Neil Postman My Farewell Speech Analysis

“Why I Am A Visigoth” In “My Graduation Speech” written by Neil Postman, he indicates how there are two types of people in the world: an Athenian or a Visigoth. He explains how both groups flourished more than 1,500 years ago and gave a general idea of what an Athenian is and how they lived versus what a Visigoth is and how they conducted their life. What I understood from Postman’s speech is Athenians are well rounded, overall good people. They cherished life, language, and knowledge. Postman wrote that “To an Athenian, bad manners are acts of violence against social order.” What this means to me is that the Athenians did not believe or accept anything they thought was negative or a bad influence. Postman also explained how he perceived Visigoths as. I gained that Visigoths are the complete opposite of an Athenian. They did not value the small
They gave today’s world nothing as oppose to Athenians who invented reasoning and logic. They were impertinent people who only thought for themselves and put themselves before others. Visigoths are idolized more by today’s society because celebrities get paid more and are often on the front covers for doing reckless and impulsive things.Oppose to the prime minister who has worked his way up there and holds way more responsibility than a typical celebrity does. In today’s world, more people care more about what a celebrity ate for breakfast that day than wars going on with soldiers dying the same morning. After reading this speech about two times, I questioned whether I was an Athenian or a Visigoth. I thought about what good deeds I have done and what I value most in life and I thought, “Of course I am an Athenian!” But then I revisited the thought and analysed myself more thoroughly. In Postman’s speech he states that “we are all, in a way, natural-born Visigoths.” This made me wonder. If we