Plastic Surgery vs. Self Confidence March 26, 2007

Well over the past two years I’ve had an extended family member and a best friend go under the knife, but these were two instances where they were trying to take the emphasis off of their breasts. Both individuals had been living with chronic back, shoulder, and neck pain, so after years of discomfort and pain they took the plunge and underwent reduction surgeries. To this day neither one of them regrets their decision, but they both admit that the pain they went through during the healing/recovery process was at times unbearable. Seeing them during the days following their surgeries forced me to question why anyone would want to go through that pain to have larger breasts, it just doesn’t make sense to me.

I believe in many cases plastic surgery comes down to a lack of self confidence and I do not believe going under the knife is a logical way of improving this lack of confidence. Maybe this is a harsh assumption, but it’s the only logical justification that I can think of.  Plastic surgery is not a quick and simple procedure there are major complications documented each year and people’s lives are ruined due to these complications.

It seems as though we need to stop promoting plastic surgery and we need to being promoting healthy lifestyle choices, positive body images, and increased self confidence. It’s proven that if you appear confident and happy with who you are, you tend to attract more people whether it be male or female.

Split what?? March 26, 2007

Well first I want to dable into the world of a split infinitive because like many of you bloggers out there I do not know what a split infinitive is, so here goes nothing.

A split infinitive can best be defined as, an infinitive verb form with an element, usually an adverb, interposed between to and the verb form, as in to boldly go. It’s the “rule” against placing a word, especially an adverb, between to and the verb in an English infinitive.

Wow! Now if that doesn’t enlighten you all I don’t know what will!!

Stereotyping Gender March 21, 2007

Gender is something that is clearly defined and represented through the media. We’re given a great deal of guidance as to how women and men should behave and appear. Stereotypes have developed over the years and when someone falls outside of those stereotypes they are criticized for being unique or different.  It seems as though this fear of being criticized for uniqueness has resulted in a loss of identity and individuality among both men and women.

Sure there are the extreme cases where individuals choose to stand out as individuals, but we can all admit that we look twice and may even make smug comments about the appearance or behavior of the individual. So my question is, why have we allowed the media to create a society where uniqueness is not applauded?

We have allowed the media to control in a manner that influence us not only on the outside, but also on the inside. We laugh, talk and act like the actors on the TV, in the radio, and in our magazines. We’ve become mere clones of the mainstream actors we see everyday in the media and in most cases these aren’t real individuals they’re simply actors, acting out life. 

There is a biological line distinguishing males from females but other than the biological factors there shouldn’t be any rules regarding how to be a male or female. The media shouldn’t be trying to mold us into what they believe defines men and women. We should be left to create our own personalities, appearances, and behaviors based on our own assumptions about being male and female, if this were possible everything would be honky dorey!!

The Portrayal of Women March 13, 2007

Have you ever noticed how the majority of sex symbols within advertisements are women. Quite frankly that pisses me off, why are we (women) the one’s continuously being used to sell product after product. Sure there’s also the odd male displayed in  deoderant or clothing adds but they tend to be displayed in a much more taste full manner.

After reading Abby Friedrich’s Essay regarding the portrayal of women through advertisements it was brought to my attention that this degrating portrayal of women isn’t new to the ad industry. Women have been portrayed this way since the 1940’s and seems as though over the years things have only gotten worse because women are truly buying into the images that are being displayed.

Within the essay Abby Friedrich also brought up a few points from the book ‘Reviving Ophelia’. I attempted to read this book a few years ago, but the way the author talked about young women seemed a little to harsh for my liking. The author (Pipher) seemed to think that “all” young women are incredibly naive and they allow just about anyone to tell them how to think and behave. I have to disagree with this assumption because I have three teenage sisters and I think they’re very independent and intelligent young women. Sure they’ve made some stupid choices in their lives, but don’t we all. I think Pipher takes her assumptions of young females to far and perhaps she needs to reconsider the behavior of today’s teens. It seems as though more and more teens are standing up for what they believe, teens are trying to be unique in their clothing and music choices, which disproves Pipher’s assumptions of today’s teens.

