This week we talked a lot about technology and its newer role in society. Everyone was able to communicate and get in touch just fine before, but as always, everything can be better. All people ever do is use their computers, phones, tablets, etc to communicate. I mean, people have phone interviews now-a-days instead of in person interviews, which is pathetic if you ask me. Nothing is personal anymore and conversations aren't valued like they used to be is what I get out of this. In our group discussions we were also talking about how a lot of people aren't completely themselves when you talk to them over the internet or the phone, especially if you have never met this person.
This is a simple picture but reflects exactly what our world has become. Always juggling technology, no matter what it is for. It would be a challenge for anyone to be able to cut out technology from their lives for just one day!.... AND EVERYONE MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO....!!!!
I enjoyed watching the movie that we viewed this past week in class. Watching things like that, unfortunately, makes me realize how unbelievably easy Americans really have it! The living conditions that exist there are almost unbearable to think of. I really don't know if I could live like they do. I know that it isn't a choice for them, but just the fact that they actually have to TRY to survive each and every day makes me very sad for them. Something that made me angered was the fact that, that husband wouldn't allow his wife to accept this opportunity and she had to fight so hard and threaten that she would leave him and her children behind just to be able to make her own decision! I related this a lot to the term that we learned, global inequality, which I think will always exist. :(
I think what really hit home with the video is the amount of poverty shown and the fact that it is so hard to get out of. Even with this opportunity to these women, they most likely won't be able to move away from those terrible places because it is so hard to get away from. The picture below demonstrates exactly what I was thinking. Poverty is like a ball and chain, you are always with it.
For this blog I wanted to touch on media and fear in the context that we spoke about it in, in class this week. We talked about how people put blinders on and see and believe what they want to. We also talked about peddlers and how media is a huge peddler, or enforcer of fear. Media always shows people what they want to see so they can keep their viewers and keep their own job, even if all of the information isn't 100% true. In my political science class, we are watching some of the episodes about politics in the media so I chose a quick clip from one that talks about the truth in media coming from a news broadcaster. It is very interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_i9fw43Moo
Go to this URL and watch the clip! I couldn't get it to work any other way!
This week, I thought the concept of ideology was a very interesting term. We discussed in class that it is a system of beliefs of how the world should be ran. Comparing this also to the topic of media that we talked about this week, it was hard for me to understand ideology actually. I think that media shapes so much of the world and shows us what they want us to see and believe. That sounds like they are shaping our ideologies to me...? The definition of media we talked about was the means for delivering impersonal communications to a vast audience. We also went over the one way media, from media to mass. Example would be watching a movie or reading a book because there is only one way of communication. And there is two way media, back and forth from media to mass, examples being Facebook or Twitter. The world depends so heavily on media. Think about all of the people that have to read the newspaper with their coffee every morning or how many millions of us college students sit on twitter or Facebook instead of writing our papers or listening in class... It's a crazy amount of time and reliance on the media. So back to my confusion... how is it that we, as individual people decide the worlds ideology when we have so many things thrown at us every single day that could be leaning us a different way because of how media is portraying certain things?
I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed earlier (imagine that!) and came across this picture and thought it would be perfect for this blog! Make sure you pay attention to the details and it portrays my point exactly!
Okay you guys, I must rant about something my entirely inappropriate and insane boss said to me two nights ago at work... We were for some reason talking about how men have to sign up for the draft to go to war and such and how it isn't fair that women don't have to.. and then he continued to say that women want equality and equal rights so we should have to go to war just like men do.. Oh my gosh the things that come out of his mouth are unbelievable.. Anyways, this of course relates to any part of our class but it reminded me of when we played Monopoly and no one was equal. I found this way of playing the game super interesting! I think it actually represented a real life situation that everyone goes through. There are also more and less fortunate people when it comes to financial issues. Sometimes I just think to myself, why can't I just be rich? Life would be so much easier, and it is unfortunate that the world relies on money and income, but jeez, this stuff gets stressful!!
I think this picture illustrates the issue with any sort of inequality.. weather it is between men and women, blacks and whites, or poor and wealthy people. There is always someone dominant in the equation and always someone that is being kept quiet for some reason. Life isn't fair.
I thought that it was very interesting to observe the actions that were allowed with boys compared to girls, as I'm sure many other people noticed. the fact that boys didn't have to raise their hands but girls absolutely had to is just such a stupid thing. Such a simple thing to share equality with and there has to be rules like that. This is why society is how it is today. I believe that everything that is how it is today, is because something in the past shaped it to be like that. 'Back then' little girls were taught to always have manners and be proper and be pretty. Brains didn't matter, but they always had to 'know better'. And boys got away with so many other things because well.. 'they're just boys and don't know any better.'
I think this issue has obviously gotten better through out the years but we will always have a lot of room to improve things with in society.
I think this picture really represents the point that I was trying to get across with this passage. Women always have many more struggles than men because a lot of the time they get the easy rout because women should know how to get an education and a job, were as men maybe don't?
I really enjoyed the movie that we watched about janitors last week. It was super eye opening to me and really showed that every single individual has their own story for everything they do from their past. It was also really interesting to apply the double consciousness concept to this movie. I liked listening to them tell the ups and downs of their lives and how they make the very best of everything they were given. I can relate a lot so I think that is why it spoke to me so loudly...I wish we could have watched the ending though! This movie made me think of a custodian I had in elementary school that I am still really good friends with! He was the kindest man and always looking out for me. He always had a smile on and his chin up! I hope a lot more people get the chance to watch this because I think so many people categorize custodians as being less than them, when really they love what they're doing and people should see and support that.
I really think this photo speaks for custodians. They put this picture together from the Washington University because they were cutting pay for custodians. Custodians really do all of the dirty work for it to be pretty and nice for everyone else. Props to this artist..
