CHILD ABUSE

The advertising documentary we watched was way one-sided and I'm not too sure I agreed with much of it. It's weird for me to talk about some of this stuff because I rarely buy into any of it. I don't watch much TV, watch a lot of movies, play video games, or really even get to read as much as I'd like to. I hear a lot on the radio and that's what keeps me updated, otherwise I wouldn't know much of what's going on. I try to distance myself from the crazed media. I'm fairly critical. Now we know where I am coming from so we can move onto the analyzed portion of the documentary.

It was stated in class about the unnecessary claims in the film, such as the Bush comment. I was glad to see that brought up so I don't have to focus on it. The other thing brought up was the issue of parents and how they should be held accountable. I was glad we were able to discuss that in class. I'm going to expand on that thought though. The argument can be made that your child will encounter media and advertising while you're not around. It is still the parent's responsibility to properly raise their child. I feel everything is the parent's responsibility in the up-bringing of their child. We are all products of how our parents raised us. And for those who had a lack of parent involvement, there is a difference in how they carry themselves now. The documentary told us that parents aren't doing a good job and we all need the government telling us what we need to be doing with our kids. Umm....no! Maybe parents who are irresponsible and don't love their kids need help from the government but I can do a better job at raising a great kid on my own. If I were a parent, I would be outraged at this group of people and government that feel I need help because I'm 'failing' as a parent. That feels like a slap in the face. How dare they?



The only problem with companies marketing towards kids is the lack of parental involvement in the child's life to help them discern between all the messages. Child abuse isn't coming from the company; the real child abuse is coming from the home. Shame on you lack-of-a-parent

Fox 2 News Review

I watched Fox 2 News on Sunday night. I chose Fox 2 because I enjoy their reporters and the layout to their newscast. The new was taken from source, meaning they gathered news from people who were involved in the news story. I think there were two or three different stories that pertained to a national scope or for entertainment. I almost feel dumb talking about diversity because it's something I don't have a problem with, but I realize a lack of it exists. Fox 2's Sunday night newscast was hosted by two black news anchors. I don't think there is any newscast in St. Louis that can boast that. The stories covered were all trending topics of the community that everyone could relate to. There were stories concerning the rain, Halloween, and finances. All of the stories reported were covered fairly and gave people affected a chance to voice their concerns. There was no media bias or personal bias injected into an part of the newscast. Any language that may be considered "loaded" came from quotes of people involved in the story. Overall I felt as though the organization of the news was really well presented and was current with anyone in the viewing area.

Viral Videos and Me

To be completely honest, I don't watch many viral videos, and many don't get forwarded to me. I hear about them, but I rarely watch them. The last viral video I watched from someone sending me the link was "Charlie Bit my Finger - Again."



I try to stay away from viral videos for personal reasons, that probably don't make sense to a lot of people. I don't like being a part of the mainstream. I try to stay as far from it as possible. The mainstream and I don't see eye-to-eye.

Reality TV, Not All That Real

Reality TV is kind of a hard machine to describe. In certain aspects there is this hint of reality, that something like this could happen to you; and on the other side it's this reality that would never happen to you unless you were to go on the show. I find most reality TV to be more of a game show. A group of people competing to win a prize. For instance, Survivor is no different than Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. One is a game show, the other is supposed to be reality. When in essence, there isn't the slightest bit of reality. They film the show in semi-remote locations where people already live. The people who live there don't compete day-to-day for a million dollars, so why do we? We give this perception that this is reality, this will make you happy, to make people believe that life is about money and how much you can gain before you die.

So what is reality? Reality is the day-to-day life we live each day. One that doesn't have cameras following your every move. One where we read the news and current events and gain wisdom and learn exactly what life is. It's not based on defeating 15 other opponents by manipulation, it's overcoming the obstacles in your own life to be what God has created you for.

Giving in to the system and watching these nonsense shows (especially the one's on VH1 and MTV) is not doing any good. If anything, it's devaluing yourself, for stooping so low as to watch it. You can't complain about the programming if you watch it. Be different, don't cave, and be REAL.

Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is culturally relevant, and that is why I chose to write about him. He is becoming very influential in today's political scene and is sweeping across multiple media outlets. He is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host, has a hit TV program on Fox News, and has written many books, 3 alone this year, his most recent being Arguing With Idiots. Glenn Beck has been called "A lying sack of dog mess" (Whoopi Goldberg), "A half-informed radio blowhard" (Vanity Fair), and ironically "an idiot" (Discover magazine). I find these quotes to be hilarious and quite frankly I think Glenn laughs at them too.

Glenn's influence in the media is astounding. He draws criticism from other news stations that attack him personally and stand with no merit. He draws criticism from Republicans and Democrats. He is an easy target because he is asking the tough questions that people want to ask, but are scared to, they go unanswered. Even being pointed out by the President in interviews but doesn't go into detail about it. He says Beck isn't telling the truth but doesn't answer Beck's questions, the peoples questions. Deny it and move on. Let's not confront someone's "rhetoric" to stop the lies; let's just say Beck is wrong and move on. Who does the President think he is? Not confronting the "problem" doesn't even make me second guess what Glenn Beck is saying as false. Beck is confronting the problem and he is being persecuted for it.

I believe Glenn's influence in the media will put him in the history books. He is going back to the grassroots of journalism where it was meant to inform the people of what is going on around them.

Spark of Controversy

I am in the process of doing some needed research for this next one. I will soon have a post on Glenn Beck, who has been taking quite a bit of flack recently.

STAY TUNED

MERCHANT OF COOL

In the video we watched on Friday it essentially said the youth set the "cool" factor. That is, these companies study today's youth, find out what they like, what their into, and use their information they gathered from their teens and they come up with what's cool and market it hard. One of my favorite commercials that is a perfect example of marketing "cool" are Scion commercials. They incorporate music, art, and individuality. Their market is the stand out crowd, the ones who want to draw attention and people. The ones that want to be "cool."



I thought it was depressing how MTV and record labels and other media companies research us to manipulate us. It's kind of a double standard. They would hate for all of us to catch on and defeat their marketing. I'm happy to say that I feel there's a strong portion of my generation that want to learn more about media and understand it. I feel that we are choosing to not give in to the system. However I feel that the next generation is so consumed with being "cool" our efforts may be lost.

Here's a clip from a movie that really captures the medias agenda.