My favorite blogs
I believe that one of my best blogs I have written in this class is blog number twelve. It is called "Happy Meals". This is because of the simple fact that it's very personal and simple written. I like to share personal experience and it's extra fun times like this when it makes you warm inside. In this case because it made me think about the three things I love; food, my grandma and my mother. I believe I understood the assignment and discussed the food advices that Michael Pollan gave us and explained how they could work in my own life.
The second blog that I like is a remake of one of the cats that we wrote in class for practice. It's called "imitation of film; here's smoking at you, kid". I like it because I remember putting a lot of work into it, trying to fix the mistakes that I had made originally. I tried real hard to structure the text as we learned in this class using claim, reason and evidence. It didn't come out perfect but I think it was when I wrote that text I started to understand what claim, reason and evidence are.
Last but not least I liked the one i wrote about Platon's Allegory and the cave. It was really fun sharing my interpretation. I thought the text was pretty hard to understand so I'm pleased with the result.
Using internet in class
When I found out that I had to take English 099 I didn't feel happy about it. I thought we would have to do everything the old fashion way with reading a boring text and write a paper by hand every single class. After my first lesson i changed my opinion completely. This was when I found out that we would be discussing interesting topics, creating a blog to write blog entries instead of writing papers. I think its a cleaver idea to educate by using technology that young adults are very familiar with. The best thing about it was that I could go online whenever and where ever I wanted to, I only needed to have access to internet. Some times I would even use my phone. The second thing that is super cool with working online is that I could go online to your blog and prepare myself by reading about next class. It was great to be able to go there to check information that I had missed or forgot about.
My Eng099 class
This class is one of the best ones I have had in a long time. I feel that my classmates are all very sweet. The energy in the classroom is very positive and it makes everything much easier. The first day I met you and my classmates I knew this was going to be a fun, interesting class. I have to give you the biggest cred, being able to keep me awake and engaged (this is my last class of a 12 hour school day). You are very positive and I love how engaged you are with us and the subjects we discussing.I have learned a lot in this class for example how to structure and compose a good text. My biggest problem that I had been struggling with for years was being able to write a longer text and now I don't have any problems with that anymore. Today is the big CAT test and even though I really enjoyed this class I hope that I do not have to retake it, only time will tell.
/Zandra
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
blog15
In the text "The new industrial migrants (part 1)" The Author of the text Eric Schlosser is discussing the striking similarity's he has noticed between the meatpacking and the fast food industry. This is because of the high turnover rate the industry's both have. Schlosser explains that what ones used to be a well paid job is now four decades later paying their hard workers as little as $9.25 an hour. One thing that he mentions in the text is that two third of the workers are immigrants who cannot hardly speak English. He believes that the high annual turnovers can be a tactic from the companies to get more control over the workers.
In “The new industrial migrants (part II) Eric Schlosser write about the fact that IBP are interested to hire immigrants cause they don't have the same requirements as American citizens has. For example; they will work hard for a lot less money then 'ordinary' Americans will. By doing so the IBP will earn a lot more money and they will decrease their spending's significantly.
I actually watched a documentary about this this summer when i was back in Sweden. The company hired immigrants from Mexico to come and work for them for a short period of time and then they called the United States Immigrations, and they came and took them away. By doing so they always kept a fresh set of employes, and they never got any trouble from them cause they where never there long enough to actually have demands. The most interesting thing was that the United States Immigrations never said anything about the fact that the company used illegal immigrants to work for them. It's almost felt like they where bribed. I for one think this is very wrong. It's against everything i stand for and i hope that things will change soon. It's so wrong that they pay these workers almost nothing for 5 days, and then just ship them back to their countries, and in some cases they never paid them anything.
Hopefully in the future this will come to and end and they will start treating their employes as human beings instead of treating them like 2 dollar signs.
In “The new industrial migrants (part II) Eric Schlosser write about the fact that IBP are interested to hire immigrants cause they don't have the same requirements as American citizens has. For example; they will work hard for a lot less money then 'ordinary' Americans will. By doing so the IBP will earn a lot more money and they will decrease their spending's significantly.
I actually watched a documentary about this this summer when i was back in Sweden. The company hired immigrants from Mexico to come and work for them for a short period of time and then they called the United States Immigrations, and they came and took them away. By doing so they always kept a fresh set of employes, and they never got any trouble from them cause they where never there long enough to actually have demands. The most interesting thing was that the United States Immigrations never said anything about the fact that the company used illegal immigrants to work for them. It's almost felt like they where bribed. I for one think this is very wrong. It's against everything i stand for and i hope that things will change soon. It's so wrong that they pay these workers almost nothing for 5 days, and then just ship them back to their countries, and in some cases they never paid them anything.
Hopefully in the future this will come to and end and they will start treating their employes as human beings instead of treating them like 2 dollar signs.
blog17
In the movie "The Story of Stuff” Annie Leonard argues that our material production system is in crises because at the moment it works like a linear system instead of a circulation system that goes round and round. She want us to change this so that everything works just like life does; mosquitos are alive so that birds can eat them, so that wolfs can eat the birds, so that bears can eat the wolfs and then it continues on and on just like a rolling wheal. The system that we are in right now does not work like that. We are not recycling the stuff that we buy, we use it and then we throw it away. Big companies out there are using a marketing strategy that makes us consume a lot more stuff than we used to. This is because they are consciously using bad materials that easily break so that we have to buy new things. This is another smart way of tricking the costumers so that they can earn more money. They become winners and we losers, but wait a minute, if you really think about it we are all losers. The whole human population is hurting from the pollution that this linear system brings from producing so much without recycling it. The problem is that most peoples think that they can buy happiness. The American dream is to become rich so that they can wear their favorite designer and fill their homes with fancy shiny things. Are we not supposed to value health over money? If we’re not healthy it does not matter how much money we have, then we are nothing.
My dad always said to me “health is the most important thing, cause money has no value if you are dead".
Even though i know all this, and i think about it every day i fall in their trap. I always have a craving for buying new things. The way they built the system is that if you don't buy enough things you will fall behind. For example; the new facebook trend on smartphones. If you don't have the newest iPhone or blackberry you can't stay in touch with your friends the way other people can, you fall behind and you actually loose some of your social life. But the companies that provides all of these unnecessary things want to make money, so they trick us all. They make millions of dollars every day and ordinary people, such as u and i pay the prize. If we just look back 50 years we see a huge difference. The things they made before where made to last you a lifetime, cause the companies wanted to provide you with something good. Nowadays, the companies work together to earn more money. One company make the batteries, another make the chords & another one make the product. They design the product to last you about 2 years so you have to buy a new one when it breaks, cause they don't make spare parts for the 'older models'. It's an linear system where less then 1% of the population benefits.