I did think it was realistic and interesting how throughout the essay Abby discussed the fact that advertising knows how to target all of our female insecurities. Why have we allowed these ads to get into our heads? I think our tolerance for the manipulation we receive through ads has made women seem stupid and naive, women are allowing advertisement’s to persuade them into looking younger, skinnier, healthier, and happier. Sure these all sound like great goals to strive towards, but women seem to be getting more depressed as they realize that some of these goals cannot be achieved because it isn’t physically possible to be the perfect woman.

Sure I’ve voiced my opinion to all of you, but it probably won’t make a difference in how women are portrayed by the advertisement industry. The portrayal of women won’t improve until all women stand up for themselves and their own personal uniqueness. Women must also realize that they should be happy with the brains and bodies they were given and they need to stop trying to become the perfect woman.

Let me know what you think

Ever Evolving Music March 5, 2007

Well I must admit that I’ve been a little stuck on what to blog about this week. I had a very busy, gong show of a weekend and I don’t think I’ve relaxed or breathed for nearly two weeks, so here goes nothing.

When the topic of music comes up I don’t really know where to start because it seems as though over the years music has evolved in so many ways. From the technologically advanced methods of listening to listen to music, to the many unique genres of music it seems as though this is an industry that’s booming in so many ways.

There are billions of dollars circulated through the music industry each year which allows it to expand and change in so many ways. Who ever would have thought we’d be listening to genres such as techno, emo, and rap. I can just see Mozart and Beethoven rolling over in their graves, because as my Grandmother says the music we listen to nowadays isn’t music, it’s just loud noise. Well if what we now consider to be new music is also considered by many to be loud noise, then why are these new artists making millions off of their music?

It seems as though the music industry has an incredible power over so many individuals, whether it be through the sale of CD’s and DVD’s, or the industries ability to sell the image of certain musicians. The music industry is everywhere, I don’t think anyone can make it through a day without hearing some form of music or music publicity. So, I think it’s safe to say that music is everywhere, and it’s influence is profound.

Movie and Quote Activity March 1, 2007

Well I’ll admit that I was really looking forward to watching a movie in class on Wednesday night, I’ve had a very long week and I feel as though my brain and body are in overdrive. Reading week didn’t prove to be a week off, it was a very busy week as it seems to be year after year. I think I can even go as far as to say that I hate reading week because of the busy weeks that tend to follow it.

So, even though I was looking forward to doing a very minimal amount of thinking during class on Wednesday night, the movie and quote game was a really cool idea. I’ve never done  an activity like that in any of my classes, and wish more profs would try new things similar to this.  I like the fact that Paul takes the time to plan lectures that allow us to be involved and interested, while at the same time forcing us to think sociologically.

I also wanted to point out the amazing fact that Paul is one of the only profs that has the guts or sense to admit and most importantly appologize because of just how bad a class textbook SUCKS. I would have thought that a textbook relating to Mass Communication could be really interesting, but this text proved this theory to be very wrong on so many levels. This textbook makes the topic of mass communication seem worse than death its self.

It Is What You Make It February 25, 2007

Well after reading Russell Smith’s Globe and Mail article “Why Movie Going Sucks” I can admit that I went into my movie going experience a little skeptical and uncertain about how I would perceive the whole movie going experience. Russell Smith described the movie going experience in an incredibly negative and perhaps even harsh manner, by the end of the article he had his readers truly convinced that movie going is one of the worst experiences on the face of the earth.

 

I’ve always enjoyed watching movies, whether it be from the comfort of my own living room, or within the company of a packed movie theater, it usually ends up being an “interesting” experience. I believe interesting is the only way of truly describing the movie going experience because there are so many different experiences to be had. I believe your movie going experience depends first of all on who’s joining you for the viewing, second what type of movie you’ve chosen, and third what is your mood or state of emotion when you enter the theater. Put all three of these aspects together and that will produce either a good or bad movie going experience.

