A Letter to yourself

Learning English through American Culture

English 1A was a very useful course for me in two different and important ways.  On one hand I learned more about the mechanics of writing a persuasive essay, and on the other hand the reading assignments made me aware of issues that I had not thought about before and they certainly are very important.

I learned several important points about the reading and writing processes.  Taking notes, underlining, and writing down thoughts and comments on each section of a reading selection helped me remember points and ideas that I could otherwise forget.   This type of reading process was especially helpful when the reading selection is an entire book like The Culture Jam or a long essay or research article.  During the writing process, I found that writing down or brainstorming the topic of each body paragraph of my essay was helpful.  Based on these main ideas, I went back and filled in the details and quotations for each paragraph.

              As a writer, I also learned several rules for improving the form and structure of my essays.  I learned to combine short sentences to make the essay flow better and add more information to explain the point I was making in my writing. I also learned that the conclusion should make the reader aware of why the essay they read was worthwhile.

On the paragraph level, I learned that the main point and topic should be placed close to the beginning of each body paragraph.  I also learned to link each paragraph back to the thesis statement to make the point of my writing clear and more understandable.  Although not as visible in shorter essays, this technique worked extremely well to pull together and clarify longer essays.  This was the most valuable rule of essay writing I learned so far, even after four years of turning in research papers in high school English classes.

On the sentence level, I learned to formulate clear sentences using active instead of passive verbs , use grammar constructs such as subordinate clauses and appositives, as well as a way to test whether or not “who”  or “whom” should be used in a sentence by reconstructing the sentence with the words “he” or “him”.  Although, I already used this type of grammar in my writing, doing the exercises allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of these constructs and realize how they are used to form clearer sentences that contain more information.

I learned several rules that improve reading and writing processes on the overall essay, paragraph, and sentence level.  Learning to link each paragraph back to the thesis statement was the most valuable rule of writing that I was not aware of before this class.

 

Everything I learned in the past quarter in English 1A will be useful in my future writing classes.   However, there is one reading assignment and several rules of writing that I find myself remembering almost every day.  The rule to end each paragraph with a link to the thesis statement is one I will definitely remember and use in future writing assignments.   In everyday speech, I often find myself deconstructing my own or someone else’s sentences to see if they are using the words “I” and “me” correctly.  In the future, I will know how to do the same to see if the words “who” and “whom” are used correctly. 

The book The Culture Jam was very provocative and the suggestion to discuss its contents with others was immensely useful.  I chose to discuss to it with considerably older acquaintances and it happened that their points of view was very different from that of Kalle Lasn.  The different ideas that I have now been exposed are very exciting and will be on my mind for a long time, maybe forever.

In English 1A class this past quarter I learned to think about popular culture and its effects on modern society.  I learned different ways of looking at and thinking about the pros and cons of modern technology, artifacts, and advertisements that populate our everyday lives. All the reading and writing assignments done for this class made me understand the deeper meanings behind many of these artifacts and how the media can influence these meanings. Jib Fowles essay, “Fifteen Basic Appeals”, which talked about the appeals advertisers use to draw the reader’s attention to their products, caught my interest and made me look at advertisements and everyday items like vehicles and sunglasses in a whole new way.  

After reading the assigned articles and writing the in-class and out-of-class essays, I learned that pop culture is part of society's everyday life and ordinary items like movies, clothes, and cars often carry hidden and deeper meanings. By reading Jib Fowles essay “Fifteen Basic Appeals” and writing the essay on Analyzing Advertisements, I learned that sellers try to appeal to consumers’ internal needs and desires.  I also learned that consumerism is a problem in the United States and that everyone needs to think about environmental responsibility in their life style choices. I learned that pop culture artifacts like the SUV may represent society's lifestyle, status, and environmental infrastructure.  Pop-culture is made up of many subcultures.  Often, society has many misconceptions about certain subcultures due to the way they are represented by the television media.  I also learned that every technology has its positive and negative effects on culture.  The Internet reduces social interaction between people in some ways but also facilitates it in other ways (like by email, Facebook and Skype).  At the same time it makes businesses more efficient and lessens air pollution by allowing people to work from home instead of commuting to the office.   Jib Fowles' essay, “Fifteen Basic Appeals” was, for me, most compelling and thought provoking.   After reading this essay, every time I look at a TV commercial or see a product advertised on a billboard I try to decipher which appeal the seller is using to get the public’s attention.

     I learned that in our society the media controls the quality and content of information we receive.  Therefore, people must be aware and think critically about the information presented on TV, the internet, and other news and advertising sources. Before forming an opinion about any subculture, a person should understand its true essence instead of forming a decision or a prejudice based on the way a subculture is portrayed on TV.  Positive benefits of some modern technologies may outweigh their negative side effects, however, people must make sure that they use technology to enrich their lives and not allow it to become a negative influence.  Before purchasing and driving a Hummer, people need to consider their environmental responsibility and the effect such conspicuous consumption has on our society instead of falling for the advertiser’s ploy of playing on their desire for aggression and dominance.  Fifteen appeals are used by advertisers to attract people’s attention to products.  In order to think critically about our environment and the information presented by today’s media, everyone should know which of the appeals a particular advertisement  is using and which of our emotions a particular product is trying to reach.

After reading Jib Fowles’ “Fifteen Basic Appeals”, an essay that made a big impression on me, I am now able to discern which emotional appeal the seller is using to my attention in every advertisement and TV commercial.

