Advertising & Year 2080.

I am really impressed with all the marketing that is going on these days. They are glamourous, memorable, funny, and whatever similar adjectives you can add on.

On the other hand, the more I am impressed, the more I can understand why I am impressed, which eventually leads to my breaking-down of advertisements. After about two and a half years in learning how to "read" advertisements and its effects, I hope I have enough knowledge and understanding to write my own successful discourse analysis one day, and even learn more.

Just like most people in this wealth, satisifed world of North America, I have my own little problems, obstacles, and whatever else. I guess you can break it down into different aspects, such as social life, school life, spiritual life, health(?) life, and whatnot.

However, I am slowly realizing that despite the arbitrary borders and barriers we may put around these different areas of life, they are all complicatedly and intricately connected. In this sense, I can even go further and say that everything really comes down to one focal point, which is me as a whole, human being.

A Thinking, Feeling, Knowing, Questioning, Understanding, Seeing, Listening, Watching, Hearing, Breathing, Living creature.

It all comes back to who I am as a whole. Not as separate parts in which I must divide my spiritual, mental, psychological, physical, and emotional being towards various areas such as my friends, family, school, church, home, work, wherever.

It is such a simple concept, yet so difficult to grasp. Even as I am writing this, it is nearly impossible for me to say that I understand exactly what I am talking about. However, such a dichotomy is a...motivation.

I was just sitting in the back row on Friday, listening to the guest speaker, who is apparently famous in Britain. At one point, this one old lady, grasping what I assumed to be her grandchild of 16 years of age, walked slowly and sat down in front of me. I guessed her to be around 90 years old.

I don't really know why it got me started thinking about my future as a 90 year old man. But I did. And I thought bluntly, I wonder what it feels like to be this old, and have everyone, every SINGLE PERSON to whom I am close, dead.

No one will be alive to share my memories of my life.

The Saturday BBQs.

The crazy weekday nights studying at school with 3 other friends.

Ridiculously chasing after that girl in high school.

The summer retreats.

All the outdoor activites.

Moving from North Van to Kelowna.

Not even those types of memories, but everyday activites.

The car ride home from my friend's house.

Picking up my brother from work.

Getting on the skytrain to school.

Sharing a drink with my buddy.

Praying that I will pass that final exam.

Talking on MSN late at night.

Talking on the phone.

Having coffee with a friend.

Working out an hour and a half per day.

Even driving to GO workout.

All these little things. All these bigger memories. And I thought, at that moment, that what if there was no one in my life to whom I can recall these times?

I would see all the elementary school kids running around, the highschool teenagers trying to keep up with the trends, the motivated college students either partying or studying, the passionate young singles working in their early career life and having fun on the weekends, the newly weds with their 6-month old infants, the older married couples...

And no one would really care to ask, "how was your life, Simon?". Of course, they want to live their own lives, and create their own memories. Yet, I was just thinking, for that one moment, how would it make me feel if I was a lone elderly person still living in this world, with all my family and friends passed away?

It is an experience of which I may not necessairly want to be a part.

Technology that recreated the world

I don't like to see myself as a technological determinist, but there are times when technology really impacted the world. As a refreshing of my memory, I want to list some that really changed the social, political, economic, and cultural life in the world. These are brief, one or two sentences that would require long papers to give justice to each technology, but this is a blog. C'mon, contrary to Walter Ong's ideas of the characteristics of oral and literal culture, this is one place where I can be additive rather than subordinate in writing

Clock: Measuring time that led to standardization. The act of dividing up something into equal units allowed for scientific revolutions, and rational mathematical equations. The world became completely driven by the clock, as labour, mealtimes, and even qualitative times.

Writing: Perhaps the technology that is taken for granted, although the great scholars such as Marshall Mcluhan and Plato had pessimistic and even nostalgic views regarding writing. They both saw the negative consequences of writing. Not only did it allow for preservation of information, but bureaucracy, standardization, rationality, individualization, commodification, rhetoric and persuasion, rational thinking and self- reflection, democracy, capitalism, internet, everything else. There's so much to say about writing.

On a side note, Plato saw writing leading to democracy, which he did not want, because he thought of the disastarous consequences once democracy was established. We can sort of see this now. Seriosuly, some opinions are really stupid. And democracy never works anways.


Roads: Allowed for messengers to carry messages, which led to the mail post system, which led to earlier forms of telegraph, then the telegraph, and so on.

Railways: It allowed for unity of a nation, not just transporting goods. The mere act of transporting goods allowed for a centre and a peripheral, as they became dependent on each other. The railway was certainly space-binding (to get into the context of Harold Innis), as it allowed greater economic life which (dare I say) dictated political and cultural life.



