Blog Three

The initial purpose of the mass media was to be able to spread information quickly and efficiently throughout the world. Unfortunately, the mass media no longer gives only important or useful information to those exposed to it. It also spreads gossip and makes opinions and expectations known, whether they be hurtful or not. The mass media has become a tool of manipulation; it now sets the standards for how different races and genders should not only look, but act, as well. In turn, this has greatly affected how people perceive one another and themselves.

People no longer go to the media for the sole purpose of finding facts, partly because it offers so much more than that. It offers entertainment and advertisements for sports, clothing, restaurants, make-up, hair products, and so much more, all of which can be found in magazines, on billboards, the radio, or television. It’s literally everywhere, and along with the entertainment and advertisements come opinions and expectations. Television shows meant to entertain perhaps are the biggest culprits for setting the standards on behavior. They exploit a certain group of people, and inevitably as a result, people begin to expect certain behaviors from others, thus changing their perception on certain individuals and groups. This is how stereotypes are formed, such as all Asians are smart, or women should do all the cooking and cleaning at home. When these expectations are not met, people judge one another, whether or not they are of the same ethnicity, race or gender. Advertisements also set expectations, but typically for how people should look. Women in ads are edited and photo shopped until they appear flawless, which leaves most women feeling as if they, too, need to achieve flawlessness in order to be beautiful or accepted. Of course, this goal is unrealistic, but still, when women fail to look like a certain way, they may view themselves as being unattractive or unappealing, which can really lower their self esteem.

Learning outcome two, which shows an awareness of the potential for educational, political, or ideological influence of the media, is obvious in the media. The mass media influences the way people perceive one another, the way people behave, and what is considered a social norm. Advertisements manipulate individuals into conforming into their belief systems. Censorship only shows the audience certain things, which leads to them believing that what they see is the only possibility. More or less, the media prays on the insecurities of individuals until they follow the beliefs of the mass media.

Blog Two

Over the past century, technology has blossomed and grown considerably at a rather rapid rate. At the beginning of the 20^th century not many homes had electricity, kitchen appliances were not yet popular among the modern family and most forms of entertainment were live. It was not until the mid 1900’s that television, the radio, appliances such as the microwave or vacuum cleaner, and the telephone flooded into economy. Ever since then, technology has only continued to advance, leading the human race from one form of entertainment to the next. Music, movies, books; all of these things can now be accessed without having the actual thing. In the article “Our Media, Ourselves: Are We Headed for a Matrix?” by Bob Mondello, the author argues that people fear losing themselves as technology replaces the actual objects, that this fear is the product of one’s experiences with technology, and that we are heading towards a world of isolation. He uses the movie “The Matrix” and the short story, “The Machine Stops” by E.M Forster to support this claim. “Once you've felt the comfort of society,” Mondello writes, “you worry about losing it. So to remind yourself of how you're connected, you gather things around. And you cling to them, not so you won't lose them, or lose what makes you you, but so you won't lose the connections they represent. The fear is of emptiness — but of emptiness inside us, not of empty rooms.” Although Mondello backs his claim up with common sense and other writings, he fails to look at the other possibilities present. He does not consider any other reason at to why someone may trade in CD’s for an iPod, or books for a Kindle, and of course, vise versa. Perhaps people are not clinging to objects for security, but simply because they like the smell of the pages of an old book or enjoy having something to share with their guest. And on the other hand, there are those who tend to want nothing to do with the “real” thing, like books and movies, and would much rather use the technology available to them. Abandoning the old for the new does not necessarily mean that these people are trying to isolate themselves, though. Although technology does tend to consume much of people’s time and draws them away from others, the reality is that technology makes things much simpler. People no longer have to deal with a mess of clutter or rummage through their belongings just to find an old CD, because with technology, all of that can be theirs in the click of a button. Also, Mondello argues that these physical objects are what make people unique and give character to individuals. But rather than defining people by their possessions, shouldn’t they be defined by their preferences, their actions towards others, and their ideas? It is these things that make people humans; emotions, thoughts, opinions, ideas, and the bonds that are made between fellow human beings throughout life. In “The Machine Stops” Forster writes, “The sin against the body- it was for that they wept in chief; the centuries of wrong against the muscles and the nerves, and those five portals by which we can alone apprehend-glozing it over with talk of evolution, until the body was white pap, the home of ideas as colorless, last sloshy stirrings of a spirit that had grasped stars.” Yes, it would be sad it these things were to occur due to technology, but as long as humanity has an understanding of what really defines them, the idea of a world like one in “the Matrix” is highly unlikely, because people depend upon one another for survival.   