If we all thought about this every day and actually wanted to make a difference, we could. Cause remember this; if we don't buy anything they don't make anything. The power have always, and will always be with the people.
My dad always said to me “health is the most important thing, cause money has no value if you are dead".
Even though i know all this, and i think about it every day i fall in their trap. I always have a craving for buying new things. The way they built the system is that if you don't buy enough things you will fall behind. For example; the new facebook trend on smartphones. If you don't have the newest iPhone or blackberry you can't stay in touch with your friends the way other people can, you fall behind and you actually loose some of your social life. But the companies that provides all of these unnecessary things want to make money, so they trick us all. They make millions of dollars every day and ordinary people, such as u and i pay the prize. If we just look back 50 years we see a huge difference. The things they made before where made to last you a lifetime, cause the companies wanted to provide you with something good. Nowadays, the companies work together to earn more money. One company make the batteries, another make the chords & another one make the product. They design the product to last you about 2 years so you have to buy a new one when it breaks, cause they don't make spare parts for the 'older models'. It's an linear system where less then 1% of the population benefits.
If we all thought about this every day and actually wanted to make a difference, we could. Cause remember this; if we don't buy anything they don't make anything. The power have always, and will always be with the people.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
blog14
In a movie called "sleep dealer" one of the main characters are selling videos of her memories and other memories in cyberspace. This makes me think about the possibility's and downsides that internet-blogs has. A blog is a portal where you can share information about you or any other human being. For example, we have personalized blogs where writers write about their everyday life's. The writer share videos, photos and thoughts. Most of the blogs are kind of basic in a way, the writer does not share anything to private and are therefore able to keep his or her private life an unrevealed secret. On the other hand there are people who like to share their lives completely, like an open book for anyone to read. Just like in the movie, Luz chose to sell her memories to whoever for money and that is exactly what most of the top bloggers do today. My concern is that the top bloggers does not only have the power to harm their own repetition but also others. The problem is that they get paid by how many readers they have and there are bloggers who likes to provoke to get more subscribers.
Today's world is controlled by internet. It is very easy to get lost in the thought of earning quick money, so some people forget about the consequence's it may bring . People don't think one extra time before they decide to publish a blog entrance. There are stories about people getting fired from their job after their bosses read their blog with pictures showing a little bit to much or even worse, people committing suicide after all the negative response that they got from the outside world. My point is that we should be a little more thoughtful before we post things on internet because once it is out there it will never ever disappear which is very scary if you think that extra time. We have a responsibility over our own life and know that our acts have their consequences. We have the power to decide what we want to share with the rest of the internet users. I think it is fantastic that we can, I just do not like seeing anyone get hurt.
One of the worlds biggest blogger is "www.kissies.se" she is a young girl who decided to go as far as it took to become famous and rich. Her posts are always very revealing, she has done tons of plastic surgery, plays that she is blond without a brain and get millions of readers because she provokes everyone so much. People get annoyed of her behavior and want to go back to se what is the next thing she will do to chock her readers. So now she is famous and very rich but everything comes with a price. Because of how she acts in her blog everyone thinks that is who she is, a mean bimbo who had to much surgery. The sad part is that she has gotten so many mean comments about how she looks so she has developed anorexia and is planning to do a second nose job. Is that really what she wants when she is thirty? When she is done with the whole "blogging-thing"? I feel sad that she has done this to herself. I can only see one positive thing about it and that is that she made a decision to do this to herself without using other people and their mistakes to become sucsessful.
Luz made a living from selling her and others memories and unfortunately there are people in the real world who does exactly the same thing, who take advantage from others, it makes me so angry! That someone can do that just for something as simple as money or recognition. Before you share your thoughts with cyberspace please think again and again, then make a decision if you can deal with the thought that your post will live on forever, in cyberspace. Even twenty years from now your picture and posts will still be out there maybe haunting you from someone you thought you were but not really are.
Today's world is controlled by internet. It is very easy to get lost in the thought of earning quick money, so some people forget about the consequence's it may bring . People don't think one extra time before they decide to publish a blog entrance. There are stories about people getting fired from their job after their bosses read their blog with pictures showing a little bit to much or even worse, people committing suicide after all the negative response that they got from the outside world. My point is that we should be a little more thoughtful before we post things on internet because once it is out there it will never ever disappear which is very scary if you think that extra time. We have a responsibility over our own life and know that our acts have their consequences. We have the power to decide what we want to share with the rest of the internet users. I think it is fantastic that we can, I just do not like seeing anyone get hurt.
One of the worlds biggest blogger is "www.kissies.se" she is a young girl who decided to go as far as it took to become famous and rich. Her posts are always very revealing, she has done tons of plastic surgery, plays that she is blond without a brain and get millions of readers because she provokes everyone so much. People get annoyed of her behavior and want to go back to se what is the next thing she will do to chock her readers. So now she is famous and very rich but everything comes with a price. Because of how she acts in her blog everyone thinks that is who she is, a mean bimbo who had to much surgery. The sad part is that she has gotten so many mean comments about how she looks so she has developed anorexia and is planning to do a second nose job. Is that really what she wants when she is thirty? When she is done with the whole "blogging-thing"? I feel sad that she has done this to herself. I can only see one positive thing about it and that is that she made a decision to do this to herself without using other people and their mistakes to become sucsessful.
Luz made a living from selling her and others memories and unfortunately there are people in the real world who does exactly the same thing, who take advantage from others, it makes me so angry! That someone can do that just for something as simple as money or recognition. Before you share your thoughts with cyberspace please think again and again, then make a decision if you can deal with the thought that your post will live on forever, in cyberspace. Even twenty years from now your picture and posts will still be out there maybe haunting you from someone you thought you were but not really are.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
blog 12
in the text "Happy meals" written by Michael Pollan he gives us some great short advice about how we can improve our eating habits.
The first thing he said that caught my attention was " Don't eat anything that your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food". I really liked this statment because now when I am on my own, living in my own apartment I have realized that my mum and grandmother have had such an big influence in what I am eating today. They were the ones who thought me what real food looks like. So this is something that is a part of who we are, what my family has eaten on a regular basis for generations. I would say it is very do-able because the diet contains a loot of vegetables, potatoes and real meat. I wish I could have my own garden just like they both have. I would grow my own tomatoes, vegetables, potatoes and herbs. Unfortunately my current living situation makes it impossible. Perhaps some day in the future when
I move back to my home country; Sweden or get an apartment here with a little backyard I could do it. It is something very special about eating things that you have grown yourself, It is all natural without anything else added and it taste like heaven. Right now I do not eat a lot of leaves just by the simple fact of that I have not thought about how healthy it is until I read this text, so even though I cannot grow my own at the moment I feel that it is very easy for me to start buying it to add more vitamins to my diet.
