I'm So Totally, Digitally, Close to You

     In the 21st century, we are witnessing the invasion of the social media. Our daily lives are commanded by Facebook, Twitter, and many others. Thompson in his essay “I’m So Totally, Digitally, Close to you" pointed out the concept of the "identity-constraining" (552). It means that people once they sign-in in any social media, they quickly start meeting people all around the world and having friends. Thus, when a person is on Facebook or in Twitter, s/he has to have an identity, this identity has to be real and definitive because all that people will know is what is written in the description and what is shared the whole day. As it was said in Thompson's essay "On the Internet today, everybody knows you are a dog! If you do not want people to know you are a dog, you'd better stay away from a keyboard" (552). However, how can a person stay without participating in a social media? It is not an addiction, but it is a way to show what you are because many people have difficulties finding friends and exchanging information; so being in front of a laptop screen, a person is free and open to share with the others his/her hobbies, preferences, and ideas. People using social media are always waiting for novelties because what is shared is always seen by the audience, they are "checking up on you". This was the issue of Facebook (privacy); all your friends can see all what you post. However, now you can limit the access of your friends to you profile.

Stream of Illusion

       Rita Carter tries in Stream of Illusion to define illusion, to tell us that the human’s attention is weak, and our senses betray us because what around us is not always true. She defined illusion by things we think are there without receiving any outside information about it. But we can receive sensory informayion tat does not make it to consciousness and it influce thinkin and our feelin. And consciousness roves in time and in space, in other words it is li an all-enveloping movie, behind wich the self lurks like some shadowy director calling the shots.
      What I liked the most in this text is the questions that it asked, because it let us think about the answers and go very deep to find them which develop our thinking. What I also like is the examples that fhe gave like the example of O'Regan that said the person with a billion ounds in the bank feels rich because he knows it is there, but not because he took wads of note out of a hole in the wall, so a person who spent all his money, but because an administration error he kept receiving bank statements that showed it to be intact. He would not know that the he spent his fortunne till he wrote a cheque and found it bounced. 

The Veil

   

     In this comic, Marjane Satrapi described her situation in Iran in 1980, after the Islamic revolution. She talked about the main results of this revolution which were the requirement of veil in all the schools.  This requirement of veils was a shock for all the girls. Before 1979, Marjane was studying in a French non-religious school where boys and girls were studying together. However, after 1979, the revolutionaries call for a Cultural Revolution in which bilingual schools should be closed. Some people had accepted this idea, so the children were divided between sexes. After that, Marjane Satrapi thought about being a prophet, and had many conversations at night about her dream with God. At the end of the story, Marjan Strapi ,in an imaginary vision,  holds a scale of justice, makes a sign of love, and holds a sword and shield and declares that she wants “to be justice, love, and the wrath of God all in one.

     What liked in this reading is that it informs us about many things that happend in Iran in 1979 such as women situation, the Islamic revolution or the raise of Islam in Iran and how it affected people. However, I did not like the way she described the veil, and how people thought about it, and also I did not like the image she give to god and the prophets, it would be better to not draw theme.