Reading Kalle Lasn’s The Culture Jam and the discussions I had with older acquaintances were very thought provoking for me.  Many complex and new issues were raised and arguments supporting different sides were proposed that I had not thought about before.  I will be thinking about them for a long time and this means that the course was a very valuable educational experience. 

What I learnt from Culture Jam...

   The Hummer is just one of many artifacts of today’s popular culture that advertisers induce people to buy.  For a person who makes these types of purchases, Lasn’s book is very worthwhile reading if it causes them to examine their lives and understand why they need to consider their environmental responsibility and consumer habits.  However, even though everyone should understand how their purchases and consumer habits effect the environment, most average Americans do not blindly buy everything they see in advertisements.  
By writing the Response to Culture Jam essay I learned that in the United States consumerism is a problem of which everyone should be aware.

     As a writer I learned that the order of paragraphs in an essay is very important.  Placing a summary paragraph before the introduction paragraph confused the readers in my Peer Response Group.  Based on their feedback, I switched the order of Introduction and summary paragraphs.  I also learned about appositive phrases and how using this grammar construct allows one sentence to contain more information yet still remain clear.  I also learned that linking each paragraph back to the thesis sentence is very useful in a longer essay because it makes the writing clearer and pulls the whole essay together.

On Kalle Lasn’s Culture Jam

Culture Jam reminds me the jar of jam!! Culture Jam is the name of the book written by Kale Lasn and it is all about American culture.  Honestly this book is a jar of culture with all different tastes! As I was reading through I found more hidden information about where I am living, there was pages that my brain is still attached to it! means I like to read it more! why? because I am foreigner and I feel Lasn point of view is look like foreigner. To understand the Lasn's views I chose to interview couple of older people who really lived in US longer than me. on of the is my uncle who is traveling between Iran and US a lot, and the other person is a lady who I know from the Church. if you want to know what I liked and disliked or what I learnt from this book and my interviews with real people follow me by reading my next essay "On Kale Lasn's Culture Jam".

On Kalle Lasn’s Culture Jam

“Twenty-five years ago, when the world had not quite lost all of its innocence and idealism, I was living in a film commune, churning out experimental films . . .” This is how Kalle Lasn (henceforth KL) describes his own cultural background.  I am a child of 1990’s and I was born after the world had lost its innocence and idealism, according to KL.  So much of what the author (KL) finds as the corruption of an innocent world is commonplace to me.  I talked to several much older acquaintances to better understand that innocent and idealistic world of KL.  These acquaintances are highly educated individuals who were about my age in nineteen sixties which was a time of cultural transformation in the United States and globally and the impression I get is that the idealism of that period is reflected in the thinking of KL.  As I understand, a small segment of 1960’s revolutionaries found living outside the social and economic mainstream desirable and adopted a form of life accordingly.  This is perhaps the kind of Puritanism (if it can be called so) that one finds in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and it is part of the lost innocence that KL finds regrettable.

In the first two chapters of Culture Jam, KL gives the reader a very bleak picture of the state of the world and what the future holds for us unless major cultural transformations change the current environment.  The issues she raises are diverse and their relationship rather tenuous.  They include

1. Alienation from family and nature (pages 3-7).
2. Widespread psychological disorders (pages 9 and 10).
3. Lack of emotional experiences and their replacement with TV-cyberspace (pages 11, 46 and 47).
4. Pollution of minds by TV; sex and violence, identical images leading to homogenization and lack of diversity etc. (pages 12, 18, 24-26 etc.)
5. Current thinking on economics and generation of wealth is leading to doomsday.
6. Corporate advertising dominating the airwaves and deeply influencing our thinking and the drift towards unbridled consumerism (pages 14-18, 63 etc.).
7. Government has degenerated into an instrument for the benefit of corporations and not responsive to people’s needs (pages 63-71 etc.).

KL gives the impression that corporate greed is the underlying cause of many current social ills and this appears to be the unifying theme in his ominous assessment of our postmodern world.  Social issues are by nature not black or white, and the points made by KL are no exception.  Each point has some validity and should be evaluated in its own context.  It is much too simplistic to reduce the real problems we are facing to simple consequences of corporate greed and power.  In addition, the evangelical tone of KL’s Culture Jam and that he is our benevolent and enlightened savior from the satanic world of corporate domination will alienate some, maybe many, thoughtful individuals.  The book reads like the expression of a stream of consciousness by a person who hates almost everything in the world today and would like to take us back to a Utopian world that he has created in his imagination.  Many prefer to see a more balanced, focused and rational assessment of issues.  I will attempt to address some (and only some) of the points made by KL.

