Self-evaluation and inspiration for activists

The assigned readings, online activities, and films were especially significant to me it was definitely the best material that was assigned to me over the semester. I was motivated to do the assignments well because they opened my eyes to a lot of information and analysis of media that I found very interesting and pertained to my everyday life. I have definitely developed a deeper understanding of media’s influence especially in America’s consumer culture, and analyze media exposure through a new lens/ perspective. They have also helped me understand its fundamental characteristics and methods of persuasion, which deters my inclination from further exposure.

After doing the PSA assignment, I realized the amount of work that goes into every form of media and took less for granted when observing media’s tendencies and persuasive techniques. The rich media poor democracy film as well as the corporation were both pretty influential, and helped me realize the true dangers in corporate control, which revealed a lot about what is wrong with our country. I was also really impressed with the class dynamic, and how we responded and interacted through sharing ideas with each other about these assignments. I think that was the main thing that made this a great class, and we really learned a lot from each other.

The course content was crucial in my academic interest, as well as my personal sanity in some respects when comparing it to my other classes. I felt it covered some very important content, and in terms of my future work, as an environmental studies major, I feel like this class has helped me understand some of the barriers that I may encounter, and some techniques to overcome them, as well as the ways in which to efficiently accomplish expression of environmental justice, and promote effective changes. The most important idea that I continuously came across in my studies in this class was the different relationships people have with the environment, and how these differ in overall success and happiness as well as natural serenity and flow of events.

I feel that my vision of the earth and society hasn’t changed all that much, but I definitely strengthened my views about media mind control and the relationship between nature and capitalistic society. A lot of new ideas or intricacies of different issues I had already known about were brought to my attention for the first time, and I was often shocked by some of the issues we discussed. Although the majority of the time we felt that the topics were very depressing and seemingly impossible to overcome, I was surprised to leave this class with positivity and confidence that the human race can solve these problems with well-organized and carefully thought out execution of active social movements and networking. I think that was the goal of the class in a lot of ways, and its an important lesson learned that something can always be done, and the constant changes throughout time.

Right now one of my most important personal roles in promoting media literacy education is with my eight-year-old brother, Jason. He is home schooled, and my parents and I are like-minded in our media perspectives, so I’m not worried about him being over-exposed or being brainwashed, but these situations can sometimes backfire if they’re not kept on the right track, or given the right amount of attention. My paranoia definitely comes into play with his adamant desire to watch television or go online, because naturally, he wants what he can’t have. I felt similarly to him growing up, but indeed had more exposure than he ever does, which leaves me hopeful that he will presumably resist the feed even more so. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoy bringing up these topics for discussion among friends, and even enjoy a heated debate with those that resist media literacy. By spreading these ideas, and raising awareness, I feel like I can make a difference by working against the system, and expressing myself in a meaningful way. I have a lot of angst and judgmental feelings against the medias focus on over consumption and carelessness for the earth’s resources. At this point I am not at a place in my life where I feel that I can make a huge difference, but I do my best to stay aware, and support mindfulness, and hopefully one day I can do more. After taking this class I am very inspired, yet paranoid and apprehensive about taking further action against the system, but I know it is necessary if something is to be done. So by the time the shit hits the fan, hopefully I will be prepared for the worst and expecting the best.

PSA Reflection

Our experience in making our PSA was awesome. It was really fun to put together and we are all very excited about the topic. We used short clips of multiple interviews that we shot all over campus. Britny did most of the editing and then we got together and polished with the final touches. It's good that we changed the topic abruptly, because our original idea seemed tired and overdone. I really like the sequence of our PSA, and I think its interestingly flexible, because of the variety of ideas expressed throughout it. I think our group dynamic was successful, and we built well on each other's ideas so it was easy to make group decisions. The interviewees did a good job of expressing a variety of different views on Beauty, and I think that it ended on a positive note that gave hope to non-conformist ideas of beauty that are heavily influenced by the media. There is a good balance between the shots of people and blocks of text, and they timing works well with the music as well. Although it was sometimes tricky to line up the perfect timing, but there we're no major problems so everything went smoothly. Our tools and props were simply digital cameras and imovie, which made everything a lot simpler, and very fun to play around with. Overall, I think we were very efficient and motivated to creating a positive film supporting individuality and strength in beauty in a society so heavily influenced by the superficiality of the media today. I think this is a good tool for environmental activism, because it reveals so much about the connective diversity between every other individual and one's self, which touches a distinctive humanness that people can relate to on an emotional level.