Blog One: Bansky Image

Image number two is an image that was created by none other than the mysterious Banksy. Typically, Banksy’s images have a political message either about war, the economy, or the government. All of his images can be found on the walls of buildings, such as this one. This particular image is of a white dove with its wings spread, a small green plant in its beak, and it is wearing what appears to be a bullet proof vest. On the dove’s chest is a red, cross target as someone aims a gun or weapon at it. The overall political message of the image is that because of war, innocent, and unexpected people are being murdered or targeted as enemies. It’s ironic that the dove is being made the target in this image, because doves are typically seen as very innocent creatures. They are thought of as being gentle birds that pose as no threat to humanity. Also, the color of a dove is symbolic in itself. White is a color that is usually associated with purity, holiness, good or innocent. But of course, the use of this bird in the image was intentional, because it was meant to represent the innocent people of the world. The dove also seems to be oblivious to the fact that it is being targeted as an enemy. The graceful bird seems to be looking directly towards the person who is aiming at it, yet it is completely unaware that it has been labeled as the foe. This perhaps could mean that the person with the gun is someone with whom the dove is familiar and trusts; otherwise it would not appear to be so calm at the face of death. Then again, the bird is wearing a bullet proof vest, which could imply that it is not so oblivious to the danger in which it faces, and that the person for whom it is a target could very well be a complete stranger. But because the dove is wearing a bullet proof vest, it still continues to feel not threatened. Assuming that is the case, then the gray bullet proof vest on the dove represents the false sense of security the dove feels. In reality, if a machine gun is being fired at a small, fragile human, or in this case, a dove, chances are it will not survive, even if it is under some form of protection. And that false sense of security or protection can come in the form of promises, bullet proof vests or even another human being, but the bottom line is that the innocent are not always physically well guarded, even if that is what they are told or believe. They make easy targets, and often times during war are murdered simply because they are vulnerable. Their military can not always be there to protect them, even if that is their job. The message of this image goes beyond just the fact that the innocent are targets during war times; it shows that the innocent can not always be protected and are sadly more susceptible to be targets during war.   

Blog One: Learning Outcome 2: "Made in America"

It is clear that travel in America had a huge impact on the English language. When American soil was first settled on the Europeans were unable to efficiently communicate. Not only was it a long and difficult process to carry messages from America to Europe and back, but it was also a struggle to communicate messages between people on the same continent. The New World not only lacked a system that could deliver messages proficiently, but they simply didn't have the proper means of transportation. To correct this problem, new means of transportation came about, and with that came new words. Railroads were built and provided an alternative form of transportation that was far better than the uncomfortable and slow paced carriages of the time. "Even so, early trains were also slow, uncomfortable, and dangerous." The word "eyedrops" entered the language as a joke, because the hot cinders from the train would blow into passengers eyes if they had the window open. Another word that entered the language thanks to the railroads was dining car, since customers needed a place to eat while on their long voyages. With the invention of the train also came the need for railroad terms like caboose, iron horse, cow catcher, jerkwater tower, to featherbed, to ball the jack, to ride the rails, and to ride the gravy train. The need for automobile travel in America also had a huge impact on the English language and gave us many terms we use today, even if they're taken from other languages and tweaked to our liking. In Bill Bryson's "Made in America" he states, "Although early technological developments were almost exclusively German, it was the French who became the first big manufacturers and thus gave us many of the words associated with motoring- chassis, garage, chauffeur, carburetor, coupe, limousine, and of course automobile itself." Obviously a great deal of the English language was shaped and continues to be shaped by travel in America, because naturally, the invention of new things leads to the need for new words.

