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The Collapse of Western Civilization vs As the World Burns

Penguin18's picture
  • As the World Burns has visuals that help to simplify the ideas and makes it easier for the reader to understand.  The humor engages some readers.  Personally, the humor turns me off from the book because I don’t want to associate these horrible things that are happening to the world with something funny.  I’m worried that some people would not be able to identity the humor and just agree that nothing can be done to improve the state of the world.
  • The Collapse of Western Civilization is a book that is more appropriate for more educated people because it is harder to understand.  It is very straight forward; therefore you must be more interested in the matter to get a good grasp on the ideas.  Children would not understand it.
  • I don’t like how As the World Burns makes the changes that can be done sound 100% or nothing.  They describe small solutions that can be done, but only if everyone does them.  This gives the wrong message that there is no point unless there is 100% participation from everyone in the world.  I believe that even doing little things is better than nothing. They small actions won’t solve all of our problems, but it will help them at least a little bit.
  • The Collapse of Western Civilization does not really give suggestions on how to improve the state of the world, rather it just depresses us with the reality of what is going to happen.
  • I think that both books have very depressing meanings, but the way they are presented is very important.  The comics are easier to relate to for some people, but straight forward writing is also sometimes easier to relate to.
  • The Collapse of Western Civilization blames the people more for all of the problems that are going to occur.
  • As the World Burns blames the corporations for the environmental problems, not the people as much.
  • I think that The Collapse of Western Civilization is for an older audience because the writing is more complicated and less visually engaging.
  • As the World Burns could be aimed towards a younger generation because the visuals help to portray their message.  But the visuals might take away from the seriousness of the matter.  They might be so extreme that the whole idea that the world is dying is seen as a joke, but this is the opposite of the what the authors want the readers to learn about possible solutions.
  • It is interesting how the different characters in As the World Burns represent the different types of people in a society.  This might make the book speak to more people and be more relatable.