I recently read an article written by Douglas Rushoff titled Why We Listen to What "They Say". He starts out the article with a series of "They say" arguments that grab the readers attention right of the bat. Things like "They say human beings only use 10% of their brain". The entire first paragraph is filled with nothing but these "They say" lines which really have you wondering what the purpose of this paper is. Then he says something that should be asked allot more often in my opinion. "who, exactly are they, and why do they say so much? More amazing, why do we listen to them". Rushoff really knows how to grab a readers attention. When I got into the body of the paper it seamed that the paper was about peoples abilities to sway others into doing what they want. (such as purchasing their product). I found in extremely interesting that psychologists actually design malls in order to trick our brains into being in more of a purchasing mood. He makes some very strong points in his work which put me right on his side of the argument. The article goes on and on with very specific facts which back up his main point, which at first appears to be marketers abilities to sway us. Then all of the sudden he picks apart his own work depicting his ability to sway us to his side. This was amazing and I have never read anything like it. He used his own writing abilities to prove his own point within his paper, then he showed us how he did it. I believe Rushkoff to be a very talented writer with a special ability to sway others with his words. By using his own paper as an example he proved first hand that people can be swayed even when they have their highest walls of defense up.

I also recently read a review by Chalmers Johnson of the book Democracy Inc. by Sheldon S. Wolin. Johnson jumps right into it by stating the the U.S. is in trouble, and I have to agree with him. Yes the war on Iraq was and always has been a HUGE mistake, and now we are feeling the repercussions of it. He states that their are so many things going wrong with the U.S. at the same time that it makes it more difficult for the necessary changes to be made. I also agree with this statement, except for one thing. yes their are many things going wrong in the U.S. right now, but in my opinion it all filters down to one thing ... Bush. It is very clear that Johnson and Wolin would both agree with me on this matter. Johnson states that their are many books on our individual problems such as the war on Iraq and our bloated defense budgets, and their are a few attempts to put all of our problems into one big picture for us to understand these concepts and how we have gotten to where we are today (one of the books being his own). Then he states that " We now have a new, comprehensive diagnosis of our failings as a democratic polity by one of our most seasoned and respected political philosophers." This was a great introduction for the book Democracy Incorporated. He makes a compelling argument on why we should read this book by stating that it does not take any kind of "specialized" knowledge to understand it, ( so it makes it seam not overwhelmingly difficult to understand) then he suggest reading it in short burst so that we can take in all the information. (this gives the book back allot of its depth) Who doesn't like a book that makes them think? Johnson discus's the way Wolin compares the downhill progression the U.S. is making to similar mistakes made by Germany in the past. He even compares Hitlers excuse for beginning war, to that of the united states war on Iraq. He also talks about how we have never been a real Democracy, because it was set up by people who were either against democracy, or did not fully believe in its benefits in the first place. I have to say he makes Democracy Inc. seam very informative and interesting. Johnson does a wonderful job with this review by giving us a good overview of the general concepts discussed in this book. And at the same time he leaves enough information out, that I will not be able to resist having my on personal copy of this book.