Dear Mr. President...

Dear President Barrack Obama,

I would like to start of by saying, "Thank You!" for taking the time to read this letter. It has come to my attention, through a media literacy class I attended at the University of Vermont, that the media is strongly affecting our culture, and not in a positive way. Millions of people are consumed by media through television, billboards, internet, and a variety of other advertising mechanisms every day. People are wasting away years of their life surfing the internet and watching TV, and who is to benefit from all of this? The answer is a minute percentage of the population.; people who control big corporations such as Disney and NBC. Although this may lead to an economic gain within our country, the truth is we are seriously harming our own people, culture, and environment.
In a book I recently read, titled, "Culture Jam", (I highly recommend it) the author states, "The moment you fail to understand why the natural world might have relevance in the day-to-day lives of human beings, you become, to quote my physics teacher, 'a lost ball in high weeds.' Abandon nature and you abandon your sense of the divine. More than that, you lose track of who you are." While I applaud you for your efforts concerning the environment we need to understand that we also need to take into consideration the reason for why we are consuming so much and creating such massive environmental destruction to the Earth. We are bombarded by media everyday telling us what we should wear, who we should be, and what we need to buy to be that way. It's the media that has created the consumption habits and unless we put a control on the media we are going to continue to see environmental catastrophe no matter how much of a cap we put on green house emissions and driving hybrid cars.
Education also plays a role in stopping this. Several countries in Europe and Australia have incorporated Media Literacy classes into their public education system because they have seen the detrimental affects it has had on American society. Did you know, 9 out of 10 girls thinks their is something wrong with the way they look? It's not because they are female, it's because the media tells them their is something wrong with their body. If they don't look like a Barbie doll then they will never match up to societies standards, therefore, in their minds, fail at life. Rates of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia have sky-rocketed since the creation of advertising and mass media. Before mass media there was no one telling girls how they should look other than their peers and family.
While one may say, "well that is just a product of technology and there is nothing we can do about it", the truth is is that we can. We can put bans on ads promoting violence, sex, and drugs. Why do you think our country is plagued by rapists and pedofiles and why porn is one of the number one industries? We have raised human beings that are addicted to sex. Even potato chips ads use sex to sell and their is no reason why you need sex to sell a potato chip, especially since children and teens see these ads and eat these potato chips.
I guess the bottom line is that we need to fix what we have created. We know that the environment is being harmed because of our consumption habits but it has harmed us as well. We are not the same people we used to be. Our culture is changing. We need to stand up for our own country and for ourselves as human beings. Our country was founded on activism so why not take a step in the name of our ancestors. I am sure they would be pretty disappointed if they saw us now. In order to do this we need your help. We need governmental pressure to create massive awareness. We need to hit every home in America. There needs to be laws on the media and education in the schools. If we lose this battle, we will lose ourselves. As Kalle Lasn, the author of "Culture Jam" puts it, " The loss of a language, tradition, or heritage- or the forgetting of one good idea-is as a big loss to future generations as a biological species going extinct." Do you want this to happen?

Sincerely, a deeply concerned citizen,

Amber Imm

Corporate Culture

Five Important Ideas from "Culture Jam"

1. Half of all exotic dancers were once beauty-pageant contestants. I find the crazy and believable all at the same time. It reminds me the show on TLC entitled, "Toddlers and Tiaras", where parents thrive in their childrens beauty making them look and act as if they are 16-25 years old when in reality they range from ages 3-16. Its sickening to watch, but then reading the statistic makes me realize how scary this show actually is.
   
2. I didn't know that products I buy at the store such as brussel sprouts (which I love) contain almost no trace of vitamins. I knew this was true of some products but not BRUSSEL SPROUTS!!!!
   
3. Flight attendants sometimes use Coke to unclog drains...I don't even want to know what that is doing to my intestines. Fortunately for me I don't drink soda very often
4. I think that if people actually believed that our environment and existence really is in danger, we would make drastic changes, but most humans fail to believe this, therefore, it will remain almost impossible for us a society to change. We need to change individually in order to change as a whole. This is something I struggle with from day to day as I do what I think is right but at the end of the day I feel hopeless due to all the other people that regret to realize the trouble we are in.
5. I realize that I am not abnormal and there are a lot of people just like me but we are an exception to the norm. We are the "uncool" of what most people think as cool and we are infact offsetting the media, which in my mind makes me feel pretty good!

