Politics in the Media

There is much discussion about media bias these days. There have been numerous studies on the topic. I believe it is impossible to determine a bias in the media, HOWEVER, one can observe the methods the media uses to get a message across. The way something is conveyed could constitute a bias. For example, proclaiming election results before the polls have closed. This discourages people from going out to vote and therefor influences politics.

The media should be completely objective, but we know this is almost impossible. The news is reported by people. Those people have personal beliefs. While they are trained to be objective, speaking ones mind or putting a spin on a topic tends to be inevitable. 

While the media as a whole might not be biased, certain stations might be more left or right winged. MSNBC is by far the most liberal station on the air. Anyone can tell this by simply watching their daily programs. Their own management has proclaimed they are "progressive" in order to counter Fox News. Fox News may be called conservative because they do have several opinion journalists and conservative anchors. These programs consistently bash the "left." The same can be said about newspapers and news magazines. 

Politics and other issues may also be biased because most mass media today is supported by advertising. Those companies pay big dollars to get their product known and may have some say in what is being broadcasted. Any deal between news corps and advertisers must be made clear that the news is to remain objective and report ALL the news, even if the advertisers do not agree with it. That is the only way to be fair.

Behaving Accordingly

Knowledge of behaving the right way is not included in our DNA but is instead learned from the time of birth. The key to knowing how to behave in certain situations is through observation. Think about it, when you were last in a situation where you were new and didn't know what to do, you observed other people and learned from them. 

This use of observation is why the media has such a huge effect on the behavior of people, particularly the youth. We should learn eventually what is right and wrong, and what is acceptable behavior. This helps screen our actions from what we see on TV. However, repetitive viewing of behavior may lead to acting out that part. Younger people are more susceptible to this because they do not know any better. I think the media does play a big role in our perceptions but they do not control our relationships and rewrite our cultural scripts. That is up to us, based on the afore mentioned observation. The media might only influence us a bit.

"You're Beautiful!" -James Blunt

Beauty truly is within the eye of the beholder. Each culture has a defined set of traits that make a person beautiful, but that is for society as a whole. Each individual may freely think otherwise. The media does a good job of getting people to think only certain attributes make a beautiful person because they (the media) tend to be superficial. If we set that aside, we are able to find many more beautiful things about people. It is not always about looks. That is on the personal level. I know of many people who are together and have all different looks and sizes. Its what's inside that counts. We have all heard that before. They do not care what others think. It is mostly about being happy. Check out this video, Everyone's Free To Wear Sunscreen on YouTube which talks about beauty. The video features advice about other things in life too.

If a culture was to pick out a "trophy" beautiful person for say, the Ms. World pageant, of course they'd pick the most beautiful defined by their cultural traits. These traits in America usually consist of being thin, tall, having long hair, symmetrical features, long legs, etc. In other countries those traits different. In Kenya, we know that the gap between the two front teeth is desirable.

Cartoon Controversy

This cartoon is a simple political satire cartoon often seen by Americans everyday. After studying this cartoon, I feel there are three possible meanings for it.

1. Obama is as dumb as a monkey.

2. The plan is so poorly written and stupid that even a monkey can do it.

3. All politicians are just a bunch of foolish elites (or monkeys), and the plan proves it.

With the major news stories of chimps attacking people in the last few days, the cartoon creators intertwined that story with the stimulus plan to create this. It is kind of a two for one in terms of speaking their mind. The police were taking down a violent monkey and in the process realized they killed the likes of the stimulus creators. THAT is what this cartoon is about.

I do not think this cartoon says Obama is a monkey. Nor do I think racism plays ANY part of it. In this day and age, political correctness is all too common and people get offended at almost anything. Often, they do not even think about it before getting outraged. I think the better explanations are the second two interpretations I offered. The stimulus bill is a waste and is very poorly written. I think the creators of this cartoon are anti-stimulus. The crazy and corrupt lives of most politicians are represented as an unintelligent creature such as this monkey.

Modernism and Post Modernism

The words modernism and postmodernism are merely words attempting to describe an era in history. There are too many assumptions involved to place an accurate description of each. However, we can look at trends and see where each is going and what they are like. 

Modernism- Began sometime after the enlightenment age to describe society and technology in the current age. Everything was modern and "right." The industrial revolution, capitalism, and colonialism defined a civilized country. The way people thought makes up the majority of modernism. In a sense, "modernism" is the way in which people tried to associate themselves with a culture or society. There are two ways of looking at modernism according to the text. One is the relationship between modernity, modernization, and modernism. The second, and more clear, is the opposition to the old, traditional past of society. Modernism describes the "current" state of things and therefor is no longer part of history. Obviously, everything becomes history sooner or later, but the present never does.

Postmodernism- If you break this word down, you get post and modernism. Post means after so post modernism to me is about the era we live in today which takes place after the modernistic era. Postmodernism is about the changes that occurred throughout time. Modernism could not exist forever and those changes led to the post. Postmodernism is stated to be the return to simpler things. I believe that it only looks at the finer parts of society's tools. Take capitalism for example. Modernism was about making vast profits. That changed over the years and postmodernism is about maximizing the efficiency of these firms. Distribution and service are now paramount to making a profit. Postmodernism takes a step back I think, and focuses more on the personal side of things as opposed to corporate culture. 

It is interesting to note that both modernism and postmodernism can be related to art. It seems to reflect the times and design things based around the current, common thought. 

Gift from Kenya

The gift from Kenya is truly generous and heartfelt. There may be some key misunderstandings between the people of Kenya and America, but I feel this can easily be overcome. The cow's representation must be thought about in terms of what the Kenyan people meant by it. Americans cannot just look at the cow and think, "ok." They cannot simply be ignorant. They must look further into the "why" behind receiving this cow. It was a gift of comfort and reassurance. I feel this was very graceful and compassionate despite different beliefs about cows. 

The fact that Kenya is raising the American cows to this day even shows that they are behind the American people and wish them well. Americans ought to realize this. 

Two Models of Communication

There are two models of communication described in the book. I do not think one is more important than the other. In fact, they both work together whenever they are used. Both are important in learning how communication works.

The transmission model of communication is very basic. It follows the trend of moving an object from one place to another, such as produce as the author mentions. Hopefully the message or object is the same when it gets to the receiver. The source, message, receiver model is very straight forward can be used to describe any method of communication.

The cultural model is a more in depth look at communication around the world. It explains the path of a message within a culture. Messages are passed down through generations and are important to the  traditions and beliefs of a culture. Communication within a society serves as the glue connecting everyone together. More so than the previous model, the cultural model gives a bigger meaning to the messages being transfered. Our ideology is formed by what we hear and see within our culture. 

Media Representation

I found this video to be interesting in the sense that it breaks down a word to help make understanding it easier. We often take for granted the meaning of the word "representation" without stopping to think about what it means in the context. One must think about how it is used at the time to gain a true understanding of what is being said.

Like the others, I also found the media in the background ironically distracting. Depending on how something is represented, the message can be lost in distractions or other noise. 

Media plays a huge role in representation as well. They shape how an issue or subject is viewed by the masses. In a way, they are the gatekeepers of information. The media is trusted to show the truth, but we know that is not always the case. All over the world the media presents issues. They are seen differently in all those places. The war on terror is a classic example. While Americans may see the war as a way to protect ourselves and our freedom, the Islamic community elsewhere may see it as repressive on their beliefs.