Final Blog

I must say that in short amount of time, we have covered a wide range of topics. We discussed deviant behavior, serial killers, movies, music, the news, copycat affect, fallacies and a lot of other things. Of the topics talked about in class, I must say that my favorite was when we were talking about serial killer and the copycat effect. I liked seeing how some people really do things that they see done in tv or on movies and think that they will be able to replicate those things without getting caught. I also like this topic the most because it allowed for the most conversation and reflection about what causes people to do what they do, and if we as society can really place the blame on the media or if each person acts on their own. I didn’t like the fallacy topic as much as I enjoyed the others. This is because everyone knows that the media has an impact on everyone in some way or another, so trying to pinpoint which fallacy one falls into is not interesting to me. I also thought the reading for this topic was extremely boring as well, which made me even less interested than I was before. I would however like to see the topics about movies and music expanded. I think those were the most interesting broad topics because they have so many things that can be discussed in terms of justice and the media, but because they were the last things we talked about, we didn’t get to discuss some of the other important issues in each of these mediums. If I were to teach a class on media and justice I would focus on the broad categories of media, so music, television, movies and internet. There would be some reading for each of the topic areas as we discussed them, but for each topic I would take some examples and our class discussion would come out of examining those examples and identifying where the justice issues lie within those examples. I would keep the blog assignments, but I would use them as a forum for the students to talk about anything justice related. As long as the blogged twice a week about a justice issue, I wouldn’t care what the specific topic was. I think this would make more people write freely, because they wouldn’t be so worried about structuring what they say to fit a rubric. But that is how I would structure my class.

Rush Hour 2

The film I decided to look at was Rush Hour 2 starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. This movie is about Chris Tucker who works for the LAPD and Jackie Chan that is in charge of the police force in China. The movie shows the time it takes for these two to stop people from laundering fake money into the economy. This was a big justice issue in the movie, because it was important to make sure that the men responsible for doing the laundering did not get away with it. This pertains to the a similar justice issue, which is that people trying to incorporate fake money into the economy, which is not helpful, because it would in the end decrease the value of the American dollar. I know the there was a problem a while ago in which the US was worried about our money production because there was a lot of fake money in circulation. I think this movie did a good job at showing how some police officers will go undercover to unearth the truth. Overall I think this movie gives a good survey of how our justice system works to provide stability for all American people and this movie shows that.

Keep Ya Head Up: Tupac

You tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfXwmDGJAB8

Keep Ya Head Up By: Tupac

Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice
I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots
I give a holler to my sisters on welfare
Tupac cares, if don't nobody else care
And uhh, I know they like to beat ya down a lot
When you come around the block brothas clown a lot
But please don't cry, dry your eyes, never let up
Forgive but don't forget, girl keep your head up
And when he tells you you ain't nuttin don't believe him
And if he can't learn to love you you should leave him
Cause sista you don't need him
And I ain't tryin to gas ya up, I just call em how I see em
You know it makes me unhappy (what's that)
When brothas make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappy
And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it's time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don't we'll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can't make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one
So will the real men get up
I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up

[Chorus]

Keep ya head up, oooo child things are gonna get easier
ooooo child things'll
get brighter [2x]

[Verse Two:]

Aiyyo, I remember Marvin Gaye, used to sing ta me
He had me feelin like black was tha thing to be
And suddenly tha ghetto didn't seem so tough
And though we had it rough, we always had enough
I huffed and puffed about my curfew and broke the rules
Ran with the local crew, and had a smoke or two
And I realize momma really paid the price
She nearly gave her life, to raise me right
And all I had ta give her was my pipe dream
Of how I'd rock the mic, and make it to tha bright screen
I'm tryin to make a dollar out of fifteen cents
It's hard to be legit and still pay tha rent
And in the end it seems I'm headin for tha pen
I try and find my friends, but they're blowin in the wind
Last night my buddy lost his whole family
It's gonna take the man in me to conquer this insanity
It seems tha rain'll never let up
I try to keep my head up, and still keep from gettin wet up
You know it's funny when it rains it pours
They got money for wars, but can't feed the poor
Say there ain't no hope for the youth and the truth is
it ain't no hope for tha future
And then they wonder why we crazy
I blame my mother, for turning my brother into a crack baby
We ain't meant to survive, cause it's a setup
And even though you're fed up
Huh, ya got to keep your head up

[Chorus]

[Verse Three:]