Ad Analysis

I chose McDonalds’ website, which wasn’t so green-washed as I thought it would be, but it did give insight on the kind of exposure they are trying to get in that area. There was more focus on their food sources and different ingredients they use than I thought there would be, as opposed to fluffy image-based expression. Although the information seems to be flawed and lacking, and the images that are used are minimally indicative, their sources are listed in the “Meet Our Suppliers” section. The images of their prepared food are obviously perfectly manicured and their captions are simplistic on a white background. I think its hilarious to refer to McDonalds workers as chefs and to display their “kitchen” as a place with culinary expertise and label themselves a restaurant. They have step-by-step video clips that show how they make different items on their menu, which are all performed by a diverse and attractive cast, and very assuring in their personality and camera angles. There is also an interactive question/answer page on their website that allows you to ask questions about their food and food production etc.. which I think is interesting, and could maybe be a good outlet for activist tomfoolery. In the kids section there is a series of captions that say, “He’s here, he’s there. Man, the guy is everywhere. A trusted friend both honest and fun. There’s a little bit of Ronald in everyone”. Very creep. They have a page on their environmental commitments, and what organizations they contribute to in order to keep their image green friendly. Persuasive techniques used: Symbols, BIG LIE, hyperbole, bribery, bandwagon, simple solutions, fear/defensive nationalism, testimonial, plain folks, warm fuzzies, beautiful people, group dynamics, strength, scientific evidence, card stacking, and the race card. http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/good/environment.html

Activist Website

I chose ACME (the action coalition for media education) whose mission of social or economic change is broadening the reach of media education, and stressing the overwhelmingly growing impacts of media in the world today. I really liked the variety and interactivity of the videos they posted, and the way in which they target a broad audience of people affected by media (everyone). I think online activism does work, because the internet is the most advanced and connective outlet that exists on a massive scale around the world. However, because of this scale participation in this form does not feel very meaningful. I think the way to solve this consuming problem is to keep track of the popularity of your activist input, and the growing network of followers you or your cause gains. It’s a difficult process for sure, and hard to stay organized, productive and motivated at times, but definitely can make a difference. I support this website completely, I think its awesome and publicizes an important message.

PSA group blog post

We changed our topic completely from composting issues at UVM to beauty and how it is portrayed in the media. We are much more excited about this topic, I think it will be much more creative and fun to make happen. I got four interviews so far, which were very successful, definitely got some good input from folks.

