Media Rollercoaster
I Need to Graduate.
Media Literacy
When I hear the word “media,” I typically think of a group of people; “The media has exposed the latest release on such-and-such about this one famous superstar!” or “The media somehow got their hands on classified information.” Other times, I think of social media such as Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, Vine, and the list goes on. Sometimes I might even think of those old VCRs, DVD players, tape recorders and my first MP3 player. On the other hand, “media literacy” makes me think there’s hidden ground rules one must obey when it comes to any type of media, hence “literacy” (maybe I’m digging too deep). Much like an illiterate child, someone needs to teach them the basics of literature or other in the same way “media literacy”—I’m assuming—should be followed or taught to become literate. Then again, I might be ahead of myself. I believe this could also mean the media, good or bad, as a group to be ‘appropriate’ or ‘accurate’ (even though it almost never is, but ignore my suspicions) in what the ‘media people’ post, write or publish. As a whole, “media” strikes me with the ideas of rumors, technology, lies, deceit, conspiracies and gossip. They’re all intertwined and connected, like a web. Society is what threads them all together like the giant spider it is. Similar to a marionette or maybe a puppet (they’re essentially the same thing, it’s just to help people get the big picture).
Social Justice Reflection
My Reflection
The unit of social media was fairly interesting to learn about, and it upheld the ability to be rather enjoyable (for me). Some of the discussions and articles and essays in class were captivating and eye-opening, while others I’m glad were even written and/or talked about (such as the beauty article by Dave). Having talked about all these topics in class was slightly absorbing, to be able to see what social media does, how it affects people, the way it affects, how it affects communities, and what a substantial impact it truly has in today’s world. Social media itself is a comical, backwards little thing; it can be used to raise awareness and charity for a sickness or a cause, yet it can also be used to manipulate someone, or a group, and cause a dangerous magnitude of harm. So when it came to social justice and I wrote my essay, I felt like my paper didn’t correlate with the genuine significance of this unit (difficulties with police carrying nonlethals) much, if not at all. I still don’t feel a “click” of satisfaction with my work when I think back to it. The experience was incredibly troublesome to find an all-around interesting topic, that is not overly-used, and also able maintain my attention and fascination (although, gun control is a pretty darn common and highly debated topic). Nonetheless, the topic I chose did have meaning to me and my family. Or at least, it woke some sort of passion within me. Alas, in the future ten plus years ahead, I hope to see social media constructing more and more positive differences in people’s lives until everyone links “social media” with some type of antonym for stress and heartache. I would not sit well with the hectic aftermath of a fierce riot when we have so many opportunities to go about changing the world (not to be too brash but in my personal opinion, today’s riots are dangerous and unhelpful in society. You can riot all you want, but the moment some starts bashing cars and becomes violent, you can’t expect police to sit back and do nothing).
Superbowl Precis
PoltiFact!
— PolitiFact North Carolina
At a Concord speech in N.C, Donald Trump mistakes an endorsement from Brian France, the owner of NASCAR, for an endorsement by said corporation. In order to make an informed and full position of oneself, one must know the full background story of the details concerning that date and situation. Overall, I thought it was an accidental
mixup
or confusion between Brian France and theNACSAR
Company itself. I don’t believe Trump knew the difference, but I could be wrong.
[Ted Cruz] Says Marco Rubio “went on Univision, and in
Spanish
he promised that he would not on the first day in office rescind President Obama's illegal executive action.”— Ted Cruz on Monday, February 15th, 2016 in an interview on Fox News
Presidential candidate Ted Cruz says this on a news interview with Fox, February 15th, speaking on illegal immigration. Cruz voted against an immigration bill while Rubio voted for it. In the interview, Cruz says Rubio is too lenient on this hot topic. I think Ted Cruz overreacted a smidge, partially because he’s taking words too
literal
, and partially because it would be extremely difficult to get anything done successfully on one’s first day of presidency.“The Clean Power Plan is something that Sen. Sanders has said he would delay implementing.”
— Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, March 9th, 2016 in in the Democratic debate in Florida
Hillary attacks Sanders with this false blow in a Florida democratic debate. Clearly, Hillary’s facts weren’t intact. According to PolitiFact in Bernie’s defense, “Sanders said he would change the Clean Power Plan to incentivize renewables instead of gas and extend a two-year program for
wind
and solar credits all the way to 2030. And beyond carbon, he would also regulate methane through the plan.” He never implied, stated or wrote he would delay implementing his plan. I think she may have misunderstood his words or posts into something darker or twisted.THE ORANGE REVOLUTION
In the cold, snowy mid-to-late 2004, a massive revolt had lead on for roughly 2 weeks as a prelude to the Orange Revolution. This took place in Ukraine’s now Independent Square, Kiev. The revolt was held so as to overthrow or rebel against the controversial candidates and dictatorship. What gave the Ukrainians so much inspiration and motivation to do something about this was the amount of denial, uncomfortableness and refusal. Because more and more people began to rebel and say no, to fight back, the mass of people and their opinions are what made this revolution so strong. They didn’t succeed in their original goal, however; the results were reversed, and at the end, the opposing positions were placed in office. What gives this revolution its name is the positions’ party colors were orange.
In this demonstration, the differences are highlighted between how the people in Ukraine were engaged and worried about their government, whereas in 1984, no one knew, or much less cared, about who ruled what or what was happening around them.
Orange Revolution in Kiev #1
Orange Revolution in Kiev #2
Orange Revolution in Kiev #3
Proles!
This revealing passage from 1984 reflects how in today’s society, the people are so busy taking care of their children, taking them to practice, picking them up, busy working, taking care of the house while also keeping track of the latest news and media. Because of all this and more jumbled mess, people don’t frequently get an opportunity to sit down, breathe, and truly give at least a single or small thought about what’s going on in the government, or what is happening around them. Maybe a meek little “Oh, I wish that bill had passed.” Or even “Why didn’t they pass that law?” “Why is this candidate leading? Why are they even in the race?” “Oh my, was the minimum wage raised yet?”
On the other hand, some people purposefully don’t get involved with politics. They don’t care about politics at all, simply because it’s too confusing, perplexing or too frenzied. Tracking back to society; due to the fact that they don’t have time, these people can’t surely sit back and reflect, to realize the corruption surrounding themselves because they are so occupied with life.Daily basics like social media, sports,
movies
and reality TV keep people busy even when they are relaxing—for example, when the husband is taking a break from his wife, he’ll typically go fetch a beer and watch football or soccer. Moms love relaxing with a little glass of wine, watching that suspenseful new premiere movie on Lifetime Movie Network.Teenagers are always on social media at any rate. All in all, social media is addicting as it is. Sports are available 24/7, live or on television, as are movies and reality TV. The senselessness of reality TV, especially, make us reflect on our life rather than what is surrounding it. These things are dear to
us,
because we see sides of other people and think we bond with them via screens or such, subconsciously. We think how well it relates to us and what we could do. All of these little pointless things keep us occupied while the world continues its ever changing process. Aside from this, the glitz and glamourglamourize
totally different values and morals, in which make people develop enthusiastic feelings and emotions. As a result of this, society is filled with illusions of fantasy and a mix of reality sprinkledto
it. They desire to be so much like their favorite main character or such, rather than focusing on what their own environment/government is doing, how they are doing it and how they are behaving, in legal terms.Summative!
Since the very beginning of this course, I’d always thought media literacy meant only what the media shows us or specific ways to target-market society, using glitz and glamour to rake in the dough. However now I strongly believe media literacy defines itself as something that purposefully spellbinds us in a certain technique, intricately and virtually derailing us from the true wonders or demons in our culture, society and/or so forth (I feel like I keep using the government as an example). To distract us from the truth, essentially. Then again I could be paranoid after reading 1984 and learning so many far-fetched conspiracies (but there are
Another wonderful thing I took from this class and do practically every day,
The great thing about this class and how it’s different from the myriad of other Language Arts classes is the fact that it is highly opinionated, dramatic and controversial. We see drama (the good kind) in V for Vendetta and 1984, somewhat “spy” themes or “propaganda” themes. We had the chance to relate interesting facts to real life. We spoke about relative issues, had fun open discussions about the real world. I think, to make this class better, possibly add one or two additional Socratic seminars? Besides thus, the class was like a rollercoaster.