 

This past Tuesday night I forced one of my girlfriends to join me for a movie, the theater was packed seeing as how most kids were on their reading week break and it was cheap night. We chose to see “Because I Said So” and I must say it was a great movie, as long as you love chick flicks. Throughout the movie I did my best to observe those around me and whether they were as Russell Smith described as behaving like the barn yard animals. Sure there was a little bit of chit chat going on during the opening ads, but by the time the movie started most of the chatter had come to an end. Although I can admit that I did hear a lot of munching going on throughout the movie, but how easy is it to eat popcorn quietly, while sitting in a dark theater, and only having so much elbow room, uh ya it’s not as easy as one may think. Plus it seems as though when you try to be quiet and discrete you end up making even more noise. So, for the most part the noise level in the theater was kept at a fairly respectable level.

 

There was one aspect of movie going that I can admit drove me crazy throughout the entire movie, and that was the number of times people entered and exited the theater. This wasn’t just late comers, it was people continuously getting up throughout the movie and I don’t think even one of them was considerate enough to quietly close the door as they exited the theater. By the time the fifth individual went through the doors I began counting the number of times the door slammed shut, I counted 9 different times in just over an hour. Ok now that’s ridiculous, and I can understand how that in its self can make the movie going experience suck. Perhaps if I hadn’t been fixating on the door slamming I would have been able to ignore and it wouldn’t have been so irritating.

 

I believe that in order to fully enjoy your movie going experience it’s important to choose a movie that you are interested in seeing. If you enter the theater not wanting to see the movie you’re bound to have a negative experience. It’s also important that you consider your mood at that moment when considering what movie to see, are you in the mood for a chick flick, horror, action, or a drama, this choice can have major effects on the experience you will have. Make sure to choose your movie based around your current mood and emotions because if you’re in a sensitive mood and you see a horror movie the chances of you leaving the theater in a state of extreme distress are higher than normal. So, the outcome of the movie going experience strongly depends on your own personal choices, behaviors and emotions.

 

Movies are intended to entertain its viewers in what ever way the viewer chooses. With the wide variety of movie choices the viewer should be able to choose a movie that they feel will satisfy whatever it is that they desire. In most cases we choose the movie the movie doesn’t choose us, so we can’t blame a negative movie going experience on the movie its self, we can only blame it on our poor choice of movie. It seems as though we’re to harsh and critical when it comes to analyzing movies, we blame our likes and dislikes on the movie producers, when we should be blaming it on our lack of open mindedness or our poor movie choice. Movie’s aren’t produced for our individual pleasure, they’re produced for a huge population, so we can’t fret when we don’t get what we, one individual wants.

 

Overall my movie going experience was good because I was excited to see the movie and I was in the right mood for a chick flick. I made this movie going experience enjoyable because I went into it with a positive attitude, I took what Russell Smith said in his article and pushed it to the back of my mind, so I could take in the movie going experience on my own terms. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to their movie going experiences, but when being critical about the experience they should take into consideration the many components that surround the movie going experience. If Russell Smith found the movie going experience to be so dreadful perhaps next time he should rent out the entire theater for himself, so he doesn’t have to deal with chaos that comes with viewing a movie along side barn yard animals. Although I can bet that an empty theater would leave Russell Smith with the same negative view on the whole movie going experience because he doesn’t seem to have an open mind about the whole experience. I truly believe that it’s the individual who makes or breaks a movie, not the movie that makes or breaks an individual.

Manufacturing Consent February 21, 2007

Well I must admit that I found the movie really boring, and it’s not that I don’t care about being aware of all the garbage that’s been thrown at us through the media. Obviously Noam Chomsky’s just trying to make us all more aware, but he said a lot of stuff that I believe I’ve already heard. Don’t get me wrong he does seem like a brilliant man and some of his concepts are great, but I think over the years I’ve heard a lot of the same ideas from my parents, teachers, and maybe even my friends. But, perhaps they’ve received their  knowledge of the media from the widely publicized theories of Noam Chomsky’s and have taken it upon themselves to pass them my way, but obviously in their oh so wise words.

