy institutions that give lots of stimulation. A lot of the activities described in the museum like the interactive 3-D movie sound interesting to me even if they are not completely educational.
Ferguson’s view towards media seems to be a critical one, especially towards modern journalist who act superior to other because of their profession. Ferguson writes, “Our terrific country offers lots of ways to make a living, but with the possible exceptions of movie acting and architecture, only modern journalism would have the nerve to celebrate itself with something as gaudy and improbable as the Newseum.” He also offered critic to Time magazine stating, “Time magazine, the superannuated newsweekly, seems to reinvent itself every few years with.” I found slackening energy, in one vain attempt after another to postpone its inevitable, rapidly approaching, and much-anticipated demise.” I found it interesting that a journalist like Ferguson would be so critical of typical print journalist and approach technology like Twitter. I also found it interesting for a journalist to critique the journalism profession for having this elitist type view of their profession.
Politically, I found it hard to determine what Ferguson’s views were. The only article I could see a glimmer of his political beliefs was in the Literary Obama article where he gives positives and negatives to Obama’s two books. I found his assessment of Obama’s writing fair and he didn’t seem biased. While Ferguson did seem more critical of Obama then a lot of mainstream press I did not feel like I was reading a pro-Republican author. One example of criticism used by Ferguson is this excerpt, “The real problem with The Audacity of Hope (aside from the portentous, meaningless title) is that Obama's gifts of observation and sympathy have been reduced to the realm of the political, and it's a bad fit.” While this is a critic of Obama I feel that it is unbiased and fair.
Finally, I would like to talk about what Ferguson seems to enjoy the most, Abraham Lincoln. I enjoyed the video about Abraham Lincoln and found Ferguson’s stories very interesting. He provoked me to think about how one person’s life could be analyzed in so many different ways that there are so many different versions of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln is somebody different to every person as we saw with the couple that worshiped their Lincoln statue like a God. But, I feel that the message that Ferguson was trying to convey was that Lincoln’s main point was that every man is created equal and that should be the lasting message.
I enjoyed reading Ferguson’s articles and found his style of writing to keep my attention. I also enjoyed that it was hard to determine what political affiliation Ferguson was coming from even though he has worked for a Republican President and a conservative friendly paper. Finally, I found his passion for Abraham Lincoln interesting and found his stories about Lincoln to be engaging.
What was it like working as a speech writer for the President?
What do you think the main message of Abraham Lincoln was?
Do you see technology like Twitter aiding our country and politics?
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