What is it good for?: Blog # 12 We are at War

We are at war. 

When I hear this statement, I don’t really think outside the box. The first thing that comes to my mind is the war in the Middle East. I’m rather uneducated about the current state of our troops or how we fare in the war at all for that matter. I know one of the reasons that we fight is to help liberate the people in Afghanistan (at least I think). I am not completely clear on the details of the war and I am rather uninformed about the reasoning behind it. However, one thing that comes to mind is something I experienced while watching a Leafs game on TV. It was a list of the Canadian soldiers who had recently lost their lives in the war overseas. The photos that accompanied these names, for the most part, contained young, hopeful looking individuals. I also noticed the majority of the soldiers were under the age of 25. The whole segment really made me think, but it also seemed a little harsh as after it finished it was right back to the Hockey Night in Canada song and almost seemed to be disregarded. Young men and women join the army for their own personal reasons, but people continue to be exposed to government commercials and propaganda encouraging them to “fight for their country.” I don’t believe in war and I think the fact that young people continue to join the war is very noble and brave. At the same time I find it tragic that they have to join at all, and often lose their lives fighting a war, which at times seems completely illogical in itself.

Making Sense of Media: Blog # 11 Media Education Week

Once again, I find myself discovering another event (that I had no previous knowledge of), because of media class! This time it's National Media Education Week. This is a week dedicated to promoting and increasing media literacy. People young and old are exposed to diverse forms of media each day without even realizing or reflecting on it. This is one thing that Media Education Week focuses on. In many ways this week devoted to media literacy is similar to Professor Lipton’s media class. They both seek to educate people about the vast world of media, but they also encourage people to think critically about what they are being exposed to. On the National Media Education Week website it explains that young people are being immersed in media more and more, they “access, absorb, communicate, create and repurpose media content” (http://www.mediaeducationweek.ca/about_overview.htm), often without any reflection or guidance. The more I read the more I understand why such a week even exists. Forms of Media and the technology surrounding them are becoming more prevalent each day. People are exposed to so many mediums and messages and should be informed about what exactly these messages mean and who the target audience is. I believe that Media Education Week will only become more beneficial with time; it will educate youth and help them make sense of the media they are so frequently exposed to.

Online Equality: Blog # 10 Network Neutrality

“Net Neutrality in Canada is the principle that consumers should be in control of what content, services and applications they use on the public Internet." I pulled this definition from a website representing net neutrality in Canada (www.neutrality.ca), to get a better understanding of exactly what it is I should be writing about. I found it rather difficult to find a solid definition of net neutrality, but from what I’ve read it is the topic of rather heated debates. It seems to me that net neutrality is about preserving the freedom of expression, which the Internet offers and that all content should be treated equally. Private companies and Internet service providers are interested in making money, by changing the simplicity and freedom of the Internet. I think that this is completely unjust and only emphasizes the greedy nature of multi-million dollar companies and the mass control they continue to seek. The Internet is an incredibly innovative creation and I think it is only fair that it allows its users the freedom to access and display the content they desire. To me this topic really begs the question of how far companies are willing to go, just to benefit themselves and maybe make an extra million while they’re at it.

 

http://whatisnetneutrality.ca/en/node/1 

A Day in the Life: Blog # 9 A Media Log

I woke up yesterday morning – since recently I consider 2:30 pm to still be morning – with the intention of keeping track of my exposure to media. I would have to say that my exposure has decreased since coming to Guelph, but I do still come in contact with a number of forms of media. I live on campus and I am on a 3-year cell phone contract with Bell. This basically means that my phone is no longer of much use to me while in or around buildings on campus. Texting has become a rarity in my life and I struggle to get signal anywhere.