According to KL (page 3), “One day it dawns on you that, as a family, you're failing. You aren't so much a family as five strangers sharing power and water.”  Are we really more estranged from our families than the previous generation was?  It is a very difficult proposition about which to make a quantitative or even a qualitative statement.  So I asked some of my older acquaintances to tell me about their relationship with their parents and children.  In important ways it seems that the quality of communication between family members has improved.  Some have explained to me that in their teenage years they felt that their parents were not making the effort to adjust to and understand the changing world of the younger generation.  With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps this judgment was unfair to the parents but because of it, they made the effort to develop better communication with their own children and understand their thinking.  It is true that their children spend a lot more time on the laptops, tablets or other gadgets than they did with their toys (whatever they were), nevertheless when they talk to each other it is often at a more sincere, unguarded and deeper level.  It is easier for their children to talk to them about their personal relationships than it was for them to relate their feelings and thoughts to their parents.  Parents and children seem to understand each other better nowadays.  This feeling is not universal but the opposite is not universal either.  Technology also has had a positive impact on the improvement of communication.  Apparently fifty years ago, making an international telephone call was expensive and not necessarily a trivial matter and of course there was no email even twenty five years ago.  Nowadays we can talk to each other across the globe on Skype or ooVoo and track our lost friends on Facebook.  Is this not an improvement in human relations?  I think one important reason for the immense success of the “cyberspace” is that it has made it so much easier to share our thoughts and emotions with family and friends.   

Consider the following statements from page 18 of Culture Jam, “Growing up in an erotically charged media environment alters the very foundations of our personalities. . .  I think the constant flow of commercially scripted pseudosex, rape and pornography makes us more voyeuristic, insatiable and aggressive.”  And HK further elaborates, “TV programming is inundated by sex and violence because the networks have determined they are an efficient way to produce audiences. The commercial media are to the mental environment what factories are to the physical environment. . .  A TV or radio station ‘pollutes’ the cultural environment because that's the most efficient way to produce audiences. It pays to pollute.” Does KL really think that we have become a bunch of promiscuous morons because there is so much sex in the media?  If so, he really does not understand the mind frame of the people of my generation.  What has changed relative to a generation or two ago is that since women have become more independent financially, they can respond to their feelings and romantic desires more honestly.  I happen to be an opera enthusiast and where would Italian opera be without women suffering because of sexual impositions on them?  The tragic characters of Lucia (of Lucia de Lammermoor), Cio Cio San (of Madame Butterfly), Violetta (of La Traviata) and many others are indicative of a cultural ailment.  It was in that innocent of world of KL that these unfortunate women lived and hopefully we have put that era behind us.

Sex and violence have been part of our cultural heritage from ancient mythological and biblical (of the Old Testament especially) tales of the Middle East and the Mediterranean region to the post-renaissance European romantic literature.  It is part of our genetic make-up to be excited about sex but this excitement is mitigated and controlled by many other factors.  Being beautiful and sexy has been important from time immemorial, and surely the advertising tycoons are aware of its power.  I also do not like to see young women responsive to advertising by Victoria’s Secrets or other outlets.  But the cultural predicament that KL warns us about is greatly exaggerated.  For most of us it is a passing experience and the fascination with it wears off in due time.  I was born and raised in Iran and some aspects of the current American culture, especially as relates to sex, were and are not so easily accessible to the general public.  Nevertheless, the impact of consumerism which according to KL is brought about by relentless advertising using sexual themes is as visible there as it is here.  The desire to be beautiful and attractive is universal whether one observes the Islamic dress code or not and regardless of the teachings of the leading clergy of any faith.  The only difference is the constraints imposed by the available wealth.

According to KL there are two schools on thought in Economics; one advocating limitless growth and the other ecological economics (see sections “Two Schools of Thought” and “Ecological Economics”).  By KL’s admission, the latter that he favors has not yet developed into a coherent theory.  So it is not really clear what he is advocating other than he is against economic growth as is generally understood and has grave concerns about the impending ecological disaster.  It seems that there is general consensus that ecological issues should be addressed and there are extreme elements on both sides that sabotage constructive discussions.  Some like to label warnings about ecology frivolous doomsday predictions and the other extreme elements would like to outlaw almost anything that interferes with the natural order of things.  Obviously, if we adopt the latter point of view, then medical care, among other things, should be outlawed and the former group is mindlessly ignoring scientific data.  The ecology issue is a scientific problem and I believe it should be of serious concern to governments. Developing countries, like China, India and Brazil are probably the most serious offenders.  How economic growth that these countries need can be reconciled with ecological concerns is a major problem about which I cannot say anything intelligent because of my very limited knowledge.  KL does not seem to have any constructive suggestions either.

There are other significant economic issues that are mentioned in Culture Jam.  In the section “The End of the American Dream,” KL warns us that this great symbol of the American culture and lifestyle has degenerated into a generally inaccessible goal for most.  This theme resonates strongly with many people of my generation but perhaps not in the same way as described by KL.  Robert Reich, an economist and a former Secretary of Labor, has been calling the public’s attention to the ever increasing income and asset inequality in the United States and its serious social consequences if the trend is not reversed.  There are many technical issues of economics involved on how to address this problem and I simply do not have the technical knowledge to analyze it.  But the issue has found an impressive dramatic expression is Susan Collins’ Hunger Games where the majority leads a life of semi-slavery serving the super-rich and the powerful and the media glamorizes the most reprehensible conduct of the ruling class.  The drama of Hunger Games captures the concerns, fear and the latent anger of the younger generation more effectively than the arguments of KL.  This is partly because we allow the dramatist to take liberties with factual realities in order to effectively make a point but an essay or book, like Culture Jam, is expected to present cold facts and argue coherently and dispassionately.