Electricity: Medium is certainly the fricking message with electricity. The definition of shopping, sports games, clubs, parties, dinner times, etc, were cocmpletely revolutionzed due to electricity. Oh of course, all the other wonderful stuff electricity has allowed us to do.

Radio: The first medium that allowed for mass broadcasting, which also allowed for advertising to a wide audience. I forget all the details, but it all started in a garage.

Internet: The first medium that challenged the idea of broadcasting, where a horizontal level of social networking and communication was allowed to take place, and it was no longer the few that were feeding information to the many. Advertising, blogging, chatting, dating, gaming, economics, businesses, and (in my opinion) most importantly, the merging of the oral and literal aspects of human beings... and everything else was shifted to the internet in some form. And to think, the internet was first invented for military purposes...

Issues arose as well. Copyright laws, ideas of privacy, ideas of conservation of information, dissemination of mis or disinformation, etc...

What next? Are we continuing to move into a progressive, innovative pattern in which we cannot help but endulge? Is this really good? Was the the invention of the televission really a positive thing? (NO! I have reasons, but now is not the time). Why are we always striving for 'better' and more technological inventions, when these technological trajectories can lead to terrible consequences from which we may not be able to pull out?

Although, I reallly really really like the internet.

Hello.

I should have expected this theme to come. Throughout my entire university career, one of my major focuses was on the subject of justice; the anarchy of American corporations, the irony of the American Dream, the hypocrisy of people's morals and ethics. Ever since my first university semester, where I learned of the realities of people not just abroad in Africa or in other third world countries, but the local area in which we reside was as much filled with poverty, insecurity, and darkness as the other "poor" countries.

I did help out a bit at Mission Possible. I did a few things down at East Hastings and Downtown. Yet I know that the few actions that I have taken are not close to being sufficient. I know that one of the most crucial factors in helping out the poor, caring for the community, etc, is consistency. Anyone can be temporarily fired up to feed a hungry group of people, or bring them to a shelter for a day or two. But how many are there that can devote much time, even their entire lives, to fight against injustice?

I know my friend works at Mission Possible now part-time. I know there are opportunities. I hvae been using excuses such as not having a car, East Hastings being too far, etc, to avoid the opportunities. I have felt just a glimpse of what being homeless is like after being there in person and talking to some of the unfortunate. Really, they are unfortunate, despite the mistakes and wrong decisions they may have made in the past.

I always challenge the comments such as, "They deserve to be in the streets if they became addicted to drugs or alcohol or whatever". The thing is, you expect them to be perfect human beings, while those who make these types of comments have made countless mistakes in their lives. In fact, the "forunate" ones are the ones who are more addicted and more in darkness because of the commodities that we value and the realities in which we live. Computers, iPhones, entertainment, etc are just a few broad things of which many of us have become slaves. More specific issues like pornography, video games, electronic accessories, raves, etc control many people's lives. Not all of these are necessairly "bad", but it can lead to terrible results if it becomes the centre of our lives.

With that in mind, how different are the homeless compared to us, the more lucky ones? When Susie talked about injustice, some of the points she made are from the same studies that I have stumbled upon in my Communications courses. I can understand why she also majored in Sociology, because Sociology has direct connections to Communications in the area of justice, ethics, morals, and the harsh realities of life that we most often choose to ignore.

And the fact is, Vancouver itself will be even worse as time progresses, due to the 2010 Olympics. The issue is that Vancouver wants to represent itself as a peaceful, calm, beautiful city in which many happy people live. They want to get rid of the homeless as if they were a pile of garbage and place them in a place where they can be overlooked and forgotten. There are a few minority government and NGOs that are attempting to prevent this and make other Vancouverites aware of these facts. However, it is extremely difficult. To stand up against the Olympics is an extremely difficult task, especially if the Olympics is so widely accepted all around the world. Even though some people may be aware of these harsh facts, the reality is, they are not WILLING to move into action.



When we die, can we really say that we have impacted the world? What do we want to be known as? Someone who went to school, got a job, married, had kids, and died? Everyone has the potential to change the world. Only a handful really see the opportunities to do so. And only a few take upon such opportunities.

I suggest starting with Mission Possible. It will really open up your eyes to see what being homeless is really like. Some of them DO have apartments and jobs. They just don't have enough finances to pay for every meal. For their kids. Some of them are married, but have no home. Everyone has a story, as both of the LTW guest speakers have mentioned. It's always different, shocking, intriguing, moving, saddening. Do something.