Toxic Sludge is good for you.
Democracy is the labeled American system of government which claims dedication to freedom for all citizens for self-governance and the pursuit of happiness. It has become stereotyped in my view, with a kind of democracy-washing that occurs from my frequent disappointment, or prepackaged influences from its systems. I think real democracy has been lost or greatly diminished for a long time, and is found in more local functions like town meetings or grassroots efforts. From reading this chapter I recognized the struggles of PR against angry and combative American citizens. I think this is an important perspective to consider when trying to overcome their propaganda and take collective action against them, and to know the harder you fight, the harder they sweat. So it's only a matter of publicity and getting as many individuals involved as possible. Although this is much easier said than done, it's important to understand the potency of activism and the fluidity of power. I think the first step of adjusting the capitalist economic system is by eliminating the “conflict of interest” by somehow acknowledging and awarding those who use of PR is well intentioned and honest, as well as those who are economically mindful. Otherwise, I believe grassroots activism will make the biggest difference, because you really can't fool all of the people all of the time and people are getting more sick, more quickly of this pre-packaged molding for American cultural consumerism. I think a truly just society wouldn't use Americans' boredom and systematic categorization to regurgitate back to us and basically control our economic tendencies and demographics. I hope to find a meaningful role in this, and at this point I have yet to be involved in major activism, but I would be interested in taking action in the future for ecological causes and what not. Otherwise, I talk about these things with lots of folks and love getting heated over a good debate.
Sitting in centennial woods: I had a good experience, it was very sunny but still a bit chilly. I saw a lot of birds: Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Downy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, and some Turkey Vultures. It is still very moist and really muddy in some parts, I'm getting excited to go foraging for Fiddleheads!!!!!
Watching TV: South Park, latest episode on facebook and “getting sucked in”, was funny. Watched it with a bunch of kids, good interactions during commercials, some not good ones.
Watching TV was definitely much easier, because I only had to go down the hall to a friend's room, whereas I had to walk a good distance to the woods. Although there is no real “info flow” in the woods, it was easier to see what was coming during my outdoor experience than on the television, where it was an unknown ending. The experience in the woods taught me a much less obvious lesson than South Park, where it was all spelled out in the plot. It gave me a time for self-reflection and mind clarity, where as the show filled my head with images and sounds that were distracting. I think knowledge is portrayed more elegantly in the natural world, and very redundantly on television. I think this experience tells us the importance of time well spent in nature, and that people need to shut their tvs off right away to save their sanity.

PSA: My group is doing well, we did some video recording on friday at the davis center trash cans, which was successful. We are going to download what we shot during class and outline the sequence and layout of the PSA.

Toxic Sludge is Good For You

Ch.8

1. “You think of ‘biosolids’ and your mind goes blank.” I think this is a very true and important point because most green washing is PR language skills at its best. I believe it was in “Consuming Kids” where the strength in language use and application is brought up as a manipulative tool. I was also blown away by some of the different names that they came up with to make toxic sewage sludge sound more “tasteful”.
2. The scariest part of this chapter was definitely all the horror stories of people dealing with the long term health risks of living or working near sludge composting sites, and the way in which they were undermined for the irresponsibility of certain areas’ sewage disposal. Some of the explanations in defense of this method of disposal were ridiculous. One I found particularly perturbing was by Sarah Clark, a former board member of the Environmental Defense Fund, where she stated that sludge farming is the best means of returning nutrients that were originally removed from the soil, when in actuality, it provides 3% of usable nutrients to plants, and the remaining percent is highly contaminated with toxins.
3. The fact that this is a case where a high population density area is illegally “haul and dumping” sewage sludge in rural areas that are relatively poor and economically defenseless makes this a blatant case of environmental racism. I can’t believe it has effected so many people and animals that there’s actually a “Help for Sewage Victims” group.
4. The whole capitalistic aspect of “free fertilizer” that only reveals its negative side effects after two years of contamination is so evil and predictable. The very nature of this disparity between different economic and location based advantages portrays the industrial “use and abuse” relationship with the environment. I just don’t understand why its worth it for people to disregard other people in the short term when its obviously going to end badly and (hopefully) blow up in their faces.
5. The way the author refers to the fact that sludge people are really pushing to compost on organic farms is very scary to me. It just goes to show how flexible different aspects of our food industry is through corruption. Sometimes I think people go overboard when extremely limiting the foods their children are allowed to have, especially if they don’t follow their same example, but I would be just as paranoid if I had a baby depending on me and I was depending on our food system to provide me safe food. The combination of unknown, unregulated chemical wastes being leaked into public sewer systems and the toxicity levels that carry pathogens that can be carried and harmful in so many different ways is frightening, and its being dumped on the food we eat.

My question is… Why does most of the testing of company products or ecological effects done by the company itself? How can we eliminate this, and have separate research done in an efficient way?

