In this blog I am going to talk write about one of the oldest mass mediums in existence, the Holy Bible. What is it about this book that leads people to believe that it is in fact, inspired by the all knowing benevolent creator of the universe? You should know right now that I believe this to be the case, well, almost. Most people should agree that if there is a God that loves us and wants us to be happy, then it would make sense that he would inspire such commandments as, "Thou shalt not kill", and "Love thy neighbor as thy self", but there are some very controversial instructions in the Bible that have led to its increasing unpopularity. For example, one passage that has given me some trouble recently comes from Titus, chapter 2 verses 3-5, it says "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."
The pastor at my church brought up this passage a few weeks ago in order to address the issue of who wears the pants in the marriage relationship. I can't even remember exactly what it was that he said, but I know that it made me uncomfortable. But why should a passage that instructs women to be obedient to their husbands make me, a young Christian bachelor feel uncomfortable? You'd think I would have been jumping for joy with the knowledge of what's in store for me. But as I delved deeper into this issue, taking into account the current feminist philosophy that is quite popular today, I realized that something has gone terribly wrong in the Christian church.
We have become so obsessed with pleasing our elders, fitting the mold of the typical suburban nuclear family with 2 cars, 2.5 kids, and money pouring out the ears. When it is put that way, you come to realize that the word of the Almighty has been distorted so irreverently that 50% of marriages have ended in divorce and Christianity on the whole is on a decline. For someone who believes that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the human race, this fact is very sobering. It's possible that one day nobody will experience the joy that I have upon realizing that despite the fact that all I have accomplished in my life amounts the nothing, that I still have hope; I still have a chance at complete and utter happiness in this sweet, short life. While I don't believe it will come to this, there is still a huge task to be undertaken if the world is going to take us seriously.
What's a man to do? Well, I can start by admitting that I have been pathetic, lazy, and ungrateful for all of the beautiful ( I mean inner beauty as well), self-sacrificing, determined women in the world. I can start by rejecting the lies that are fed to me about what it means to be a Christian. And most of all, I absolutely must vow to never, ever take for granted a certain angelic woman in my life who is the only one I have ever truly desired. I just hope she will understand that up to now I have been imprisoned by lust, greed, envy, sloth, gluttony, wrath, and worst of all, pride. I now have no choice but to turn my back to the world and try to spread to word, the true word of God.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
"The Corporation" Reaction Essay
The movie "The Corporation" made me realize a few things about capitalism. It seems that when it comes to a capitalist economy, you're either for it or against it, there is no gray area. Therefore, if you are not a capitalist, that makes you a communist. If there's one thing most people agree that Americans should hate, it's communism, but why? Is it the fact that the people have no say in the government? Could it be that without any form of competition in the marketplace, the system is bound to collapse? Those would be some good guesses, because in America, everyone is free to reach the top, so long as they work hard and never give up. Just look at our new President, Barack Obama.
President Obama started with humble beginnings, his father was a Kenyan exchange student and his mother came from a working class family in Kansas. HIs father abandoned him at the age of two and only saw him once before first losing his legs in one car accident and his life in the second. Obama had a very difficult childhood, his mother re-married and moved to Indonesia, though her new husband was an alcoholic and abusive. I learned these facts from Obama's book, Dreams From My Father, and I've come to realize how much I actually have in common with our commander in chief. My father also abandoned me at a young age. Although I had a relatively stable childhood, my mother became involved with an abusive alcoholic after divorcing my step-father after twelve years of marriage. Like Obama I have had humble beginnings, yet I am now at a point in my life where my future has never looked brighter. Perhaps this is because my troubled past is for the most part behind me, but I believe it is also because of the opportunity that I have been afforded by governmental policies that have allowed me to live comfortably while I work for my education. Obama has stated that student loans and grants made it possible for him to get a good education, which ultimately has led to him becoming the first African-American president in the history of the United States. That's no easy feat, and if I'm going to have any hope of rivaling his achievements I'm going to have to do a lot more than become President, after all I am a white male, it can't be that hard, despite the fact that I've inhaled on several occasions.