In the Presence of Enemies; Ministry of Lost Souls

Story of a spiritual battle.





Remember me, I gave you life,
But you would not take it.
Your suffering was all in vain,
It's almost over now,
Don't turn your back on paradise.

Remember me? You were so young
How could I tell you?
Remember me? I am the one
Who saved your life that night

I saw a white light
Shining there before me
And walking to it
I waited for the end
A final vision
Promising salvation
A resurrection
For a fallen man

Do I still wait for your god?
And the symbol of your faith

I can free you from this hell and misery
You should never be ashamed my son
I can give you power beyond anything
Trust me you will be the chosen one

I was forgotten
A body scorned and broken
My soul rejected
Tainted by his blood

Beyond redemption
A sinner not worth saving
Forever taken
From the one I loved

Do you still wait for your god?
And the symbol of my faith

I can lead you down the path and back to life
All I ask is that you worship me
I can help you seek revenge and save yourself
Give you life for all eternity

Servants of the fallen
fight to pave the way
For their savior's calling
On this wicked day

Through a veil of madness
With a vicious blade
One man rises up
Standing in their way

Redemption Redemption for humanity

Welcome tired pilgrim
Into the circle
We have been waiting

Everyone's gathered
For your arrival
All the believers

Angels fall
All for you
Heretic
Demon heart
Bleed for us

I've been waiting for you
Weary preacher man
You have been expected
Now we can begin
Let this hallowed day of judgment reign

I have known you father
And your sacred quest
Blessed soldier fighting
You shall never rest
I have known you but do you know me?

Angels fall
All for you
Heretic
Demon heart
Bleed for us

My soul is yours
Dark Master
I will fight for you

Dark Master within
I will fight for you
Dark Master of sin
Now my soul is yours
Dark Master my guide
I will die for you
Dark Master inside

I cannot see his face
But I could feel his spite
A presence from the dead
Abandoned by the light
This shadow will consume him
from within

This power that I sense
The rage behind those eyes
Is just a shrouded ghost
A spirit sealed inside
The body and the soul both threats
For they are one

Angels fall
All for you
Heretic
Demon heart
Bleed for us

My soul is yours
Dark Master
I will fight for you

Dark Master within
I will fight for you
Dark Master of sin
Now my soul is yours
Dark Master my guide
I will die for you
Dark Master inside
Dark Master amen
I belong to you
Dark Master within

Don't
Bother trying to find them
They will be coming to you
Fight
Fight and destroy
Until you can't take anymore

Slay
Spill the blood of the rebels
They are the children of hell
Flesh
Of the undead
Stopping at nothing to kill

Sin
Caught in a moment of weakness
Committed the greatest of all
Sold
Half of my soul
And now it's too late for you

I judge as
My eyes see
I judge and I am just
For I speak
Of the beast
That lives in all of us

Unwelcome ones
Your time has come

Lord
You are my god and my shepherd
Nothing more shall I want
Walk
Through the abyss
Into the shadow of death

Fear
There is no evil to fear now
For I know you are with me
My
Cup overflows
With my enemies blood

I
Decay in the house of the lord
Forever amen
Death
Will follow me
All the days of my life

I judge as
My eyes see
I judge and I am just
For I speak
Of the beast
That lives in all of us

Unwelcome one
Your time has come

Servants of the fallen
Fight to pave the way
For their savior's calling
On this wicked day.

Through a veil of madness
With a vicious blade
One man rises up
Standing in their way

It's time for your reckoning

My soul grows weaker
He knows and he waits
He watches over me
Standing at the infernal gates
In the hour of darkness
The moment I feared has passed
The moment I lost my faith
Promising salvation
My soul is my own now
I do not fight for you
Dark Master




Lyrics taken from Systematic Chaos created and produced by Dream Theater.
Pictures taken from www.raymondswanland.com and www.allposters.com

You won't be happy if you don't buy me.

When Karl Marx said something like, 'people are ultimately tied to their economical desires'. I absolutely believe this to be true today. It amazes me how he could foresee the future. We always associate ourselves with commodities to create our "identity". Your average American teenage girl wants to show her "fashion sense" by wearing a tanktop and a pair of tight pants that she bought for 100+ dollars. She makes her eyes more "beautiful" by wearing some kind of eyeliner or whatever. She is holding her Rogers cellphone, listening to her new ipod video, carrying her huge bag that can hold hockey equipment. You get the point.