Ch.9

1. The “Torches of Liberty Contingent” publicity stunt for “female emancipation” was very effective, “Within months, in fact, the politest of American ladies were puffing in public and sales of Hill’s Lucky Strikes were soaring.” Why are females constantly targeted and so easily influenced by the media?
2. “Also disconcerting is the fact that the 150,000 PR practitioners in the US outnumber the country’s 130,000 reporters”. I am curious what the ratio is in other countries and the different disparagements in comparison. The whole PR ordeal is so overwhelming to me, and it is scary to see modern day propaganda feeding so many industrial motives. The way in which people take advantage of the corporate system is so misanthropic and suicidal in its nature.
3. I was shocked at Kathleen Marquardt of Putting people first when she described the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, and The humane Society as a “radical animal rights cult” (Dowie, 127). I think that is a completely inappropriate assertion to make at a Wise Use Leadership Conference award speech, however that was in 1992, so I’m sure they’re no longer as cavalier about it, which is a small step forward.
4. The fact that green organizations are given cash contributions by corporate polluters is so obviously hush money to pay for the dirty work that works towards solving the very ecological damages they create in the first place.
5. The “Shifting the Blame” and “The Selling of Earth Day” sections were really interesting, they are both such cop-outs to solving real problems. It all boils down to a break down of the system and punishing those responsible to the fullest extent and charging them with true costs. I also think it’s a shame that Earth Day is a logo. Something so radically opposing justifies that there is something seriously wrong with its purpose and function.

My question is… How can environmental groups/ activism keep up with corporate legalities when they are constantly advancing and while we’re [companies] are working with them, they don’t have time to sue us.”-Frank Boren? How to outsmart the good cop/ bad cop scheme?

Culture Jam

Dear American Association of Advertising Agencies,

I am writing to you as a concerned citizen in regards to the overwhelming favoritism and monopolizing of corporate sponsorship on television and radio. I have just finished reading the book Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn, and am deeply opposed to the constant rejection of civil human liberties that the Adbusters organization receives when inquiring the purchasing of air time for non-consuming promotion.

At the rate at which our culture is evolving to depend solely consumerism, I believe that the media experience needs to contain some kind of balancing alternative. With Adbuster’s cultural perspective, the viewer has a greater chance of broadening their knowledge on the ecological damages that are resulting from all of the consumption, which needs to preventatively change before we ruin our entire planet.

Although this is obviously an economic boundary that is uncomfortable for any corporate sponsor to cross, it is immensely important and the right thing to do. Although it is understood that you have the right to selective airing, you should enable that right to start allowing the right kinds of messages into the public’s attention. A lot of people are very concerned for the media that their kids are consuming, especially the psychological, physical, and ecological effects. Your selection process is the reason why I do not watch tv or listen to the radio and stay as far away from any corporate influences as much as possible, because I directly oppose the lack of democracy that corporate power demonstrates.

Any paying organization should have full rights to airtime just as any individual should be able to exercise the right to freedom of speech no matter who it effects because that is the divine right of all Americans. Otherwise, your advertising selection process is undemocratic. Once the desires of an organization of individuals gets pushed aside for the desires of an overpowered corporate machine, there’s no freedom of cultural expression, and the truth will grow and explode in your face.

“Fifty years ago Alabama blacks sat in the backs of buses and at their own end of the lunch counter without thinking twice about it. Many women once believed they didn’t deserve to vote… Today, we’re caught in the same kind of reflexive subservience to corporations. We think its normal for them to have more rights than we do. We think it’s proper for them to clear-cut ancient forests, influence elections, run our airwaves, take politicians on jaunts to the Bahamas and draft the world trade rules. But it isn’t, and once you’ve reframed the issues of sovereignty, power and privilege, you’ll wonder why you ever thought it was.” (Lasn, 155)

Sincerely,

Faye Iwata

The corporation:

Surprise: It gave me a new perspective on how important money is, when it’s all just so made up and unreasonable.

Agitation: That what these interwiewees are saying makes so much sense, yet so many people don’t agree or even understand their logic.

Significant item of new learning: reflection, rage and rebellion.

My question is… why has our economy grown so out of touch with ecological needs, and how do we make that connect for people who only care about making lots of money?