What I'm trying to explain here is that we don't live in a country with perfect equality, and we probably never will, but we can level the playing field. The truth is we don't have a true capitalist economy, we have a oligarchy, a rich minority who control virtually everything from the military to the media. You might be surprised to know that this is the exact same system in place in China, a communist country. We have been communists ever since 1913 when we went off the gold standard and created the Federal Reserve. Our money is based on faith in the government instead of a tangible currency. We receive vouchers for working in the large communes of office buildings and other businesses. Granted, we have a little more freedom, but with our dwindling resources, we don't have much time left to celebrate that fact. Soon enough we may be rounded up into work camps without pay so that The Corporation can make a profit. When you look at it that way, you realize the US and China are the best of friends, at least their governments are, because they have the same goal, the enslavement of the human race. I just pray that Obama is who he claims to be, that the system hasn't corrupted him like the others. He is the only hope we have, we are in the 11th hour, if he fails, we are all going down with him. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Rush Limbaugh.
President Obama started with humble beginnings, his father was a Kenyan exchange student and his mother came from a working class family in Kansas. HIs father abandoned him at the age of two and only saw him once before first losing his legs in one car accident and his life in the second. Obama had a very difficult childhood, his mother re-married and moved to Indonesia, though her new husband was an alcoholic and abusive. I learned these facts from Obama's book, Dreams From My Father, and I've come to realize how much I actually have in common with our commander in chief. My father also abandoned me at a young age. Although I had a relatively stable childhood, my mother became involved with an abusive alcoholic after divorcing my step-father after twelve years of marriage. Like Obama I have had humble beginnings, yet I am now at a point in my life where my future has never looked brighter. Perhaps this is because my troubled past is for the most part behind me, but I believe it is also because of the opportunity that I have been afforded by governmental policies that have allowed me to live comfortably while I work for my education. Obama has stated that student loans and grants made it possible for him to get a good education, which ultimately has led to him becoming the first African-American president in the history of the United States. That's no easy feat, and if I'm going to have any hope of rivaling his achievements I'm going to have to do a lot more than become President, after all I am a white male, it can't be that hard, despite the fact that I've inhaled on several occasions.
What I'm trying to explain here is that we don't live in a country with perfect equality, and we probably never will, but we can level the playing field. The truth is we don't have a true capitalist economy, we have a oligarchy, a rich minority who control virtually everything from the military to the media. You might be surprised to know that this is the exact same system in place in China, a communist country. We have been communists ever since 1913 when we went off the gold standard and created the Federal Reserve. Our money is based on faith in the government instead of a tangible currency. We receive vouchers for working in the large communes of office buildings and other businesses. Granted, we have a little more freedom, but with our dwindling resources, we don't have much time left to celebrate that fact. Soon enough we may be rounded up into work camps without pay so that The Corporation can make a profit. When you look at it that way, you realize the US and China are the best of friends, at least their governments are, because they have the same goal, the enslavement of the human race. I just pray that Obama is who he claims to be, that the system hasn't corrupted him like the others. He is the only hope we have, we are in the 11th hour, if he fails, we are all going down with him. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Rush Limbaugh.
Media Journal #2
I'd like to use this entry to discuss something that's been on my mind for a while, namely, pornography. You may not know it, but its pretty much everywhere you look these days. It might not be the kind of of stuff that would make a priest rip off his collar in rage or a mother cover her child's eyes (though often times it is), because we have laws about that sort of stuff. Pornography is defined as "obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, esp. those having little or no artistic merit." Most people who live in contemporary society are subjected to obscene media content on a daily basis. You might agree that we are constantly exposed to pornography on a daily basis even if we don't choose to do so.