And uhh
To all the ladies havin babies on they own
I know it's kinda rough and you're feelin all alone
Daddy's long gone and he left you by ya lonesome
Thank the Lord for my kids, even if nobody else want em
Cause I think we can make it, in fact, I'm sure
And if you fall, stand tall and comeback for more
Cause ain't nuttin worse than when your son
wants to kno why his daddy don't love him no mo'
You can't complain you was dealt this
hell of a hand without a man, feelin helpless
Because there's too many things for you to deal with
Dying inside, but outside you're looking fearless
While da tears, is rollin down your cheeks
Ya steady hopin things don't fall down this week
Cause if it did, you couldn't take it, and don't blame me
I was given this world I didn't make it
And now my son's getten older and older and cold
From havin the world on his shoulders
While the rich kids is drivin Benz
I'm still tryin to hold on to my survivin friends
And it's crazy, it seems it'll never let up, but
please... you got to keep your head up

My Response:

This song does not only look at one justice issue but focuses on the difficulties in being black in America. The song talks about women struggling to raise their children because the fathers leave. To me this is not just a black issue, but an issue that faces many women, but Tupac just focuses on how life occurs through the structure of the black family. Tupac also talks about the government and how he thinks they are only willing to sponsor war but not take initiative to help citizens that don’t have food to eat or a place to stay. This makes me think of when hurricane Katrina came and many people in Louisiana felt that the government did not do their part to make sure they received assistance in having a place to sleep at night and a warm meal. This song also speaks about how men need to stand up and take their place as men in the household and respect the women in their lives. This is important in justice, because often times television will show a man demeaning a woman or the woman being both father and mother to a child, and it has been so evident on tv that we think it is normal and correct. This song shows that it is not correct and should not be tolerated. Although a lot of people would say they would not listen to Tupac because he was a rapper that many would say is a gangster, I believe his lyrics have extremely positive messages and brings up important issues of justice.

Suicide

In reflecting on the guest speaker, I must say that most of the information presented was information that I remember being taught before in school. The one thing that I did not know was that 80% of people will think about suicide at least once in their life. I don’t know how accurate this is, but I know I don’t personally believe that many people have thoughts of committing suicide. I think the speaker had a lot of statistics and made me feel like I was back in middle school health class, which kind of turned me off and bored me, but I suppose it was beneficial to hear new things and new information about suicide. I know it is also beneficial to have tools to assist a friend or if I knew someone that was contemplating suicide. Overall I think we need to stop trying to inform people of how to identify if someone they know is suicidal but focus on making people self reliant and able to understand if they see characteristic in themselves.  Thinking about suicide in general, it seems to have become an epidemic in today’s society. It has become so normalized that people will begin to believe that it is okay. I really think that we should begin to look at people in the college age group to try to identify what is causing people to believe suicide is the only option they have and work to encourage life and success without making them feel babied and talked down to. This will be difficult to accomplish because we won’t be able to generalize because all people are different, but I think focusing on people as individuals and not just as a collective group will be beneficial.

Halloween

In honor of Halloween I know I have been watching plenty of scary movies. I think it is interesting to see how people are really afraid of these films and when thinking about justice and class I think it would be interesting to see why people are so scared of Halloween and scary movies. I would say that the fear that originates during this time is only present because of what the media has trained us to be afraid of. People are only scared, because they have been taught to be fearful. I think this really applies to the season and I think it would be really interesting if there was a way to test how fearful someone would be of scary movies if they were taught early on, that instead of scary movies that the characters were really funny. I know this seems really far stretched, because it has been engrained in us from a young age to be fearful of such things, but I wonder what the outcome would be. On another note, I think Halloween is an extremely fun time for people of all ages, and society has made this day one that allows people do things they wouldn’t do on a regular basis. All in all I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable day and eats all the candy they can, and don’t forget to take in a good horror movie to see if you are really scared because of what is going on, or if you are scared because of what society has told you is scary since you were young.

For Colored Girls

For this blog I thought I would look at something that I haven’t really looked at before. I have been paying a lot of attention to the information being given about Tyler Perry’s movie called For Colored Girls. I thought this was interesting first, because the trailer a previews for the movie don’t really tell what the show was going to be about, but further research would should that this movies is based on Ntozake Shange's play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf." I thought this was interesting because the play was about various controversial issues that arise in not only being a black woman, but a woman in general. The justice question from this however arises in that as a society we are still uncomfortable when discussing racial issues and sensitive topics, such as rape, abortion, abuse and other things. The basic information provided on tv about this movie completely leaves some people ignorant to the fact that the movie exists and what to expect when going to the theatre. As sad as it may be, I can predict that not many diverse populations will go to see this movie when it comes out next week. This is because as a culture we are still uncomfortable with the topics of race that I mentioned earlier. I must admit that when I first saw the previews for the movie I was not excited about going to see it, but now I look forward to seeing how the struggles of African American women will play out on screen and I hope to see women of other ethnicities in the theatre as well, because at the end of the day, we are all women, and most of our challenges will be universal for this very reason.