Although there was an attempt for a positive ending by exemplifying progressive movement in the world, overall, it made the future look very bleak. I only feel so negative about the situation because of how far our ecological damages have added up thus far, and the corporations in power have so much to lose that in order to stir up enough reflection, rage and rebellion, there will be a huge number of casualties. I think the world war 3 that is discussed in Culture Jam is a very possible outcome, and weapons of mass destruction will put our planet in danger. We’ve become so fake-culture obsessed that there is no alternative. People are comfortable with their immersion in their tv set and that’s enough satisfaction to justify the corporation’s stronghold on their money and self-branding. This is how the movie made me feel, but I hope we are stronger than that. I know that there are past successes in overthrowing of this large power, but this is global and connected to everyone’s life daily. As an individual I feel completely unprepared and maybe un-involved, although I do have the reflection and rage part within my scope I just don’t think that enough people do in order to work together to produce this kind of change. What I really mean is not that things will never get better, but I think they will get a lot worse first.

Culture Jam/The Corporation

Culture Jam 72-136

1. I really liked The New Activism (Fire in the Belly) chapter because it gave a nice contrast to old revolutionary movements and how culture jammers stand apart from them. I especially liked the feminist and leftist sections, where I found a refreshingly new viewpoint that Lasn expresses in this quote: “The Liberal Left has a way of co-opting every worthwhile cause. In the past few decades, it has hung its flag on the black movement, the women’s movement and the environmental movement… if we’re going to build an effective new social movement, we’re going to have to work not with them but around them.” (119-120) I thought this was powerful because it showed how important a role inspired creativity plays in revolutions with ideas that have never been tried before. This is mostly because of the numerous connotations that are attached to certain pre-stereotyped groups and ideas.
2. In the list of metamemes for culture jammers, I think adjusting the global marketplace with ecologically true costs is by far the most fundamentally impossible. There is no way any industry or nation of individuals; moreover a world of billions, can afford to pay the price of ecological sanctity. Whatever utopia we might’ve once had was long gone before human civilization became its irreversible corrupter. This dilemma appears in my everyday life whenever I eat tropical fruits, ride a plane, use Styrofoam… all irreversibly damaging, yet capitalistically de-valued, therefore undervalued in my consumer-dependent mind, and killing our planet.
3. In the “We’re Not Slackers” Lasn describes the typical North American undergrad conundrum; “There’s no real rush to finish a degree because what lies on the other side but debt, pavement pounding and the potential shame of boomeranging back home?” (155) If this is the kind of fear that is keeping us in school and from flourishing through creativity and independence, what am I doing? Why should I put myself in all this debt? Is this crazy?

4. “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” (177)

5. In “The Meme Warrior” I found the tactics of a culture jammer very interesting in that it challenges the persuasive skills of corporate media directly, because it must overpower it in order to succeed. “An effective TV subvertisement (or uncommercial) is so unlike what surrounds it on the commercial-TV mindscape that it immediately grabs the attention of viewers. It breaks their media-consumer trance and momentarily challenges their whole world outlook.”(133)

In all of Lasn’s refrences to promote ad busters and their ideas, I feel he is being hypocritical and basically advertising throughout the whole book.

My question is how can we trust Lasn’s huge solutions when it seems there is a bias and other intentions any author has in capitalizing off their work, and what adbusters as an organization does with its profit. As a media foundation their very motive is to sell their product, and although its supportive of revolutionary ideas and eye-opening literature, their campaigns seem less effective than the price of their zine would imply. I would say stop filtering money into the systems, Lasn has a huge obsession with television, the people who are watching however, are the corrupted. I think more exposure in community centers and on a more human level is where it is most important to get the message out to the appropriate and most effective audience. Why pay thousands to millions for airtime on a corporate news channel when you can channel those funds into worthy causes like charity or promotion of these ideas within the community or at educational seminars/ lectures. People who are going to attend and participate at these levels are the individuals who will make a difference.

The Corporation:

What really made an impact on me was the simplicity of the corporation. After all everything that is human-engineered, human-geared, and human-centered must have similar characteristics to that of a human. I really liked the psychological breakdown of corporate psychopathic tendencies, and thought it was very intuitively effective. All of a corporations connotations and ecological effects are in actuality just a reflection of humans as consumers, and it boils down to the savvy techniques of wealthy owners and their busy bee workers that are happening behind the scenes. I thought the most important part was in exemplifying the externalities of a corporate civilization, and that’s what most consumers fail to understand, or have concern for, ultimately being the destroyer of the natural world. The spy interview was pretty cool and I liked the optimistic quote: “In devastation there is opportunity”, although it can produce good or bad outcomes dependent upon who takes action first.

