Blog # 5, The Impossibe Task.

After attempting to completely isolate myself from communication and media technology for a 24 hour period, I feel as though it is an impossible task for anyone to accompolish. Today our society is filled with gadgets of technology used to entertain, communicate, occupy, and learn. These gadgets at our finger tips can consume the lives of today's people and especially today's youth. In fact according to The article "The Longest Day," in the Washington Post newspaper by Danna L. Walker, "Eighteen- to 20-year-olds know in their hearts that electronic media are nearly as dear to their lives as physical nourishment." In fact "they have vague memories of a time before iTunes, personalized ring tones, Facebook, Google, Rocketboom, "MySpace: The Movie" and www.i-am-bored.com."

Technology such as cell phones, music players, computers and television all are everywhere in our lives whether we realize it or not. We use computers for communication through email and messaging as well as managing our banking, paying bills and much more. Television is not only used to entertain us but also is used as a source of the news and weather. Without these some people may not be able to function. Thus I feel as though people are becoming more and more dependent on electronic media.

As speaking for our society as a whole, it seems as though life without electronic media is not only unimaginable but practically impossible. Personally before I tried to go without electronic media for 24 hours it seem very hard but still possible, although when I actually tried the task it was 100 Times harder than I imagined. First of all I should never have attempted this task on a weekend because it is even harder to succeed.

I started the task right before I went to bed on a Thursday night so I knew I could at least succeed for eight hours. I started my day off with breakfast in the morning but without television, which was unusually quiet meal because I always watch television in the morning when I eat. As the day went on I did a few things around the house then I decided to go to the gym in the afternoon. At about 3pm, 15 hours into my task I already failed without any fault of my own. I walked into the gym and the radio was playing, i couldn't believe it. I completely forgot that the gym played music while people exercise. At this point I realized that without locking myself in my bedroom that I was literally impossible for me to achieve my task. If I didn't go to the gym and decided to go out to lunch then most likely I would have failed there too because most restaurants have televisions for people to watch which also would of ruined my task.

After attempting to completely isolate myself from communication and media technology for a 24 hour period, I feel as though electronic media has completely dominated our lives without realizing it. Electronic media is everywhere, it is in our homes, our cars and even in our pockets. Not using these gadgets is extremely hard but living without communication and media technology in general is practically impossible.

Television Vs. Print, Blog Number 4

After reading the article "Two Cultures, Television Versus Print," I can see how each scholar constructs a solid argument, however I agree with Neil Postman. He Argues that "reading is an ordered process requiring us to sit at a table, consume ideas from left to right, and make judgments of truth and falsehood. Postman states that reading teaches us reason while television is "random unconnected images that works against the linear tradition and breaks the habits of logic and thinking."

One the other hand, Camille Paglia argues that one's age has determined whether they and obtain knowledge from the television. She states that "people born after World War II can't understand those of us raised in the fragmented, imagistic world of TV."
Paglia states that she has a different view than Postman because they were born fifteen year apart, and although it is a small difference in age, "it's a critical fifteen years, an unbridgeable chasm in American Culture."

Postman provides and excellent example of the importance of the book in comparison to the Television. He argues that television lacks explanations and details that would be included in a book. Postman provides and example of how when an young student is watching the news with Dan Rather and who states that "5,000 people died in and earthquake in Chile, and then Dan States, We'll be right back after this word from United Airlines." Postman then states "hey, wait a second, how could he make such an emotional switch?" The statement leaves unanswered questions in one's mind. It almost a tease to state a current event without providing any details to support it.

After reading the debate between the two scholars I would have to disagree with Camille Paglia's "weak and unconvincing case" for Televisions importance over print. I feel as though reading requires one to think outside the box and use their brain in more useful ways than staring at the television. Reading teaches us "reason, logic and thinking," qualities I feel television is lacking.

Political Blog Number 3

First of all I want to congratulate Senator Obama for winning the election and I wish him success as the new president. While I was watching the media coverage and interviews of the election, I noticed several news stations that favored Senator Obama.

I would like to first like to talk about how the media ridiculed Sarah Palin for spending over one hundred thousand on clothing. The media portrayed Sarah Palin as frivolous for over spending on her attire, while on the other hand Senator Obama spent the most amount of money in history on his campaign. The media should worry less about the amount Palin spent on clothing and focus on "the Total Cost of Federal Campaigns in 2008 Estimated at Record-Shattering $5.3 Billion.)http://www.democracy21.org/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={AC81D4FF-0476-4E28-B9B1-7619D271A334}&DE={39E3555A-B293-4F42-AF48-713004094AC6}

In addition to spending, I noticed the facial expression of CBS reporter Katie Couric to be extremely different when interviewing Sarah Palin compared to Senator Obama. When Couric interviewed Palin she wore a frown and almost a scowl on her face, but when she interviewed Obama she was full of Joy and had a bright smile on her face. I find it unprofessional to show personal expression to the candidates while interviewing them.