It is funny, he mentioned something I had never thought about before; we should try to stay out of the middle part of the supermarket because most stores are divided in the same way. He is giving examples of that they often keep fresh fruit on the walls surrounding the store while In the middle they keep processed food. I started thinking about how the supermarket I always shop at looks like and sure enough, they keep all the organic food on the edges of the store and the processed food in the middle. I buy organic things because I want to make sure that they did not put anything else in the food that I do not know about. weird numbers and ingredients i do not recognize freaks me out so I do my best trying to stay away from them. It may be a little more expensive but just as Michael Pollan says " those who can afford to eat well should", eating healthy can only do you good. I try not to eat so much processed food that is canned with large amounts of sodium and fat but it is hard to stay away from all processed food because from what I have learned Milk for examples is processed food. So this could be a little more challenging for me than the other advises that I was discussing earlier.
Since I was talking about how the stores are divided it hit me that in every single store they keep candy, twinkies and other snacks buy the cashier. I am guessing that they do this to tempt you to buy sweet stuff while you are waiting for your turn. This brings me to another advise from Michael Pollan "Don't eat anything incabable of rotting". I do not know if candy go bad, it often looses its freshness but it does not start to smell like real food does. So candy I can not stay away from, candy brings stars of happiness to my eyes. Other things like muffins or Twinkies I do not have any problems at all staying away from. To be honest they do not appeal to me at all, I feel grossed out just looking at them, especially after my teacher reviled the truth about them not being cab able of rotting.
I loved most of his tips that he shared with us in the text. The ones I found a little more challenging I will try to have an open mind to and do my best to follow them. Thanks to my grandmother and great advice I am happy to say that I believe that I will have a decent diet to pass on to the next generation of kids in my family.
The first thing he said that caught my attention was " Don't eat anything that your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food". I really liked this statment because now when I am on my own, living in my own apartment I have realized that my mum and grandmother have had such an big influence in what I am eating today. They were the ones who thought me what real food looks like. So this is something that is a part of who we are, what my family has eaten on a regular basis for generations. I would say it is very do-able because the diet contains a loot of vegetables, potatoes and real meat. I wish I could have my own garden just like they both have. I would grow my own tomatoes, vegetables, potatoes and herbs. Unfortunately my current living situation makes it impossible. Perhaps some day in the future when
I move back to my home country; Sweden or get an apartment here with a little backyard I could do it. It is something very special about eating things that you have grown yourself, It is all natural without anything else added and it taste like heaven. Right now I do not eat a lot of leaves just by the simple fact of that I have not thought about how healthy it is until I read this text, so even though I cannot grow my own at the moment I feel that it is very easy for me to start buying it to add more vitamins to my diet.
It is funny, he mentioned something I had never thought about before; we should try to stay out of the middle part of the supermarket because most stores are divided in the same way. He is giving examples of that they often keep fresh fruit on the walls surrounding the store while In the middle they keep processed food. I started thinking about how the supermarket I always shop at looks like and sure enough, they keep all the organic food on the edges of the store and the processed food in the middle. I buy organic things because I want to make sure that they did not put anything else in the food that I do not know about. weird numbers and ingredients i do not recognize freaks me out so I do my best trying to stay away from them. It may be a little more expensive but just as Michael Pollan says " those who can afford to eat well should", eating healthy can only do you good. I try not to eat so much processed food that is canned with large amounts of sodium and fat but it is hard to stay away from all processed food because from what I have learned Milk for examples is processed food. So this could be a little more challenging for me than the other advises that I was discussing earlier.
Since I was talking about how the stores are divided it hit me that in every single store they keep candy, twinkies and other snacks buy the cashier. I am guessing that they do this to tempt you to buy sweet stuff while you are waiting for your turn. This brings me to another advise from Michael Pollan "Don't eat anything incabable of rotting". I do not know if candy go bad, it often looses its freshness but it does not start to smell like real food does. So candy I can not stay away from, candy brings stars of happiness to my eyes. Other things like muffins or Twinkies I do not have any problems at all staying away from. To be honest they do not appeal to me at all, I feel grossed out just looking at them, especially after my teacher reviled the truth about them not being cab able of rotting.
I loved most of his tips that he shared with us in the text. The ones I found a little more challenging I will try to have an open mind to and do my best to follow them. Thanks to my grandmother and great advice I am happy to say that I believe that I will have a decent diet to pass on to the next generation of kids in my family.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Blog 11
In the film “The story of bottled water” made by Annie Leonard
they are discussing the fact that the American people buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week. They want people to stop purchasing bottle water because we already have great water in our taps. It is better for the environment and you save money. Studies has showed that the water we have in our homes are often cleaner and taste better than the water we pay an awful lot of money for at the grocery store.
I was not surprised at all when they mentioned in the video that tap water is often healthier/cleaner than the water we buy on bottle. I do not know if this is just another home run for the companies being able to fool by scaring the American people that their water is bad in some way because before I moved here I had never heard about bottle water. I grew up in the north part of Sweden and we never had the access to bottle water. They do not sell it anywhere. Everyone is drinking it straight from the tap. If you are waking in the woods you can find the cleanest running water. Some people even have their own water springs for their home. When I started visit my sisters in New York I realized that everyone was drinking water on bottle. This made me think that maybe their water was bad. It did taste a little funny because of the chlorine so I am thinking that this may be a chain reaction. It may have started with companies who wanted to make money, so they spread myths about how bad the American tap water is so that people would start purchasing their bottles. Then people who had not heard about these lies started seeing people drinking water from bottles and just like me, without digging deeper into why, they just decided that is what you should do.
What the process of making these plastic bottles does to our world is just awful. We live in the United States and buy a sick number of bottles every week that they ship worldwide, one brand I know of travels all the way from Island. I think that we should really start thinking green for real. They are fooling us by putting texts on the bottles claiming that a smaller cap on a bottle is green. If people would use the money that they save from not buying water for a week to buy a filter instead they could start making the world a greener place and also save a lot of money to enjoy it.
they are discussing the fact that the American people buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week. They want people to stop purchasing bottle water because we already have great water in our taps. It is better for the environment and you save money. Studies has showed that the water we have in our homes are often cleaner and taste better than the water we pay an awful lot of money for at the grocery store.