The film, "Corporation", was very depressing to me. I couldn't believe that people don't actually understand the implications they are having on the environment. To see the tremendous amount of c0mpanies that have been fined for not complying with the law in order to make an even larger profit is astounding. There were companies there that you would not even think would do such a think to their customers. It gives me hope that their are people out there that do really care and that over time, each and every company can make an impact on another company. What this country really needs is stricter laws and better enforcement to make sure these laws are being followed. The fines also need to out-way the financial gain of breaking the law in the first place, which I don't always think is the case.

1. 
   

Consuming Culture

When i first started reading the book I felt it was a little extreme, however, as I kept reading I realized that the reason I thought it was so extreme is that, perhaps, I was afraid of the truth. I have grown up in this culture and have had not other to choice to unknowingly conform to this way of life. As I have grown up I have realized what the media has affected me and who I am, and while I may be conscious of this I am no different from anyone else. I have the same desires of wanting more than I really need. I want to wear nice clothes, I want to eat good food (probably too much of it) and I want to drive a nice car(which i don't but wish i did).
I agree with what Lasn concepts of how recognizing the environment may aid in helping alleviate some aspects of this. He writes, " Abandon nature and you abandon your sense of the divine. More than that, you lose track of who you are." I think that the main reason why I enjoy nature so much is that I can escape from the crazyness of real life and slow down. I don't feel rushed and I feel like I can actually breathe. I think understanding nature aids in understanding life and by that I mean what life is supposed to be like. Enjoyable.
I also really connected with what he said about our loss of language and culture. As mentioned in my memoir, I grew up in a very strong Inuit culture. Native cultures are being lost entirely as massive corporations are taking over their land and livelihood. Many of these people are forced to work for these corporations in order to make money. In one of my favorite quotes he writes, "The loss of a language, tradition or heritage- or the forgetting of one good idea-is a big loss to future generations as a biological species going extinct." Our culture has already been lost, but we are killing ourselves as a species. We are killing who we are. I feel like we have become strangers in our own bodies. It saddens me to think about where we will be in fifty years and how much more things can change. It makes me scared to have children because who knows what their childhood will be like. It has already changed so much since I was a child which was only twenty years ago.

Facebook

1) Facebook is a social networking tool that creates a false sense of self and is run by corporate money-sucking people.

I definetly agree with the sense that facebook can create a false sense of self, although I think that this depends on the user. I don't try to be someone I am not on my own Facebook page. I also agree with the massive advertising tool it has become. Facebook creates a whole new world of advertising that was never there before and because they use your profile to connect you with advertising you will most likely consume it just makes it that much more effective.

I don't agree with how bias Hodgkin is in the article. He takes it to an extreme. Not all facebook users create a false identity and are connected to it all day everyday. It really does help with keeping in touch with far away friends. While it make take away from making a phone call, I am 'more aware with what my friends lives are like across the country. I also don't agree that the inventors and people that most likely work on the website are trying to create a world of virtual reality and that this starts with facebook. I think that idea is a bit extreme and he needs to relax.

2) I definetly felt a little creeped out an invaded by the Killing Us Softly speech. I have always noticed that ads portray women in a sexual, helpless manner, however, I don't think I have actually seen any ads to that extreme. Her use of images and humor is very convincing and appealing to the audience.

1. People see 3,000 ads per year and three years of their life watching TV
2. "Turning people into a "thing" is the first step in justifying violence against that person- it's the logical result of objectification."
3. Stereotypes that harm men are less associated with the body
4. The advertiser is America's real pornographer
5. Obsession with thinness is cutting women down to size and making them silenced

3) What really stood out to me in, "The Making of a Media Literate Mind", was how much the media puts into purposely influencing our mind even if that means negatively impacting its consumers. It is all about money in this country, which is not a new concept, but its crazy how much more you see when you are aware of what is going on. I wonder how different I would be now if I was aware of what I was watching on TV as a child. I didn't watch a lot of TV, but I did watch cartoons on Saturday mornings and sometimes after school depending on the weather. I had no idea how what I was watching was impacting my brain.

Twitter

1) There were a few things at the end of Ad Nauseam that I found particularly amusing. The first one was in the section of "Subliminal Seduction". I find it very strange that people could actually see pornographic scenes, naked women and even animals on plates of food and in the ice cubes in a cocktail. Even once I was told what to look for I couldn't see it. I find it strange that people used that has advertising when it is so discrete that most people wouldn't pick up on it.

I also found it very interesting that women are deemed idiots and is the reason why a lot of ad campaigns are targeted to women (the other is that in general women do more consuming than men...) However, as they advertisers were trying to sell things such as household products, they seemed to sell them as being "smart" and "sohpisticated".