1998 film

After watching the 1998 film about copycat examples, I must say it was really creepy to believe that people actually are willing to imitate what they see done in tv and movies. The first example that shocked me was the one that showed the couple from Europe that would meet people, get engaged, get married, and then kill them for the insurance money. The couple would then leave Europe and come to the United States and live off the money. I was really shocked about these crimes, because they got away with this crime for a long time. I never would have thought so many people would commit crimes all in the name of doing something that they had already seen. The other example that made me laugh more than anything was when the women robbed a bank just as they had seen in the movie Set It Off. This was shocking to me, because I love that movie, but have never thought to use what I have seen in it to commit a robbery. I think people that commit crimes such as this lack the understanding of reality and what is fabricated to produce an interesting story line. The other example would be the Scream example. I know I have never seen the movies myself, but I can only imagine having someone fully dressed in a costume coming to murder just as they have in the movie. This is extremely scary and I bet the victims were overwhelmed in the beginning and obviously fearful in the end. As far as the copycat phenomenon I think it is ridiculous that people are willing to sacrifice the rest of their lives all for a moment of exhilaration. I also think that in general it is pure stupidity, because they only see what it right in front of them but they don’t look into the fact that they will be caught. In the end copying what you see on tv or movies is a stupid and irresponsible thing to do, because you sacrifice your life for an outcome seen in a movie, but often forget that what’s done in a movie is not real life.

Copycat Effect

Growing up I remember always seeing movies that would show college aged kids always drunk and at parties and having a good time. For some reason these students never seemed to have anything bad happen to them, and this made me think this is how college should be lived. I remember going to some parties freshman year and although I was copying what I had seen in movies and tv thousands of times, it was nothing like that. The one thing that really made me think was that everyone out partying and drinking got this perception of college life from somewhere, and most likely from tv shows and movies. I could base this assumption on the fact that everyone partying had the same idea of what a fun party going experience would be like which mirrored what happens in the movies. The sad part about me trying to copy as well as others was that no one actually took the time to understand the consequences that truly exist from wild nights of partying. The media fails to show these effects often times, which distorts reality and causes a dangerous downward spiral. Hopefully the media will begin to take note so that we don’t have a generation of people copying unsafe behavior.

Homecoming

The event I have been seeing heavily publicized is the Homecoming step show which is on Saturday. This has been publicized all over campus, in the Breeze on the website and in various ways. This is interesting to me and made me take notice, because although I have known about the show every year through word of mouth, I feel like this year the show was extremely well marketed. The advertisers for the show did a really good job at utilizing the different media sources we have available to not only cause people to take notice and be interested, but to also take the extra step to get people to attend. One other thing I noticed about this year, was that ticket sales were online. I may be wrong, but I do not remember tickets being sold online last year, which shows how as a community we are using our media outlets more and more. Overall I am excited for the events that will occur this weekend around campus for homecoming, and I know for a fact that there will be plenty of media buzz to celebrate the occasion.

Fallacies

I remember learning about these concepts when I was taking GCOM and it is interesting how these same concepts have reappeared in a lot of my classes since then. Although people often like to believe that they have their own way of thinking and that nothing can change that, but I must say that these fallacies are very interesting. The one fallacy I can say I relate to most often and easily is the Bandwagon effect. Not because of what other people say on a regular basis, but I do tend to join in when the media presents an idea. I remember believing that the little boy was trapped in the balloon. The bad thing about this is that I would usually say that this is ridiculous and unbelievable, but in this case, the story was all over every news show and newspaper, which made me believe it, had to be true. Instead of looking at the facts for me, I Believed what the media said was true, because most people believed that the little boy was really trapped inside the balloon, even though that was not true. Although the idea of a Department of Information is ridiculous in our present society, I do think it would be a great idea to have a department whose sole responsibility was to make sure that the information we received was factual. This would be ideal, because it would eliminate the notion of the public not receiving correct information and it would make it so that everyone would have the same facts when it comes to different stories. If only this organization would be able to be formed I think it would be great, but I know it would never happen, because then there would be disputes regarding free speech and I don’t think anyone is willing to fight about it.

