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.

Christian Rap?

Yes, it's true, there is such a thing as Christian Rap/Hip-Hop. And it has grown wildly since the mid 90's. Just as mainstream hip-hop has grown so has Christian Hip-hop. The beats have become more intense and relative. The Christian market knows that if they don't have sick beats like the mainstream then their message has less of a chance for impact on non-believers. I would argue that one artist in particular, LECRAE, has some of the best beats even when compared to the mainstream. His label, Reach Records, has some of the best hip-hop artists.

Unlike where the mainstream is now, Reach Records, preaches the opposite. It's happiness is found in Christ; not money, women, drugs, parties, or rewards. The videos are in the same way more of a story than a focus of the artist.



This video in particular shows a man reading a letter from an unknown person. There are flashbacks of robberies and you think it may be this guy reading the letter but in the end you realize that it is the artist who is in jail and wrote the letter to the character in the beginning who was concerned about money and status. We learn in the end that the letter convicted him when he meets with Lecrae in prison.

This is primarily where Christian hip-hop is currently at. It's a selfless genre.

ACORN

ACORN is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. And in case you don't know, ACORN receives money from the federal government. Over 1.5 million this year alone. In recent days, two hidden camera investigations have been released to the public about ACORN and their practices. James O'Keefe is the film maker who poses as the pimp/future congressman and Hannah Giles is the girl who poses as the prostitute. Here are the tapes....









So wait, a federally supported organization is telling people how to cheat the system, avoid paying taxes? She's not a prostitute, she's in the performing arts, because that has a tax code. But it doesn't stop there does it? No, it gets worse. They proceed to tell ACORN that they are going to be bringing in young girls from El Salvador and providing a home for them while selling them for sex. ACORN tells them that because the girls are underage they're better off not claiming them on their taxes, especially if their going to be here illegally. That's just a red flag. The ACORN workers admit they know it's illegal so they try and find holes in the system so that the prostitute and pimp can make money. All of this to avoid the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan.

This is not a left or right, Republican or Democrat, or up or down for all I care. What we are dealing with here is straight up wrong. Another part of this story is the medias involvement, or lack of. These videos were only talked about and aired on one station, Fox News. While MSNBC and CNN were covering the 'big story' of the day, Joe Wilson's "you lie" remark. While CNN did talk about ACORN late Thursday night, well after the release, did they spin the story and accuse James and Hannah for the way they obtained their information on ACORN. It was rude of Senator Joe Wilson to yell out in the middle of the speech, I agree, but when something like this happens I feel media needs to do their job and report.

The workers involved in both videos have since been fired. ACORN saying that these are isolated incidents. Even when this came to, CNN and MSNBC, just played it off. The closest MSNBC came to the story was when the Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN saying “Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership.”

MSNBC posted a link to the AP News article on their homepage. That was it. Fox News has had full coverage on this travesty of an organization. They have also covered all of the stories in between including the "You lie!" scandal. It seems as though Fox is doing its job, and the other "journalists" need to start doing theirs.

Research gathered from CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, and biggovernment.com

Just Mix w/ Hope

It's amazing how people of the entertainment industry have so much influence over just about everything in society, including politics. I've been seeing this video go around for a little while and I can't help but laugh every time. We're not even a year into Obama's presidency and there is already a ton of controversy surrounding him. Honestly, I don't understand why anyone would want to be a politician anymore. It's nothing but criticism and tearing each other apart. And it continues in the media.

This video doesn't involve news stations or any reporting, it involves a comedian! Just look at the comments under the video. It's a he said, she said mess.

YouTube is a huge media outlet for everyone. Do we utilize this great outlet properly? Do these entertainment videos do any good? Or do they just hurt an already struggling nation?

I think that a good deal of media has blown a lot of politics out of proportion. I want to understand media literacy so I can combat it.

Lastly, overall I believe that our government is very discouraging, and until we follow the Constitution, the government will continue to be a name game.