Lastly, I enjoyed part 6 in its entirety. It's crazy how someone will be willing to buy anything if you sell it well enough. That is why advertising can be such a problem. People are attempting to sell things using lies and all the techniques used throughout the book. This is isn't anything new to me but it definetly reiterized the idea of "buyer beware".

My questions is, if we are selling sex and violence to and extreme already, how is that going to progress and/or change in the future? Will be finally realize how sick our society has become and try to change that or is it only going to get worse?

2) Twitters massive following and usage has created a new media highway for communication, advertising, and news.

In Steven Johnson's article, "How Twitter Will Change the Way we Live", there were a few concepts with which I agreed with. One of which is its ability to be used as a social networking in a way that we have never been able to use it before. The fact that they used this for an education forum that was open to the public is really cool. It allows for the public to take part and have a voice in places that they have never had before. I also agree with the advertising bonus that this creates. Businesses have a great way of advertising to a massive amount of people and this also allows them to have a more one-on-one customer basis. They can have instant chats and gain feedback about their company and products.

There were a few things that I did not agree with too. For instance, I don't necessarily view Twitter as a breakout program to our culture. I don't necessarily understand how much different it is than texting or live chat rooms aside from the fact that a website makes finding these much easier. You can send texts to as many people as you want from your phone. I guess I just don't understand how Twitter is viewed as this new amazing concept. I also don't agree with the fact that Twitter search engines may at one time be more useful than Google. Twitter is filled with ideas that have been changed and formed to what their users like. Its just like saying that we should all use and believe everything that Wikipedia tells us to believe.


3) Five things I learned from the video "The Merchants of Cool"

1. That channels actually pay someone to do ethnographic research on teens and how their lives have changed over the years.
2. That TV must inevitably change their ways of advertising and broadcasting to each generation.
3. Teens are one of the largest groups of consumers and the biggest trendsetters. People seek out the biggest trendsetters to find groups of consumers to market to.
4. Movies have transformed over time from being more wholesome, to more sexual and violent and only to fulfill the consumers needs. Its almost as if society is saying its ok to thing like this and feel like this.
5. The best part of a female body is her midriff and there are actually certain ways to portray it and act the part.

Media Art

Media Memoir

I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, tucked way up in the top left hand corner of North America. Although I lived in the city, we were very isolated from the rest of the country. When I lived there the city was very spread out. Being a city of 300,000 we had most of what other cities had to offer; shopping, grocery stores, movie theatres and arcades. Most of what I knew was not different from that of most other children throughout the United States, but there was one thing that stood out to me; the culture. The culture almost acted as a part of the media. Most commercials on TV had to do with some part of Inuit culture, such as totem poles, Inuit clothing, whales etc. In fact, one of the biggest celebrations each year is Fur Rendezvous which is the start of the Ididarod. It is a week long event with a variety of activities such as snow sculpting, native dance demonstrations, and a native market for anyone to purchase items made from seal skin and caribou. I really think that media shapes us and the media that was shown to me through this culture definitely helped mold me into who I am today. I do have Native American blood, however, my parents don't practice Native American beliefs, but growing up in an area rich in its own culture has led me to appreciate our differences. Now as I have gotten older I have been able to further research other cultures very easily via the internet. While I know longer live in Alaska, I am able to purchase Native products through the internet, which is something that would have never crossed my mind when I was younger. I first got the internet when I was 12 years old. I knew a little bit about computers from taking classes in grade school, however, the internet was a whole new exciting concept. I remember sitting at my computer for hours listening to music from my favorite artists. The concepts I was able to research seemed endless. And they are endless. In fact now I think they are so endless that I almost get bored. Often times I sit down at a computer and after I check my e-mail and facebook I draw a blank. It's as if I have too many options I am unable to limit myself. While I can't imagine not having the internet and it has played a huge role in my college career (I am sure no one can deny that. What would we have done without it?) I have started to drift away from the internet and many other sources of media/technology. I have realized that as much as it has shaped my life and changed our society in a tremendous way, I don't need it as much as I once thought. TV now contains too many reality shows and endless amounts of commercials, the internet shows too many pop-up ads(using it might ruin your computer forever), and the radio never seems to play music!!! The media has taken over. Everything is media now. You can't get away from it, which is exactly why I am taking this class. I want to understand it in a way that feels less harmful and perhaps maybe even appreciate it a little.