Free Blog Due Monday

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/08/connecticut.murder.trial/index.html

For this blog I looked at a case about a home invasion which resulted in the murder of a wife and her two daughters. The husband was beaten but survived. This case occured in 2007 but now it is being tried in front of the jury. Mr. Petit, the male victim in the situation wanted to make a statement at the trial, but was encouraged not too, saying that his statement could allow the murders to appeal their cases at a later date. His statement could possibly cause problems at the appeal trials. This case is extremely sad in that this man  realizes that even if justice is served during trial he will never have his family back. This is interesting in accordance with the media because I have not seen or heard anything about this case since it first occured in 2007. I would personally think that this would be something that should be in the news because relatability. People with families can relate to this situation and thus want to know about it. Although this may be true, the media sets the agenda and if they say it's not important or entertaining enough to be in the news than it won't be. Sad but true I suppose.

Criminal Case Blog

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/03/AR2010100301659.html

The criminal case I looked at was about the lawsuit brought against Bishop Eddie Long. Long is the Bishop of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church which has grown to become a mega-church in the Atlanta area. Four men brought forth this case alleging Long coerced the men into sexual relationships with them. So far Long has only spoken to his congregation when he told them that he would fight all charges brought up against him. The only evidence so far for this case are photos that were supposedly sent by long to the victims that showed him dressed in tight or scandalous clothing, and the alleged victims receipts of gifts that were given to them by Long. As of right now nothing is certain and the details are still being investigated. When thinking about the reading for this week and this case, it is interesting to see how the media is able to make this story such a large part of the news. I personally have seen this story on television news, various newspapers and all over the internet. Just as the reading suggests, the media is able to regulate public agenda and what is important and what’s not. In influencing criminal justice policy this case may be presented with the media in mind even as the investigation continues, to either show Longs innocence or guilt. The main idea with this is that the media is how most of us will formulate our opinions on cases such as this. This crime is not entertainment to me and I don’t believe others would consider it to be entertainment but news. This alleged crime is not entertainment to me because it provides information of something that I would have otherwise not have known. Some may consider this to be entertainment though because Bishop Long is a prominent leader is his community and because he is the head of a mega- church some may consider him a celebrity, which could pertain to this entertainment factor as well, but not to me.

Examine the Role of the News

The main story I looked at came from CNN. The title of the article is 18 Election Workers Kidnapped Ahead of Vote. It appears that the news source is trying to give readers information concerning the elections taking place in Afghanistan. The article was going to highlight the successes and the failures that the government sees occurring, but it also wanted to report the stream of violence that is taking place as a result of trying to develop a democratic Afghanistan. The story of the kidnapping was not highlighted in the other two sources. I believe this is because the other sources were so focused on presenting information concerning the election that the other details were ignored. Overall I do not believe this is something that we as the public should be concerned about. At this point we all know that the Taliban is on a rampage and doing anything to stop the flow of democracy, so this is something that is not out of their norm. I do however think that the details of the election should be shared because it allows us to see how our efforts as a country have succeeded.

Free Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005889.html

For this assignment I looked at a story in the news, in which a former teacher only recieved probation for fondling a minor student.When initially reading this article I was disgusted that a plea agreement would have been reached for this man, seeing as though he has violated the system and sexually abused a achild, whose parents entrusted their son to this teacher and the school. The plea deal of probation for 5 years has been established, but this says nothing about the man being placed on a sex offenders list ir anything, and that should be included. Apparently the victims parents did not want the child to have to testify in court, but I feel that this allows a pervert to go free. Although the victims family may feel that justice has been served, I feel that there has been a disservice done to the community, because there is no way to identify the man in terms of his crime and nothing to keep him from being able to hurt another child.

Serial Killer Article

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/10/michigan-hunt-suspected-serial-killer-widens-attacks-black-men-ohio-virginia/

The article I looked at was about a suspected serial killer, who has attacked at least 20 men and killed 5 of those men. This article on Foxnews.com seems to pay more attention to the motivation of the serial killer than to the cases themselves. The news pays attention and tries to look into why the killer would do what he does. Law enforcement believes that racism and hatred for black men is the leading cause, because most of the victims have been black men. The article itself does not provide many details on the serial killer, because they don't know who he is for sure and they do not want to leak information to the public and have important details of the case circulated in the media. This article did not give any specific information about serial killers such as statistics or anything, but both federal and state law enforcement was mentioned as working to find the man responsible for the murders and bringing him into custody. Informtion about victims was not included besides the fact that some of them were black, because with the killer still at large, releasing that kind of information could be dangerous for the victims and their families. That was pretty much all the insformation that was presented in the article.