Advertising is an industry that has grown so large in this day and age that you can't escape it. If you watched the Super Bowl, you may have noticed the degree of obscenity that was a component of the numerous commercials. GoDaddy.com for example featured humor revolving around augmented breasts in a courtroom. I don't know about you, but that's all I really remember about the commercial. That, and the fact that a Danica Patrik, a leading female role model, chose to sell out her image for the sake of this advertising gimmick. This is what advertising has come to, blatant offensive material in order to garner attention for a whatever useless product someone is trying to sell, in this case, a website domain. Well, I know some people could benefit from this combination, such as somebody interested in starting a porn website. If you don't believe me, just go to the GoDaddy.com and you might be-veary surprised.
Advertising is an industry that has grown so large in this day and age that you can't escape it. If you watched the Super Bowl, you may have noticed the degree of obscenity that was a component of the numerous commercials. GoDaddy.com for example featured humor revolving around augmented breasts in a courtroom. I don't know about you, but that's all I really remember about the commercial. That, and the fact that a Danica Patrik, a leading female role model, chose to sell out her image for the sake of this advertising gimmick. This is what advertising has come to, blatant offensive material in order to garner attention for a whatever useless product someone is trying to sell, in this case, a website domain. Well, I know some people could benefit from this combination, such as somebody interested in starting a porn website. If you don't believe me, just go to the GoDaddy.com and you might be-veary surprised.
Media Journal #1
It's taken me a while to write this because the media has been letting me down quite often recently. As of this semester I have changed my area of study to English Communications and I'm already having second thoughts about it. Those who work in the media are supposed to be noble defenders of Truth, and I spell it with a capital 'T' because I'm not talking about just facts, but an honest, candid vision of justice and integrity. But everywhere I look, I see those in the media abusing their positions in order to promote their narrow minded views. I'm not referring to a specific political party or other type of affiliation, I mean that nobody, not a single person who commands the attention of the masses is doing the right thing right now. Since when did journalism become a profession of deception, madness, and cheap tricks?
I feel like I'm wasting my time everyday that I read the newspaper or the news online. If you were to go to cnn.com right now, all you would find are pointless stories about freak incidents or mindless speculation on the political climate. The problem is that we're so used to this kind of representation in the media that we have come to believe that this is what its all about. Granted, there are some honest truth seekers out there, but the majority would have us believe that they're reporting with our best interests in mind when they are really just puppets of those in power.
There is a real problem with the structure of our society today and the place of media in it. What I want to see is somebody taking a stand for what they believe is right and doing it right now! Enough of this cowardly bullshit of anonymous telephone interviews are retaliation against employers after you already get fired. Speak out while you're on the air, when you really have everyone's attention. Forget about the consequences you'll face, you may lose your job, you may get a lawsuit, you may even go to jail, but something needs to be done and it needs to be done on the "Corporation's" time so that maybe they'll get the message that people are fed up with they way they are handling things. I know not even CEO's can be perfect, but they are in a position of power and its about time they make up for they're utter lack of accountability.
I feel like I'm wasting my time everyday that I read the newspaper or the news online. If you were to go to cnn.com right now, all you would find are pointless stories about freak incidents or mindless speculation on the political climate. The problem is that we're so used to this kind of representation in the media that we have come to believe that this is what its all about. Granted, there are some honest truth seekers out there, but the majority would have us believe that they're reporting with our best interests in mind when they are really just puppets of those in power.