I think the concepts of Noam Chomsky reached me before seeing this video because over the years with the ever increasing role of the media I’ve been forcing myself to stop and consider exactly what I’m being told. I’ve started thinking for myself and what I believe not what the media wants me to believe. So, I guess it’s safe to say that the theories of Noam Chomsky have impacted me, even though they weren’t coming directly from him.  

 There was one aspect of the video that I strongly disagreed with, when he began discussing the “negative” role of sport in our lives.  He spoke of sport as a method of group cohesion, as irrational, and he negatively referred to sport as something that keeps people from thinking about the important things going on in the world. I personally believe that sport is a very important part of life, and it’s important to have sport to distract us from all of the horrible things that go on in the world. Sport has been around for a lot longer than many sources of media, so I don’t think it should be negatively criticized. Sport has become an integral part in most of our lives, so it should be appreciated not criticized. 

Telus Backs Out of Porn February 21, 2007

Well a few weeks ago Telus publicly announced that their customers would now be able to download porn on their cellphones. When I first got word of this I thought it was some kind of joke, who is seriously going to look up porn on their cellphone? But, I guess Telus thought they had customers who would be interested, so Telus went where no other cell phone company has gone before, into the world of pornography.

Well it turns out that after Telus went ahead with this bold move, Telus received an increasing amount of negative feed back from their customers. The customers were enraged with Telus’s new cellphone feature, several customers went as far as cancelling their accounts. I can admit that I was one of those enraged customers who was considering not renewing theircontract. It seems as though sex is advertised everywhere and the last thing we need is to be seeing it in our phones. I consider my phone as a personal and private possession and thus, don’t feel the need for the option of downloading porno to be a feature.

In order to prevent more customers from cancelling their accounts Telus recently announced the cancellation of porn being available on their cellphones. I don’t understand how or why Telus thought getting into the porn industry was a good idea in the first place. But, I guess they must have been considering the well known fact that sex sells.

Let me know what you think.

Cyber Bullying February 14, 2007

The other night I caught a story on Cyber Bullying and figured it would fit well with some of the topics that have been brought up in class, the story was broadcasted on CBC News and it was discussed the events that took place at an Ontario High School. Eleven students were recently suspended from school for performing what the principal felt was so called Cyber Bullying towards him. The principal had just placed a ban on all electronic devices and threatened to impose uniforms.This strict new policy and the threat of implementing a uniform policy had the student’s right pissed off.

The students began exchanging words about the principal’s actions on online communication centers such as Facebook and MSN. Sure there were some choice words used towards the principal, but the discussions were happening outside of the school during the student’s personal time. So, I believe the principal took things to far when he accused all eleven students of Cyber Bullying. The principal went too far in accusing these students of Cyber Bullying. The online discussions were simply a method of communication between the frustrated student’s, the principal should have considered that the outcome of his decision could have been far worse had the students really wanted him to hear how they felt. This was a situation that took place outside of the school, therefore it didn’t need to be brought back into the school, the involvement of the school in attempting to deal with this situation simply caused more problems for all of those involved.

In recent years we’ve heard of more and more cases of students using physical abuse, direct personal threats, and vandalism in school settings. When students want to voice their opinion they’ve been known to go to drastic measures to ensure that they’re opinion is seen or heard. So, in the case of these eleven Ontario students I believe they handled the situation in a fairly positive manner. They didn’t take out their frustrations with the principal’s decision in the school, they chose to wait until they could put their words on paper or in this case on a computer screen. The method of communication and opinion presentation that the student’s chose to use allowed them to exchange words with other students who were also frustrated about the principal’s decisions. So, as far as I see it the students tried to discuss the situation in a positive manner, opinion’s were being heard and discussed.

Writing, whether it be online or on paper it should be seen as a positive way of putting thought and personal opinion into your words. We’re taught at a young age that if we want something than we need to use our words in order to get it, but in this case perhaps actions would have spoke louder than words.

Let me know how you feel about this situation, did the principal take things to far or did he have the right to take action?