Culture Jam Free Write

“Honor your instincts. Let your anger out. When it wells up suddenly from deep in your gut, don’t suppress it- channel it, trust it, use it. Don’t be so unthinkingly civil all the time. When the system is grinding you down, unplug the grinding wheel.” (xv)

I think this book has been overwhelmingly cynical, which is sometimes a drag to have to read. Luckily I found my state of affairs to be going in a very different direction than that of the demographic that Lasn was discussing. However, I think that Lasn makes a lot of good points, which hold so much relevance in the way our society functions today, and his ethics are in line with what I agree with, therefore it was pretty captivating. It made me feel a deeper aversion to corporate culture and over-consumption of Americans than I felt previously. Going back home and seeing old friends made this aversion much clearer in terms of how my ideas have evolved, and the different directions that all of my old friends have gone in, in terms of their basic way of life. I found myself to be a singular minority in most of my views and actually got into a couple of heated arguments with some of them who dismissed environmental issues and openly immerse themselves into American consumer culture with full trust and loyalty. Although I have known these people for a long time, I never discussed these things in particular, and got to the root of the problem with them. Most of the conversations ended in a pathetic effort to assure themselves and me that when they “grow up” they are going to be wealthy on their own, as well as marry rich, have happy children, own a nice house and country house, indispensable money, cars and clothes…and hoes. I was pretty blown away by their solid self-assuredness that this was all going to work out for them. And they don’t care about the consequences, and admit to not knowing enough about it, and using that ignorance to make up for their not caring. Not to say that these are my closest friends, because it had been a long time since we had hung out, but no matter my protests at their blind commercial desires, they weren’t making up their mind. Damned hipsters!! I guess that’s what you get in NYC, where everything is so fast paced that no one bothers to think twice, or even once, and rely on being incredibly self centered. I just found it frightening because when growing up together I felt that we all had so much in common, but now, we are all specializing in completely different things and being self-centered in that way too. Which is why I think in some ways its important to be generally skilled in many areas, which would probably require me to drop out of college or at least take some time off to sharpen different skills. I realized that feel much safer in VT somehow, which is funny because I have always been so attached to NY, but it’s my own sense of self-preservation in surrounding myself with like-minded folks and in an environment that I can enjoy outdoor activities in and around. One of these arguments was with a close friend since elementary school who is now a business major and was completely denying the fact that global warming is a pressing issue.

The part about Princess Diana was intriguing as well, and reminded me of a time when my friend from elementary school cried because the singer Aliyah died in a plane crash. I remember being very curious to the reason she cried, because she wasn’t much of a crier, and I thought it was a little much for someone she didn’t even know when there was actually a whole plane full of people who died and tons of other random people who die every instant, and yet she was only crying for her. It strikes me almost every time a famous person dies, and people everywhere are devastated, and I wonder is it because of their inability to produce more pop music or be hunted down by paparazzi any longer? Why are they crying? I guess it’s the romantic image that they had gotten so used to adoring and caring for, and idolizing, and death in general is scary especially for something that you follow in a cult-like manner. That was another really interesting part of the book, which I agree with completely. Even though its an extreme correlation, all methods of persuasion use the same tactics, and its just the extent to which these tactics are used that make them different. I also agree that a lot of this corruption in our ethics cannot be uncorrupted, which goes to show how deep we have gotten ourselves into danger, and that action needs to be taken.

1. a. Facebook is a multibillion-dollar venture capitalist project, growing in obsessive popularity for users and abusers, while disconnecting us from human and environmental connection.

b. I agree with Hodgkinson’s connection between facebook and paypal, and his general view of few individuals economically gaining from the obstruction of the masses’ privacy and social dependency.

I also agree that the safest option is to remain unplugged, whether or not that will get you farther than the next facebook fanatic.

