In class we talked about the internet and the good and bad things that came with using it. On one hand you can use it to find out information, but not all the information is correct. You wouldn't really be able to know what’s true and what’s not because people can write anything. People can be whoever they want to be over the internet and you would never know they aren't who they say they are.
In my life using the internet for social networking reasons is good and bad. Me being from England and not really having family in America, it helped me keep in contact with them and see pictures of how everyone is growing up and changing. It was nice to see but the negative thing about that was it made me miss being back home and not growing up around my family. One positive thing that came from using the social network that I met the father of my children online and we have not been together for 4 years. Along with the good, there have been negative outcomes from using the internet for social reasons. There have been occasions where it has led to bad attention and people using words to be rude towards me and taking my pictures offline and using them as their own. Now I stay of social networks, they have become too much of a hassle.
The internet does have some good aspects, but it also has some bad ones. It can break up friendships or create new ones. It can make people feel like they have worse symptoms than they do then they go to the doctor or they could read that their so called symptoms aren't bad then don't go to the doctor but it can be something life threatening.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
ABC News
In class we watched the ABC news, on of the stories that would be considered "real" news was when they talked about trained terrorist sneaking into the U.S as refuges. It talked about how they had already killed American soldiers and how the system had failed by letting them into the U.S. The government put a 6 month suspension on the refugee program in order to make sure no more mistakes were made and they also hammered down on better background checks. This news would be something real because it could affect many people and holds as a serious threat to thousands of people because they can't determine how many terrorists entered the U.S and also there were two that moved into a nice neighbourhood and nobody knew that they were such a danger.
The story that could be as "meaningless" news was when they talked about John F Kennedy's plane. Although he was a very important man and someone who will be remembered for years, the story was very much pointless. They were showing you the plane and talking about what happened on the day that he got killed. The reporter was getting a tour around the plane and spoke about how the crew on board refused to put his dead body down in the cargo hold and how after that day, 7 other presidents used the plane. This could be seen as meaningless news because its something that occurred years ago and doesn't really affect anyone. Also there have been many programs on TV that would let people know such information, as well as many presidents after him.
The story that could be as "meaningless" news was when they talked about John F Kennedy's plane. Although he was a very important man and someone who will be remembered for years, the story was very much pointless. They were showing you the plane and talking about what happened on the day that he got killed. The reporter was getting a tour around the plane and spoke about how the crew on board refused to put his dead body down in the cargo hold and how after that day, 7 other presidents used the plane. This could be seen as meaningless news because its something that occurred years ago and doesn't really affect anyone. Also there have been many programs on TV that would let people know such information, as well as many presidents after him.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Millennials
In class we talked about the different generations and how major things would usually hold a generation together. The millennial generation isn't really known for no major event that binds them together. When I think of millennial I think of the movie "Knocked up". The man who got the woman pregnant had the characteristics associated with a millennial generation person. He was someone who was very lazy and didn't take charge or take situations serious. He was still acting like a child and was forced to grow up, he wouldn't take responsibility for his actions and was very much care free smoking weed with friends and just hanging out. He did eventually rise to the occasion and do what he had to do.
Technology is also a main component associated with the millennial generation. It holds them together, because how fast technology is advancing and its people of my generation that will continue to take it to the next level. Although technology can be a good and bad thing for the reasons it has made my generation lazy and gave them easy access to the main sites they like to visit such as facebook and twitter. When I think of my generation I think of how stuck people are on these social networks and how they use them everyday. How people are so into their phones always texting and talking and how they always want the latest thing out. The good thing is the advancement of technology could take people to a whole other level and it keeps people connected.
Technology is also a main component associated with the millennial generation. It holds them together, because how fast technology is advancing and its people of my generation that will continue to take it to the next level. Although technology can be a good and bad thing for the reasons it has made my generation lazy and gave them easy access to the main sites they like to visit such as facebook and twitter. When I think of my generation I think of how stuck people are on these social networks and how they use them everyday. How people are so into their phones always texting and talking and how they always want the latest thing out. The good thing is the advancement of technology could take people to a whole other level and it keeps people connected.