There is a real problem with the structure of our society today and the place of media in it. What I want to see is somebody taking a stand for what they believe is right and doing it right now! Enough of this cowardly bullshit of anonymous telephone interviews are retaliation against employers after you already get fired. Speak out while you're on the air, when you really have everyone's attention. Forget about the consequences you'll face, you may lose your job, you may get a lawsuit, you may even go to jail, but something needs to be done and it needs to be done on the "Corporation's" time so that maybe they'll get the message that people are fed up with they way they are handling things. I know not even CEO's can be perfect, but they are in a position of power and its about time they make up for they're utter lack of accountability.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Simulacrum Reading
The message of the "Simulacrum and Simulations" text by Jean Baudrillard was simple. Any false construction of reality is doomed to fail because those who experience it are ultimately going to be able to hold it up to perfect scrutiny. Reality is something that interpreted differently by everyone, but we are still able to understand that everyone is conscious to some degree. It is for this reason that huge empires are doomed to fail because they cannot possibly convince everyone to buy into their lies. As in the example of Watergate, the US government created a scapegoat, Richard Nixon, in order to convince the world that there was some sort of justice enacted by his resignation. But did Nixon go to jail? No, he simply retired to some big estate just like every single president in the history of the United States who didn't get assassinated, excluding Jimmy Carter, that hippy had nothing but his peanut farm to go back to. So, in conclusion, the government totally sucks.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Burn After Watching (Media Consumption Blog)
Saturday Feb 14
10:00 am
Woke up, listened to music
2:00 pm
Played Guitar Hero on Xbox 360
4:00 pm
Went to dinner at Gezpacho's with roommate's parents, litsened to Christian rock band "Third Day" in car. Cigarette advertisement on side of building
6:00 pm
Watched "Fool's Gold"
10:00pm
Watched "Burn After Reading"
On this relaxing Saturday, I realized how much media interacts with our personal morals. We may try to conduct our daily lives according to a certain code of ethics, yet mass media is constantly interfering with the boundaries we attempt to set. This Saturday my roommate's family came to Durango, bringing with them a new plasma TV from my mother's house in Denver. When they arrived, we almost immediately hooked up our Xbox 360 and popped in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. I must mention that my roommate comes from a conservative Christian background, and I couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable considering the rock 'n roll songs on the game accompanied by scantily clad animated dancing women.
Later on in the night, we went over to the motel his parents and younger sister were staying and watched the movie "Fools Gold". In the movie, the two main characters are a divorced couple searching for treasure in the Caribbean. At one point, they reconcile their differences and proceed to make love in the basement of a church. Once again, awkward. Finally, at the end of the night, we go back to our apartment with his younger sister. Another friend of ours comes over and we watched another movie "Burn After Reading". As if the day couldn't get any worse, his teenage sister is exposed to rampant adultery, murder, and at one point, George Clooney unveiling his creation of an erotic rocking chair with a built in dildo. Add in Brad Pitt getting a bullet through his head, and it became clear that the popular media of today does not take into account anyone's personal values but the people who create it. Enjoy at your own risk, and if need be, burn after watching!
10:00 am
Woke up, listened to music
2:00 pm
Played Guitar Hero on Xbox 360
4:00 pm
Went to dinner at Gezpacho's with roommate's parents, litsened to Christian rock band "Third Day" in car. Cigarette advertisement on side of building
6:00 pm
Watched "Fool's Gold"
10:00pm
Watched "Burn After Reading"
On this relaxing Saturday, I realized how much media interacts with our personal morals. We may try to conduct our daily lives according to a certain code of ethics, yet mass media is constantly interfering with the boundaries we attempt to set. This Saturday my roommate's family came to Durango, bringing with them a new plasma TV from my mother's house in Denver. When they arrived, we almost immediately hooked up our Xbox 360 and popped in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. I must mention that my roommate comes from a conservative Christian background, and I couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable considering the rock 'n roll songs on the game accompanied by scantily clad animated dancing women.
Later on in the night, we went over to the motel his parents and younger sister were staying and watched the movie "Fools Gold". In the movie, the two main characters are a divorced couple searching for treasure in the Caribbean. At one point, they reconcile their differences and proceed to make love in the basement of a church. Once again, awkward. Finally, at the end of the night, we go back to our apartment with his younger sister. Another friend of ours comes over and we watched another movie "Burn After Reading". As if the day couldn't get any worse, his teenage sister is exposed to rampant adultery, murder, and at one point, George Clooney unveiling his creation of an erotic rocking chair with a built in dildo. Add in Brad Pitt getting a bullet through his head, and it became clear that the popular media of today does not take into account anyone's personal values but the people who create it. Enjoy at your own risk, and if need be, burn after watching!
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