A Really, Really Rough Draft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZxs09eV-Vc

Political incivility, as discussed in class, is a rising trend among politicians and politics. In the onset of this gruesome battle between Republics and Democratic parties have grown many outlets, thanks to the Internet and its growing popularity among the masses, where incivility grows towards one politician to another through many forms. They have produced attack ads, commercials, debates are held in public, and interviews are aired with major news network channels and day-time television shows. With voting starting in a few days, attacks ads have become the specialty that the public has been served through all media outlets like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. All candidates whether for the Presidential election or just the state election, place attack ads everywhere and are seen by everyone. This commercial, specifically, shows how far the Presidential campaign attack ads have spiraled out of control.

The video above shows Sesame Street’s famous children’s character, Big Bird. Now Big Bird has been discussed over the internet like crazy and it’s spread like wild fire due to past debates. Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential candidate, has amended that when in office he will cut subsidized funding towards PBS, the network that airs Big Bird and his fellow friends. As with any opposing candidate, Barack Obama, the Democratic Presidential candidate,  uses his team to turn this statement against Romney in this ad.

The video starts by showing a few business men- Bernie Madoff, Kenneth Lay, and Dennis Kozlowski- all who have been involved in huge Ponzi schemes in Wall Street or made very risky and illegal business trades in the market. Now all of these men have been caught for their illegal activities and have spent or are spending time in jail. The ad states that the evil criminal mastermind involved in all of these schemes was the notorious Sesame Street character Big Bird. Now this is some-what impossible and ridiculous to state since Big Bird is just a puppet and not an actual human being, although he is played by one. Big Bird is a friendly children’s character that teaches the children and provides entertainment as well as educational learning- PBS’s medium message.

                Now in a normal attack ad the candidate would be featured in bad light by saying something along the lines of cutting educational learning for children is the type of President you’ll get if you elect him. But instead of jumping to that conclusion, the Obama campaign, paints Romney in good light because he had enough courage to name the evil master mind on Wall Street, Big Bird. Romney knows that Big Bird is a “Big. Yellow. A menace to our economy.”

                Now this is where the ads twist the words of the other candidate and paint it in basically an exaggerated light. Bird Big is of course not a menace to our economy neither is PBS. But according to Romney, as the Obama administration observes, he is and is taking tax- payer money to fund his evil vicious plans so we as a nation must cut him off. Romney is stating that we shouldn't worry about all our retirement funds, or college funds, or investments, or our 401 K, resting in Wall Street with greedy investors. Those are fine and safe. What we should do through is check out how Sesame Street is doing. Who knows, Elmo might be making shady deals with Oscar, and Ernie might not be playing fair and cheating on his taxes. We should focus on this instead. This is the message Obama was trying to point out to the audience by showing how absurd this idea is.

Obama used a good word choice here in the ad. Instead of saying that Big Bird was a menace to our country or national security or even Wall Street, he simply says that Romney knows he is a threat to the economy. Is that because, Romney being CEO of Bain Capital and knowing the ins and outs of a business, also knows how the market can be affected and hurt investments? That being a business man that we should trust his wisdom since his business also depends on the market? Or is Obama using this logic to prove that Romney might in fact not know anything about the market, mainly the fact of how to raise it or fix it? 

Rough Draft for Response Essay #4: New Media

There are thousands of blogs, vlogs, pod-casts  and videos that can be seen from anywhere in the virtual world we call the Internet. We live in a digital age where anything and everything can be uploaded and be seen to thousands of viewers across the world. Some say that this brings people who would of otherwise never meet or even know each connected via social networking sites. Connecting with an individual is something that is required for human beings to be sane. It’s a trait that the species has acquired over its evolution and kept for safe keeping. Blogs and vlogs accomplish that rule and let everyone who chooses to follow or watch access into their inner daily lives and social habits. This new type of socializing was demanded by users of the internet and many different networking sites appeared, all trying to achieving the same goal for the users. Just as with evolution, the strongest and well adapted, Facebook and Twitter, survived and gained popularity, while others, like MySpace, were left in the dark, abandoned. Others through we caught in the between of these two polar extremes and slowly gained users and hosts.

Tumblr was one of these sites caught in-between this popularity contest. Tumblr, by definition, is a site that hosts numerous amounts of blogs, all featuring something a little different than the last one. These blogs can reblog posts from other blogs and those blogs can reblog posts from other blogs and so on and so on. On goes a continuous cycle of reblogging which can be formally expressed as the recycle system. A post is created- anything from photos, to texts to audios and videos- another user sees the post and can chose to either like it or reblog and then another user reblogs the post and it gains, using a Tumblr word, notes. The higher the notes, the more popular and liked the post is by the users. This becomes a goal for some Tumblr users so they try to gain as many followers as they can by creating a successful post.

 As of right now Tumblr’s highest text post is this: 

As of now the post has gained another 2 million notes and ranks up to almost 10 million notes. Now as a reminder, Tumblr is not at composed of adults or elderly people who own their own houses, have a family to support, and career’s to worry about. Tumblr is mostly a demographic of teens and young adults, maybe 12- 25 years old. Most users still live with their parents or live in apartments and are going to college or still attending high school.

