The controversy is another example of inflation of an event that in the long-run, really isn't that important--at all. The cartoonist--wait did I just say cartoonist and not journalist?--yes, the cartoonist is obviously, and has been in the past, seeking controversy and recognition. It's a cartoon, not an article. It's meant to be at least somewhat ambiguous.
People like Rev. Al Sharpton are typical attention-seekers. He's asked for an explaination of the cartoon, defeating the whole point of it.
There may or maynot be racist undertones in this cartoon, but my stance is, does it really matter? People derive meaning from personal experience. Someone who's never experienced a racial slur comparing African Americans to monkeys would derive no racist meaning from this.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Modernism
Modernism is no one thing. Although it has been said to have started at certain period in time, some say during the Enlightenment, others claim long before that. Mondernism is a shift from a farming society to an industrial one.
This reading really interested me when they cited the differences between popular, folk and mass culture.
This sentence was brilliant: "The individual becomes a part of the mass--undifferentiated, unsupported, and easy prey for authoritarian appeals. Such theories of mass society view culture as having become little more than a tool for manipulating the masses, for providing an artifical sense of security and belongingness, for appealing to people's irrational and lowest desires."
I agree, swimmingly. I think it's unfair to say all culture is a combat to manipulate people, but a fair amount of it really is. So much, that much of our real culture is swallowed by commercialism and then force-fed to us. The aim of mass culture is to find a proto-type, a formula that works and then find different variations of this formula to proliferate profit from it.
A perfect example of this took place in the late '90s with the emergence of the "boy bands." After the first one grew with raging popularity, suddenly, these perfectly constructed boy bands were popping up everywhere. The model had been set and now it was time to give the masses what commercialism had made them want in the first place. It's a dirty little cycle. I just can't help but think about popular music when interpreting the cultural part of modernism. It's very discouraging.
Lastly, when Marx and Engels said, "All that is solid melts in air," they were right. The world is in constant change ... and how could it not be, for we, ourselves, are vessels of change.
This reading really interested me when they cited the differences between popular, folk and mass culture.
This sentence was brilliant: "The individual becomes a part of the mass--undifferentiated, unsupported, and easy prey for authoritarian appeals. Such theories of mass society view culture as having become little more than a tool for manipulating the masses, for providing an artifical sense of security and belongingness, for appealing to people's irrational and lowest desires."
I agree, swimmingly. I think it's unfair to say all culture is a combat to manipulate people, but a fair amount of it really is. So much, that much of our real culture is swallowed by commercialism and then force-fed to us. The aim of mass culture is to find a proto-type, a formula that works and then find different variations of this formula to proliferate profit from it.
A perfect example of this took place in the late '90s with the emergence of the "boy bands." After the first one grew with raging popularity, suddenly, these perfectly constructed boy bands were popping up everywhere. The model had been set and now it was time to give the masses what commercialism had made them want in the first place. It's a dirty little cycle. I just can't help but think about popular music when interpreting the cultural part of modernism. It's very discouraging.
Lastly, when Marx and Engels said, "All that is solid melts in air," they were right. The world is in constant change ... and how could it not be, for we, ourselves, are vessels of change.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
NEW COMM. TECHNOLOGIES...ch.1
The new technological advances are ones unparalleled in history. The advancement of hardware and software are major attributes to new technologies. Some specific types of new technology are obviously computers, cellphones, satellites, and optical disks. These are more common forms.
The new technological advances are ones unparalleled in history. The advancement of hardware and software are major attributes to new technologies. Some specific types of new technology are obviously computers, cellphones, satellites, and optical disks. These are more common forms.
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