I was not surprised at all when they mentioned in the video that tap water is often healthier/cleaner than the water we buy on bottle. I do not know if this is just another home run for the companies being able to fool by scaring the American people that their water is bad in some way because before I moved here I had never heard about bottle water. I grew up in the north part of Sweden and we never had the access to bottle water. They do not sell it anywhere. Everyone is drinking it straight from the tap. If you are waking in the woods you can find the cleanest running water. Some people even have their own water springs for their home. When I started visit my sisters in New York I realized that everyone was drinking water on bottle. This made me think that maybe their water was bad. It did taste a little funny because of the chlorine so I am thinking that this may be a chain reaction. It may have started with companies who wanted to make money, so they spread myths about how bad the American tap water is so that people would start purchasing their bottles. Then people who had not heard about these lies started seeing people drinking water from bottles and just like me, without digging deeper into why, they just decided that is what you should do.
What the process of making these plastic bottles does to our world is just awful. We live in the United States and buy a sick number of bottles every week that they ship worldwide, one brand I know of travels all the way from Island. I think that we should really start thinking green for real. They are fooling us by putting texts on the bottles claiming that a smaller cap on a bottle is green. If people would use the money that they save from not buying water for a week to buy a filter instead they could start making the world a greener place and also save a lot of money to enjoy it.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
blog 10
In the text "imitation of film; here's smoking at you, kid" written by Nicholas Balakar he is expressing his worries about how kids are starting to imitate actors who smoke in movies. From the age of ten to fourteen they are in a dangerous zone of becoming smokers. This is after watching their favorite actors smoke in R-rated movies. R-rated movies contain twice as much smoking characters. A research made by James D. Sarget showed a scary percentage; thirty eight percent of children who watch R-rated movies start smoking for that very reason. In this study James D asked 6522 young kids about their relationships to movies. Results showed that children who watched a lot of movies was more likely to fall in the trap of smoking. Dr Sarget admits that the result of the study only represents the number of the young children but that the percentage should still be taken very seriously.
I agree with Balakar when he states that:
"Children the ages of 10 to 14 are much more likely to take up on smoking if they have seen actors smoke in movies".
Actors has a big influence on kids because they look up to them. I believe that the risk of you staring smoking when you are young is way higher than when you are older. Young children should not be allowed to watch R-rated movies. When kids are standing on their feet ready to take a step into the adult world it is hard to know how to act. That is why a lot of kids imitate adults such as their favorite actors. The risk of becoming a smoker when you are young is big because you are really at the point of your life when you want to feel older and grown up. R-rated movies contain material that is suited for adults and should therefor not be watched by kids.
I think one of the most difficult time of your life is when you are a teenager. It is a very fragile period of time because you are still a child but on your way of becoming an adult. I remember looking up to people who was older than me. I would watch them walk, talk and how they drank their coffee. It is so easy to take after things that they do because you associate it with being an adult. When I look back at myself around the same age I used to copy the acts of the one I admire to most; my older sister. I remember when me and my best friend were little. We used to go to the store and buy cigarets that was made out of chocolate. We would go out a really chilly winter day, when the cold air creates smoke from your mouth when you breath and then walk around in in public places with our fake cigarets. We felt like adults tricking everyone that we were smoking. So I know with my own experience that adults and actors has a huge impact on kids especially around the age of 10 to 14 when you are not old enough to understand what is a vise decision or not.
Parents should be more strict about what types of movies they let their kids watch to make sure that they are not exposed to violence or smoking at a young age. R-rated movies are called that for a reason and if the movie theaters take their responsibility of not letting underage kids watch R-rated movies, parents should do the same. I also think it is important to educate children at an early age about the danger of smoking. One thing that a teacher of mine in junior high did was inviting a man who suffered from lung cancer to one of our classes. He made me not even wanna touch a cigaret after listening to how his life turned from beautiful to painful.
We all know that children look up to older people that they admire, I can only hope that adults like myself start taking action because that is really all you can do. whether If it is you as a parent, the man in the ticket window at the movies or the teachers. It starts with you.
I agree with Balakar when he states that:
"Children the ages of 10 to 14 are much more likely to take up on smoking if they have seen actors smoke in movies".
Actors has a big influence on kids because they look up to them. I believe that the risk of you staring smoking when you are young is way higher than when you are older. Young children should not be allowed to watch R-rated movies. When kids are standing on their feet ready to take a step into the adult world it is hard to know how to act. That is why a lot of kids imitate adults such as their favorite actors. The risk of becoming a smoker when you are young is big because you are really at the point of your life when you want to feel older and grown up. R-rated movies contain material that is suited for adults and should therefor not be watched by kids.
I think one of the most difficult time of your life is when you are a teenager. It is a very fragile period of time because you are still a child but on your way of becoming an adult. I remember looking up to people who was older than me. I would watch them walk, talk and how they drank their coffee. It is so easy to take after things that they do because you associate it with being an adult. When I look back at myself around the same age I used to copy the acts of the one I admire to most; my older sister. I remember when me and my best friend were little. We used to go to the store and buy cigarets that was made out of chocolate. We would go out a really chilly winter day, when the cold air creates smoke from your mouth when you breath and then walk around in in public places with our fake cigarets. We felt like adults tricking everyone that we were smoking. So I know with my own experience that adults and actors has a huge impact on kids especially around the age of 10 to 14 when you are not old enough to understand what is a vise decision or not.
Parents should be more strict about what types of movies they let their kids watch to make sure that they are not exposed to violence or smoking at a young age. R-rated movies are called that for a reason and if the movie theaters take their responsibility of not letting underage kids watch R-rated movies, parents should do the same. I also think it is important to educate children at an early age about the danger of smoking. One thing that a teacher of mine in junior high did was inviting a man who suffered from lung cancer to one of our classes. He made me not even wanna touch a cigaret after listening to how his life turned from beautiful to painful.
We all know that children look up to older people that they admire, I can only hope that adults like myself start taking action because that is really all you can do. whether If it is you as a parent, the man in the ticket window at the movies or the teachers. It starts with you.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Blog 6
I red the 3 questions and i decided to write about the first alternative; The Perfect World.
In my humble opinion, the world we live in is far from perfect. It is actually quite the opposite . Truman lived in what many may call ’heaven on earth’, his neighbors where friendly and his wife was a stereotype of a perfect woman. He had a job he enjoyed, a beautiful house and the streets in the city where so clean they almost looked unreal. If we just compare my life to his on paper, he would knock me down in the first round. But I have something he did not; A Choice.
I consider myself to be quite a creative person. I enjoy art, fashion, music & my main interest is photography. I choose to go to school to improve my skills in photography because that was really the only thing I could see my self working with. The downside of choosing such a career is that you have to struggle twice as hard to reach half as far. I would love to just be able to snap my fingers and voila; I am living my dream.
The thing about choice and free will is that it often comes back and bites you. Cause choices are often based on sudden emotions & impulses. I for one would love to have someone stop me before I am about to, once again do something stupid.