I disagree with Hodgkinson’s completely biased point of view, although he made a lot of valid points, the whole article was highly opinionated and unpersuasive to those who feel differently.

I also disagree with his completely negative feelings on facebook and seemingly cluelessness to why anyone would want to use it. I think he failed to mention its obvious advantages, and was a little predictable when discussing his alternative activities that were highly productive and offline.

2. Williams provided a well descript outline of the different tactics that advertisements use, and listed well-rounded solutions and consumer tactics that promoted smart consumerism. I think that going to Toys R Us will be a mind numbing experience, and we will be able to pick out all of the different persuasions that Williams discusses and more. Child advertising is most problematic in my perspective, because of the brainpower and psychological inadequacies that children have compared to the “persuaders” of big toy companies that are paid millions/ billions. Otherwise, I didn’t really learn anything new, but it was a more positive and constructively minded article than some of the other ones.

3.

1. I observed a lot of bias, and boldly overstated and dramatized opinions based on ads that were on the extreme side of a large spectrum and were set up for failure with her critical narration. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it and agree with the majority of her perspectives.

2. The film made me feel upset about my femininity, and for other females of the past, present and future. I think that these objectifying stereotypes will always be carried within our gender, but there’s a lot to say about how male stereotypes are portrayed in the media as well, which is another important point she didn’t focus on.

3. Kilbourne’s highlighted tactic of persuasion was humor, along with symbols, hyperbole, rhetorical questions, straw man, fear/ defensive nationalism, testimonial, repitition, either/ or, strength, scientific evidence, maybe and timing. Not to compare her to the very subject she is resisting, I just thought it was interesting since everyone is trying to get one point or another crossed, using the same tactics. Therefore, the consumer is the one who is either well or misinformed and chooses their standpoint accordingly.

4. One of the more seriously damaging effects of media that Kilbourned discusses is on female adolescence, because there are so many cases of sexual abuse and younger girls being subjected to their bodies’ development before their sexuality can catch up to them. So it’s definitely been found to be problematic for a huge percentage of that age group.

5. Going off #4, Kilbourne makes an excellent point that sexual images and the idea of sex=selling=sex is everywhere. There was one ad that she shows a clip of I think it was selling lei jeans, and I actually remember watching it as a kid in the late 90’s or so, and looking at it now, I feel it is completely inappropriate and has nothing to do with the product. I remember it airing fairly regularly, and I must’ve been watching some stupid kids show, yet there was this couple for a loonnggg commercial of kinky foreplay in nothing but jeans, and wet paint being rubbed all over his cut muscles and her slim curves. Yikes!

1. Ad Nauseam Ch.’s 5&6:

In the “Everything I know about life” section, I was blown away by the medical history, and the sheer flexibility these companies demonstrated in order to appeal to more consumption. Their willingness to endanger and completely fool their customers was frightening to me and made me trust corporations that much less. I think a good “prank” that could succeed in promoting public awareness would be to compile a magazine similar to “Stay free” that contains a smattering of these old school advertisements to reveal these companies’ historical character and superfluous existence.

I also found the psychological tendencies demonstrated in “Buyer Beware” to be fascinating. It actually got me excited about pulling similar pranks that were more like hands on media experiments. I Personally have felt uneasy every single time I go into a corporate superstore/ market. Something about the vast aisles and quantities of food, fluorescent lighting, and thinking about the people who have to work there everyday makes me dizzy. At home my family and I shop at a food co-op which is much easier on my stomach, even though there are some tradeoffs, the experience is much more enjoyable. Food is a very important thing in my life, not just another daily process that I zone out for and let any advertisements influence for their own benefit.

The last 5 short sections of the book were my very favorite, even though I enjoyed the whole book thoroughly. I love the guerilla anti-ad techniques, they were a riot. It reminded me a lot of a history teacher that I had in high school who first introduced me to media literacy who I admired a lot. Our school was located down the street from a gorgeous private park in the gramercy area of manhattan, and one of his many playful “fight the power” suggestions was to superglue the key holes so no one could get in, since not everyone is allowed. One kid who dropped out of my high school in one of the lower grades was apparently influenced by him in the wrong way, and took things too far. As a fore-warning… http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/teenager-is-arrested-in-may-starbucks-bombing/

My question is… How do we get rid of the stock market, so people don’t have to be brainwashed into consuming towards the solution for their never ending and meaningless insecurities and “maximizing profit for the shareholders”?