Anyway, the day started with me waking up and turning to my computer (I had been watching a movie on it the previous night, so it was right by my bed). I immediately signed on to msn and had an email on Hotmail from my girlfriend. I then proceeded to check my facebook. I noticed a banner ad, representing a web cam chat site. The girl in the ad looked thrilled to be chatting with strangers, but hey, that’s not for me. After wasting a little bit of time on my computer, a floor mate and I decided it was about time to get some food. We went to the Prairie cafeteria and were surrounded by televisions. On the big-screen someone had turned on Judge Mathis. I was pleased. I always got a good chuckle from TV court cases. I didn’t really get up to much, but one form of media that I was exposed to later on that day was my Nintendo Wii system. My floor buddies and I often waste hours in front of my TV playing video games. It was the same story for most of the evening. I noticed a number of school related posters and flyers posted all over south residence, but this is more or less inevitable. To wind down for the night I watched another movie on my laptop in bed. That about brings me to where I am now. Most of the media I am exposed to in residence is similar each day, but when I’m actually keeping track I notice how much we participate in media economies and ingest so many different forms of media in 24 hours alone.

We Own You: Blog # 8 Media Hegemonies

For years, my dad worked for a company that is represented by one of the world’s most famous brand icons: Poppin’ Fresh, AKA: The Pillsbury Doughboy. I always liked the idea of this as a child, especially since it resulted in lots of Pizza Pops and other equally delicious Pillsbury products for myself. However, in 2001 Pillsbury was bought out by a former competitor: General Mills. This occurred almost 8 years ago, but I still remember it vividly. At the time it didn’t mean much to me, but to my dad and the rest of the company it would ultimately result in some major changes.

General mills might not be considered directly to be a Major Media company, but they certainly do owe most of their success to the media. Mascots for their other brands such as The Doughboy and The Jolly Green Giant have become national icons and appear anywhere from television commercials to magazine advertisements and even on satirical t-shirts. The major brands or as the General Mills website puts it: “international building blocks,” owned by the company are as follows…

·      Häagen-Dazs ice cream

·      Old El Paso Mexican meals

·      Green Giant vegetables

·      Pillsbury

·      Betty Crocker

They also own a number of market-leading local brands such as Wanchai Ferry premium dough products in China and Latina fresh pasta in Australia.

These cross ownerships can affect companies in a countless number of ways. Take my dads case for example. He ended up leaving the company for a period of time to work for Maple Leaf Meats. He ultimately returned to General Mills, because he received a more generous offer. These large brand merges can create controversy within the company that will often directly affect employees. The problem is that if one of the brands receives bad publicity or something similar it can negatively affect all other aspects of the company, but this can also work the other way with good publicity. However, there is usually a great deal of research involved when large companies decide to purchase other brands and the head powers behind such companies don’t spend millions, unless they truly believe it will benefit them.

Living Like Pigs: Blog # 7 Buy Nothing Day

“Buy Nothing Day (BND)” is fast approaching and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that if it weren’t for this media class, I would remain completely unaware that such a day even existed. Buy Nothing Day occurs the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, as everyone begins to prepare for Christmas. BND is a day of protest against consumerism and over consumption. Over consumption is a major issue that has been discussed in a number of my other classes this semester. It has lead to further inequalities between people and has even resulted in wars over territories, food and water (Shah, 2001). In many countries people are fighting for their basic needs, while people in developed countries continue to live as how adbusters represents them; pigs.

Over consumption has been a reoccurring topic in my zoology class this semester. We were required to take a test at http://www.myfootprint.org/, which determined our individual ecological footprint. The quiz basically determines how much strain one individual places on the earth. After completing the quiz, it was determined that if everyone on the planet lived a similar lifestyle to my own, it would require 5.28 earths to meet their needs. This is a rather shocking statistic, and to me the most appalling part is that I fell below the Canadian national average. In terms of my money spending habits, I have actually done fairly well since coming to Guelph. I have only spent a couple hundred dollars. Nonetheless, I support the message behind Buy Nothing Day and I think it’s great that awareness about over consumption is spreading and increasing, but in all honesty I can’t see myself participating very actively in this protest against consumerism.

http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

Shah, Anup. "Effects of Over-Consumption and Increasing Populations." Global Issues. 26 Sept. 2001. 23 Nov. 2008 .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day