The media did not press the Vice president Candidate Biden for a press conference for fear that he would have another Gaff in his speeches. The democratic party felt it would be better for their campaign if Biden keep quite for the sake of Obama's success. It seemed as though it is unfair to hear less from Biden when he is a Candidate for vice president.

The majority of the big celebrities endorsed Obama compared to Senator McCain. Oprah Winfrey, for example was a big supporter of Obama while McCain only had Arnold Schwarzenegger at his support. People of all ages look up to celebrities and are very susceptible to their feeling and beliefs. It was unfortunate for McCain's Campaign that he did not have a slue of popular celebrities on his side.

The main focus of the negative media attention was directed toward Palin. She was ridiculed and mocked for her inexperience but they not only went after her but her family as well. On Saturday Night Life, Palin's husband was portrayed for having and incestuous relationship with his daughter. While on the other hand negative media coverage about senator Obama's family was rarely discussed, in fact there are reports that that one of his family members was actually living in this country illegally.

Advertising, Blog number 3

Advertising is a tool to lure a consumer into purchasing a product in a very persuasive way. Ads are seen everywhere, on television, magazines, newspapers,and billboards, they are carefully placed in locations where they can be heavily viewed. A lot of thought and effort is put into effective advertising, in fact according to the Advertising and the Idea of Mass Society, "To know consumers, one had to do more than speculate about their psyches or observe them in hardware stores: one had to count them, categorize them by income, neighborhood, ethnicity, and religion." This method of market research is used to effectively determine advertisement techniques.

Advertisers attempt to bring out specific personalities within a person to make a sale. Some people may often feel as though they live differently than the way they would like to. Some people may live alone without a family, and view an advertisement that shows a happy family together for dinner. Advertisers hope that a person will purchase their product to feel closer to their dream.

As I was flipping through the athletic magazine known as "outside." I noticed a very interesting advertisement for a new Adidas cologne. The full page image showed a strong man rock climbing and only a few feet from the top . The climber was up very high with a beautiful view of mountains and trees thousands of feet below. The hard red rock was nearly straight up with very little crevices to grab on to, and the man could easily slip and fall to his death. What made the advertisement complete was the name of the cologne in big letters at the bottom of the page, "DARE, the new fragrance for men."

The methodology of the advertisement has a good approach. The Adidas company knew that most of the readers of this magazine are athletic males who are or wish to be athletic, thus the bold adventurous rock climber in the image maybe a goal of some of the readers. Perhaps a reader has always wanted to go rock climbing or just be adventurous and out of the ordinary. This new Adidas cologne wants the consumer to believe that by purchasing the cologne will inspire them to be more Daring.

Advertisers seek a specific type of person in hope to make the ad more appealing and persuading to the consumer. Advertising companies hope that their ad may inspire a new thought or idea which may lead a person to the purchase the product because,"To know consumers, one had to do more than speculate about their psyches or observe them in hardware stores,"(Advertising and the Idea of Mass Society) and categorize them into certain groups for a specific consumer.

The First Presidential Debate.

After watching the debate, it seems rather difficult to decide who won the debate. Obama spoke very well and addressed his thoughts in a very intelligent way; he spoke with confidence and courage. McCain on the other hand, spoke well and showed his experience rather than future plans. I believe that neither presidential candidate stood out from the other. They both presented themselves well, and chose their words wisely. Thus I feel torn to make a decision on the behalf of who I believe won. I feel as though they both in a sense equaled each other out.

The blog I read at http://thebridgecincy.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/the-first-presidential-debate/, had the same principals and thoughts as I did. It stated, "The candidates are so different, it was hard to say who won the debate." It states that McCain is about experience and Obama has a lot of ideas, which is the same idea that I had, which was that they are two different to even be compared.

I believe that both candidates were very prepared for the topic of foreign policy. I was surprised that Obama was able to counter argue with McCain on this topic because McCain's strength includes foreign policy. I though McCain was going to slam Obama with his experience and knowledge, but Obama held up and fought back.

While watching the debate I was glad to see that Afghanistan was brought up, it seems like the nation talks less and less about the War In Iraq but Afghanistan is hardly ever brought up and it still is a serious issue.

The Media did a good job portraying both candidates as equal. They both seem to have an equal opportunity to get their points across. Over all I feel this first presidential debate was a success, and I believe that people now have a greater understanding on each candidate and their views.

Blog number two

Speech and writing are both very important forms of communication in today's society, but I feel as though the form of writing is more superior when communicating. Speech is a very important aspect of today's society. We listen to the radio for news and entertainment, in addition to communicating to on another on a daily basis. We speak our opinions and listen to others. Vocal communication saves time over writing and shows emphasis on specific phrases and tone of voice.

