Free Write: How does media/advt./propaganda create reality?

           Media, advertisements and propaganda are all methods used to get someone to either believe something or to buy something. Propaganda for example tries to get the public to understand and follow a certain point they are trying to make. Advertisements can try to get people to buy the product on the ad or they can also be used to advertise the bad side of a certain product. All of these ideas stay in one’s mind and it just starts being part of their everyday lives. This is how popular brands of clothes or phones come about. The more advertisements of a product the greater the chance of it being sold. An old example of propaganda was when World War II was occurring. The military needed more people so they made it look as if the army was the best thing ever and that fighting for your country was the best honor. The benefits of being in the army were also frequently spoken of. This still goes on today and not just with the military but with big business companies and other areas of the government.

Response to Teenage Suicide

                  Anything can be seen on the internet once it is posted. This was wrong how Tyler Clementi’s privacy was violated. He had a right to be with his gay partner and the placed camera in his room that filmed his intimate moment was illegal. This act by the two students could be taken as a hate crime. The students could’ve only done it to humiliate Tyler because of his sexual preference or to cause him pain however this is difficult to prove because they could just lie. This dilemma is the reason why the students might not even go to jail. It isn’t right how a student who never hurt anyone and who is very talented kills himself because two students decide to film a sex video of him and show it to the world. There have been other cases where the internet has been used to share private pictures and videos of other people especially celebrities. The World Wide Web can both be used for good and bad and unfortunately many illegal things are done online and sometimes nobody knows about until somebody says something. There should be bigger punishments and/or stricter laws for violating a person’s privacy. If an issue such as this isn’t taken seriously than obviously it will continue to happen

Frida Kahlo Painting Description

                     In the painting of Frida Kahlo titled “roots”, she is lying on the dry, cracked ground of what appears to be a desert. She has a dress that’s a dark orange around the top of the torso area and fades into a fiery yellow as it goes lower to her legs and then white ruffles at the end. She has a tired expression on her face as if she hasn’t slept in a long time.  Her right arm is resting on a pillow as half of her dark black hair covers part of it and the other half covers his neck. That same arm is holding her body while the other is lying on her side as she stares at the viewer. A distorted rectangular shaped portion is missing from the middle of her torso and green vines are going through that area from both the back and the front. This painting probably reflects the sadness and loneliness she feels which is why she is in the desert. The roots going through her symbolizes that just as a tree grows roots so is she which could mean that she isn’t going anywhere in her life because she is stuck on some form of obstacle.

Mustard Tiger & Cheeseburger Locker

Mustard tiger and cheeseburger locker are both unusual terms. Both of these could have more than one meaning and therefore interpreted differently from person to person since there is no definite meaning. For me the first thing that comes to mind when I hear mustard tiger is a tiger with stripes the color of mustard. That could be what it means or it could be used to describe an aggressive and bitter person. The aggressive trait is from the tiger which is an animal that hunts and can be aggressive when necessary, while the bitter trait comes from the taste of mustard.

              When I first heard the words cheeseburger locker I thought of a cheeseburger from McDonalds and a school locker. I wasn’t sure how those two things could relate so I my thinking a step further. Cheeseburgers from fast food places normally contain a lot of fat so I thought of the parts of the body in which are common areas for fat to be stored such as the stomach and thighs. So this term could be used to describe an overweight person. While both of these names sound funny they still could be used as insults to make fun of others appearance and personality.

Special Gift

                    When I was around four or five my grandmother came to the United States from Peru and brought with her many gifts for the family. I received clothes from her and a lot of chocolates and other candies from Peru as I was the youngest of her grandchildren. My grandma brought my father the wooden toy car he used to play with when he was a kid. When my father was a kid he grew up in a poor neighborhood and that was one of his favorite toys if not his only toy. Anyway she gave it to my father and he ended up giving it to me. He told me that while I have all of these modern day toys, the wooden car entertained him and his other brothers a lot.

           The toy was about half the size of a standard sheet of printing paper and really old with some of the areas of the wooden car chipped off.  It was basically four round pieces of wood connected to a block of wood that was a little curved to make it more realistic. Markings surrounded the block portion of the car that obviously looked like it was made by young kid with ink. Car doors and stick figures were drawn on the sides and it was also colored. Each of the wheels also had its own design and the two wheels on the left didn’t roll too well and it even appeared loose. Upon asking my father if he drew the designs he replied by saying that it he drew the wheels but couldn’t remember if he or one of his sisters and brothers, he didn’t remember.