Blog Two: Learning Outcome Three: Cannibals All

The novel “Cannibals All! Or Slaves Without Masters” by George Fitzhugh was written in 1857. George Fitzhugh grew up in Virginia and was an American social theorist. He also was pro-slavery and wrote a few books on slavery. In the novel, Fitzhugh is arguing that slavery is a form of protection for the weak and poor. He claims that it is necessary, because otherwise, blacks would not be able to survive. http://books.google.com/books/about/Cannibals_All.html?id=ECdb7EjiBnEC
The cultural beliefs of the time period in which this was written greatly impact and shape the language and meaning used throughout the novel “Cannibals All! Or Slaves Without Masters.” During the 1850’s, the southern part of America still allowed slavery. Although it was in great jeopardy at the time, it was a big part of the culture. In Chapter 19, Fitzhugh states, “But there can be no efficient protection without enslavement of some sort.” If someone were to write a novel in this day and age and include the previous statement, it would not be accepted by many, since slavery has been abolished for quite some time now. But for this time period, it was something completely acceptable simply because slavery was a common part of southern American culture. Fitzhugh also refers to the blacks as negroes throughout the novel. In the first paragraph of Chapter 20, he refers to them as negroes when he says, “But the negro has neither energy nor enterprise, and, even in our sparser population, finds, with his improvident habits, that his liberty is a curse to himself, and a greater curse to the society around him.” “Negro” was just a fairly common word used in the language of this time. Also, in this quote, society’s view on blacks and their inferiority affected the words he chose to use to describe them. He basically calls them lazy when he says they have no energy. And he also calls them improvident, which means they are without foresight or are not sensible, cautious, or wise. The culture of the time clearly had an impact on the language used in this novel.

Blog Three: Learning Outcome One: Travel Narrative

A thin layer of dust coats the untouched books on the large, wooden bookshelves. The quiet library is filled with the aroma of books and old lady farts. The clicking of keys rings throughout the room. The only other sounds come from the ruffling of pages and the occasional whisper. The rows of grand shelves are packed with both fresh and musty, old books. The tables are packed with students who are hunched over their notes and textbooks in a last minute effort to study for upcoming finals. Those who aren't seated at a table are sitting at one of the many computers with gawking mouths. Their eyes are glued to the screens in front of them and begin to glaze over. A curly haired brunette sits alone in a corner and chomps furiously on her nubs for fingernails. A few tables over is a typical freshman boy. The only sign of a beard growing is a few hairs randomly sprouting from his cheeks. Other than that his face is covered with bright red acne, which has caused his face to resemble a pizza without the cheese. His head is resting on the wooden table top, and he runs his thin, bony fingers through his shaggy brown hair out of frustration. It's finals week; a time of pure horror for most teenagers, so of course they're stressed. What do you expect?
The audience and purpose of a written text greatly affect the structure, content and techniques used throughout the piece. The purpose of a travel narrative is to allow the reader to experience a certain place being described. In this case, a library filled with stressed out students is being described. The audience of this particular travel narrative are people who do not usually go to libraries or have never experienced the stress of finals week. In order to allow the audience to experience the library during this time period of tremendous stress, a common technique used is sensory detail. Sensory detail gives the audience the information needed to stimulate all senses so they can clearly imagine themselves at the library. Sensory detail also shows how something tastes or smells or feels without actually saying. Instead of simply saying, “The library smelled bad,” a certain scent was given, and from that the audience is able to come to their own conclusion that the library doesn’t smell the best. Another technique used to achieve the purpose is a comparison. The freshman boy’s face that is filled with acne is compared to a pizza without the cheese. This comparison wasn’t made to be mean, but to give the reader a better image of this boy sitting at the library. Since the audience is able to compare the boys looks to something else, it becomes easier to visual in their minds. Diction is also an apparent technique in the text. Rather than just saying that the girl was biting her nails, it says, “chomps furiously on her nubs for fingernails.” The use of the word chomp and nub not only give the audience a visual of what’s going on, but also allows the audience to experience the uneasy and stressful atmosphere of the library.