In the section entitled “Unofficial History of America,” KL argues that the American Revolution was directed as much against the British corporations as it was against the imperial rule of Britain. As a result, corporations were kept on a short leash (after the Revolution) and were supposed to be financial instruments to serve the general public.  A great transformation occurred with the 1886 ruling of the Supreme Court that effectively gave a corporation a status similar to that of a citizen and this marks the beginning of the ever increasing power of corporations at the expense of people according to KL. This is a very interesting point but an analysis of this issue requires specialized and deep knowledge of history and law far beyond my current capability.  Nevertheless I made some web search and I will be devil’s advocate.

In the eighteenth century, the idea of free enterprise was gaining ground and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (published in 1776, the year of the American Revolution) is the probably most important intellectual work on the benefits of the free enterprise system.  This idea, that Adam Smith called “the system of natural liberty,” and James Madison referred to as “the benign system of a responsible government,” allowed individuals great liberty in the production of wealth and was very much on the mind of framers of the American Constitution. For example, according to Thomas Jefferson, “Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.”  In the Federalist Paper No. 12, Alexander Hamilton states, “The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged, by all enlightened statesmen, to be the most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth; and has accordingly become a primary object of their political cares.  By multiplying the means of gratification, by promoting the introduction and circulation of precious metals, those darling objects of human avarice and enterprise, it serves to vivify and invigorate the channels of industry, and to make them flow with greater activity and copiousness. . .”  So the capitalist greed (avarice) that KL finds objectionable was regarded as a valuable asset by Alexander Hamilton.  It appears that the vision of the founders of the United States may have been very different from what KL attributes to them.  It is difficult to see how the curtailment of consumerism and the limitation of economic growth that KL advocates can be made compatible with the thinking of Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison and other leaders of the period.

It also appears that our system of liberties and freedom from government interference that has become part of the American culture had its roots in the development of the free enterprise.  The notion that people should be free to (1) produce what they want, (2) travel and live where choose to, (3) acquire goods and services that they desire etc. etc. and the protection of individuals from government interference are deeply rooted in the free market philosophy and have influenced the development of our civil liberties. 

In addition, free trade enhanced the merging of diverse ideas from different regions of the globe and has led to the improvement of material goods and quality of life.  It stands to reason therefore that historically great cities and sites of civilization emerged along trade routes.  Cultural diversity developed in conjunction with the expansion of trade.  KL’s concern about homogenization and disappearance of diversity seems to be without merit.  I have personally witnessed more diversity and tolerance in the United States than in more traditional societies where the level of consumerism and exposure to pernicious TV advertising is much lower. 

According to KL (page 121), “The critical issues of our time are neither Left nor Right, neither male nor female, neither black nor white. The challenge for new millennium activists is to find the courage to let go of all their old orthodoxies, ‘isms’ and sacred cows, and to commit to ‘a ruthless criticism of all that exists.’ And after that, the big challenge is to bring revolutionary consciousness and contestation back into the modern world by standing up and boldly announcing to the world what Parisian rebels declared some thirty years ago: ‘We will wreck this world.’"  This paragraph is bound impress very negatively many readers who may generally be sympathetic to some of the issues raised by KL.  I don’t see any rationale for adopting this kind of extreme nihilism.  While there are many challenges in this world and many inequities and injustices that we should work on to rectify, this form of radical destructive attitude can find few sympathetic ears and for good reason.

Some learnt stuff from ad analysis essay

By writing the essay on Analyzing Advertisements I learned that sellers try to appeal to consumers’ internal needs and desires.  I learned about the fifteen appeals used to attract readers’ attention and how to analyze ads to see which of the appeals a particular advertisement is using.  These appeals are not always easy to discern.  Advertisers try to be very subtle about appealing to needs such as dominance because they do not want to offend potential customers.

As a writer I learned how to formulate clear sentences using active verbs.  Shorter sentences should be combined with connecting words to form longer sentences.  I learned that I should expand some of the points in the essay with more detailed explanations and should break up parapgraphs, even if they are still explaining the same point, to keep them from getting too long.  I also learned to pay attention to the order of paragraphs in an essay even though each paragraph talks about a different aspect of the thesis statement.

Ad Analysis

"The act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers and magazines, over radio or television, on billboards, etc.: to get more customers by advertising." This is how Dictionary.com defines the world "Advertisement". I have no special feeling! Not excited, why? because I see advertisements everywhere, I live with ads. I do not need someone defines it for me. Ads are self-defined for me! they better to be self-descriptive enough to work.  Anyway, my next essay I have to choose an ad and analyze it. I chose Victoria Secret's advertisement for this essay, specifically this video clip that I attached bellow, called "What is sexy?". hope you enjoy and find some points in my essay!

 

 

 

“What is Sexy?”

As a message strategy, sexuality is replete across advertising illustrations.  Primary goal of an advertisement is to produce consumer desire for the brand.  Victoria's secret has earned its reputation as an overall sexy company. “What is sexy?” gets credit for being the most rhetorical question of all time, as it’s asked through one of the Victoria’s Secrets commercial videos; while a bunch of lingerie-laden models strut around amongst the low camera angles and wind machines. It is a kind of sexual suggestion which covers over the censure of actual sex.... Specifically, what is represented is not sex but the blockage, censure, or inhibition of the sex act which is simultaneously suppressed from the image and is also the only possible motive for it.  Victoria’s Secret appears to want every woman to look and feel sexy, it is evident that the company is in fact encouraging women to fit their standards. Instead of welcoming sexiness in all shapes and colors, Victoria’s Secret challenges a woman’s individuality. Further, while the merchandise is entirely tangible, the image that the brand sells along it is superficial, or fake nonetheless.

