Masculinity
i couldnt log into the new york times article but i did read the first one and it was very interesting. i thought a lot of it was very true, while other parts just seemed over the top. for example, the explanation of the trend of men being defined by what they have and not who they are seems pretty accurate in today’s world. all you see anymore are designer brands, not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just the style i guess, but we are definitley leaning away from the john wayne stereotype of masculinity, which is not really a good thing. however, what the new york times critic was saying about men not wanting to grow up is true to a certain extent, but i think that’s just a familiar feminist rant about the shortcomings of men. while we do see a lot of ads on tv about men taking this ideal to an extreme, thats all it really is, an ad on tv. of course it’s going to be extreme, that’s how companies sell products. to ever take a bud light commercial that seriously is just pointless, and tells you practically nothing about the current state of popular culture.
Paper
For my final paper I’m writing a revision of my “Critical Analysis of a Book” paper, about the book Reefer Madness. I will include personal interviews of public opinion, as well as material from multiple research studies and argumentative literature.
For this facebook blog i analyzed the profile of a girl named hannah from north carolina. I can tell she’s in college and that shes my age, because it says she’s UNC Charlotte class of 2011. Also it says shes in a sorority, it doesn’t tell where she works but all of her contact information is posted. Under interests she like shopping and a lot of girl type stuff. She likes a lot of good music though, some of my favorite bands. Again with the favorite movies and books, they’re definitley feminine (Dirty Dancing…etc.). It isn’t posted why she has the profile but from the looks of it I would say it’s probably to keep in touch with her friends. All in all she seems like she’s pretty cool from looking at her profile.
Book Choice
For our book analysis paper that is due at the end of the month I chose the book Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market by Eric Schlosser. I picked this book really for no other reason than the fact that it looked interesting to me. Also, when i was reading through the list of selected books, it was really the only choice that jumped out at me. I don’t have the book yet but I did order it and it should be here today. I’m definitley looking forward to reading it though, which is a major change in my typical attitude regarding reading assignments.
Iraq blogs
In reading the weblogs regarding the Iraq War in comparison to the stories on popular news websites I found that the majority of the material written by bloggers seemed angry, as if they were written in the heat of the moment after hearing news that they didn’t like.. or even if they were frustrated with a completely unrelated subject at the moment they logged on. It seems that if one were to create a blog based soley on the situation in Iraq, that person would more than likely have either very extreme views that they believe everyone should hear, or their opinions are commonly disagreed with, leading them to search for an outlet in the absence of contestment. The stories on the news websites however, were, as usual much more conservative and opinion free, almost as if they’re trying so hard to reduce the suspicion of bias that they leave certain things out of the story.
Learning that some of these weblogs are written by former journalists of major news sources is surprising at first. Just to think that I have so long been critiquing these people’s views with the regard that the source is some random person at a computer who possesses no verified credibility. While in fact, a student such as myself has absolutely no place to criticize a writer of CNN capacity. While these facts have coersed me to more openly accept the opinions of webloggers, there is a side to this surprising knowledge that is anything but shocking. As previously stated, the majority of the stories from these major news sources are “anti-biased” to the point of boredom. The writers working for these news sources are talented and did not get where they are by removing any points of interest from stories in an attempted avoidance of seeming unilateral. Surely these writers get tired of this arguable waste of their talent and turn to weblogs where their writing is limitless and their most extreme views, uninhibited. This is undeniably the case for some, thus offering one of the numerous possible explanations for these internet extremists. These writers may not be over-the-top in their opinions, perhaps, society’s sensitivity to one persons opinion has simply driven them to alternate means of conveyance.
Culture
The word culture is a vast and widely used term. In fact, the term has so many different, valid meanings that questions regarding culture have become difficult to answer. Culture is defined by dictionary.com about 30 different ways which are all accurate in some way or another. I guess in order to answer cultural questions like these, one must respond in accordance to his most applicable understanding of the word.
Be it the super bowl, Hollywood movie premiers, presidential elections, or simply the food that we eat, culture is all around us. Negative or positive, these aspects greatly influence and arguably control the way we all live. Of course there are plenty of good things to be said for the influence of our society, it pushes us to be productive, efficient, to follow the rules and do what’s right. However, there exists an underlying problem with the effects of this powerful influence. Somehow beneath these wonderful initial intentions of societal conformity as a means of order, there is a bit of a negative side.
Society has taken the original ideal of conformity and blown it out of proportion. In today’s world conformity is applied to every aspect of life. The concept that serves to maintain order in a society’s structure is essentially playing a large part in dismembering it. The same conformity which applies to following laws and rules, having good manners, and behaving in school is causing kids watching Hollywood celebrities to develop eating disorders and low sense of self-esteem while kids influenced by the current situations in the sports world may be influenced to use steroids. These are just a few examples of this negative side of this “uniform society” ideal.
Conformity in society arguably controls most everything we do, from diets monitoring the food that we eat, to commercials regulating the majority of products we buy at the grocery store. Our society is set up to program individuals from day one to fit in and conform. While conforming does play an important role in socialization and is arguably one of the more necessary concepts to the success of society, it undoubtedly goes hand in hand with numerous negative effects on life in general. The solution to this whole ordeal must begin with an official answer to the much debated question, “Is conformity in society a positive of negative aspect?” Until we have a unanimous opinion regarding this conflict of interests, I’m afraid the debate continues.
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