Blog #9: Are we happier?

I just responded to a fellow students post with the below. I felt it important to share with all as well; it's a quote from the movie Contact (1997). What's interesting is how relevant the quote is at a time when social media had not even exploded onto the scene yet, and I love the connotation that the word synthesized gives to our society.

"Are we happier as a human race? Is the world fundamentally a better place because of science and technology? We shop at home, we surf the Web... at the same time, we feel emptier, lonelier and more cut off from each other than at any other time in human history... We're becoming a synthesized society.... In a great big hurry to get the next... 

We're looking for meaning. What is meaning? We have mindless jobs, we take frantic vacations, deficit finance trips to the mall to buy more things we think will fill these holes in our lives. Is it any wonder that we've lost our sense of direction?"

Blog #8: To Be Self-Aware...

Watching Miss Representatation was a powerful view into the lives of women and the struggles they face. I had a surface level understanding of equal rights, the mis-representation of women, and the societal pressures they undergo. I have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the struggle now.

My husband works in education counseling, and I often hear stories of girls cutting themselves, hanging themselves in their home, letting men abuse their bodies over and over from Junior High on. It's even happening in elementary school now. I've heard stories about the girls who wear the rubber bands on their wrists in different colors, signifying what they have done sexually, how many times they've done it, and what they are willing to do. And while suicide would be considered the worst for a family to experience, the most gut wrenching issue I heard about was a girl in Junior High who kept a journal of all the guys she had sex with — pages of them — and she had a rating system, stats, and what they did written down. She lost it at school and a teacher found it and turned it in to the counseling office. When they called in the girl and her mother, the response was the same from each..."So What".  If I were to ask myself what would drive a girl to dis-respect her body, and most likely have such self-loathing, the question would certainly be easy to answer in this case. But most of the time it is not easy to see the source, that is until your faced with truths in a documentary such as this.

Fag, homo, queer, weak, sissy, damned... this is the definition of manhood I grew up with.  Bitch, slut, fat, skank, easy, worthless... is no better a definition for a female to grow up with either. Even with the momentous court ruling for marriage rights yesterday, I can look back at our history and know that discrimination and hatred will never cease. I only need to examine the progress we've made since the 13th Amendment, 19th Amendment, Civil Rights, and Equal Opportunity. The hate and animosity is still present and strong in our society.

I've worked in advertising for a long time, so I have plenty of first hand knowledge in regards to the meetings that happen on how to best design a campaign to twist the public mind. I've witnessed the intense air-brushing and photo manipulation that happens in producing many of these campaigns. From that experience, I live with many of the suggestions made at the end of the documentary.  I don't buy magazines. I mute the TV and walk away during commercials. In fact, I hardly watch TV and when I do, I typically watch a movie or show on Netflix or Hulu that I know has little to no advertising at all. I use Facebook & Twitter strictly for providing links to my blog. I created a dummy twitter account strictly for school purposes. I don't spend time scanning the feeds or reading the massive amount of garbage online. I only use Instagram as a means of letting those friends and family who care know what I am doing, yet only posting at most 2-3 times a month.

That said, I can't imagine the rest that women have to deal with. The societal pressure to buy $15,000 to $18,000 in makeup per year!!!  WHAT??? I have even joked a few times with some of my female friends, saying I don't know how you can afford to buy all the beauty products that you do AND still afford rent, food, bills, and any entertainment. In my eyes, a female is more beautiful without all the covering, but I know my opinion is in the severe minority.

So what do I mean by Self-Aware? The definition tells us it is "the idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their own internal standards and values." Looking back to those standards I listed earlier as we have been defined by our peers — by other human beings — what kind of internal standards will these girls grow up with? I've mentioned the human race issue in a few of my earlier posts. If we have evolved into beings with such intelligence, why is the human condition so destructive and so hateful to one another? Maybe if every penis was the same size and every set of breasts were exactly the same, would that make the difference?  Would it be better if everyone were blond with blue eyes? We've seen humankind make that attempt before and witnessed the devastating affect it had and the millions of valuable human life lost. Maybe soon it will be brown hair and green eyes and the rest of us will be gassed, poisoned, or just shot in the head. Crude thoughts and statements, but being uncomfortable helps to spark new cognitions.

Who makes the call that these are the appropriate standards we must live by? Based on the documentary, the media and the money belong to the most powerful outlets. It was mentioned in the documentary and I mentioned it in my Blog #3 post regarding the control of news and media by 7 giants. But then, the 99% of us have allowed the top tier elites to control us and we pour our money into their pockets practically every day. Trust me when I state...they DO NOT want us to think for ourselves.