For example; Once I made up my mind that I wanted to become a photographer I decided that the first thing I would need is a brand new camera. The problem however was that i did not have any money to afford the camera I wanted. But thanks to modern society & the payment plans I was able to pay monthly. I was great the first month, until I actually had to start paying. It is catch 22. I have to buy equipment for my career, but my career are not making me that much, not until I become that big successful photographer. Sometimes I am selfish, wishing life could be easier even though it is not really that bad. But comparing to Truman's, he had everything planned out for him.
So if I had to pick a world I would definitely live in Seahaven. Just think about it; being born into success without all the blood, sweat and tears. Now that is really heaven on earth, even with the cardboard walls and fake smiles.
In my humble opinion, the world we live in is far from perfect. It is actually quite the opposite . Truman lived in what many may call ’heaven on earth’, his neighbors where friendly and his wife was a stereotype of a perfect woman. He had a job he enjoyed, a beautiful house and the streets in the city where so clean they almost looked unreal. If we just compare my life to his on paper, he would knock me down in the first round. But I have something he did not; A Choice.
I consider myself to be quite a creative person. I enjoy art, fashion, music & my main interest is photography. I choose to go to school to improve my skills in photography because that was really the only thing I could see my self working with. The downside of choosing such a career is that you have to struggle twice as hard to reach half as far. I would love to just be able to snap my fingers and voila; I am living my dream.
The thing about choice and free will is that it often comes back and bites you. Cause choices are often based on sudden emotions & impulses. I for one would love to have someone stop me before I am about to, once again do something stupid.
For example; Once I made up my mind that I wanted to become a photographer I decided that the first thing I would need is a brand new camera. The problem however was that i did not have any money to afford the camera I wanted. But thanks to modern society & the payment plans I was able to pay monthly. I was great the first month, until I actually had to start paying. It is catch 22. I have to buy equipment for my career, but my career are not making me that much, not until I become that big successful photographer. Sometimes I am selfish, wishing life could be easier even though it is not really that bad. But comparing to Truman's, he had everything planned out for him.
So if I had to pick a world I would definitely live in Seahaven. Just think about it; being born into success without all the blood, sweat and tears. Now that is really heaven on earth, even with the cardboard walls and fake smiles.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Blog 8
After reading Cornell and Malcolmson’s article "Is Ignorance Bliss?" where they refer to John Stuart Mill's idea; that humans rather know the truth then to live happily unknowing, without asking any questions.
I disagree with Mill, If you don not know the truth you will continue asking questions and I believe that knowing the truth will kill your dreams and aspirations. Since our time on earth is limited I would rather spend it living happy in my own reality than miserable knowing.
If people knew the absolute truth then there would not be any dreams or aspirations. If you knew that you would never succeed with that goal of becoming the next great singer, you would never try it and you would certainly never dare to dream about it. Aspirations is what keeps us going, and dreams is what keep the spark alive. If we knew everything we would never seek any answers. For example; if you where to wake up right now, in a mental facility strapped with a straitjacket with no ability to get better. Everything you have ever believed to be real turns out to be an illusion. If you had to choose to live in the real reality you just woke up to or go back to your dreamworld, what would you choose? I would with out a question choose to go back.
Not long ago I lost someone close to me to cancer. We found out years ago and his health was pending up and down from day to day. One thing that made him so very special was that even though his illness was slowly killing his young soul, the thought of surviving was always there. He could get the most difficult prognoses but would always keep going with his head held up high. Imagine if we knew the truth, if we would have been given a date. I do feel that Cornell and Malcolmson’s titel of the text is so true, Ignorance is a bliss. Not knowing is a tool made for us to be able to survive trough the most difficult times of our lives. Uncertainty makes us think, hope and dream. Maybe we will never get our questions answered but at least it made us rest a little from the thought of losing him. It made us enjoy our lives to the fullest, I even followed my goal and went here, to the United states still hoping he would get better.
I believe that not knowing the truth is a gift that we should be very grateful for. Maybe it is not easy to understand how helpful it is for you until you have to go trough a challenging time in you life. Perhaps it will at least make you ask questions and if you do not know if your dreams will come trough or not, you will dream forever.
I disagree with Mill, If you don not know the truth you will continue asking questions and I believe that knowing the truth will kill your dreams and aspirations. Since our time on earth is limited I would rather spend it living happy in my own reality than miserable knowing.
If people knew the absolute truth then there would not be any dreams or aspirations. If you knew that you would never succeed with that goal of becoming the next great singer, you would never try it and you would certainly never dare to dream about it. Aspirations is what keeps us going, and dreams is what keep the spark alive. If we knew everything we would never seek any answers. For example; if you where to wake up right now, in a mental facility strapped with a straitjacket with no ability to get better. Everything you have ever believed to be real turns out to be an illusion. If you had to choose to live in the real reality you just woke up to or go back to your dreamworld, what would you choose? I would with out a question choose to go back.
Not long ago I lost someone close to me to cancer. We found out years ago and his health was pending up and down from day to day. One thing that made him so very special was that even though his illness was slowly killing his young soul, the thought of surviving was always there. He could get the most difficult prognoses but would always keep going with his head held up high. Imagine if we knew the truth, if we would have been given a date. I do feel that Cornell and Malcolmson’s titel of the text is so true, Ignorance is a bliss. Not knowing is a tool made for us to be able to survive trough the most difficult times of our lives. Uncertainty makes us think, hope and dream. Maybe we will never get our questions answered but at least it made us rest a little from the thought of losing him. It made us enjoy our lives to the fullest, I even followed my goal and went here, to the United states still hoping he would get better.
I believe that not knowing the truth is a gift that we should be very grateful for. Maybe it is not easy to understand how helpful it is for you until you have to go trough a challenging time in you life. Perhaps it will at least make you ask questions and if you do not know if your dreams will come trough or not, you will dream forever.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
blog 5
After analyzing the class readings and watching The Truman Show, I think that my reality depends a bit on the media. For instance I feel that television is almost like my personal therapist.
Television is a tempting world filled with signs of opportunities, dreams and drama. A click on the remote and you have the freedom to sway away for a minute, the chance to escape from reality or maybe even face your reality. You have the chance to either watch something that triggers your dreams, make you laugh, make you emotional or something that you can relate to at that time in your life. Television can also be so outrageous that it helps you to get to that level where you can just breath and simply feel human.
I was born in the 90's so I have always been surrounded by media my entire life, it is a part of my world. I realize that a lot of things that I see on TV is not real but at the same time it is just as real as it is not. By saying that I mean that I might get that the film I am watching is just made up by script, but it still leaves you with a certain feeling and a feeling is always real. To me television is something beautiful, it is like a box where I can ventilate my feelings. If I feel sad I watch a film that really get to me and make me tear up. If I feel excited I want to embrace that feeling by watching a fun movie that cracks me up. It is like having a good balance between reality and another world. If I feel that I need to have a sneak peak into a life that is far away from mine, I can choose to look at that kind of show just to make myself feel good. It is reality to me just because of the feelings that it leaves with me.