Looking sexy to draw attention was the first visible sign of Victoria’s Secret’s advertising that grabbed my eyes. Well, not me but even other women who come in contact with such ads start feeling inferior of themselves as they are not as pretty or thin as compared to the models shown in advertisements. Jim Fawles, the author of Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals, introduces “Need for attention” as “The desire to exhibit ourselves in such a way to make others look at us…”; which explains my feeling over seeing a sexy models of Victoria’s Secret’s add.  Often, I see the ads like this contain a hidden message: gentlemen prefer this look.  And one like me who wants eyes upon her knows what she should do.

Victoria’s Secret challenges women individuality in “Need for freedom” by transforming lingerie from a slightly embarrassing taboo into an accessible, even routine accessory, especially by sexualizing teens versus letting them be comfortable.  Back to my teen age, I used to wear those loose double extra-large T-shirts, because I did not like to be embarrassed or seen differently while I was playing or visiting my boy friends. I felt I had no freedom to enjoy for being a female. Today, Victoria’s Secret has changed my attitude, with their special collection for female teenagers.  The difference of the teenager collection is just their bright colors. For teenager collection, Victoria’s Secret benefits the teenager models, as well. Although, Victoria’s secret’s advertisers flourish “Need for freedom” for young women, but they undervalue the absolutely pure image of a female teenager by turning it to an object in which teenagers being sexualized in the fashion industry. Jean Kilbourne in his article, Jesus Is a Brand of Jean, confirms my statement: “advertising helps to create a climate in which certain values flourish and others are not reflected at all.” Victoria’s Secrets ads generate a climate that only sexuality counts and other features of a woman’s consciousness are not reflected at all.

 Victoria’s Secret wants women to fit into their standards by benefiting of only young skinny female models. Victoria’s Secret’s ads do not show the intelligence and compassion of women.  What I see in the ads is just a perfect body. Now, I understand who fits into those XS bikini briefs that taunt me from the table at Victoria’s Secret. I knew no one past puberty could fit into those! As PBS Frontline in its interview with Mark Crispin Miller gives an overview of the messaging of the media today: “Advertising is just a commercial form of propaganda….it wants us not to be able to find a way outside of the world that it creates for us.”  This means Victoria’s Secret wants us to forget the importance of the role of a woman, as a mother, wife, daughter, and sister in the family; instead glamorizes the pleasurable look of a young sexy lady who just know how to please others by her semi naked body.

Victoria’s Secret’s ads mainly benefits the “Need for attention”and “Need for freedom” from the list of “fifteen appeals” described by Fowles. The marketing strategy for these two appeals includes: using young women’s body images and encouraging all women to fit their standards, targeting female teenagers by producing a special collections of products to make them feeling “Cool” and “Free” as college girls. As a young lady, sometimes I do not like seeing young women shopping happily as a group of friends and having a pink stripped shopping bag in their hands while walking in the shopping mall. Because I think everybody knows there is something sexy in this bag! I believe, we still “dreaming the same dream” as Kale Lasn says in The Cult You’re In, that is why advertisers of Victoria’s Secret or similar companies are still using women body images to sell and we continuously shop.



Summary of  “Advertising’s fifteen basic appeals “

 Jib Fowles in his essay “Advertising’s fifteen basic appeals “, explains the influence of advertising on our daily lives throughout a large analysis of the methods and strategies adopted by advertisers to appeal consumers.  He believes that advertisers use strategies based on emotion which affects the consumer subconsciously, and the focal information product as illustrated by his sayings” Thus, most advertisements appearing in national media can be understood as having two orders of content. The first is the appeal to deep-running drives in the minds of consumers. The second is information regarding the goods or service being sold”.  Fowles uses the list of 15 “basic appeals” drived from Henry A. Murray’s inventory of human motives to show these appeals are mainly false psychological needs, in which sex is the most controversial need of the list.  To support his concepts, Fowles examined several advertisements, judging that some of them presented positive images.  Finally, he ends up with the productive understanding, “advertising messages involves costs and benefits at both ends of communications channels.”

what appeal would you use if you were an advertiser?

 

Technology and Us...

The second in class essay was about the influence of technology on us or literally on our culture. For this I felt comfortable to use my own experience, because I am living with technology every second, unlimited. Also we had to use some information from the assigned resending from the book Common Culture. The effects of technology on us can be good or bad? Am I right? For example with technology development such as TV we are getting lazier and thus developing so many physical and mental disorders that are not good for us. In other hand we get so many information and learnings through TV that makes us more aware about the world (maybe!). Now are we winners of advantages of technology or the losers of the its disadvantages?

Winner or loser?

I promise more than half of American people never experienced any restrictions in using Internet. I remember my teenager time, when I had to make connection via Dial-up connection to enter my second world, and as I entered I was not able to visit many of social and entertaining websites, because of Iranian governmental restriction.  Today, as an individual of American culture I have freedom of access to many websites via efficient technology, everywhere. New technologies changed our life culturally by altering the foundation of our interests and quality of symbols by which we communicate and essential features of our community.