I have no right to judge your beauty, nor does anyone else have the right to judge mine. And despite overwhelming negative observations right here in my own community, I do have an optimistic view of our future. I do believe we have it within us to be good, kind and loving to one another. We have amazing intellect, I hope we all can learn to have Independent thought versus Interdependent thought. You, me, each of us, is NOT the idea and creation of someone else's vision. Do not let social conformity guide our footsteps, otherwise we are simply puppets on a string. Then the question we will have to face is "What's the point?"

Blog #2

I’m sorry my post has to re-appear, being that we studied semantics at the beginning of the course, I have accidentally deleted my post, so here it goes again …

Although I have watched the movies before, I had never watched the show version for the Sherlock series.  I’m really happy we were asked to watch Sherlock for our study of semantics;  I am now so in-love with the short series, it is amazing!

We start by being introduced to Dr. John Watson, we are introduced to his past and are now aware that he has been to war and now suffers from what appears to be PTSD.  Dr Watson has clearly just come back from a life that was full of constant dangers and thrill, and he is obviously now missing that part of his life.  He feels alone and finds no meaning for his life.  As he awakens, we can see that his room is simple, he appears to only own the bare necessities and everything around him symbolizes the way he feels about his life: Boring; the color palette in his room is white and beige, his room seems to be organized almost military style, and even the apple on his desk is yellow, given that apples come in so many colors, he chooses the pale looking apple, opposed to a bright red apple.  Dr. Watson is also observed to have a really classic short haircut, very neatly combed, symbolic of the plainness of his life, opposed to the curly and messy hair that Sherlock sports in the show.  Towards the beginning of the show we observe that Dr. Watson uses a cane, which he uses only as symbolism of the crutch he is imposing on himself as he tries to carry all his sorrows and bad experiences with himself, although he feels he does need it.  As the show progresses and Dr. Watson is able to find meaning in his life through Sherlock and his “insanities,” Watson gains perspective in life and is able to enjoy his new role in civilian life; Sherlock symbolizes the excitement that Watson was craving as a soldier, since before Sherlock, Dr. Watson expressed that he felt “nothing happens” to him.

Sherlock is the opposite of Watson, and surely in this case, opposites do attract.  Sherlock’s flat is messy, his books and belongings are spread throughout the place, which gives us an insight of how he is inside; his thoughts are fast and seem unorganized; he is always, as Mrs Hudson puts it, “Dashing about.”  Although Sherlock’s room is messy and his hair is unruly, which is a good symbolism for his attitude, his attention to detail is exceptional, opposed to Watson, who does not seem to be nearly as observant.

Of course, there are many more examples of semiotic concepts, I have just mentioned a few.  I love that Sherlock was chosen for this lesson, I really appreciated the show a lot more as I was being more observant towards different signifiers throughout the episode.

Sherlock	Dr Watson
Unruly hair Messy room Incredible attention to detail Disliked	Neat/Classic Hair cut Organized Room Not as observant to Detail Respected as a Military man and good friend

Blog #8

I was ecstatic to hear the news about the supreme court signing the bill for equal marriage rights. This morning at work, I actually overheard a conversation about the bill signing, and then I was eventually informed by multiple coworkers. There was just something so warming about hearing this news by word of mouth, before seeing it online or on social media, because it actually implemented good conversation with people. This current event is obviously a very big deal, especially since equal marriage rights have been on the fence for such a long time. I wanted to read more articles about the event, and after checking my email, this is the very first article I see:

I was a little confused at first. Why was a celebrities social media account the VERY FIRST article instead of the historic event of the signing of equal marriage rights? This carousel was from Yahoo, in which they pick the top 60 stories, and people can scroll through them using the displayed left and right arrows. I did not find an article concerning the equal marriage rights until I scrolled to 46/60. Was the lack of coverage on the event a reflection of the personal views of the people running the Yahoo page? Are the articles ordered by "trending" and "most popular"? I just felt that such a historic event deserves more news coverage, rather than celebrity matters. 