I know you probably going to think that I am weird now that I am not reflecting whether or not how controlled we are by the media in reality on other parts like commercials and reality shows. But just as the prisoner in the cave, I feel like I am the one who is still in the darkness not willing to explore my opinion any further than this.
Television is a tempting world filled with signs of opportunities, dreams and drama. A click on the remote and you have the freedom to sway away for a minute, the chance to escape from reality or maybe even face your reality. You have the chance to either watch something that triggers your dreams, make you laugh, make you emotional or something that you can relate to at that time in your life. Television can also be so outrageous that it helps you to get to that level where you can just breath and simply feel human.
I was born in the 90's so I have always been surrounded by media my entire life, it is a part of my world. I realize that a lot of things that I see on TV is not real but at the same time it is just as real as it is not. By saying that I mean that I might get that the film I am watching is just made up by script, but it still leaves you with a certain feeling and a feeling is always real. To me television is something beautiful, it is like a box where I can ventilate my feelings. If I feel sad I watch a film that really get to me and make me tear up. If I feel excited I want to embrace that feeling by watching a fun movie that cracks me up. It is like having a good balance between reality and another world. If I feel that I need to have a sneak peak into a life that is far away from mine, I can choose to look at that kind of show just to make myself feel good. It is reality to me just because of the feelings that it leaves with me.
I know you probably going to think that I am weird now that I am not reflecting whether or not how controlled we are by the media in reality on other parts like commercials and reality shows. But just as the prisoner in the cave, I feel like I am the one who is still in the darkness not willing to explore my opinion any further than this.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Blog 7
"Among the dangerous messages that reality TV sends out are the importance of competition, the value of image over ability, and the obsolescence of education"
I agree with Timothy Sexton, I am scared that teens could get lazy and instead of aiming for good grades and really work hard in school they think that they can get the easy way out by auditioning for fame and success in the latest reality show. Young women who think they got the looks might get the idea that ability does not matter since the people in the reality TV shows make it seem like that is all that you need to become successful in life.
Sexton are very concern about the signals reality shows are sending out to young people and so am I. I agree that it is very dangerous, actually more dangerous than most people think. I am scared that young people who are a little disorientated and do not really know what they want to do with their life's, might just get lazy and put their pens on their desks in school. This is after they have watched how easy it is to become famous in TV shows like "Jersey Shore" where they compete by who can make the biggest fool out of them self in national TV. Just show your tits or if not, sleep with the most chicks or drink the most tequila shoots out of everyone in the "Jersey shore house".
I feel that the luxury s lifestyle that the producers are sending out in shows like "The hills" are very tempting for young girls. The women in "the Hills" are all extremely good looking, skinny and wear the latest fashion. They are always invited to the most exclusive parties in Hollywood. What young girl would say no to that? my concern is that the outside are overshadowing other amazing sides of our youngsters, like that they are actually very smart, have good hearts and are good at other things than just shopping Prada bags. Media are promoting the importance of the shell of us humans, the perfect eyes, lips and shoes. They are giving people the impression that education is old fashioned and for that reason something we should not value.
The producers of reality TV should try to find a way how to make the shows as interesting as people think they are today. I think it is fine that they are showing a luxurious or crazy lifestyle but they should also try to give the viewers the whole picture of who these reality character really are, what else is there? what are they good at? are they well educated? give the kids of our future someone to look up to who are not all about the outside or just crazy.
I agree with Timothy Sexton, I am scared that teens could get lazy and instead of aiming for good grades and really work hard in school they think that they can get the easy way out by auditioning for fame and success in the latest reality show. Young women who think they got the looks might get the idea that ability does not matter since the people in the reality TV shows make it seem like that is all that you need to become successful in life.
Sexton are very concern about the signals reality shows are sending out to young people and so am I. I agree that it is very dangerous, actually more dangerous than most people think. I am scared that young people who are a little disorientated and do not really know what they want to do with their life's, might just get lazy and put their pens on their desks in school. This is after they have watched how easy it is to become famous in TV shows like "Jersey Shore" where they compete by who can make the biggest fool out of them self in national TV. Just show your tits or if not, sleep with the most chicks or drink the most tequila shoots out of everyone in the "Jersey shore house".
I feel that the luxury s lifestyle that the producers are sending out in shows like "The hills" are very tempting for young girls. The women in "the Hills" are all extremely good looking, skinny and wear the latest fashion. They are always invited to the most exclusive parties in Hollywood. What young girl would say no to that? my concern is that the outside are overshadowing other amazing sides of our youngsters, like that they are actually very smart, have good hearts and are good at other things than just shopping Prada bags. Media are promoting the importance of the shell of us humans, the perfect eyes, lips and shoes. They are giving people the impression that education is old fashioned and for that reason something we should not value.
The producers of reality TV should try to find a way how to make the shows as interesting as people think they are today. I think it is fine that they are showing a luxurious or crazy lifestyle but they should also try to give the viewers the whole picture of who these reality character really are, what else is there? what are they good at? are they well educated? give the kids of our future someone to look up to who are not all about the outside or just crazy.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
blog 4
In order to become a successful writer I think it is extremely important to learn how to structure a text well to create an certain balance for the reader. In this class we are learning this step by step. I have To be honest, I have never really learned how to do that before because I was thought to write in another way, very poetic and structure was never really that important. Now when I am learning to compose a text this way, I feel like it makes more sense to me.
In the first class we discussed annotation with the class, then we worked in pairs to learn how to actually annotate. I thought it was helpful because I really enjoy working with other people. You get ideas from each other. Since English is not my native language I thought it was perfect that I could ask them about words that I did not understand. I know how to annotate now, the hardest thing I think is to find the "main idea" of the text.
In the second class we continued to practice our writing skills by learning how to make a nice summary. I loved that you thought us that we could put numbers by every paragraph and summary them one by one so that by the time you have finish them all you will have a great summary. When I do that I feel more organized and do not have to get all confused and stressed out about where to start. The summary part I think I feel pretty confident about doing.
My third class was a little challenging for me because I felt that my head was not all there because of personal reasons, but I tried. We learned how to use thesis in your writing. This is what i learned; the first you do is staring with presenting the significant idea of the text you are writing about, then argue whether or not you support that idea and then give 2 or 3 reasons (not examples) why you think that and then the thesis is when you combine the claim and the reason together. I have to practice on writing thesis a lot though, I think it is so hard but when I get the hang of it I am sure it will help me in my future writing.
