Video Games....Shmideo Games.

I really enjoyed this reading because it had given me a more detailed explanation of the impacts that video game could have on us. It is kind of funny because I've been looking for so many ways to improve life this past year. The thing I find to be funny is the fact that I had seen this TED talk a few months ago. Not to belittle her great plans for our future, but this is the kind of thinking that I want from everyone. Thinking that will change the world for the better in a fun interactive way. Video games to me are just a small part of what needs to happen for a BETTER WORLD. The main purpose of McGonial's message that I got from this reading and the video was probably different than many of her other viewers. I didn't focus on the impact of the video games, but rather the impact of a having a completely different perspective. Like I said I do not want to take away from what McGonial is doing, but all she is doing is spreading her ideology which is allowing her audience to “play” life like a video game. Not to get me wrong I think this is a great idea, and that is why I encourage these kinds of ideas. This kind of thinking allows us to lessen the harsh structural and attitudinal inharencies that we have to face throughout life.

War, huh, yea..What is it good for..ABSOLUTELY NOTHIN

I personally believe that war in general is bad. My opinion goes much further than what is displayed by the news, what is promoted in commercials, what is being said on social media, or even what new war video games are out. The main problem I find with war is that it allows for us to create an enemy. I know that life is not and has not been perfect, but I am starting to believe that we cause a lot of the issues that we face. War to me is just a unnecessary action caused by disagreements. War always starts verbally and ends verbally, if I am wrong then how do we ever declare war, and how do we know when a war is over? With that being said I guess I just do not understand war. Our discussion from class gives me a little understanding when mentioning the profits of the big corporations when it comes to war. I just cannot believe how much money goes into this stuff. There is even a lot of technology that goes into “how can we kill em or control em faster”. We probably be living in a peaceful sustainable world if we all worked as hard at growing ourselves and the planet rather than the exact opposite (WAR). In order to improve we must collaborate. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow”.

MEDIA

I recently watched a movie called "Network" that I think the entire class should check out if anyone hasn't yet. This film was released in 1976 so I would like to think that many of us have not seen it. This movie really caught me by surprise, because it was created so long ago and holds true to what effects media plays today.The main character was a legendary talk show host who was going to kill himself after finding out that he would be fired due to low ratings. Media was taking a personal toll on his life, because it was his financial support. As time progressed through the movie he was allowed to express his views on how media controlled everything, and how we were not living at all. With statements like these back then he was stirring up a lot of attention to the station he was broadcasting from to the point that he was the highest viewed person on television. He was bringing in a lot of money into the "network". Until they decided to kill him because his message was conflicting with deals being made at "higher powers", and it was also depressing the viewers and inspiring them to question who was really in control. At a time in the movie he even directed his viewers to turn their televisions off and keep them off forever. I would also like to say that popular culture IS media or heavily influenced by it at least, and our study of it just so happens to be perfectly explained in this film. Check it out!

Caster was Faster

When it comes the sad story of Caster Semenya, I am completely on her side. She is such an amazing person. If I was in her shoes this would have been a bigger problem then it had been. She respectfully took the test, and continued with her racing career. The reason I found it to be very rude to gender test her was due to the fact that she did not even come close to breaking the world record. Yes she blew her competition out of the water, but the only testing from that should have been a drug test. Not only did she not break the record, but she didn't even run a great men's time. If she would have looked how everyone wanted her to look then would she have been either drug or gender tested? Another reason why I think it was unnecessary was due to the fact that her previous time had gotten her the FAST lane on the track. They do not just stick random runners in random lanes. From my previous experience with track and field I learned that the faster runners are always in lanes four through six. With the Olympic boards lane placement they kind of had a statistical bias for her to win. This now brings me to all of the other previous Olympic winners and the women who set the world and Olympic records. I wonder if they were ever tested, and if a man ever killed his competition is it right that they only drug test him? It is a one sided world in favor of “masculinity”.

Facebookin'

Facebook.....Facebook..Facebook. Finally a class that is talking about something being used today haha. I think Facebook has its good sides and its bad sides just like EVERYTHING else in life. Well almost everything, I still can not find what the good reason for killing is yet. The possibilities against the realities is another way to look at Facebook. Before I took this class and still today I have the same perspective on the subject. Facebook allows us to make the world a “flat” place again. I say this meaning that we can connect with anyone who has an account across the entire planet. I honestly can not think of anything besides twitter that reaches to such a large audience. I think Facebook has the ability and possibly will change the world for the better. On the other hand could Facebook be hurting us as a mankind. It allows us to connect from afar, but is it causing us to be stuck living IN the internet and putting our face to face communication on the back burner. Another downside to Facebook is the reading of text. Unless we are all the greatest communicators in the world we cannot depend so greatly on text itself. There is so much that goes into non-verbal communication that is missing online and in books. Even anyone reading this can take something completely different from it then what I intended.