This post says so much about our generation. Most people, parents and the elderly, thought since the use of phones, computers, laptops, and MP3 players that we, the young adults, were completely unaware of what was going around us. Yet this post and its huge amount of notes it received, proved otherwise. That our “message” was yeah, we know what’s going on with our country and politics and yeah we might be too young to vote or say something about it but you better bet that we are going to voice our opinion one way or another. It shows the connectivity and agreement that the users have in common with one other. That the users, all from different parts of the country and some from different parts of the world, agreed with this statement and reblogged for others to see it. One person shared their opinion thinking that it wasn't going to accumulate a lot of notes (a big trend on Tumblr is to try and get as many notes on a post you created) when in fact it was something that everyone agreed on and liked. The post not only states a something that the majority also thought but added a sense of humor by stating “pass it on” like the game telephone we used to play as kids.

This is Tumblr’s new media "message".  Young adults from all over the world share their opinions and create posts to help others get through whatever they are going through. The users, who might never see the one another in person, can share opinion and beliefs, personalities, and senses of humor over some post. Tumblr is like a web of connection spread across the world. Users can talk about anything and everything from fandoms (a fan base composed of fans from a certain movie or show) to school problems and sometimes personally issues back to things that have nothing to do with life and are just there for the sake of making people laugh. As sappy and gooey is it sounds (the site is made up of teenagers, kids) Tumblr is like a jellybean machine. You’ll always get some new random flavor, sometimes you might like it and sometimes it might think it is really disturbing that someone created a flavor like that but either way you'll come back and see what's new and exciting. 

Our Naive Viewers

News/noun

1.) Newly received or noteworthy information, esp. about recent or important events.      2.) A broadcast or published report of news.         The news broadcasting industry is highly competitive field. Each channel wants to deliver the newest and groundbreaking news as fast as they can or at least before their competitors. Delivering the news is of course the main focus of all the major channels but you can’t do that without some high ratings. So how can you accomplish both of these standards? Live broadcasting became the answer. But when a man from Phoenix was in a car chase for hijacking a car with the cops, Fox News did what every other major network would do. They caught it on live tape and made sure that the video was on a ten second delay should anything go wrong. And something did go wrong. Hundreds of viewers saw a man kill himself on live television.                  Now this kind of live coverage is normal to cover. Remember when the news broadcasters did this with OJ running from the cops? Live coverage of an event isn't bad; it’s just not good to do it every time a guy is running from the cops. Now I, as a viewer, am for live coverage of any events even if it ends with someone killing themselves. News anchors deliver this sort of news- the good, the bad, and the tragic- everyday. We as the viewer’s take it upon us to listen and understand what is happening around the world. But when some guy shoots himself in the head, all the viewers are freaked out and scared and blaming the network for showing them something as awful as that. But why? We constantly hear of car bombings and natural disasters and civil wars that kill thousands of people. We just consider them a sad story and move on. But when we actually see a news story unfold in front of our eyes we are shock and sacred. The news isn't just something that you hear and move on with. It actually happens and I think some of the viewers are naive and don’t consider the fact that this sort of thing is real.

            There are multiple factors when it comes to what gets shown on the news. But one underlying fact that all major news broadcasters follow is the ratings. Will this story get more or less ratings then this story? I’m not saying that the networks just take this into consideration but it plays a big part. But this says a lot about our culture. That instead of just reporting the facts and truths about the world we are apologizing to the viewer’s for something that they choose to watch. It shows that we should ignore most of the bad things that are happen in the world because it’s bad and we don’t want to see it; instead we should show inspiring and happy stories. People want to see the good in the world and ignore all the bad things that happen along the way. But what do you expect when a guy is running away from the cops? That he’ll stop the car, apologize for being a bad boy, and gladly accept his punishment? People have to remember that the news isn’t like the movies where the cops always catch the bad guy. In the real world people run from the cops because they don’t want to go to jail and rather take an alternate option instead. Sometimes that option running and making it across the border. Sometimes it’s ramming the car onto the freeway and get in a car crash and sometimes that means killing oneself. It seems at times that people misinterpret the news for entertainment.

            The news is meant to tell the truth, the good and the bad. It is the one thing in the world that we know is true because all the networks are going to report on it and gives you a variety of what you what to hear. Now and days there are some theories that certain networks only publish stories that would make their personal agenda more valued while dehumanizing another agenda. But that’s not news. News is meant to be unbiased and true. It’s the one thing that everyone turns to when they what to know what is happening in the world. We can’t have the people’s views and beliefs imposed on this subject. That would leave room for opinions and emotions and that’s not what the news is aimed for. Things happen, you can say that it is awful or worthy or noble but in the end it happened and there was nothing you could do to stop it. It’s a simple idea that we need to live up to. Information is an advantage in this world and if isn’t true then who will say what is and what is not. That could lead to a communication disaster and who knows what that could lead to. 