My fourth class was great because I have always had problems with writing longer essays, even in Swedish. So today I learned how to make longer paragraphs by decorating my sentences with beautiful details. Before I use to keep it simple. In this class we also worked in groups and as always when you work with others you discuss the assignment and your machine starts working, you start developing creative thoughts. I still feel I need to work on this because it is new for me but I like it a lot and it will make my essays better since they will be more detailed and longer. In one way I feel more confident in my writing after this four lessons because now I know what I should practice on, but on the other hand I still feel insecure because of my lack of words, my slow writing speed and my problems with finding the main idea of the text. The only way I can prove for you that I have become a better writer is to keep writing and show you that in the texts.
In the first class we discussed annotation with the class, then we worked in pairs to learn how to actually annotate. I thought it was helpful because I really enjoy working with other people. You get ideas from each other. Since English is not my native language I thought it was perfect that I could ask them about words that I did not understand. I know how to annotate now, the hardest thing I think is to find the "main idea" of the text.
In the second class we continued to practice our writing skills by learning how to make a nice summary. I loved that you thought us that we could put numbers by every paragraph and summary them one by one so that by the time you have finish them all you will have a great summary. When I do that I feel more organized and do not have to get all confused and stressed out about where to start. The summary part I think I feel pretty confident about doing.
My third class was a little challenging for me because I felt that my head was not all there because of personal reasons, but I tried. We learned how to use thesis in your writing. This is what i learned; the first you do is staring with presenting the significant idea of the text you are writing about, then argue whether or not you support that idea and then give 2 or 3 reasons (not examples) why you think that and then the thesis is when you combine the claim and the reason together. I have to practice on writing thesis a lot though, I think it is so hard but when I get the hang of it I am sure it will help me in my future writing.
My fourth class was great because I have always had problems with writing longer essays, even in Swedish. So today I learned how to make longer paragraphs by decorating my sentences with beautiful details. Before I use to keep it simple. In this class we also worked in groups and as always when you work with others you discuss the assignment and your machine starts working, you start developing creative thoughts. I still feel I need to work on this because it is new for me but I like it a lot and it will make my essays better since they will be more detailed and longer. In one way I feel more confident in my writing after this four lessons because now I know what I should practice on, but on the other hand I still feel insecure because of my lack of words, my slow writing speed and my problems with finding the main idea of the text. The only way I can prove for you that I have become a better writer is to keep writing and show you that in the texts.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The Allegory of the Cave
In ”The Allegory of the Cave” Plato is trying to illustrate to his student Galucon how the world changes with the knowledge you gain. The story is about prisoners that has been chained in a cave since birth with no ability to turn their heads.
The more knowledge you gain, the more the world will change for you, and you will find yourself looking at things in a completely different way. In Socrates story he is using shadows to describe the world of what you know today, and when the prisoner is realized into the real whorl that represent tomorrow.
When the prisoner returns to the cave eager to tell everyone about his adventure they make fun of him and even threaten to kill him. This part of the story represent how hard it is to describe something to someone who is so rapped up in his own reality that he can not understand or vision anything that you are saying. It is hard to tell someone about the world out there when they have only seen their own backyard.
The more knowledge you gain, the more the world will change for you, and you will find yourself looking at things in a completely different way. In Socrates story he is using shadows to describe the world of what you know today, and when the prisoner is realized into the real whorl that represent tomorrow.
When the prisoner returns to the cave eager to tell everyone about his adventure they make fun of him and even threaten to kill him. This part of the story represent how hard it is to describe something to someone who is so rapped up in his own reality that he can not understand or vision anything that you are saying. It is hard to tell someone about the world out there when they have only seen their own backyard.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Blog 2
Zandra
Prof: Gallardo
Eng099
People has been easily fooled by rumors and they tend to believe in every little chunky news they hear without knowing its facts. In the text " I know the truth, so don't bother me with facts" by Jeffery Kluger he gives an example of people arguing about a mosque that is planned to be build at ground zero, which he states is "not really a mosque". researchers at Ohio State University wanted to see if they could make up peoples minds after presenting them the truth about the rumors. In order to be successful they though about the best way to present the truth. Two assistant professors of communication, R.Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet asked 750 people if they believed in the rumors about the mosque being built, every single one of them believed in at least one of the rumors related to the Islamic spiritual center. Less than a third of the people were willing to change their opinions even though they presented them with strong evidence proving them the opposite. Garrett believes that one of the reasons why people are so stubborn to hold on to their beliefs when someone contradict them, can be their self-inportance, the fear of being wrong. Other investigators researching to see if it can have something to do with the brain, how we react when we get confronted. Jeffery ends his paper by saying that we should base our decisions on what we believe by fact and not only with what we read or hear.
"I know the truth so don't bother me with facts" is the headline of Jeffery kluges passage, it pretty much describes his thoughts about how humans react to gossip. He tags us of being gullible and ignorant of the truth. Not because we want to, because we do not know any better, we do not care what the truth tells us. I must say I agree with mr Kluger because I do not know much better myself, I love to believe the hot gossip and news that I read in the papers, I trust the writer to know better than me. It is scary for most people to admit that they are wrong when someone contradicts them with proofs that proves them the opposite. Jeffery is right, we are excited about rumors and want to accept them right away as a fact without having any profs or what so ever. Facts does not matter, we are to scared of being told that we are wrong.
Let me start by saying that I love gossip, I believe in them as soon as I put my fingers on the remote to switch on the TV and hear the words coming out from the anchors mouth. I am excited to hear things about celebrities that I think I know (but I do not know at all) and when a sad or more serious news hit me, I expect the man who is telling me this to be educated enough to give me the right information. The scary part Is that I want to believe in it because it gives me some kind of reaction and satisfaction. The whole world is reacting wether it is with tears, joy or frustration.
People in general make up their minds on what their ego tells them is right. For example; Children believe that their parents are the source of all knowledge and will take anything they say as pure 100 pro cent facts. You can not argue with them because they wont allow you to prove their parents wrong. When the children grows up and form a mind of their own, that very same ego stays with them. It is hard for people to accept the thought of being wrong. Not because they are bad people or that they want to look good, just because they are used to it.
In conclusion, we are all a little ignorant and unfortunately often fools by thousands of rumors. I think we need to find a way to make the facts more relevant, maybe try to teach kids from an early age that it is very important to look at the facts before they make their opinions.
ps. I made spaces between my paragraphs because it did not work to make (I think it is called indentations in the text).