I think it's really crucial to realize how much of our identities are defined by the stuffwe buy. "This is who I am. I live on 123 street, drive the souped-up subaru, I wear a lot of jeans and skater shoes...". I even heard someone say, "I'm a nice guy because I buy my friends food". 90% of the time, we really didn't need to eat that burger, bag of chips, chocolate, etc.

Too many times, I see people between the ages of 13 to 20, or even older, try to establish their image in public with their clothes. If you need proof, go to the mall, or go on the public bus. Wait. you dont' need to, because you know in the back of your mind that what I am saying is true.

The most disturbing thing about this for me, is how normal this is. This is "how the world works". It's natural. It' supposed to be like this. But then I took a step back and asked, "who's doing the supposing? Who said it was natural?"

Advertisers. Media. Celebrities. They are the core elites of our Western society today. I now understand what Chomsky meant when he said that North America is, in fact, facist in terms of economic and social relations. There are "high-ranked" people who decide what people should like and want. As a side note, I think this is why the United States are so powerful. When historians claimed that Rome was much more powerful during their time than the United States today, they failed to see what kind of power was influential. Rome was its ability to politically influence a huge amount of countries and nations. The fact is, however, that politics only go so far. Opinions will change, the positions will change, and sooner or later, there will be some kind of mistake that ruins the power. As we all know, the Roman empire exists no more.

In contrast, the United States hold a powerful position such that people cannot change its influence. The fact is, every human being that knows the "American dream" really wants at least some of it. Despite one's religious views, moral beliefs, or political side, we want to buy things. America took great advantage of this, and by spreading capitalism, it told what we wanted to hear: "buy, and be happy". Why not? It sounds good.

Moreover, this kind of influence has spread to the East. Almost all of Europe has some type of capitalism established. They have their own celebrities and the media in which they are represented. Daniel Radcliffe, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley. Asia has much of this influence as well. In China, Jay Chou. In Korea, DBSK. They are usually shown wearing expensive clothes and accesories, in expensive events such as award shows. And we want to look as good as they do. We want to be beautiful, attractive, content, etc. No matter what we say to deny that we don't get influenced by television or the internet, the fact is, this type of influence is subconscious in such a way that we are not aware of our assumptions and our realities become based on the things we see and hear on the media.

Sure, there are variations of this influence. Some girls like to starve themselves to look beautiful and to fit in a certain sized pants or dress. Is there something wrong with that? You're buying less food and clothes, right? But then you're obviously overlooking the fact that you're killing yourself.

Let's move on to a story as an example of what I'm trying to say.

Ben is a 15 year old student. He is underweight for his age, has rumpled hair, large glasses, $15 shoes and usually wears a shirt he got from a charity event. He liked this girl, but according to other kids, she was way too popular for him. People made fun of him. In Gym class, he could never kick the soccer ball far enough or hard enough to score a goal. Other guys bullied him in the change room, laughing at his inability to be phsyically active.
In English class, however, he was an excellent student. He would answer all the teacher's questions about Animal Farm correctly. Some of his classmates, who tried to hide thier one ipod earphone in their ear with their hoods, wearing $200 shoes, armani shirts and American Eagle jeans, snickered and whispered words such as "nerd", or "loser". Ben didnt' understand. All he wanted to do was get a good grade, not be labelled as some kind of a geek. He really was interested in literature, and wanted to be an author some day. Why was he ridiculed for trying to do something he was happy with?

Typical high school story, right? My point is that some people are condemned in society because they don't act the way people are supposed to act. In high school, you can't be accepted as a normal human being if you don't spend enough money on clothes and accesories. If your interests are not the same with the rest of society;s interests, then you are unimportant. Undermined. Ridiculed. My story was a parallel to society today. You will be laughed at if you're not the way people expect you to be. You can be yourself, as long as you follow certain guidelines. Buy this, buy that, then you'll be accepted. Normal. Happy. It's an interesting dichotomy of normality and abnormality. The only ones who are excused from this are those with mental disabilities, religious fundamentalists, or people in third world countries.

Innocently Guilty: The Dichotomy of Feminity

Of course, another topic of communications to help me study, as well as reflect on societal norms and ideologies. Today, I will talk about the portrayals of women, and what women should be and should do, as well as the major issues that revolve around these ideologies.

The images of feminity in the mass media have, and continue to, help create ideologies to which we accept as the truth, or even natural. It is a questionable display of impossible aims that no woman can plausibly achieve to become "feminine".

Our biological sex, male and female, is unquestionable. It is the truth. However, gender, is an ideology that have been continuosuly shaped and re-shaped by the media. Let's take a look at a recent advertisement of a perfume created by Britney Spears. Though I do not remember the name, I clearly remember the 30 second commercial that was always on. It featured a couple, a conventionally handsome man and a beautiful woman, naked in bed. They were making passionate love to one another. And it ended with an image of a perfume bottle and its name.

