Final Reflection

If I had to sum up what I have learned from this class in one simple phrase it would be, think critically. As we have seen the world around us is not very straight forward. It is full of deceptive and fearful tactics to make us more accepting of what we are told. I consider myself to be above that now. I know that I must take the news with a large helping of skepticism. I have come to the realization that our government is really not very truthful at all. This knowledge has come not just from this class, but all my Communication classes. I am a firm believer that media studies is very important. Without the classroom setting, it is very difficult to change people's mindsets about our society. One of the biggest problems is that people want to accept things at face value, without having to think. It is because of this that the news media can be so successful with its propaganda type stories. I use the analogy that the American people are sheep. They need to be lead, and without leadership they are lost without direction. However, when this leadership is poor, or misguided, or both, this can turn into a disaster. The clearest example would be the events following 9/11. Everyone was afraid and therefore we were quick to believe anything the government told us. Only in hindsight is the error of our ways revealed.

don't be sheep

All of this subject matter tends to be depressing. So as you might have noticed over the course of the semester I try to throw some humor into these blog posts to lighten the mood. Not only have our discussions been depressing, but also frustrating. I wish we did not live in a world like this, where the culture of fear is so ingrained that is will never disappear. I try to talk to my friends and family about such issues, but I see just how caught up they are in the culture of fear that it s hard to get through. One of my biggest gripes with this country is our military industrial complex. After brining this up my friends acuse me of hating America. Then I thought, do I hate America? The short answer is no. I live here for one, so that would be hypocritical, however America definitely makes me shake my head pretty often. My last piece of advice is don't be sheep, be a Shepard. Try to lead people instead of being lead yourself. If that doesn't work, I have looked into other countries and Sweden looks pretty sweet. High life expectancy, good health care system, lots of labor unions, the list goes on. So I might be buying Rosetta Stone for Swedish and look into citizenship options. Besides half the population is made up of beautiful blonde girls! I am only half kidding about all this by the way.

If this whole America thing doesn't work out...

Review Power of Nightmares Part III

The third and final installment of this documentary series did not waste any time getting to the heart of what this has been leading up to, 9/11. There was some buildup with some further explanation of Osama Bin Laden's image. He was shot on film with many soldiers around him, with the sole purpose to make Bin Laden look more intimidating. Then it happened, 9/11 a day that is not easily forgotten by any means. As the audience, we all knew the events were leading to this and some of the most interesting points of this film series was seeing how we got there. However, our reaction was in line with what the United States had been doing. They said Bin Laden was responsible and made up the idea of Al Queda. The various people questioned for the film were very clear, there is no such thing as an organized terrorist community. The material in this part of the documentary, in retrospect of course, is actually humorous. At the time I doubt many thought to question some of our countries actions, but looking back on them they were ridiculous. The worst was the video of the guys at Disneyland. The video was being used as evidence to prove they were terrorists. As crazy as it seems two of them were actually convicted! People looked into the video trying to ind evidence for what they wanted to see. For example, they said a quick shot of a garbage can was actually a code for a strategic bomb placement. The film gave plenty of more examples of similar stories, but one last one I want to touch on is cave searching. We were convinced Bin Laden was hiding in a superbase in the mountains. So naturally we bombed it. That did not work so we had soldiers search through caves. They never found anything of significance. That was really the gist of this portion of the film series. The whole US vs terrorism thing was a big swing and a miss. The US basically wanted to convince people there were constant terrorist threats. From dirty bombs, to Al Queda, it was all skewed to promote fear. Fear became the only agenda and what if scenarios became evidence. That's pretty convoluted if you ask me. They were trying to fight an idea that did not really have an exact target at all. This whole series raised a lot of questions, many of which cannot ever truly be answered, however it was informative and thought provoking. 

Review of Power of Nightmares Part II

Part two of this documentary discussed events closer to my frame of reference. I did not feel as lost watching this segment, as I did last week. Not all of the information presented was new to me, however that did not take away from the impact of the film. I  thought it was important to start where the film did. Most people my age probably just think of our current relationship with Afganistan. However, the film explores that there was once a time where we helped them out. Not only did we support the Afgans against the Soviet Union, but we gave weapons and training as well. Even Osama Bin Laden was involved at this time. One of the more troubling things about this saga, was that when the Soviet Union wanted peace, we denied them and continued to support Afganistan. Eventually the Soviet Union crumbled, and the United States was quick to take credit as a victory. However, the real reason it collapsed was just a poorly structured government. The United States feels like the whole world should end tyranny and that we have the right to do so. This mindset is still prevalent today.

The use of religion was a theme for the neoconservatives and the Jihad. Religion is a powerful tool, when used that way. The neocons used religion as a way to give ordinary people a sense of purpose, a purpose that the neocons came up with. Similarly the Jihad used religion as justification for their actions. They claimed that anyone who goes against the Koran deserves death. Though the comparison may not sit well with some, the neocons and Jihadists were similar. Ultimately, both failed in what they were trying to accomplish. The neocons attacked Bill Clinton, because they felt treated by him. How could you hate this face?

In all seriousness though, the neocons accused Clinton of ridiculous things, such as smuggling drugs and murdering his friend. Of course this was just shameless political terrorism, which was all constructed and completely untrue. In fact some neocons knew the stories were fake, but kept spreading them anyway! You literally cannot make this stuff up. On the other side of this coin were the Jihadists. They tried to use violence and terror as a means to inspire people in to a revolution. Needless to say they were unsuccessful. In this failure they became enraged and directed their anger at the United States.