          At the time the car was worthless to me. It looked like a piece of junk compared to my colorful remote controlled car and yet I still played with it. I now realize that this gift was an act of kindness from my father who is sometimes a serious person. I never admitted what I thought about the toy when I was young because I thought it would make my father feel bad but now I still have it and value it like gold. From this gift I learned that it is possible to be happy with or without money and that in life you shouldn’t take anything for granted. Trying to enjoy everything you have is the way to live happily or else go nowhere in life and live with anger and greed. In fact I sometimes feel bad when I receive something that appears to have cost a lot of money especially when it’s from a relative.

            The person who gives you the gift is more important sometimes than what the gift itself actually is. It could be an item that seems worthless through the eyes of another however to the receiver it is a gift given to them by their favorite person. That gift could also be an item that reminds them of happy times that they shared with another person. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive gift for it to mean something to you. It’s the thought that counts.

How Does Media And Propaganda Manipulate Culture?

12:00 Class
          
Persuasion is a powerful technique to get a person to do what you want. Media and Propaganda go hand in hand in persuading people to get them to believe something. Culture is the idea and beliefs of a society but some of these ideas and beliefs come from both media and propaganda. The clothes we wear to the way we do things, it’s all manipulated by the media.
           Commercials are used to advertise foods, clothing and other products for people. The media makes it all seem so tasty if it is food or so useful if it is some other type of product. Fast foods are advertised as being delicious however the audience is not told that most fast food places aren’t healthy for you. Propaganda makes style a big deal in society. The public is forced to think that certain brands of clothing and accessories would make you look and feel better of yourselves when it isn’t true. There are many people who are perfectly content buying any clothing and not the expensive brands. Celebrities on television also affect the decisions of people by making them want to look like a celebrity. The public tries to look their best by copying a celebrity’s hairstyle or their wardrobe which is sometimes a bad thing because they are trying to be someone they are not.
            Both violence in television and some genres of music talk about drugs, alcohol, and weapons which make young kids, who watch and listen to this, think that its okay to be violent and to us drugs or that they’ll be accepted and ‘cool’ if they did these things. Apart from media and propaganda influencing the entertainment department it also affects political issues such as when the time comes to vote for a new president.
            In the video the Science of Manipulation, an ad for the re-election of the President at the time, Ronald Reagan, was shown. It spoke about how America was a stronger, prouder and better under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The video also gave examples on how people’s lives were better and that they now looked at the future with hope and confidence. It ended asking the audience why would we go back to the way things were before. This video is a good example of propaganda that says things the public wants to here. If the people watching wanted to continue living great they would vote for Ronald Reagan. So you see, media and propaganda both are used to influence our lives. This has been going on for a long time and probably won’t stop anytime soon.

How Does Media Shape Society?

12:00 Class

Any news topic that comes about doesn’t necessarily have to be true. Why? Because the media can sometimes exaggerate or not give all the facts about a piece of news. Most of the public believe everything that the media says because they are the reporters and supposedly they go research and find the real facts about an issue. Society accepts all the things the media tells them because there is no evidence that what they say isn’t true so whatever is in the news becomes a reality to us. We live by that reality which could be made up or real yet we take a chance and believe it. Reporters and journalists choose what will be shown to the public and sometimes hide really important information. People live believing something is the truth when it isn’t and when they do finally get the truth they don’t want to accept it. An example of this would be about what happens in some political issues around the world. The things we hear could be false because the media is trying to make people believe something that they believed. Journalists change their facts to get their point across to the public. Everyone has their own opinion and the media tries to manipulate it. Media is used to spread myths and other ideas that society lives by. Myths such as the world will end in the year 2012 or ideas like global warming is get worse and that it is a real problem that needs a solution. Maybe global warming is made up and if it is real maybe it is over exaggerated to get people to consume less electricity and to pollute less. Different television networks from different countries would broadcast news in their own way. If it was a political issue, each country might change some facts to make the other country look like the bad guy. Media is sometimes used to cover up for events that weren’t supposed to happen. Mistakes made by the government can be lied about to forever hide the truth so society doesn’t get angry at them and then rebel or oppose them. This probably happened already and we might never find out. People who hold positions in the government such as the mayors, governors or senators or even candidates can either be made to look as if he or she was a bad person or a good person depending on what journalists want you to think. If they like a particular candidate they might show more support for them and since they control what the public hears, this can change one’s opinion. Therefore it is necessary to be careful when dealing with what the media presents to us whether it is in the internet, radio or television and to be open minded in some issues. Even though media has its cons it still can be helpful because it can be used for other good things such as spreading awareness for health concerns such as the fact that cigarettes, alcohol and drugs have short and long term effects on the human body.