Let's take a critical analysis of this commercial.

First, to put it bluntly, the woman has been objectified as a sexual being in this commercial. What does a woman need in order to have a muscular, sexy, good-looking man as her partner? She must have perfect eyebrows. Her lips need to be always shiny and appealing. She must be white. She must have fairly large breasts and a skinny body, no neck lines, wrinkles, etc. All the body parts I mentioned have implications of sexuality. However, the underlying message that is presented is even more disturbing. Women, as shown in my example, are reduced to body parts. The breasts and body figure are the basis of such presentations. There is a strong connection of objectification and sexuality within the media.

The more immediate issue with this is that the consumers, the audience, are recieving this persuasive message subconsciously. This is what Karl Marx meant when he said that the human mind and behaviour is both dependent and based upon the material and economic sectors of society. We receieve these messages, sometimes without even knowing or understanding its portrayals, and accept it as how society is, and how it should be.

I come to one definition of the term, "ideology", which I believe is very strong and persusaive: It is a value or belief system that we accept as the truth, which is composed of attitudes towards various institutions and processes of society. It provides the believer with a picture of the world as it is and as it should be, and in so doing, organizes the massive complexity of reality into a package of simple and recognizable world. (Chunn, n.p., 2008). In other words, women, being objectified as sex objects, as well as being reduced to mere body parts used for pleasure, are the values that we accept. Moreover, it defines our attitudes towards women in general, and it shows us what women are, and are supposed to be. At the same time, such beliefs createa a world in which we can easily identify feminity without the learnings or understandings of the complexity of women as human beings.

However, the ideology of feminity as a social convetion shaped by the media is not as simple. In fact, the media make it realistically impossible for the average woman to achieve such status. There are countless shows and advertisements (not just in television, but in radio, magazines, newspapers, and recently, the internet. As a side note, the internet is an extremely complex medium of communication itself) that convey women to be innocent and pure. The proper woman must talk as if the world is a happy place, and her "lover" is the only person to whom she is loyal. (To be continued).

CMNS 130 Review: "Alternative Media"

The mainstream media are rarely challenged by the mass audience. It is not necessairly a "bad" thing. The heart of democracy and liberalism allow free market claims: anyone can say what they want, and thus they have free expression. John Locke stated that the clash of various ideas and expressions will eventually lead to the results of "good" ideas becoming established as the dominant beliefs within a culture. The media support the mainstream views becuase it attracts the widest audience possible, which leads to advertisers' financial and economical support. It is their expression of ideas in a free market.

However, it is difficult for free ideas to "flow" when the costs of market entry overwhelms the views of alternative media. There are only a limited number of owners of the larger mass media organs, and it is simply difficult for other media companies to compete in this free space. They will eventually be bought out or joined with a larger media business. It is even more difficult when advertisers do not agree with the alternate views; the costs of production and distribution of such views are too high for alternate media to compete. Thus, the alternate views of society continue to be diminished, as mainstream beliefs and values continue to be reinforced.

The 3 public service alternatives

There are three publicly serviced alternatives that allows room for minority views to be expressed in the media.

The first one is called Franchised pluralism, which mirrors the plurality of society. Air-time and technical facilities are dependent on the size of membership and/or sale of the TV magazines, and thus organizations develop their own package of programs. They are financed through public funding, advertising, and membership dues. The disadvantages of this media is that these organizations and views cannot guarantee some kind of establishment when there are constant cultural and social changes in a society.

The second one is known as the Liberal Corporatist model. This type of media exist in most of western Europe, such as Germany.
The leading social interests are brought in which are regulated by appointed or elected broadcast councils. They guarantee pluralism of social opinion and the audience's right to participate in the expressions.
Obviously, the disadvantages of this model is that it can, and probably will, over-represent dominant social opinions at the expense of the unorganized and the weak social movements. The positions of the broadcast council can be biased and be filled on the basis of party support. It can also lead to decentralized management and even be opposed to federal government regulation of the media.

The third model is known as the Civil Service model. It occurs in Britain, where broadcasting allows a neutral zone above politics. Appointed authorities have overall control of public broadcasting, which funds by license fees. This way, alternative views can be financially backed and be allowed to express different social and cultural views.
The negative aspects of this model is that it still cannot sufficiently reflect the diversity of society, and the producers and authorities undermine government and flak criticisms of the media that may be biased.