Blog Post 8

With all the discussion on the ruling by the SCOTUS today I wanted to take this post in a different direction. Today I had a heated debate with one of my friends in regards to the significance of today's sudden clarity by government to make unconstitutional the right to ban gay marriage. Unless you had not been paying attention, this was inevitable as the laws put into place and the mental gymnastics by the people who made them who would have made the legislators of Jim Crow gleam with pride were frankly, ridiculous. Gay marriage was far and away one of the most socially popular movements of our time and it was just a matter of time and rightfully so, people deserve to make their own decisions about their lives and no one should infringe on another person's free will so long as it doesn't harm anyone else. Having said that, this post is not about gay marriage. This post is about how the government used a conveniently fantastic distraction to prevent the media from focusing their attention on another major issue. Today, president Obama passed legislation that effectively made him the only person in charge of the TTP and TTIP, the two most important trade agreements of the 21st century, two secret agreements between corporations and countries that we, the citizens, are not allowed to know about, and after today are unable to vote on. I know what you're thinking, "Sushen, why am I not allowed to be happy about this monumental historical moment in time?" And I agree with you, I am the quintessential wet blanket, however while this is something to rejoice about, the timing could not have been better for the executive branch to unilaterally extend itself power while distracting the masses about something else. Only time will tell what the details are about in the TTP and TTIP, though leaks have been made available on Wikileaks if anyone is curious, however I for one am not comfortable about the lack of media coverage on these two monumental trade agreements, both of which are rumored to threaten our very sovereignty, while the increased media coverage on issues of controversy such as confederate flags and gay marriage which incite crowds raise suspicion in my mind.

Post #8

There has been a large amount of media today surrounding the Supreme Court’s ruling on same sex marriages. I actually do not really understand why anyone would oppose gay marriage but I am sure that they exist. I read an article that discussed Senator Ted Cruz’s proposal for the Justices of the Supreme Court to have to face an election process, which caused me to look for the reason or event that may have sparked that idea. Eventually, I came across the article listed below that discusses Justice Clarence Thomas and his comments. He compared gay marriage to slavery and stated, “Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved.” This was in response to some who thought the government took the dignity from gays by not allowing them to marry. He also stated, “Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them.”

Dignity is defined as the state of being worthy of honor or respect. It is reasonable to think that if you take someone’s freedom from them and make them a slave, you are also taking their dignity. Currently, there is a lifetime term for Supreme Court Justices. I believe that this is related to why Senator Cruz is proposing elections. Justice Thomas has either lost his mind, or maybe he never should have been appointed as a Justice but in our current system we are stuck with him for the rest of his life.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/justice-clarence-thomass-anti-gay-marriage-argument-is-that-slavery-wasnt-so-bad/ar-AAcbh0P

Blog #7

As a young female adult, I am aware and often face the issues stated in the documentary. Gender equality has always been an issue I was very aware of, but while I was watching the documentary, what really alarmed me the most were the statistics.  To actually be given a number and to be able to visualize the data was very alarming and disheartening to me; it’s like you understand what is going on, but you are not completely understanding of how deep the issue really is. For example, when I saw the text pop up on the screen stating that more than 50% of women have an eating disorder, I was shocked. Was I aware of eating disorders? Yes, of course. Did I know the extent of eating disorders affecting women? I had no idea it was that high.

Although the statistics were very alarming to me, the main focus that I really picked up and engaged on, was the talk on raising new generations and the fear of having them susceptible to negative media and advertising. I think Cultivation Theory—where effects happen over a period of time—is the media’s most powerful tool and theory, especially when dealing with younger generations who can be easily influenced by the media.  I also found it very powerful in the documentary where it was said that teenage girls idolize people because they have not yet found and are in the process of obtaining their own identity, yet there are not enough woman in power to help demonstrate the possibilities of their identity. I think if women were taken more seriously in the media, and not just seen as sexual objects and caregivers, it would not only empower women, but also inspire younger girls to strive to become something more in life.

Blog #7

The documentary was interesting to me because having taken a class discussing the issues related to gender as well as many other factors, I felt the documentary discussed the issues very concisely, able to summarize my opinion about what today's culture is lacking for women today better than I ever could. The lack of female-positive roles and it's effects can be seen at a very early age as girls 11 and up begin to lose self-esteem while boys self-esteem remains intact. One reason for this is because girls are told what they cannot accomplish while boys are told they can do anything. Girls are told how to act by society, what careers are acceptable, and what their roles are in relationships. The documentary is also very compelling in it's call for the use of media to promote positive change politically, socially, and economically, pushing for change in the corporate culture in order to bolster change for women in all demographics. The documentary talks about how “You can't be what you can't see,” talking about how unless you present a proper example for girls to follow you cannot hope to see a number of them emulating that example. The state of today's deficit in women in large professional roles can be directly correlated to the stereotypes that prevent women from pursuing them. For there to be any meaningful change, there have to be several steps taken to promote long-term success of women in all fields by creating legislation to protect the interests of all demographic minorities, regulate the business culture of America, and create role models for girls to emulate in professional fields of science and mathematics to create a new culture of healthy self-esteem. 