Technologies alter our interests: “the things we think about” as Neil Postman, the author of Judgment of Thamus, defines the meaning of the structure of interests.  Looking back to myself, every morning, I open my eyes and take out my cell phone from under my pillow to check my E-mails.  This behavior started to me since I got a smart phone.  Before I used to look at my colorful big painting hanged over the wall just in front of my bed. Five minuets staring at painting early morning was a whole course of art and creativity for me.  I was relaxed I had no worries for starting a new day.  But today, I am gaining more stress by addicting to check my emails. The whole day, there is a sticker back of my brain that alters me: check it! Check it! Although I know that eighty percent of my emails are Junks, still I want to check it! Plus, every time I open my Email, so many advertisements on the borders of web page grabs my attention. Which sometimes ends up looking at advertisers’ website to see if I need their product or not. At this point technology caused me to loose my healthy inner thoughts by which I could realize my interests, real needs.

Technologies alter our methods and quality of communication: “things we think with” Postman well defines the character of symbols in his article in which we communicate through in society. Also he uses the idea of changing language of people who are using technology daily, extremely computer and smart phone users, to show the disadvantages of technologies on the culture. “The old words still look the same, …but they do not have the same meanings; in some cases they have opposite meanings.” He says. Truly, if someone today talks about “intelligence” to me, the first thing that comes up to my mind is “computer”. In contrast, my mom’s first response to the same word is “ the person who knows math and acts fast”. In fact the meaning of “intelligence” is changed through technology in which two different generations have two different attitudes about it. For instance, human replaced by a machine.

Before starting my education in English, I was thinking that communicating through this language would be very hard. In fact it is easier than my native language. For example through a text message I do not have to write a whole sentence, instead every word cuts into meaningful alphabets. For me as a user this is an advantage of technology to communicate faster, but for experts such as Thamus and Postman who are worry about the future of language and communication, it is a disadvantage.

Technologies alter the essential features of our community: “the arena in which thoughts develop” Postman defines the nature of community in which technology has its impact on it. These days, when I have dinner with friends, I see when two person start to discuss about a topic, others do not try to participate and they just take out their cell phones and play with it.  Even I feel, sometimes I prefer my semi-private space out of the larger public.  Robert Samuels in his article Breaking Down Borders states, “In fact, they compel us to redefine what private and public mean”. In which he explains how technology brought a new rules to the communities “for how to act in public places and for how to socialize with and around one another.” Maybe that is why I am not interested to making friends at coffee shops as I used to.

Finally, I found myself half winner of benefits and half loser of disadvantages of technology.  I believe “We understand intuitively that machines are becoming more like human, and now via the promise of virtual reality we have the opportunity to meet machines halfway.” As Lasn states in his book Culture Jam. The impact of technology on our culture is both positive and negative. And I think we are just facing to the new horizons of culture. Maybe the meaning of “Culture” that we are thinking of will be different in future.

 

Learnings from "pop-subculture"

What I learnt from the topic? Thousands of subcultures exist within the United States. Ethnic and racial groups share the language, food, and customs of their heritage. Other subcultures are united by shared experiences. Biker culture revolves around a dedication to motorcycles. Some subcultures are formed by members who possess traits or preferences that differ from the majority of a society’s population. The body modification community embraces aesthetic additions to the human body, such as tattoos, piercings, and certain forms of plastic surgery. In the United States, adolescents often form subcultures to develop a shared youth identity. Alcoholics Anonymous offers support to those suffering from alcoholism. But even as members of a subculture band together, they still identify with and participate in the larger society. Today I realized I am part of may subcultures such as: Body fitness, healthy eater, classical music fan, Peets coffee over Starbuck, ... I spent an hour to find out how did I take myself to these subcultures? probably, my parents encouragement, the influence of my close friends, lack of stable social life, failure in my pervious experiences in following a certain interest. 

Analyzing the essay:

In this essay I found few weakness in my writing skill:
1- Proofreading
2-Developing the idea towards the thesis statement instead of going off topic
3-Using a right quote at the right place
4-Asking question "So What?" at the end of each sentence

• Introduction: I used my interesting experience as a hook to make the reader my "follower"!
• Thesis statement: I think it is clear! this the most scary part of the essay! you better get done this part correctly after 3 quarter of English class!
• Body Paragraphs: Here is my weakness. I mostly get lost through remembering old memories, sometime I give to much unnecessary info to the reader to the poin I feel her/his frustration. for example 2 last body paragraphs before conclusion. 
• Conclusion: not bad. I think I followed my thesis statement carefully this time.  I like my quotes as well!! good job! Lol!
• Grammar and punctuations:OMG! after asking 2 unknown individuals at Peets Coffee still I see grammatical problems. such as: verb tense, missing articles! Embarrassed now!

 

Facebook Addict as a fast growing Subculture

• What is subculture? how people are finding their identities through subcultures? and how a subculture forms? ...This is the new topic of the essay. yes, we have to define a popular subculture through a real subculture that is currently exist. To answer these questions I first looked around my self, where I am living, people around me, family, friend, school friends,... few minutes later, I found I belong to many subcultures without noticing their existence in my life. Because I did not know the meaning of subculture. Truly, living without subcultures is impossible today. For this essay I found maybe I should stop being embarrassed of being a Facebook Addict and It's better to use my experience to define popular subculture.

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Follow and like me!

