4th Quarter Blogging

There were two blogs which I thought were well done this quarter: the one about Facebook, and the one about Mr. Bolos' "TV Tokenism" talk. They were both well done, but for different reasons. I thought that my interpretation and ideas of the TV Tokenism lecture were well thought out, however, the actually writing is not that great. And I thought that my connection of Facebook and privacy to our class was well done, as well as the use of the actual text. Using quotes from the article to explain the question I posed at the end.

I'll be honest I did not do a great job of blogging this quarter, I sort of forgot about it during the junior theme and with everything else going on, but I'm not going to rush more together now.

"a white judge on Law and Order..."

During Mr. Bolos' "TV Tokenism" presentation, the 30 Rock clip was not only really funny, but really true and sort of weird to think about. The clip was about how the black characters were saying because there is a black man as president, and there was a "white judge on Law and Order" racism was okay again. In class Friday if you all remember we talked about why a black man is always "best-dressed" or the chief of something, so 30 Rock is poking fun at how this is changing, that a black man wasn't the authority figure. During class this year we talked about reparations and people wondered whether we have done enough to make amends for slavery and other racist activity.

Mr. Bolos showed us that this TV Tokenism is still very much there. When I though about racisim is back, I wonder if that could mean is racism gone. Because we have a black president for the first time, is that like saying the playing field is even; that now we can make fun of black people like we poke fun at white boys who can't jump? However, there are still racist people and programs like affirmative action which make it impossible to ignore the remaining separation between blacks and whites.

I wonder if it will it ever truly be even? It is that even possible or ethical to call it even after slavery and the prosecutions of minorities?

Hooked on Facebook

Throughout the year during class the topic of privacy has come up a few times. When we were looking at laws as well as in the Perilous Projects. In a Time magazine article they talk about how Facebook is "redefining privacy". There are almost 500 million people on Facebook today, and people are starting to get more and more skeptical wanting more privacy on the site. Many people are realizing how scary it is that people can see your pictures, know your relationship status and basically know anything that you're willing to put up. People are "friending" old college or high school friends, and for us at New Trier many people will accept a friend request from someone they barely know just because they are in the same NT network. Because of this, people who you barely know are seeing all these details of your life.

In the article they talk about how they want Facebook to crack down on their privacy modes. I think, especially as a teenage girl in a world full of some creeps, that's definitly a good idea. But right now you can hide everything from people who are not your friends. I think that should be enough. If you friend someone that should be like the invitation to stalk you basically, and it should mean that your okay with them looking at all your stuff.

But that is stuff we all know, and sometimes forget. This is where the article gets into how it's redefining privacy. Although everything thinks its a little weird at times how many people can see into your life, because of Facebook enough people are becoming accustom to this openness. The author Dan Flecther says, "Facebook did not invent social networking, but the company has fine-tuned it into a science". Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is not only breaking social networking down to a science he is trying to make the world more open.

Now some argue whether is it good to have a more open world. Do you agree with Zuckerberg? If not:
"Want to stop that trend? The onus, as always, is on you to pull your information. Starve the beast dead. None of Facebook's vision, be it for fostering peace and harmony or for generating ad revenue, is possible without our feeding in our thoughts and preferences" (Feltcher)

a good start

What was hardest for me was finding something I will actually be interested in studying. I knew I wanted to do something that had to do with psychology, but that is such a huge topic that I didn't know where to begin. Mr. Bolos suggested that I watch the Ted talks and I found the Zimbardo prison experiment interesting. But I knew something about that from psych class and the topic of why people become evil is sort of depressing to study for a month. I looked at the blue sheet for more ideas and noticed the topic about celebrities. After doing a little research it turns out there's psychology involved in why we love celebrities. There is actually stuff going on in our unconscious which is part of the reason we cannot wait to see our favorite show each week. Why we love gossip magazines, finding a picture of celebrities without makeup to see if they are as human as we are, and at the same time worshiping their A-list lifestyle. And it turns out this idea of celebrity started way before TV and the media craze that goes on today. Also, this week I found a book that is right on target with what I was looking for. Basically no speed bumps yet so somethings bound to happen soon.

3rd Quarter Blogging

One of my better blogs this quarter which also had to do with a topic we talked about in class was "Jesus as a Salesman". I thought our discussions about advertisements were interesting, and I know the quote from one of the packets we read struck up a little bit of controversy. In class we discussed the quote I have at the beginning of the post; however, in my post I found a way to think about this issue in a different way than those who shared in class. Most believed that people wouldn't want to see Jesus as a "salesman" or a business man. In my post I explain how he pretty much is exactly that, and why I think so. Also, I made a connection the inventor of freezer goods which we also talked about in class.

Women's Month

Before in class we talked about whether having black history month was a positive way to single out African Americans. Well March is Woman's History Month, which I didn't even know. It didn't really get recognized until the 70s and 80s. The first thing I thought of, why March? If women want recognition for the great things we've contributed, I'd say don't do it the same month as March Madness; when most men are consumed in how their brackets are doing and is just another reminder that most don't watch the woman's tournament. This slideshow shows women in sports, entertainment, politics and other fields who have contributed with their talents and success. One that I found kind of interesting was Mia Hamm who scored more goals than any soccer player female or male.

When reading a little more into woman's history month, it was women who were pushing to have this recognition, not men deciding they should honor woman's success. Any opinions on this?

more padding at the big dance

At the college and professional level, now more than ever more basketball players are wearing padding during games. Many of us are watching the March Madness, and compression shorts and other types of padding are more prevalent than in previous years. In this article, some wonder whether any of this is really necessary? Even though it is obvious the sport is getting more and more physical, some say that your bodies natural padding, like cartilage around your ribs to protect from elbows, is enough. But "players believe". For the professionals I get that they make money for endorsements simply by flashing a brand, so that's got to be part of the reason they do it. But for the college players they don't have the luxury of knowing they get paid through their season if they get injured. I completely get that some of these college players are trying to go pro, or just want to get through their college career as athletes. Even if compression shorts and other padding don't really do much, anything to give the players peace of mind that they are less likely to get injured makes sense. At the college level the guys get bigger, and especially during March Madness they get even more aggressive and fired up. However, if this "fad" trickles down to lower levels I think that's going a little over the top.