Summary 6

In the article “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box” by Dana Stevens it is argued that watching TV does not necessarily make you any smarter. Stevens‘s article is a response to an article that claims that watching TV makes you think about the events taken place on the shows that you are watching, therefore making you smarter. In contrast to his fellow author’s interpretation of the hit TV series 24 being “nutritional” Stevens points out that the show has a few controversies. These controversies range from the shows representation of Muslim terrorists to how the program endorses torture. These issues Stevens believes were ignored by Steven Johnson, who is the author of the article “Watching TV Makes You Smarter.”
While Dana Stevens admits that he watches a good deal of television and boasts that it is mainly because he gets paid to do so. He suggests that watching television doesn’t make you anymore intelligent as well as it will not cause you to be any less intelligent than what you currently are. Going back to his interpretation of the show 24, Steven’s admits that the program’s plots and information keeps audiences captivated but fails to have them think about anything other than future episodes. Unlike Johnson who feels as if the show makes its audience pay attention to their surroundings, becoming more aware of “social relationships”, Stevens considers the show to promote racial profiling. Another point Dana Steven’s makes is that with all the excitement that goes on in 24 the audience fails to see that the show is about a vigilante, therefore closing his argument that this particular television show doesn’t make anyone smarter.

Summary 5

In the article “Being Fat Is Ok,” Author Paul Campos argues that lies about fat, fitness, and health helps fuel America’s $50 billion-per-year diet industry. He considers himself to be in good health due to the fact that he runs 35 to 40 miles per week. But according to the Body Mass Index (or BMI) charts when his height and weight are factored in, he is considered to be overweight. According to the government, who use these BMI charts, over 61 percent of Americans are overweight. Campos believes that the diet industries with help from the government are being dishonest to the American people. He discusses the three lies that are most noticeable to him. The first one is that fat people are less healthy than thin people because they are fat. Campos feels that this is a lie because there is no solid scientific basis. The second lie Campos speaks of is that of fat people would be as healthy as thin people if they lost weight. There are some studies that show an increase in death in people who have lost weight. The last thing the author considers to be a lie is that fat people can choose to be thinner. Statistics have proven that a group of dieters will weigh more than a group that never began dieting.
The question remains if being fat causes serious health problems. And if losing weight can be good for someone or bad for them. Things such as Diabetes and High Cholesterol problems have been linked to obesity. Not to mention the high risk of a heart attack someone who is obese has. More studies are needed to get Americans on a healthier track.