 

In 2008 Google search engine helped me find one of my old friends.  I found her brief information and photo on the website called “Facebook”.  I tried to get more information, but Facebook did not let me know more about her unless I registered at its website.  Facebook connected me to all of my old and new friends at the same place.  In 2010 I realized that spending time on Facebook had taken priority over spending time with friends in the physical world; I had become a member a group of “Facebook addict”.  The subculture of Facebook addicts is defined by constant desire to stay connected, and by giving individuals the power of constructing their desired identity, which gives them power of controlling what others find about them and what they find about others without their knowledge.

The Facebook Addict creates a subculture in which people love to stay connected to the world, consequently gives a sense of belonging.  Through Facebook I was able to see daily life of my friends on the other side of the world and expanding my imagination about living in their fashion. Facebook as an artifact is very similar to definition of “unreality” by Kalle Lasn, the author of Culture Jam, “…so womblike and seductive”, “…it’s a nice place to be.”  I remember my feeling after the initial subscription and setting up my Facebook page, it was like “…easy to forget you’re a citizen and the actual world is an interactive place” as Lasn describes the world of unreality.  As I was able to search through this website and find most of my lost friends, I was able to add them on my friends’ circle and keep them forever.  We as a huge group with different interests and different circles of friends were able to live together indirectly through Facebook.

 

In an endless chain of social and cultural communication, identities are shaped, integrated or changed.  It means that an identity expresses itself through a subculture.    For Facebook addict it is matter of choosing identity at any time.  The citizens of the Facebook have the opportunity to change their personal information, as they desire.  A Facebook user’s identity is best described as “transformative” as Lasn defines, “in the way they let the user determine the outcome.”  I can make infinite number of Facebook pages with different names and personal information.  I can show myself in my desire character, photos, sentences etc.  For example, I always like to post pictures of my travels rather my daily photos, because I like people to see me as travelling all the time.  A traveler is one of the characters that I want to be identified with. Connecting through Facebook helped me to know my friends’ ideals and myself better. Sometimes I meet strangers with real or unreal identities in my “comment boxes” under my public posts on my Facebook page, but when it comes to a discussion of a topic I feel they are almost like my friends.  At this point, their real identity is not important to me, in fact their words and sentences identifies them. The formation of subcultural identities starts from the moment the subculture actors make their differences visible.  Maybe we Facebook addict people do not color our hair or tattoo our body or smoke weeds, but our activities in the Facebook are visible to our Facebook followers.

Through Facebook, I had power of controlling what others find about me and what I find about others without their knowledge.  I was able to see lots more details about their personal lives that during my physical friendship I would have ever known.  Friends of my friends were my friends too, so I had all the supervisions over my circles of friends, as parents like to have it over their children.  I liked to check my “News and Feeds” posted by my friends and follow their lives, because I did not like to miss an interesting thread.  Very soon I found I am able to block individuals in order not to let them see my information, photos, or any other of my activities without alerting them.  To spy, is one of the features that Facebook as a main artifact provides for addicted members to increase the sense of pleasure and power.  As a result, this social interaction causes envy especially when users compare how many likes or comments were made on their photos and postings.  For this reason, still I am very conservative when I am thinking about posting a new photo on my Facebook page, or choosing to “Like” a certain post.  Everybody is watching me, that is my feeling before tapping on the “Like” bottom.

Facebook addiction has become so huge and still growing that it is no longer just a subculture of our global society.  Within it many subculture of addicts have developed and they have functions similar to subcultures in more conventional societies.  Even though it has benefits in allowing us to remain connected in ways that were not imaginable to most people a generation ago.  Perhaps through such technological advances we can overcome cultural misunderstandings and prejudices that have plagued the human society for generations. Today, expanding my social life is easier than five years ago.  “We face more and more opportunities and incentive to spent more time in cyberspace or let the TV do thinking.” Lasn says. Currently, I am not a Facebook addict anymore, because I found Facebook addicts’ life similar to what Lasn realized about life of individuals in the cyberspace “ …trapped inside their living rooms, roaming the thousand-channel universe and exercising the one freedom they still have left: to be the voyeurs of their own demise.” And I do not feel good to see myself in this situation any more. Now, I would like to join subcultures more about health and physical fitness to find my lost self-confidence, pure mind and happiness again.

 

"Thou Shalt be judeged"

 

 

Mark Probest in the article "Thou shalt be judged" explains how subcultures in our society provide a sense of direction and inspiration for many young people and therefore play an important role in the development of their identities. On the other hand, certain characteristics are often associated with subcultures.  The label identifying an individual with a subculture often carries a number of preconceived notions about that person.  These prejudicial judgments are often wrong and do not take into account the complexities in the personality and thinking of the person.  While there is some bonding or common ground among people identified with a subculture, the labeling oversimplifies an individual’s personality and is prejudicial.  In the twentieth century we made significant progress in discarding prejudices that were detrimental to our society but much work remains to be done to free ourselves from unjustifiable preconceived notions about many subcultures.

Author Barash looks at the event of the sports fandom from different perspectives in his article "The Roar of the Crowd" from theoretical, psychological, anthropological,...and sees this phenomenon as a central issue and problematic human behavior. It seams he is confused about human being's fascination with watching other people doing sports.  he believes people who are sports' fan, are looking for their identification through watching sports as he says: "we get identification from our sports frenzy, the experience of seeing ourselves in the exploit of another". he uses the phrase "nationalists" to describe the sports fans.