Prof: Gallardo
Eng099
People has been easily fooled by rumors and they tend to believe in every little chunky news they hear without knowing its facts. In the text " I know the truth, so don't bother me with facts" by Jeffery Kluger he gives an example of people arguing about a mosque that is planned to be build at ground zero, which he states is "not really a mosque". researchers at Ohio State University wanted to see if they could make up peoples minds after presenting them the truth about the rumors. In order to be successful they though about the best way to present the truth. Two assistant professors of communication, R.Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet asked 750 people if they believed in the rumors about the mosque being built, every single one of them believed in at least one of the rumors related to the Islamic spiritual center. Less than a third of the people were willing to change their opinions even though they presented them with strong evidence proving them the opposite. Garrett believes that one of the reasons why people are so stubborn to hold on to their beliefs when someone contradict them, can be their self-inportance, the fear of being wrong. Other investigators researching to see if it can have something to do with the brain, how we react when we get confronted. Jeffery ends his paper by saying that we should base our decisions on what we believe by fact and not only with what we read or hear.
"I know the truth so don't bother me with facts" is the headline of Jeffery kluges passage, it pretty much describes his thoughts about how humans react to gossip. He tags us of being gullible and ignorant of the truth. Not because we want to, because we do not know any better, we do not care what the truth tells us. I must say I agree with mr Kluger because I do not know much better myself, I love to believe the hot gossip and news that I read in the papers, I trust the writer to know better than me. It is scary for most people to admit that they are wrong when someone contradicts them with proofs that proves them the opposite. Jeffery is right, we are excited about rumors and want to accept them right away as a fact without having any profs or what so ever. Facts does not matter, we are to scared of being told that we are wrong.
Let me start by saying that I love gossip, I believe in them as soon as I put my fingers on the remote to switch on the TV and hear the words coming out from the anchors mouth. I am excited to hear things about celebrities that I think I know (but I do not know at all) and when a sad or more serious news hit me, I expect the man who is telling me this to be educated enough to give me the right information. The scary part Is that I want to believe in it because it gives me some kind of reaction and satisfaction. The whole world is reacting wether it is with tears, joy or frustration.
People in general make up their minds on what their ego tells them is right. For example; Children believe that their parents are the source of all knowledge and will take anything they say as pure 100 pro cent facts. You can not argue with them because they wont allow you to prove their parents wrong. When the children grows up and form a mind of their own, that very same ego stays with them. It is hard for people to accept the thought of being wrong. Not because they are bad people or that they want to look good, just because they are used to it.
In conclusion, we are all a little ignorant and unfortunately often fools by thousands of rumors. I think we need to find a way to make the facts more relevant, maybe try to teach kids from an early age that it is very important to look at the facts before they make their opinions.
ps. I made spaces between my paragraphs because it did not work to make (I think it is called indentations in the text).
Monday, September 26, 2011
Significant idea: “when subjects are presented with data that contradicts their beliefs they often paradoxically respond by sticking to their biases even more strongly”
Claim: I agree with Kluger when he says that studies have shown that “when subjects are presented with data that contradicts their beliefs they often paradoxically respond by sticking to their biases even more strongly”
Reasons: some people have problems with admitting that they are wrong. They are scared of hearing the truth, therefor will deny any data proving them the opposite of their opinion.
Thesis: I believe that the studies that Jeffery Kluger presented in his text is true. When people get confronted with facts proving them the opposite, they hold on to their believes even more strongly and they refuse to admit that they are wrong even though data is showing them that they are. I think this is because they are scared of hearing the truth so that they will feel inferior.
Claim: I agree with Kluger when he says that studies have shown that “when subjects are presented with data that contradicts their beliefs they often paradoxically respond by sticking to their biases even more strongly”
Reasons: some people have problems with admitting that they are wrong. They are scared of hearing the truth, therefor will deny any data proving them the opposite of their opinion.
Thesis: I believe that the studies that Jeffery Kluger presented in his text is true. When people get confronted with facts proving them the opposite, they hold on to their believes even more strongly and they refuse to admit that they are wrong even though data is showing them that they are. I think this is because they are scared of hearing the truth so that they will feel inferior.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
blog 2
People have always been easily fooled by rumors and by things they read in the papers without knowing its fact. in the text " I know the truth, so don't bother me with facts" by Jeffery Kluger he gives an example of people arguing about a mosque that is planned to be build at ground zero, which he says is in fact "not really a mosque". researchers at Ohio State University wanted to see if they could make up peoples minds after presenting them the truth about the rumors. In order to succeed, how would they best present the truth? Two assistant professors of communication, R.Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet asked 750 people if they believed in the rumors about the mosque being built, every single one of them believed in at least one of the rumors related to the Islamic spiritual center. Less than a third of the people were willing to change their opinions even though they presented them with strong evidence proving them the opposite. Garrett believes that one of the reasons why people are so stubborn to hold on to their beliefs when someone contradict them, can be their ego, the fear of being wrong. Other investigators researching to see if it can have something to do with our brains, how we react when we get confronted. Jeffery ends his paper by saying that we should base our decisions on what we believe by fact and not only what we read or hear.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Blog1
What is happening to this world? I remember commercial as being something fun and unusual when I was little, at least in Sweden. Now everywhere I look I see advertising ads from company’s who wants to make money out of me. They are everywhere, at the subway, in the taxi, when I am relaxing at the spa, in the movies I am watching. I just want to close my eyes for a minute, I cannot let myself get brainwashed by their bullshit.
I started thinking about this problem when I read a text from Kalle Lasn called “Hype” in signs of life in the USA: “reading on popular culture” where he shared his thoughts about this huge growing market. He are telling us about a company called “the little monitors” who is “the most powerful micromarketing medium available today, they are in control of the screen you see on supermarket carts that are full with ads, this is so that you will get tempted to buy their products. Sometimes I believe that this is just something that your brain register and before you know it, you are in the trap! Buying something that you did not had in mind when you went there. I agree with everything he has to say in the text, for example that now a days when you drive through the countryside, instead of enjoying the beautiful view of wheat fields your eyes are distracted by huge billboards. This is awful!I feel sad to admit that Sweden has been reduced to USAs level of public merchandising. I cannot believe that we are letting people make money out of our dumbness.
I started thinking about this problem when I read a text from Kalle Lasn called “Hype” in signs of life in the USA: “reading on popular culture” where he shared his thoughts about this huge growing market. He are telling us about a company called “the little monitors” who is “the most powerful micromarketing medium available today, they are in control of the screen you see on supermarket carts that are full with ads, this is so that you will get tempted to buy their products. Sometimes I believe that this is just something that your brain register and before you know it, you are in the trap! Buying something that you did not had in mind when you went there. I agree with everything he has to say in the text, for example that now a days when you drive through the countryside, instead of enjoying the beautiful view of wheat fields your eyes are distracted by huge billboards. This is awful!I feel sad to admit that Sweden has been reduced to USAs level of public merchandising. I cannot believe that we are letting people make money out of our dumbness.
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