Final Blog

I really enjoyed the class. I felt that it was a very connected class and I learned a lot throughout the course. I found it very easy to relate to most of the themes discussing media and conformity. I also enjoyed some of the readings, especially The Hunger Games. I would say that this is one of the easiest classes to pay attention to because everything we talked about made me think. My opinion on the world today and the people in it was solidified. I believe that people are way to willing to conform and they do not appreciate the past anymore. This will only lead to a suffering society because if nobody is willing to stand up we are useless and if we do not look to the past we will never know how to avoid mistakes that have been made. People need to live for themselves rather than live for the ideas of the masses.

We Love Drama

I think that as a society we look down upon those who are involved with drama or make drama. One example is the Jersey Shore people. We talk about how stupid they are and how the fight for dumb reasons. But if we hate it so much why do we watch it and give them millions of dollars? We are so entertained by the same thing that we hate so much. It seems a little hypocritical to me.
People always crowd around fights and cheer them on. We have developed a need for violence and drama to be forms of entertainment. We have gotten bored with all the calm things and everyone is always rushing trying to do the next big thing and looking for something. Drama is what we found and the industries have recognized that and are using it to their advantage. TV shows are surrounded by drama and fighting and the draw in millions of viewers, which in the end means millions of dollars.

Jersey Shore

I watched the Jersey Shore episode where Mike and Ronnie fight. Basically in this episode it is a bunch of fighting and useless commotion like every episode. Ronnie gets mad because Mike was talking behind Ronnies back to Sammi (Ronnie's Girl Friend Kind of) about how Ronnie talks about other girls so they fight. I do enjoy watching the show because it is funny to see how dumb some people are. I also like to watch the show because it makes me think about how many people actually like the show and do not watch it to make fun of the characters like I do. As a viewer I am most likely doing what they want me to do at the network because in the end I am still watching the show, which means money in their pockets. And that ultimately is all that matters.

Link to Fight:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdexBdcJG88

Blog #5

I do not think that I could live in the woods for a year by myself. I like being around people to much and talking with them. I would go crazy if all I had was my thoughts. I understand how it would help you know yourself a lot better but I feel like it would put me into a depression thinking that much about life. It would make me feel as if there is always something better that I could be doing but I like living in the now and going with the flow of life.

I do however think that we should resist from conformity. Emerson said "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." I think that this is true. Everyone needs to do their own thing and not let the group make them into someone their not in order to succeed. That relates to Lasn's ideas because he is saying that corporations are running the world and making people given in to advertisements. Lasn would agree with Emerson with the need to not conform.

Dumbest Generation Blog #4

I believe that Baurelein makes some good points but I think he is very ignorant. I strongly agree with his argument about how everyone needs to know their history. History is likely to repeat itself and we have a tendency to look at the past for help with current issues. Also global issues that do not directly involve us still have an impact on us. One major example right now is the raising prices in oil which affects the price of gas. This is because of the current fighting in the middle east.
He is arrogant though because he insults us for using the latest technology and socializing with the use of computers. You cannot tell me that when he was younger he did not want to have the latest items and that he did not socialize with people. He just did it differently. Times change and so do the things we do. He also cannot call us the laziest generation. I am sure that the generation before his thought that their generation was the best. One thing is that we are too involved in ourselves rather than others. We are always worrying about what people thing and feel the need to know as much as we can. That is why we are always texting or checking are Facebook because we are curious about the people that directly effect us more than what someone we don't know is doing.

Blog 3

The things in the virtual world have real significance but only to an extent. People take it to far and act like the real world is not actually real. It is not okay for people to play video games more than they socialize in the real world. It is one of the best ideas ever though for the companies to sell products in the game for actually money. I do believe that the virtual world is becoming the new frontier though. There are too many people that play the games and use computers everyday for it not to catch on and become an all day thing. It will be especially easy for Americans to be the first to make it to this new frontier. It will just make things easier and easy is very attractive for a lot of people. I think it is sad though that it is coming to that. People are going to start forgetting the beauty of nature and take the outside world for granted and let it go to waste. I cannot see how people are content living on their computers and not maintaining a social life. I think that we are falling apart as a nation and everyone is growing distant from each other.

Blog #2

            The quote that I chose is the first sentence in the Hype section. Kale Lasn says "Advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic of the mental pollutants." This line really stood out to me because I completely agree with it. Our world revolves around advertising, everywhere you go you see an ad for something even if its not on a billboard or a commercial an ad will be somewhere. People are becoming walking billboards for clothing companies. If a person is wearing a product that has the label on it everyone who see that person will see the logo and sub-concisely think of that brand. Products and ideas are now constantly on are minds and are even beginning to change the way we see things. I think the biggest way it pollutes our mind is how we are starting to see people. If a person does not wear the latest fashion styles people will put them down before they even meet them. The world is becoming  a branded place where ideas can only be backed by a persons status and how up to date they are.
             I believe that this idea of advertisements polluting our minds links well to the steady decline of humanity. I believe that we are all going in the wrong direction because we care to much about other people and how they act. I do not care if you drive a rolls royce or a honda as long as you are a real person and real people are becoming harder and harder to find. The only way we can fix the world is if we look at ourselves and ignore the big companies that rule our lives.