Virginia Woman to be Executed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091306282_2.html?sid=ST2010091306394

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2017362,00.html

http://www.examiner.com/headlines-in-san-francisco/virginia-woman-to-be-executed-is-first-98-years

The story I looked at was about a Virginia woman facing execution for the murder of her husband and stepson. I found articles on this story in the Washington Post, Time and in The Examiner. In each of the articles there are similarities and differences. All of the stories have the same basic information about how she hired two men and hired them to come into their home and kill her family. They also are similar in that they talk about her execution date getting closer and how the prison chaplain does not want her to be executed because she believes she can do alot of good for other women. There are differences in the articles, but I would say the most visible differences are in the Washington Post and the others. One says that the men stole her husbands money and another article says that she stole the money. Another difference in the Washington Post article is that it presents alot of additional information regarding the legistics of the case, such as the woman having her daughter have sex with one of the gunmen as payment for the murders. The stories don't appear to have any distorted facts beside the stolen cash facts. All in all the story line seems to be the same for all of the articles and strives to put forth information that is in tune with the facts that other articles have, some just have more information than others.

Deviant Behavior

http://www.wedgienation.com/publish/wedgie-picking.html

The site I selected looks at wedgie picking. This site appears to be a comical site with links to many different things all pertaining to wedgies and picking them out. This website has lots of pictures articles, blogs and videos all showing different wedgies from all different types of people. In my opinion picking out wedgies in public should not be labeled deviant. This is because to me, deviant behavior is something that is bad and simply unnatural. Picking out a wedgie is natural and it happens everywhere. Everyone has had a wedgie at one time or another and I don’t believe that they waited until they were alone to pick it out. Although one might be embarrassed while picking out a wedgie, they should not be labeled as taking part in a deviant activity. In general it shouldn’t be labeled deviant, because it is a natural occurrence and something that will occur in everyone’s life, and I must say it would be better to take care of a wedgie than be uncomfortable for the rest of your day.

Media Article

http://www.jobmonkey.com/realitytv/criticism.html


The article I read specifically criticized reality television. The article brought up concerns about reality television not allowing skilled and talented actors to work, because the openings in the industry are limited. The article also criticizes that the reality these shows claim to portray is all fabricated. The criticism is based strictly on reality television, but I don’t believe it has been well identified and covered in the article. I believe the author could have done a better job at expressing the criticisms that exist for reality television, because I am sure there are others, that were not mentioned. Although the article expresses concerns for the well being of actors that have studied the field, it does not include any information concerning the effects on the generation that has grown up with reality television as the main source of programming. I believe to be more effective in their criticisms they would need to better explain what other problems exist in reality broadcasting. Overall this article did not criticize the media form the way I believe it should have, and it did not provide information I thought it should have, but it did give some criticisms.

Media Fast Reaction

I completed my media fast Thursday going into Friday. I chose this time, because I knew that if I started later in the evening I would be preparing to go to bed, and although I don't have classes on Friday, I would be actively doing something all day. With this being said, I knew the fast was going to be difficult for me, especially when it was going to come to using my BlackBerry. This is because as sad as it may sound, my phone is my lifeline. It has apps and different things that help me get through my day as well as allows me to communicate with my friends on campus and back at home, as well as my family at home. This part of the fast was the most difficult for me, becuase it kept me from doing and using something that is so natural for me. Instead of relying on my phone for the 24 hours, I used my surroundings and the people arround me. I feel that I had more face to face conversations with my friencds, and it really makes a difference from talking to someone through text messages, than being one on one. It is easier to understand the other person and I feel that I was really able to understand what they were trying to tell me. All in all this fast was difficult, because it made me come out of my comfort zone and really express myself in different ways. This fast has also shown me that I do use a lot of different types of media, but I am not excessive in my usage, which I can say I am proud of. However I also noticed that I do use media for things that would better be accomplished if I would handle them on my own, without the media.

My Media Log Blog

My Media Log:


Wednesday September 1, 2010

This is my account of my media usage for September 1, 2010

1. I first have the TV on while I get dressed and ready to go to class

2. On my way out for class I make a few phone calls

3. While going from class to class and various places around campus, I listen to my Ipod

4. When I get back to my room, I listen to my Ipod or music on the computer

5. I later get on Facebook and check messages as well as other basic things

6. I then get back on my cell phone to make additional calls

7. I end my day watching TV and fall asleep doing such

This exercise has shown me that I use various media styles all throughout my day. But to my surprise, I don’t use any one type of medium as much as I thought I did. Where as many people I know are on Facebook for most of their day, I realized my use is minimal. I did however notice that I have music or the TV on as background noise a lot. Now most of the time I have it on I am not paying in depth attention to it, but it is their nevertheless. In the end, I must say it will be interesting to see how I do with completing the media fast.