Respond to the Summaries:

Looking back to my self, I just like to watch Golf! Yes, just because I like to follow the little white sphere and seeing the ball falling into its hole makes me happy and excited. I do not care who is playing I just like the ball. I totally understand why Barash is confused, he is lost by some social aspect of the sports fandom, which is sometimes destructive for human society.  but his statement is not always true. Putting two articles above together, I think sports fandom and subculture are related.  Fans wants to show their support to the sport teams and want to know themselves as their members, in subcultures followers doing the same thing. They both look for their identity through their participation and supports of their favorite group.  

What I learnet...

Learnings about Topic:

American artifact, was one of the new meaningful words that I learnt before starting the first essay.  I found an artifact can be an object which is descriptive of the culture of the people who are living with it.  I learnt how to look at "Barbie doll" now.  When I was kid I had few Barbie dolls, they were my kids, and I loved them because they were beautiful.  Twenty years later, just before this essay, I found the real beauty of the Barbie. It is not the physical beauty but the beauty of the nature of the culture which can flow from individuals thoughts to their hand made objects.  Still I disagree with some points of view of the writers of the journal about how Barbie doll is a bad American artifact, but at least I found why am I attracted by some American artifacts and how can I avoid to be influenced by these artifacts. 

Analyzing the essay:

I am analyzing my essay like an EXPERT!!! :))

Oops, Where is the "Title" of the essay!!!

• Introduction: looks a little bit lost at the end. I started with story of how I first found an object that could be an American artifact which is NIKE brand, but did not well explained how this artifact reflects the American culture. I just talked about my own personal challenges with this brand.
• Thesis statement: not very clear. probably here it is:" I think the craving of this brand for American people is just because they think it is more fashion, better called “fashion and sportive”." but it lacks some good ideas, I really did not have the good points for analyzing the NIKE brand. of course it is about fashion but I should have said how NIKE became such a cultural artifact, why people have chosen this brand?  
• Body Paragraphs: The story each line is about the new topic but not proving the "American artifact". Some description of meanings of the NIKE but really how this NIKE shoes is a reflection of the American culture. for example Barbie doll has arch shape feet that only heels fit in them. this pictures reflects how American culture wants women to look.  What about NIKE? What is it carrying with its name? 
• Conclusion: not bad. I could talk about the result of the artifact on human life or at least through the American culture. What would happen if every body wear NIKE shoes? for example in the essay from the book "Common Culture" we read how the Barbie Doll and its accessories can have an influence on children and their beliefs about the American girl and how they want to show up in the society in future and how they chose their carries based on cultural beliefs. What about Nike?
• Grammar and punctuations: there are some problems, If I improve my grammar then my sentences might sound less vague. Also I missed some appropriate punctuations, mostly Commas (,). 

My First In Class essy

"It was a little stressful, but I made it! The essay was about an American Artifact, which is a mirror of American culture. In the course book Common Culture it talks about a Barbie doll as an American Artifact. I looked around to find a good one to write an essay about it, and I came up with NIKE. "

 

 

 

 

In 2011, when I entered United States the first sign of American Culture grabbed my eyes right at the airport.  That was a blonde girl who looked beautiful and had Nike shoes on.  Before getting out of airport I counted the number of Nike shoes that I saw in one hour and half, it was seven. Back to my native country, in Iran someone wears sport brand like Nike that her/his profession is Sport.  It looks weird if I as a non-sportive person wear a Nike shoes in the street, just because I want to look fashionista or perhaps just for comfort.  Everybody in the street knows that there are a lot of cheaper and comfortable shoes out there.  I cannot lie to people if I want to show off something to them.  In the school, in the street, in the hospital, on TV, in Magazines everywhere you can find Nikes in human’s feet, even non-athletics’ ones, if you are in the America.  I think the craving of this brand for American people is just because they think it is more fashion, better called “fashion and sportive”.

How ever, after thinking about Nike brand as an “American artifact”, I looked up Nike website and found out, this brand not only makes the sport outfit but also it makes non-sportive outfit like booties or sunglasses or even scarves, mostly for women.  Now I am not surprised If I think that American people mostly young generation may wear Nike to satisfy their fashion needs while they may feel good at the base of their feet.  Looking back at the article written by Carolyn Muhlstei, who analyzed the role of Barbie doll in American society, he talks about how American people look at material goods; “…devoting her self to the pursuit of happiness through leisure and material goods… “ he says about the character of Barbie which I believe is true for both genders, male and females when the “materials good” is manufactured for both sexes for the same purpose of use. Nike is one of those “material goods”.

Further more, if Nike is not about Fashion why it produces five lines of different types of just training shoes? Each type comes in about at least three different colors.  Of course it is all about customers with different interests.  Fashion is all about interest and pleasure.

Even the simple Nike logo reminds me my teachers’ sign, when I write something right and get a positive feedback.  Simply from Merriam Webster’s dictionary Nike is a Greek word means “Victory”.  More positive than this? Having a positive logo and positive brand name. Now it is clear that if could stay longer at airport I might see more Nikes!

After three years, looking at my closet, I have three pairs of Nike shoes plus bunch of sport outfits, even accessories from Nike.  I am seeing myself exposed to American culture. I like it when my friend tells me that “ Oh my God, How cute is your bright pink shoes.” I feel I finally did something right that someone liked it.  Maybe I like to be accepted and admire by people.   Perhaps others have the same feeling as I do when they wear their Nike shoes.