Blog #7

The first thing that I thought while watching Miss Representation was that it seemed to come across one sided and aggressive. I believe that the media often portrays women in a negative image and young girls can easily be led to believe that they should aspire to look a certain way. I am not convinced though that this type of peer pressure is exclusive to females. I think to portray this is unfair for young boys who also face similar pressures. It also seems that there were several examples of statistics that may have been manipulated. For example, the increase of female plastic surgery for teenage girls has tripled. The problem is that it is never mentioned what the true numbers are. Did it go from 1 to 3? Is this a real problem, and if so what is the scale?  In another area it is mentioned that after a woman turns 35, she is no longer able to star on a television show. I actually watched a show yesterday that starred Betty White, she is 93 years old.

There are many good points that this documentary does make. It is true that the media has a tremendous impact on society and that we should not take that lightly. I think that this show is a great example of media’s agenda and there is a clear agenda in this. It is also ironic that even though this film essentially says that only attractive and thin women can excel in the media, the show has an affiliation with Oprah Winfrey’s network. She is the antithesis of the message that this documentary is selling.

Blog #8

                                                                             

I really enjoyed this article, because I felt it included a lot of aspects from our Documentary, Missrepresentation, which we just watched for blog #7 and i was inspired by the huge moved for equality, by the US to make marriage an equal right for all. At first I was disturbed that this little girl was being attacked by other little girls and even grown women for the sole matter of the color of her skin.  She was told that she should not have dressed as Elsa because "Elsa is not Black," aside from the fact that she was told that her kind of black was ugly, although all I see is a beautiful little girl dressed as a princess.  Half way through the story I was really heart-broken because i saw so many wrong things with this society;  Why is a little 3 year old having to endure verbal abuse by the ignorance of fellow females?  Are we not supposed to empower each other? ... Aside from the fact that I think it is so cowardly to attack a defenseless little baby, opposed to a grown woman that can defend herself. However, I was so happy towards the middle of the article when I found out that people from all over the world were contacting Little Samara to sow her support and uplift her with kind messages!  They message from the world-wide support was so great that even Queen Elsa (actress that plays Elsa in Disney World) send a personalized message to Ms Samara to remind her to "To always be yourself and let it go."  That was so touching to me, and I hope we are always able to stand up, not just for little girls, but anybody who is being discriminated, so that we can build up each other and avoid so many acts of hate.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9x-dFmOF8u8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Cameron Keady.  Bullies Tell girl in 'Frozen' Costume that "Elsa isn't Black," so internet steps in.  The Huffington Post June 26, 2015.

Blog #7

I am so in love with this documentary, I love watching documentaries and although I have seen it at glance when i peruse through the selection of Documentaries in Netflix, I'm really surprised I never clicked on this one.  I felt I always knew about the issue of females misrepresented in our culture and being idolized only as a sex symbol, among all the other issues mentioned. but this documentary really brought things into perspective.  I have had this conversation with friends many times, I usually try to stand up and say something when males makes sexist comments, like "she was so funny, she could be a guy," as if females are not capable of being funny, or negative comments about why America is not ready for a female president, if not now, how long do we have to wait? when is the right time?!  I was really disappointed to think about the reality of us females not sticking together and bringing each other up, i feel like we don't empower each other as much as we should, instead of bullying each other online or while looking through a magazine.  Many young girls are looking for role models, as they are trying to find an identity for themselves, and as mentioned, there are just not enough decent females in the media.  When I say "decent", I am referring to the mentioned issue that most of the times when females are on media, they are having to show too much skin, wear skin-tight clothing or look like they have an eating disorder.  If overweight is an issue, than maybe we need to have females showing healthy bodies, bodies that exercise, females that are living an active lifestyle to achieve a healthy look, not people that are having to starve in order to "feel good."  Little girls in elementary school are being bullied by the way they look or how much they weight to the point where they are committing suicide,   Not to discredit all the work that so many great woman have done for our future, I see all the progress, there is just so much more work still to be done.

Blog #8

Kayla Itsines, a 24-year-old girl had posted a spliced image of two photos: one was before she work out and one after her three months training plan on her Instagram account. She has 3.1 million followers by sharing her work out pictures and videos. Also, she gave her thought on loss weight. Her workout plans is called Bikini Body Guides or BBG.

