Paying College Athletes

Comm322 Video Project


Shannon Grosenbacher, Carly Poor, Terry Lee Miller, Vic Scotland, Corey Bell, & Aaron Strombeck

Gamers to save the World...

Jane McGonigal's article set with me wrong. I really did not believe a single one of her arguments. However, the notion that games and playing games are going to solve the world's most difficult problems and issues seemed the most ridiculous to me. I have a hard time believing that playing games can actually change the worst problems. Even if the games are designed to make people develop solutions that could possibly end these problems, the solutions would not be completely planned out or tested. A game can provide only so many scenarios or obstacles for people to overcome. Real life has numerous, shocking obstacles that people can not predict or plan for. These obstacles can not be included in the games which means the solutions found in the games are not entirely played out. Worse obstacles that are not included in the games are the stumbling blocks that stop the seemingly perfect solutions from playing out in the real world. Also, when people are working for solutions in the real world, you are also attempting to fix real, breathing humans. When something is real and your decision could mean life or death, it is a much more difficult decision to make. It is much harder to affect people's lives than pieces in games. In the games, you simply start the game over again and try a different solution. I just really can not see McGonigal's argument making real change in the world. I feel like her arguments are too ambiguous and have no real life consequences.

Food

I thought the video from Thursday was very insightful. It showed everyone how food in general is processed and how the different animals are treated. While it was gruesome at times, I felt like it was realistic and gave a good picture of what happens within the food industry. I remember when I had my first experience with this. When I was in elementary, my parents decided to buy two cows that my brother and I would be responsible for and would receive the profits when we sold them. Instantly, the calves became pets to us and were named within twenty-four hours of owning them. We had to bottle feed the calves until they were finally old enough to just be in the fields eating grass. Even then, Cody and I had to make sure their water troughs were full and that their gates were shut so they couldn't escape. When the time came to sell them, I was horrified. I had become attached to them and was upset that they could eventually be found in the beef that we would find at the stores. However, hundreds of tears later, I hit the point where I would either accept the fact that the meat from stores would be coming from animals like these or I would become a vegetarian. Let's just say I still enjoy eating steak. I think the video was another good eye opener. Humans have to make the decision to accept that we are eating animals or be forced to be vegetarians for the rest of their lives.

Military Sponsorships of Movies and Sports

After today's discussion, I began questioning whether or not it was ethical for the military to sponsor movies and promote them. I really do not see the problem with it. The movies, such as Pearl Harbor, Act of Valor, and Zero Dark Thirty, are all about the lives of soldiers serving in different combat situations. Act of Valor even casted Navy Seals as the lead roles in their movie. If anyone should be able to promote and sponsor the movies, it should be the military. The lives that these actors and actresses portary believed in the military's cause enough that they were willing to give up at least four years of their lives and possibly even their lives. The military is the only thing that really makes sense to be promoting these movies. If a cosmetics or jewelry company were the ones promoting these movies, I would laugh at the possiblity of the movie being realistic or true to what happened. The military should be allowed to promote movies and promote their ideas in these kind of movies, as well as in sports.
About a year ago, there were attempts to take away military sponsors from various sporting events, such as NASCAR. However, when debates came up in Congress, I think Representative Bill Posey said it best. "We have a volunteer military and they have to advertise for recruits somewhere. ...Do you think they should advertise at the philharmonic? Or maybe you think they should advertise at the ballet. We could surely get some burly, mean paratroopers if we advertised at the ballet." While his sarcastic tone can be offensive, he has a point. Companies and employers advertise in places where they think that they will have the best outcome and have the best options as employees. If the military thinks that they will have the best recruits from advertising in movies about military life and war, as well as at specific sporting events, what is the real harm?

Quote from article "Pressure grows on military to end sports sponsorships" at http://kdhnews.com/military/pressure-grows-on-military-to-end-sports-sponsorships/article_c8346416-e8ee-11e1-9d35-001a4bcf6878.html

Gender Roles

After last week's discussion, I began questioning why we as a society have such a stigma against women being more masculine and not having a problem with men being more feminine. Why is it such a problem when girls can do something typically only associated as a man's job or trait? And on the other side, why isn't it a problem when guys take over the stereotypical women's work? Basically, the situation is the same in both: someone is upsetting what was the social norm. But why is it a much larger issue when women are the ones upsetting this norm. Finally, I came up with a possible reasoning. If a portion of all males act feminine, there would be enough masculine men that they still have power and are not in a great risk to lose that power. However, when women are masculine, they are taking a shot at that power, and men feel like they could lose it. They, in turn, would want to protect that power and do anything to maintain their status. Social status has been, and probably always will be very important to everyone in the society, and when that status begins changing, there will be resistance. It is constantly mentioned in the media with talks of the glass ceiling and how women are breaking through that barrier. Until people accept the fact that women can be in power and the world won't come crashing down, resistance will be evident in our daily lives and in the media.

Blackout for Future Superbowls?

Anyone who tuned in for this past Sunday's biggest football game of year, whether that was for the commercials only, for the half time show, or to actually watch the game, noticed that right after halftime, the players, coaches, officials, and fans were plunged into a darken stadium. Playing time was postponed for over thirty minutes.When the power finally came back on, the San Francisco 49ers returned with new life in their game. Before the power outage, the game really couldn't be considered a game. The Ravens were in top form and the 49ers couldn't do anything to stop them or get too many points on the board. This caused for many people to place fake blame on Buffalo Wild Wings, because their commercials have often depicted a worker pulling ridiculous stunts to prolong a game. However, with the delay of game, serious consequences were inflicted on the players. Coming out of an already longer halftime than normal, players were forced to sit on the sidelines, stretching and staying loose for the duration of the blackout. NFL Commissioner says that this blackout will not have any effect on future chances for New Orleans to host another Superbowl, but I believe he could be wrong. Stopping play for over thirty minutes in the biggest game of the year leaves a sour taste in everyone's  mouth regardless of how you were affected. The blackout was the main reason the 49ers came back and made it a much closer game. Despite being down by 22 points at one point in the game, they lost by only 3 in the biggest game of the year. If the Ravens had ended up losing the game, I honestly think a lot more people would be frustrated to the point of taking New Orleans out of the running for any future games.