Manti Te'o Video Project

Media Coverage of War

I have been surrounded by the media’s coverage of war since I can remember. It’s something that is normal for me. I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t news coverage of a bombing somewhere or numerous American soldiers dying overseas. The first media coverage of war that I can specifically remember was when I was in 8 years old and in 3^rd grade; when 9/11 happened. I remember that day like it was yesterday. My school teacher turned on the TV to the news coverage of the World Trade Center attacks. On the bus ride home kids were talking about it and when I got home my mom had the news on. Ever since then it has just been something that I’m used to seeing on the news.

This can be a negative thing for our culture. We are so used to seeing media coverage of war-related things we are not affected by it at all. War is sort of a big deal, and since we’re so used to it, it’s not really a big deal to us. I feel like when Lil Wayne’s had all those seizures made more headlines than the hundreds of soldiers overseas that die every day fighting for our country. It’s not a good thing, but it’s quite normal these days. Currently there is talk about North Korea having bombs and we are potentially in danger, and now we care because ‘America is indestructible…you mean to say another country has more power over us?’

Could gamers be super heros?

On Tuesday we talked about gamers. We talked about the positives and negatives of gamers and the entire ‘gamer society.’ Personally it never crossed my mind that the gamer society could be a good thing for our planet and they could potentially solve many global issues. The video we watched that had the speaker, McGonigal on TED Talks was surprising to me. I’ve never thought of gamers in positive light. I’ve always had this notion that gamers are anti-social and completely consumed in their games. The completely consumed in their game world may be true but McGonigal pointed out some positives of gamers. 

Some of the positive attributes of gamers that never even crossed my mind are; they are task oriented, great at multi-tasking, and competitive. These types of skills are what are typically used to solve complex problems. McGonigal made a great point, these attributes of gamers could be used to solve our world’s problems and I agree. If you think about it, take all of the attributes that gamers’ have and put those to better use to solve our world's problems like clean water, problems with oil, and hunger, they could potentially save the world. Now yes this is a huge theory to grasp, but I see where she is coming from and I somewhat agree. I mean it makes sense but it may be too much of a theory and not really possible.  

Some one in class said that gamers are used to an immediate pleasure. If they put their skills to better use and solve the world's problems that would take decades. The culture that the gamer society is used to is having immediate results of beating a level or killing the 'bad guys'

Instagram Straight Eatin'

In class on Tuesday we discussed popular culture and social media’s impact on the food industry. In the past year or two our culture has seen a significant increase of food-related posts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Five years ago it was unheard of to post a picture of the dinner you made at home from scratch on Facebook; today, it is normal. I can get on Instagram and I am guaranteed to see someone’s Grande Mocha Frappacino, or the Jamba Juice they had for lunch at least one of the several times I check Instagram a day. Unfortunately, I think we all know one person on Facebook or Twitter who has taken this trend of sharing your food on social media and overdone it. We don’t need to see every single meal you eat everyday. Now, yes it’s acceptable to post a picture of a homemade meal if you never cook and are proud of yourself and obviously want ALL your friends to see how well you did. But you can only post a picture if it looks pretty, of course.

I think the posting of your food on social media is a way to tell your followers “look how hipster I am” or ‘I can afford Starbucks, and not the 99 cent coffee from the gas station.” It is called SOCIAL media for a reason: to be social and share (probably) too many aspects of your life with the world. Posting a picture of your food at a specific restaurant on Facebook is common too. With that being said doing this comes with 2 rules: you must only post food from expensive or exotic restaurants and you also have to check in at the restaurant so your friends know you really went there. My friends and I have a little saying we say sometimes: “Picture or it didn’t happen.” That applies here.

I don’t think I have ever seen someone post a picture of their McDonald’s McChicken, large fries, and extra large coke and check-in at McDonalds. Let’s be honest, we don’t really want everyone to know we eat McDonalds. “Picture or it didn’t happen” yeah, the McDonalds you had for lunch today didn’t happen cause no one saw a picture of it.

Now, I’m not going to say that I have not been ‘one of those people.’ Yes I will admit to posting picture (or like five) of my Starbucks coffee or lunch from Panera on Instagram. I honestly have no idea why I post things like that on Instagram; I just do it. My excuse is ‘everyone else does it, and they look cool so I will to.’

Women in Comedy

Tina Fey, Amy Pohler, Melissa McCarthy, and Kristen Wiig are all women yes, but they’re all hilarious as well. Today’s discussion in class was about women in comedy. Personally, I think some female comediennes are funnier than male comedians. If a woman and a man told the same joke, I believe the woman would be funnier. There is just something empowering and just flat out funny when a woman does stand up comedy. But does the woman have to be attractive to be a successful comedienne? In some way I believe the answer is yes, but most things are funny no matter who says the joke.There were some aspects of the article by Christopher Hitchens that were disturbing in many ways. He was clearly against women comediennes, basically saying they had to be butch in order to be funny. Yes come female comediennes such as Ellen DeGeneres and Sarah Silverman do not display today’s image of a female they are still knee-slapping hilarious. I watched Bridesmaids for the fist time last year and I have absolutely fell in love with Melissa McCarthy. I had been a fan of Kristen Wiig from SNL before the Bridesmaids movie. She is absolutely hilarious both on the big screen and SNL. Honestly I think the fact that Melissa McCarthy isn’t the drop-dead gorgeous type of woman; that is what makes her even funnier. She plays the types of characters in which her looks and weight are an important factor to her character. Wiig on the other hand is a beautiful woman yet she pulls off the weird kind of quirky characters on SNL perfectly.

Reaction to Semenya

In today’s class the discussion over Caster Semenya’s story regarding her having to undergo gender testing because of her masculine appearance sparked some heated discussions and remarks. There were so many valid points made in class today, but am on the fence about the whole situation.

In my opinion, on one hand, her having masculine characteristics and speculation of possibly having 4 times as much testosterone as the average woman gives her an advantage over the other women. If I was a woman in a race that she was running and she clearly ran 2 seconds faster than any of the other Olympic runners, I wouldn’t be happy. If she was proven to physically and hormonally have masculine characteristics then yes I believed her being gender tested was the right thing to do.

On the other hand, I think the media speculation and twisting on the story was out of the water. Just because a woman doesn’t have the  ‘normal’ characteristics of a woman does not mean that she is automatically a man. Women these days dress and ac all different kinds of ways. But the most common stereotype is that if a woman dresses in sports attire or sweats, no make up, hair up, she is instantly seen as a  ‘dyke’ or a lesbian. Another point made in class today that I completely agree with is that if a different woman on the Olympic track team with Semenya performed the same way as she did but wore make up and did her hair, she would not have been thought to secretly be a man. Semenya did not wear make-up, always had her hair back and because of all those factors plus her performing so well, she just had to be a man.