Monday, November 11, 2013
"Reality" Televison
In class we read "What happens when people stop being polite" by Chuck Kloserman. Klosterman made the point that people start acting like archetypes they see on TV. He was talking about The Real World TV show and how all the people on there are different and have different personalities but on the show they have a type they are supposed to represent. How if a person is black, everything they do or say on the show surrounds their race and how it is always brought up. As well as if a person is homosexual then they would always talk about that and that's what they would focus on. He was also trying to make the point that people would begin to act like those they seen on TV.
I don't think this is a very strong argument, we don't know them people on TV and although some of us might feel we have things in common with them, that doesn't mean we will begin to act like them or even do everything they are doing. I feel that we would never really know how the people act in "real life" because reality TV doesn't define who they are or show who they really are. With the way television manipulates its audience into believing that something is occurring when its not and cutting and pasting different sections of the day, we will never really know what is real or fake within reality TV. Although I could agree with him when he was making the point how the people who would be the next cast members would act like the ones that was on there before, but I think thats all it is... acting.
I don't think this is a very strong argument, we don't know them people on TV and although some of us might feel we have things in common with them, that doesn't mean we will begin to act like them or even do everything they are doing. I feel that we would never really know how the people act in "real life" because reality TV doesn't define who they are or show who they really are. With the way television manipulates its audience into believing that something is occurring when its not and cutting and pasting different sections of the day, we will never really know what is real or fake within reality TV. Although I could agree with him when he was making the point how the people who would be the next cast members would act like the ones that was on there before, but I think thats all it is... acting.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Accidental Racist
The song "Accidental Racist" is by a country singer Brad Paisley and it features a rapper LL Cool J. A huge deal was made about this song because of the message behind it and the words they used. Many people didn't like the song mainly because they felt like racism was so many years ago so why is it still being brought up today and why do all whites feel they are labeled as racist and all blacks "ghetto".
It may have been a shock for many people that a country singer and a rap artist would join up and make a song seeing as the genre of music they are in are supposed to have a completely different message. In class we talked about how country singers lyrics are easy to understand, talk about love and tell a story. While rap artists music is supposed to be violent, talk about money and all things being negative. This song has a different message depending on the person who is listening to it though.
Me myself personally don't see anything wrong with the song overall. Although I don't agree with how they stereotyped both groups of people though. LL Cool J talked about wearing gold chains and being from the hood. Not all black people are from the hood nor do they wear gold chains. Many people from different cultural backgrounds can be born in the hood and wear gold chains. I agree with the part of the song when they say "Our generation didn’t start this nation. And we’re still paying for mistakes. That a bunch of folks made long before we came". This is much very true, many of us wasn't born during the time racism was legally okay but people are still fighting to prove they're not racist or that they have been done so wrong.Racism is a very touchy subject for a lot of people but from experiences I've had in my past and to this day, I know for sure racism still does exist whether people want to talk about it or not. The song just brought it to light and let people know that many of us black or white are still paying for something we had no control over nor any part in.
It may have been a shock for many people that a country singer and a rap artist would join up and make a song seeing as the genre of music they are in are supposed to have a completely different message. In class we talked about how country singers lyrics are easy to understand, talk about love and tell a story. While rap artists music is supposed to be violent, talk about money and all things being negative. This song has a different message depending on the person who is listening to it though.
Me myself personally don't see anything wrong with the song overall. Although I don't agree with how they stereotyped both groups of people though. LL Cool J talked about wearing gold chains and being from the hood. Not all black people are from the hood nor do they wear gold chains. Many people from different cultural backgrounds can be born in the hood and wear gold chains. I agree with the part of the song when they say "Our generation didn’t start this nation. And we’re still paying for mistakes. That a bunch of folks made long before we came". This is much very true, many of us wasn't born during the time racism was legally okay but people are still fighting to prove they're not racist or that they have been done so wrong.Racism is a very touchy subject for a lot of people but from experiences I've had in my past and to this day, I know for sure racism still does exist whether people want to talk about it or not. The song just brought it to light and let people know that many of us black or white are still paying for something we had no control over nor any part in.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Intertextuality
Now that I know what the definition of intertextuality is, I realize it is something that is big in popular culture. When I think about this, the movie Thor comes to mind. I was watching the movie on Netflix not to long along ago and once it was over something else popped up called Thor and I was thinking it was the second part, was I very wrong. It looked like a "bootleg" version of the actual movie and yes I was upset. Moving on, from the movie has come several things, like comics, toys, games, and clothing / costumes.