Weeks 1-4

2-3 sessions of resistance training

2-3 sessions of LISS cardio training

1 rehabilitation (stretch) session

Weeks 5-8

 2-3 sessions of resistance training

4-5 sessions of LISS cardio training

1 rehabilitation (stretch) session

Weeks 9-12

3-4 sessions of resistance training

2-3 units of LISS cardio training

1-2 units HIIT cardio training

1-2 rehabilitation session

http://www.noholita.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/KI-Bikini-Body-Training-Guide.pdf

Here’s her work out guide

In this picture, we can see she was wearing the same shorts and sports bra. But her body was remodeled.  Her stomach looks more tight with ab muscles and her arms were leaner.

I think she's a very inspiration example give people confident to try this out. Most people get pressure when they are trying to loss weight because sometimes it has nothing changed after your hard training. But, we can still be positive when we are following these  strong woman. And it gives us an idea like we can do it. We know there's hundreds ways to loss weight. But, we should keep going it and I believe one day we can look the way we like.

https://www.yahoo.com/health/how-trainer-kayla-itsines-built-a-global-fitness-122451982837.html

Blog #7: #LoveWins

Today's ruling has had me in tears since waking after my husband brought his phone to me to show me the tweet announcement. I've been glued to CNN and MSNBC since, scanning the social media feeds, listening to President Obama, and watching the videos from across the country (and even the world) as I sit in my own small part of it yet feeling a connection with the greater human race.

I'll have been alive 43 years this coming July, and I would have never thought that within my lifetime I would have seen this day come. You may recall reading from a previous post Death or Exodus, that in my past friends asked me if I could take a pill to make me straight would I take it. "YES" I responded immediately, because I could not imagine a lifetime living with so much hate and discrimination all around me. I would have rather denied who I knew I was than to face that hate. To paraphrase a tiny portion of the President's speech this morning, "...THAT SLOW, STEADY EFFORT IS REWARDED WITH JUSTICE THAT ARRIVES LIKE A THUNDERBOLT."

In respect to living a life of balance and pride, all of humanity in this country who have shared in my common struggle, would understand the feelings and incredible boost to my own self-esteem. The internal shame that festers within has taken a devastating attack and continues to crumble as my own journey continues.

I have lived with the man I love for fifteen and a half years now, and with disregard to government restrictions on my liberty and equality, he is my husband in every respect and I have never thought of him less. Tonight, I will join others in my community for a rally in celebration and observance of this momentous day. While it is a personal show of my joy and equality, it is more so an external observance for the gratitude of those who fought for this and their fortitude, devotion, determination, strength, courage and steadfastness to make this possible for all of us and be the voice I could not be.

Hate will still be a part of our lives, and we will always be faced with this fact just as many other minority groups live with in regards to race, gender, and sexual orientation issues. Every human has the right to their beliefs, values, and the way they choose to live, but restricting the rights of other with violence and hate crimes is NOT the right of any human. My continued hope is that humanity will look past the "race" label and finally see what I believe the truth is, that this is a "HUMAN RACE" issue. We share one precious world with a myriad of beautiful cultures, countries, and people around us in our individual communities. I hope for the release of the hate that plagues the world, it is a human race sickness that is sure to destroy the future for all.
#marriageequality #SCOTUS #LoveWins

Blog #7

Miss Representation gave me a special perspective to think about the media presence of misinterpretation of women carried out a controversial exploration. I think the reason is controversial because their subconscious has accepted this setting.  For example:  Women should get married and have children and should be dress nice. Women should not have too much ambition and should take good care of the family.  And women do not realize that women are more beautiful and beyond within the scope of the mass media, film and television (mostly cosmetic, the effect of makeup) will unknowingly let us go out and buy some useless beauty products or clothes, pay big bucks to do plastic surgery. Some of the young girls have mutilation, depression and anorexia history. Almost all the girls said there is too much pressure when they are growing up. Before they have not formed their own aesthetic concept, Media have been defined for them. Fluffy blond hair, empty eyes, flawless face, a soft chin, plump chest, slightly at the hips, straight leg, and far below the normal weight. Why the media so misguided children? Because today 90% Media Group instructors are middle-aged men, but because of the low cost so you can attract a large male audience, because in capitalist countries, profit is the first. The reality is, we are still unable to get rid of our media control. When I see the beautiful actress in the movie, I think that is what we are, but the reality always let me feel inferior. So, We want to fight our independence for women's rights.