Advertisements and their Advertiser

When talking about consumer privacy and the fact that internet tracking is so sophisticated now that there are actual algorithms used to track purchases is a scary involvement to some consumers. The fact that a store can track your purchases, use these purchases to catalog you, and use this information to send you benefits to help you save money on their products is also somewhat ingenious. Technology, as I said before, is an evolving creature that has no boundaries. It does not take in account privacy or laws. It does not abide by any rules. It’s just there. As consumers we need to set lines and borders on what’s right and what is wrong. You wouldn’t let a rabid dog go running around the neighborhood without a leach on would you? Technology is kind of like that. It doesn’t mean to hurt people or harm them; it doesn’t know better. But if you teach it and set some ground rules you’ll get a better behaved dog- same goes with technology and its uses.

On the matter of technology, let’s dive into advertisements. We are presented with them every day, bombard after bombard of “buy my product and make my company happy” commercials and ad’s. But advertisers are becoming smarter and efficient with their tactics. Advertisers target the products that will appeal to a certain age group or gender by using their loss of privacy as a key method. Now this could have a negative and positive outcome. Let’s start with the positive. Our loss of privacy when dealing with companies and stores can be put to use by showing us ads that will appeal individually to the consumer. This could be less time consuming and helpful towards this targeted audience. Companies waste less money and we get to see ads that could be potentially used. But the negative outcome is what concerns me as the consumer.

 I’m too young to buy beer. So when I see a hot chick in a bar serving a guy a “refreshing” beer it makes me uncomfortable. Even though I can’t buy the product yet, (not saying that I want to but the example sake) I still don’t see why a hot guy couldn’t be handing a girl a beer. When you walk into a bar you see both groups of guys and girls. You may not always see the hot bartender but that shouldn’t be an expectation when you go out.

Leaning on this example, stereotypes enforced by advertisers is another negative outcome. We shouldn’t trust this. I mean come on! Guys aren’t the only people on the planet to drink beer! Ever hear girls can do the same thing guys can and vice versa? Pushing this stereotype and gender class is useless. Advertisers need to stop pushing these ideas into viewer.  It’s as if we still have advertisers from the 1950’s creating commercials for this day and age. Times have change advertisers, get on board.

Dairy Queen's Bliss

What is the first thought that crosses your mind when you see this? Where are my keys? Oh I’m on a diet I can’t possibly have something as sugary as that! Or is it more like the company is trying to show me something appetizing that I want but don’t necessary need? It’s most likely not the latter one, at least for the majority of the viewers. When I see this advertisement it makes me cheerful and excited. I remember when I was a kid that getting ice cream was a big treat and only received after I accomplished something good in school. That feeling of deserving something because I worked hard to get there was more of the reward than the ice cream itself. The treat was just a simple reminder of where hard work and dedication got me.  But as I grew up I didn’t get an A on a test for a Oreo blizzard. I realized I needed to get a good grade on my tests if I wanted to be a successful student.  Now when I, myself, buy ice cream I don’t buy it because I got an A on a test but simply because I have a sweet tooth. 

But there is something else that Daily Queen is trying to sell you. What do you feel when you take a bite of that cold, frosty delicacy? You feel good. You start to feel happy and bubbly with each bite. You start to forget about all the problems and worries you had early that day and just focus on the gooey, creamy taste in your mouth. What Daily Queen is really selling is more than a simple desert. Daily Queen is selling you pleasure and bliss in a substance that fits in a 16oz cup. The only issue with this is that eventually you’ll get to the bottom of the treat and yet all you’re problems and worries are still alive and well. 

An idea that was discussed in the “The Rise of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch,” that I stood out to me was the example that James W. Cook when he said “neither the producers nor the consumers of this culture maintained complete control.” James W. Cook said this is his book Arts of Deception: Playing with Fraud in the Age of Barnum which discussed culture going beyond race, gender, or social classes. With his statement, I have to agree to what he is saying. Culture is thrown in our faces every day from magazines, blogs, commercials, and social networking sites. Basically anything technological can get its hands on. Culture is something that is not controllable not matter by what social economic class its audience is in. But culture can be shaped and manipulated by people.  After studying popular culture for a few weeks I can see the manipulated ways it pulls people in. The magazines showing skinny fit women, the commercials showing gourmet food that we need in our cabinets, and the video games that show the players killing people without the feeling of remorse and guilt that real life people would display. Seeing all this makes you see the in the society you live in; where women are not praised for being smart but for being pretty and where children are seen killing people and getting angry when their isn’t enough gore. And what does it come down to? Ratings? Sales? Money?

 After seeing and studying all of this, popular culture doesn’t just show you what the latest fashion is or what is the biggest show on TV, but shows you a society that you were raised in. What values and beliefs it tries to instills in you and what should be expected of you as the consumer. By studying popular culture we see not only the ways it tries to grab you in but ways to get you out and see the bigger picture and effect it has on people.