Another intertextuality I have encountered would be all these Adidas ads that they have out there, weather its on TV, billboards or just pictures you see on the Internet. Adidas is a popular shoe that many people spend their money on. Most of the Adidas commercials now have me thinking of basketball or associating it with some type of sport. Like if people talk about they want some new running shoes or some shoes for the gym, these automatically come to mind.
Another intertextuality I have encountered would be all these Adidas ads that they have out there, weather its on TV, billboards or just pictures you see on the Internet. Adidas is a popular shoe that many people spend their money on. Most of the Adidas commercials now have me thinking of basketball or associating it with some type of sport. Like if people talk about they want some new running shoes or some shoes for the gym, these automatically come to mind.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Half way through: Popular Culture
Looking back on the first semester of class I have learned a lot about popular culture. How we engage in it everyday as we go on about our lives. The media plays a huge role in popular culture and sometimes dictates how we feel about ourselves. They have false images that we can never live up to because the people themselves look nothing like that. Popular culture has us spending money on things we feel at the time makes us happy and in actuality it might not in the long run but we buy it anyway because it is what is in at that time. The thing I also learned about popular culture is that it changes over time, it is never the same. Although trends might come back out, it is never persistent throughout your life. I learned about how advertisements objectify women and how you can never be to skinny.
What I've also got out of class is how people compare their own lives to what they see on TV and will never truly be happy because they can't compare to what isn't real. A reading we did in class by Chuck Klosterman "This is Emo" would be a great example of how he told us of Hollywood making it impossible to be in love. How we measure our relationships on the prospect of fake love. We let these "couples" on TV tell us what love is supposed to look and feel like and in real life it isn't necessarily like that so we think we aren't in love or were unhappy. Once people start to realize these people are acting while they themselves are in the real world and stop trying to compare themselves to what they see on TV then they might actually be happy because how they feel is real and they won't be looking for actors to tell them how to feel.
People always compare themselves to others and what others have instead of being happy with what they have. It seems everyone always wants to either fit in or stand out by being overly popular. Popular culture had made it to were woman are expected to be sexy and guys are meant to be athletic. It defines who we are as a people and what our values are as a whole. I've learned that popular culture can be such a negative thing. Instead of living our own lives we are so influenced by what we see on TV and the things around us. We always compare ourselves to others instead of being happy within ourselves. We deny or don't want to think that we are brainwashed and have become so accustomed to the values of popular culture that it has become "normal" to us. People focus on these celebrity figures and look up to them when they don't even know them but yet want to be them. This is a crazy world we live in and everything has a label.
What I've also got out of class is how people compare their own lives to what they see on TV and will never truly be happy because they can't compare to what isn't real. A reading we did in class by Chuck Klosterman "This is Emo" would be a great example of how he told us of Hollywood making it impossible to be in love. How we measure our relationships on the prospect of fake love. We let these "couples" on TV tell us what love is supposed to look and feel like and in real life it isn't necessarily like that so we think we aren't in love or were unhappy. Once people start to realize these people are acting while they themselves are in the real world and stop trying to compare themselves to what they see on TV then they might actually be happy because how they feel is real and they won't be looking for actors to tell them how to feel.
People always compare themselves to others and what others have instead of being happy with what they have. It seems everyone always wants to either fit in or stand out by being overly popular. Popular culture had made it to were woman are expected to be sexy and guys are meant to be athletic. It defines who we are as a people and what our values are as a whole. I've learned that popular culture can be such a negative thing. Instead of living our own lives we are so influenced by what we see on TV and the things around us. We always compare ourselves to others instead of being happy within ourselves. We deny or don't want to think that we are brainwashed and have become so accustomed to the values of popular culture that it has become "normal" to us. People focus on these celebrity figures and look up to them when they don't even know them but yet want to be them. This is a crazy world we live in and everything has a label.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)