Oh what a holiday. I was talking about halloween with a friend earlier in the weekend and we were discussing that transition faze you go through when you stop trick or treating. We wondered, once you get too old to trick or treat, what exactly do you do on halloween? For most people, I think that age is about the time that you start to discover alcohol. Of course that's what you do. So long sugar high, hello hangovers. Of course, this means the all important halloween party that someone has to man up and throw while turning a blind eye as their house gets trampled by the untamed beast that is festive friends. This year, it just happened to be my house. This of course means some preparing for the festivities, such as carving pumpkins and making decorations.
The big project I decided to put on my table was my front yard graveyard. You might of seen my progress in a previous post, and my procrastination held me up to finishing it as people were starting to filter in. Perfectly measured out and mathematically near perfect, I was quite pleased with my work. Now, I consider myself a creative person, but I will be the first one to admit that I am no good at freehand drawing. However, I did always excel in math during high school. We may tend to think of our brains as built into separate parts, such as the musical and 'creative' brain, the limbic, while the rationality and 'intellectual' brain is the neocortex. I feel though that I have found a way to connect the two by using math for creative purposes. I feel that the brain shouldn't be thought of as different gears working together, but one big gear that can work given the right medium. This medium for me was headstones.
So, after all of that partying, do you remember halloween?
For this Address, it has been my job to research the story of "Cuba Provided the Greatest Medical Aid to Haiti after the Earthquake" to see if it really is a "censored" story. Here is what CENSORED 2011 had to say about it.
"Public health experts say the Cubans were the first to set up medical facilities among the debris and to revamp hospitals immediately after the earthquake struck" (64).
"One major international news agency's list of donor nations credited Cuba with sending over thirty doctors to Haiti, whereas the real figure stands at more than 350" (65).
"Western media are programmed to be indifferent to aid that comes from unexpected places. In the Haitian case, the media have ignored not just the Cuban contribution, but also the efforts made by other Latin American countries" (65).
"When the US requested that their military planes be allowed to fly through Cuban airspace for the purpose of exacting Haitians to hospitals in Florida, Cuba immediately agreed despite almost fifty years of animosity between the two countries" (66).
"In late January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thanked Cuba for its efforts in Haiti and welcomed further assistance and cooperation" (66).
Obviously this is perfect breeding ground for censorship within the media. The US and Cuba haven't necessarily been friends and to portray Cuba in a good light just wouldn't reflect on America so well. So, after a bit of research, I actually did find some interesting articles covering this story.
In fact, all you have to do is type "Cuba Haiti aid ignored" into Google and you get a full page of news articles covering this story. So would I call this a strictly censored story? No and yes. No because of the amount of information I was able to find on the story, and yes because of the fact that I had never heard about this story until I researched it. It is not a common discussion among people. It is not a fertile meme. But why is this? I believe it's because people tend to get the majority if not 100% of their world information from major news networks who have expressed a sort of self interest. Because we don't further our searches on news beyond channel 3, we aren't hearing all of the information on certain subject matters.
1. After studying media for eight weeks now, I've learned that repetition and structure helps move ideas from your short term memory to your long term memory, hence the daily quizzes. I've also learned that the media I see daily has been scientifically broken down to such a psychological measure that we can quantify how persuasive and effective a piece of media is.
2. One of the most important things that I have learned so far is not to accept all arguments against t.v. as solid factual statements. I started out reading about media with Jerry Mander's "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television" and came away hating t.v. Now I've learned to critically analyze those arguments that I agreed with and see the flaws within them. I've expanded my knowledge and resources on the subject to form better opinions.
3. One thing I would do differently the first half of the semester would be to be more familiar with social media and use it in an opportunist way in order to better myself for the class. Knowing about what I'm learning about before I learn about it would help build connections between the psychological aspects and real world participation. Yes, that would mean I would probably have a twitter account.
4. One thing I would like Rob to do differently is focus more in depth and spend more class time on the readings we have instead of having us read it and then just give a paragraph blog post on what we read with little to no discussion on what we posted or the ideas brought up in the book.
5. The power tools have been useful by showing us the psychological means in which they break down media to make it the most effective on the consumers, such as the 29 persuasive techniques. However, it does feel somewhat like brainwashing with the constant repetition of them in order for us to memorize word for word what is on three sheets of paper. The quizzes are a good means to make sure we stay on top of our homework and absorb the necessary information we need to come away from this class as intelligent media analysts. The course blog has been one of the most useful tools of this course so far. It is a nice online meeting place for the course where I can find all the information I need on assignments and thoughts of fellow classmates. Instead of fumbling through my folder trying to find a syllabus to see what is due next, I can easily check the blog and know what I have to do for the course without any hassle.
My personal blog, The Nurre Address, had been a surprisingly fun adventure for me. I have never run a personal blog before, so I was fairly hesitant on posting on it since I feel most blogs I see tend to be self revolving and uninteresting to other people. This has stayed true for me, but I now have a different way of looking at blogging. Instead of creating content for the internet, I enjoy creating content for myself. Using what happens in my daily life, whether it's a new band I got into or decorating for halloween (post coming soon), it gives me a means to take that and present it in a creative manner that people may happen upon. The books have been very interesting. As I stated in question 2, the books have helped shape my new view on the media world today. They have expanded my resources and knowledge I feel more than any other tool we have used in this class. "Amusing Ourselves To Death" has been my favorite so far, being along the lines the the Four Arguments book I had read in a previous year. Feed, however, was a different story. I understand the important themes it raises and the knowledge we can gather from it, but the book itself as a novel annoyed me greatly. From the "futuristic" slang to the in book advertisements, it was something that I had to force myself to read while all the time I was cringing.
Person 1 Remember the internet when it came out? Well that's nothing compared to feed! Announcer FEED! Person 1 It's the hottest new crave! Announcer FEED! Person 2 You're life will be better and you will be more successful if you just get with feed! Announcer FEED! Person 1 Scientist agree unanimously that feed can greatly benefit your health and social life. Announcer FEED! Arnold This is Arnold Schwartzenegger. Feed. Do it. Announcer FEED! Person 2 Do you or your loved ones have trouble staying in touch? Feed brings them into your brain! Announcer FEED! Person 1 Feed. Unifying the world one brain at a time.