Writing, on the other hand connects us to others with or without being face to face. Writing enables us to communicate with people all over the world through letters, emails, internet posts, chat rooms, instant messaging and text messaging. Before people spoke to one another, writing took its first steps with symbols. In fact, according to The Washington post's article, "The End of Literacy? Don't Stop Reading by Howard Gardner, "it was less than 100,000 years ago that our human predecessors first made meaningful marks on surfaces, notating the phases of the moon or drawing animals on cave walls." As time went on, "within the past 5,000 years, societies across the Near East's Fertile Crescent began to use systems of marks to record important trade exchanges as well as pivotal events in the present and the past,(The End of Literacy?" which proved as beneficial as the early steps or writing.

I feel as though writing is superior to speech because writing is the building block of speech. In order to form words and sentences the formation of the alphabet must be written down before anything can be spoken. As noted previously by the article The End of literacy, about 5,000 years ago humans took the first steps of writing by communicating trade information, even though they could not talk to one another. So, in other words, writing came first, and the human’s civilization can survive and communicate without speaking.

Today communication is getting faster and to the point. Nowadays, "more than a billion people can communicate via e-mail, chat rooms and instant messaging; post their views on a blog; play games with millions of others worldwide; create their own works of art or theater and post them on You Tube; join political movements; and even inhabit, buy, sell and organize in a virtual reality"(The End of Literacy? Don't Stop Reading) Even speaking to one another has shortened, According to a Washington Post article titled, “The Dumbing of America” by Susan Jacob, Harvard University's Kiku Adatto found that between 1968 and 1988, the average sound bite on the news for a presidential candidate -- featuring the candidate's own voice -- dropped from 42.3 seconds to 9.8 seconds." The incredible difference in time show how less speaking can get the point across. Not to mention today presidential candidates have their own websites where people can get information themselves through the writing process. According to Chapter five in the textbook "Communication in History" by David Crowley,"political leaders have always used writing, Nearly 4000 years ago and a totally different script separate the famous black basalt law code of Hammurabi of Babylon."

Although, nationally, we speak and write everyday I feel as though we can survive without speaking and write to one another, even if it is more time consuming. Writing although abbreviated at times is a useful source of communication and superior to speaking.

Sarah Palin And Her New Born.

Politics is an informative yet complicated conversation topic. In November of 2008, Sarah Palin may be elected the next vice president of the United States of America. I feel this will bring a great change to our society and my generation will respond well to her in office. More women will feel that they’ve accomplished something by voting and electing her.

Earlier generations may not have approved of a white female running for the vice presidency of the United States. In earlier years, women did not have as many “rights” as they do now. Women were not even allowed to vote until 1920. Now, not even 90 years later, we have a woman running for candidacy of vice president. In addition, many women weren’t allowed to have the same jobs as men. If a woman went to a company office in the early 1900’s she would have been sent home. Back in those days it was custom for the husband to go to work, and for the wife to stay home and cook, clean, and watch their children; and if the females failed to do so, they were frowned upon.

Currently, my generation, in today’s society is more open about their beliefs and values; as well as more willing to make changes. Young people are allowed to voice their own opinions and say how they feel with or without being judged. If a woman wants to get a house, car, job and kids all on her own, without a husband she may, and nobody has the right to tell her otherwise. Today, it does not matter if you are a man or woman, you should be treated equally. Many young women today are a part of women’s rights activism. Now, young women from the tender age of 14 and up, until they pass away, are allowed to work, almost anywhere they desire -- as well as run for president/vice president if they wish to do so. In addition, they have the right to drive cars, boats, planes, you name it, as long as you get the required training, license etc.

I read a blog titled “Why Isn't New Mommy Sarah Palin Qualified To Be Vice President?” that stated that some people believe that Palin is not an acceptable running mate because she has a new born. The blog at http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/03/06/2212053.php states that “there are those, liberal and conservative alike, who now think just because the woman is pregnant she is disqualified to become the Vice President of the United States of America.” I feel as though at this day and age it is completely unacceptable. There is not reason that Candidate Palin cannot succeed as a Vice President just because she has a new born. A comment on this blog states, “we have new mommies who go off to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. No one says they can’t do that. Women have babies every day, and go back to work in situations where they must either put their children in day care, or leave them entirely to the graces of lest than optimal situations.” So why discriminate against the Alaskan Governor, she does a superb job now and has four children as well.

When I think of my generations’ reaction to a women running for vice president I highly believe it would be positive, whether she has children or not. Young men and women today are willing to try different things, and I agree completely. The idea of a female running is a excellent idea, and my generation agrees.

Why Isn't New Mommy Sarah Palin Qualified To Be Vice President? Written by SJ Reidhead Published March 06, 2008. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/03/06/2212053.php