My question is… Why don’t these ad pranks happen more often? Are people afraid of the corporations? How do we overcome the fear?

2. How twitter will change the way we live

Twitter will change the way we communicate, organize, network, share, search and consume collectively in a live up-to-the-minute coverage of the world and humans living in it, especially the celebrities.

I agree with the different concepts that Johnson describes about twitter, specifically that it is more relevant and up to date because of it’s fundamental system of “reader-like” information.

I also agree that “it is strangely intimate, yet celebrity obsessed” which can be applied to “popular” kids as well, and is a complete distraction and waste of time.

I disagree with Johnson’s overall positivism. I think this type of media just promotes advertising motives, and is a self-centered world, where people are just going become more isolated and insane.

I also don’t think that twitter will succeed in ways that will promote the right kind of changes, because just like in China, the government has control over political movements, and since they banned it, it is now just that much harder for them to organize.

I am not using twitter, because I am using face book less and less, and don’t have enough time to distract myself further. After reading this article and watching that silly video, I am much less inclined to even dabble in that world. It seems surreal and awful. More extreme versions are W.O.W. and “second life”, both are really crazy.

3. The Merchants of cool

- Teens run today’s economy, spending $100 billion a year plus another 50 from parent’s “guilt money”- Growing up in nyc, I saw this happening around me all the time, and all of the ugly consequences.

- Culture spies, study teen behavior of consumption and try to keep up by imitating what the “cool kids” are doing- the ethnography screen part was scary because it was a first hand account of a human studying a consumer in order to make it consume more, while it seemed like he was just being really nice and like a curious friend.

- As soon as marketers discover “cool” it’s no longer cool- I think this is true for a small percentage, but I feel that a large portion of consumers will dwell in fads for longer periods, especially those in rural or suburban areas.

- I thought the midriffs and mooks sections were pretty accurate, and I think its crazy that there is such a big gap between the sexes and their advertising influencers even after all this time. It’s just less obviously stated than in the older ads that were in Ad Nauseam.

- I think the most interesting point that was made was the idea of media as a reflection of teenagers’ lifestyles, and vice versa. It made me feel like out entire culture revolves around this connection with media, and that one couldn’t succeed without the other, which makes me feel like culture was much more meaningful in the past, and now its cluttered with people and too many problems, so we need these distractions in order to believe we can achieve happiness.

Environmental Art Proyecto

Inside the box: a plastered explosion of cut-out advertisements, cluttered, in-your-face. Highlighting a laptop in the centralized bottom with .coms emphasizing commercial motives of confusing emotions that the ads portray. Combining images of greasy large portions of fried food and sex, reflected with images of bewildered and unhappy child models.

Outside the box: spray-painted natural colors, with wild animals in natural environments. Simple beauty of MN.

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Hello Everyone, my name is Faye and I’m from Brooklyn, New York, but have also lived in Seattle, WA as well as Japan, where my father is from. A fun media experience I had during my holiday vacation was going to watch a conversation between Naomi Klein and Raj Patel at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. I went with my whole family and boyfriend on this really cold night, and it was free so there was an incredibly diverse and dynamic audience that was really fun to be a part of. Afterwards we ran into a few people that we knew and had coffee and it got me pretty pumped to come back to UVM this semester. Otherwise we did a lot of outdoor activity so not a lot of media was involved, and I just wasn’t too impressed with Avatar. One thing I like about media today is the sharing capability, and the ways in which it can bring any number of people together to share an experience in real life. One thing I don’t like is its unhealthy addictive tendencies that seem to mesmerize the masses, and how people create more “relationships” with a screen than they do with real faces. In the future I have a vision of either becoming an outdoor educator or an artist of some kind or both or a professional surfer.