HW 12: Feed A

Feed is a story specifically drawn to parallel the way society runs today. Many situations and objects in the book are deliberately put in to represent certain aspects of present day America. The Feed for example, is a chip installed into the minds of Americans. Connected to almost every function of the body, the Feed is seen as a necessity for the typical human. With entertainment and information at the tip of your fingers or right in your head in this case, no one would want it any other way. Similar to the present day internet, ask anyone and I bet you most people would choose the option of technology over no technology.
The Feed is viewed as a destructive element and as a contributor to the downfall of America's society. Anderson describes America as a place dominated by corporate powers where even the clouds and schools were owned by large profit seeking corporations. It's the "nation of dreams" and "what we wish for, is ours." In other words, America is a selfish, instant-gratification seeking, spoiled society. Throughout the book, it is seen that the Feed is an object that brainwashes its owners by constantly whispering ideas into their heads, pressuring them to submit to trends and developing superficial values. The teenagers in the book, like us are constantly chasing trends and trying to have fun, oblivious to the bigger issues around them.

Like Feed, it's no doubt that our society has developed a culture of materialism. Everyone has to look good. We are so convinced that the things we buy will make us cooler or help us gain acceptance with certain groups of people. Like the artificial lesions in the book, people today are so obsessed with their looks that they're driven towards plastic surgery.

As well as paralleling America's consumerist culture, Feed also depicts the declining of America's civilization. It is seen that excessive damage to nature has driven the country to live in the sky, while air pollution begins to tear away at their skin. And even as countries formed alliances and threatened war against America, indifference was the main attitude people had toward the situation. Similar to America today, many aren't aware of currents events or choose to ignore them. America claims to be ruled by the people but as Feed expresses, what you're told may not always be the truth. Corrupted acts are constant patterns that come up in those with power whether it be the government or top notched corporations. M.T. Anderson is trying to tell us is to be more aware of our surroundings. Don't settle for the government to do all the work for you, be a part of the power and take matters into your own hands.

Many Americans have demonstrated little involvement in politics. We convince ourselves that the government has everything under control. People expect Obama to create some sort of miracle, to revive us from the recession, to clear the war, to bring us back from our debt, to create this brilliant plan that will make all our problems go away. But truth is, he's only one person and you can't just sit back and relax and expect him to solve all your problems (I think this was from Andy?) A society needs to be run by the people. Only the people can create the kind of change they want.