Playing the Game

 I thought our discussion about "playing the game" with Reality Hunger was interesting.  In a way, I think I played Shields' game because I didn't keep going to the appendix to check which segments were quotes and which were his words.  I knew that he included quotes, but it wasn't until after Tuesday's class that I felt the need to flip back and check what he was quoting and what he wasn't more and more.  

Changing the way I was reading the book halfway through really changed my perspective, and I think it altered the message I was getting from Shields.  When I wasn't so interested in what Shields was quoting, his point that nothing is original, oddly made more sense to me than when I was going back to the appendix.  Once I started going to the appendix more, and the amount of quoting Shields was actually doing became apparent, I feel like it was harder to take him seriously.  It sounds pretty contradictory I know, but starting to pay attention to the appendix, made my impression of Shields' message less genuine than when I couldn't differentiate between his work and others.