empireofillusion

= EMPIRE OF ILLUSION =

Shelby Freedman Matt Song Melody Ashby Roger An (Twinkie)

For this book club you will read the section for that week and take notes. The notes should be about what you have learned in the chapter. Provide with notes the lessons we should be teaching at the end of the book. Also maybe support those with quotes that are powerful to you. The sections will be divided as so"

week one: Read the Illusion of Literacy week two: Read the Illusion of Love week three: Read the Illusion of Wisdom week four: Read the Illusion of Happiness week five: Read the Illusion of America

Week one: The main idea for this week is that we try to be famous so that everyone itemizes us. In reality though none of us become celebrities. If you portray this life you will be empty. Trying to live a famous life by imaging us as Katy Perry, or Little Wayne still leaves us as normal people, and is pointless in the end.

Hedges also mentions that many people view their life as a movie. They feel pressured to make their lives interesting for the "audience". This causes people to think that reading is boring, since we would not want to watch a movie about a guy/woman reading for an hour and a half. They try to keep their lives as social as possible with sites such as Facebook and Twitter to keep their said audience engaged in their lives. This might also cause people to start drama between their peers to make for an interesting story.

When people are constantly surrounded by their social situations they tend to look down on those who don't do the same. Hence, they call people less socialable "without a life" and make fun of them.

Empire of Illusion also touches on how culture encourages people to develop and unhealthy attitude about being positive. He says culture demands you must always be happy, optimistic, and smiling. People also hire proffesionals like interior designers so our homes can resemble those of our "cherish" celeberities.

They say that anything is possible with shows like American Idol, where stars are born from humble beginings. This encourages people to audition, effectively creating one of the most sucsessfull shows ever. In reality though, our chances are so slim.

Presentation Take a survey about celebraties and ask if you would want to be.

Las Vegas Hedges mentioned that Las Vegas is the last honest place in America. Foreign countries are presented there so Americans can access them easily. No strange language to learn, no new foods to eat. Everyone speaks English there, and hamburgers/fries are the norm. Just the sights and what looks “cool” for Americans. It is essentially travleing for the idiot who refuses to actually explore new things. Expanding your horizons is narrowing them this way. Someone tries to expose themselves to new things but is shown only what they want to see.

Porn Empire of Illusion says that porn does not picture sex, but lust. Sex is an intamicy between two people. Ironically, porn makes people afraid of intimacy, giving them false expectations of sexual partners.

Las Vegas is called dreams? No it is all a bunch of lies. The glamour is all an illusion, and the way they express that is through porn.

Las Vegas is a porn city, with it being a major part of it’s economy, other than gambling an restaurant revenues. All of these prostitutes have. Las Vegas is one of the most porn-producting cities, and many girls there are raised to be a prostitute. I feel like sex is being overused, and it should be reserved for mutual romantic purposes, not for mula.

This chapter is called The Illusion of love. Many people confuse love with lust. The whole chapter about porn may have been really unpleasant to read but he was right on target.   Week Three: - The government gives a false sense of democracy how they give only two candidates for the presidents. - The college system of todays society is rigged all the time -Grades are the primary college recruiting standard, and teachers have a big impact on this. Sat and other standardized tests can prove this, but do not factor in as much.  -The tuition of college is rising, and is targeted to put the upper class at an advantage.