Summary Of Neil Postman's 'Visigoth'

“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 lived. What I got 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 Athenians did not believe or accept anything they thought was negative or a bad influence. Postman also explained in his speech what a Visigoth was and how he

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 analyzed myself deeper. In Postman’s speech he said that “we are all, in a way, natural-born Visigoths.” This made me think if we are all naturally born Visigoths in a way, than being an Athenian is a choice, that one develops the skills to become one. I then re-read the speech and found out that I do not really quest for knowledge. I do not think outside the box and question things. I do believe that human life is important, but I think that we are just specks in this whole universe. We are just more evolved organisms composed of chemicals. Postman also said in his speech how Visigoths believe they are the centre of the universe. This may sound like I am contradicting my last point because I said that humankind is not that big compared to the universe. But what I took from Postman’s “centre of the universe” comment is that Visigoths think for themselves before anything or anyone else. In an Athenians perspective this is wrong and that people should put other people before themselves. I do not believe that though. I think that I should always look out for myself before I start looking out for anyone else. If I were in danger my initial instinct would be to save myself before saving other people. One last point in why I