This documentary series is very well done. Not only is it informative, but also thought provoking. I cannot help but think what happened? It just seems like there were plenty of red flags along the way that someone should have noticed. Then again, I'm sure some people did noticed, but were drowned out or ignored. This series of films is very frustrating. This is the kind of stuff that not enough people know, and even less care to know, and I think that is the worst part. Ok I'm ranting, I have to stop. I am definitely looking forward to watching the third installment next week.

Power of Nightmares: Baby It's Cold Outside

I just wanted to start by talking about the song used for the title, "Baby It's Cold Outside." This is a creepy song. It basically describes sexual assault, so I can see why Qutb saw it as an embodiment of everything he hated about American culture. This is not to say I agree with his ideas, only in this case. This documentary is very layered. There are a lot of names, and covers events from forty years ago. Therefore, I found myself getting lost with all the facts. However, the underlying messages were very interesting and thought provoking. The film starts much earlier in time than I expected. It was interesting to hear about a time period I admittedly do not know much about. One idea that struck me early on in the film was the myth of the nation. This is the notion that America has the right to fight the evils of the world. This is a ridiculous notion,  but that is what we have come to know as Americans. One of the critiques Qutb had of American, that our masses needed to be lead.

these mother...

In a post 9/11 world torture has become synonymis with interrogating. For example, the television show 24 has very popular for years, and featured many scenes of torture. In this film, there are two separate occasions of torture being the reason people were driven to do something horrible. Speaking of something horrible it was very troubling to see how our government handled investigating the Soviet Union. The film made it pretty clear that neoconservatives had a very specific agenda. They needed fear to have power. Therefore, they fabricated evidence that the Soviet Union had super weapons. It was actually laughable that later on, we used our own propaganda as evidence. I also did not realize just how early on Rumsfeld and Cheney became involved. Then the film explored how the neoconservative movement came together. They used religion as a jump pad to boost their power. This again is evidence that certain people will just blindly follow what they are told.

There was a lot of set up, if you will, in the first part of this film. It is important to know the whole backstory, in order to understand the complete story. However, what is clear is that the next two parts will be very interesting. My friends always joke around that I hate America because of all my Comm classes. I do not hate America per se, but films such as this just add to my general frustration with decisions this country has, and continues to make. So no, I do not hate the country I live in, but it can make me shake my head pretty often.

Review of Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Well "Tip Drill" pretty much sums up all of Hurt's arguments from this documentary. I have to admit I have seen this film before, but I was very excited to watch it again. This is a topic that is very much relevant to my own life. As Hurt points out 70% of hip-hop is consumed by white males and I fall into that category. Just like Hurt, I love hip-hop so it is slightly difficult to look at it critically. However, Hurt analyzes this genre in a loving way. Yes he points out some bad trends in hip-hop, but he does this with hopes of these trends changing. Hurt's film is very entertaining and thought provoking. One of the most outstanding issues with hip-hop is the violence. There is no denying rap has violent subject matter, but Hurt was interested in why that was. When Hurt interviewed the rapper Jadakiss, and asked him why rap is so violent, and his response was wonderfully simple, "have you seen movies?" We have already discussed violence in films at length in this class, but this just further shows that violence is ingrained in our culture, and different aspects influence each other. However, Chuck D. suggested that violence in hip-hop is derived from systematic violence, such as building a highway through a poor neighborhood. Either way is does not fully explain the multitude of violence in hip-hop.

Another focal point of the film was the conversations around women's objectification and the images of males. The video above is all you need to see to understand the roles men and women must take in hip-hop music videos. Women are always subservient and are there purely as eye candy. Men's role is not that complex either. They have to look tough and  never show emotion. I was happy to see Jackson Katz in this film, because I am very familiar with his thoughts on masculinity.  A huge aspect of the male image in hip-hop is that if you do not act this way, people are quick to belittle you. Terms such as, bitch and pussy, are meant to try to insult one's masculinity, and to humiliate you. This reminded me very much of Katz's work with wrestling where the same themes are present. Ultimately, the violence and male imagery that comes out of hip-hop does not paint a very good picture. This is turn leads to perpetuating stereotypes. For example, white suburbia listens to rap and actually thinks they are learning about another culture. That is kind of a scary thought considering what rap is made up of.

I loved the fact that Hurt interviewed actual famous rappers. It helped to sell his argument and it was comforting to see that some of the big time players can admit that there is something wrong in hip-hop. The only complaint I had was that Hurt did not interview Eminem. This film came out in 2006 and Hurt had been filming for years. Eminem had been very popular by then, so it would have fit time wise. I would have loved to hear Eminem's take on the questions Hurt had. However, maybe Hurt just wanted to avoid the whole race issue, or maybe he never even reached out to Eminem, the world may never know. We had begun discussion on Eminem in class and it would have been interesting to see a more direct approach of that conversation. Besides that kind of nitpicky complaint the film is excellent. Hurt does a very good job of both analyzing and entertaining. In closing, I do not know how hip-hop will ever change considering what sells well will always be the trend and the fact that the music is being manufactured by corporations. Maybe by consumers supporting artists that deviate from this trend things will start to change.

the mindset of some rappers

Review of On Orientalism

Edward Said offers a very interesting look into how our culture approaches representation of people from the middle east. This is nothing new, as a Communication major I have come across many articles and films that address this same subject matter. However, Said did make a few points that I had not heard before. Said described orientalism as a lens to make people from the middle east seem different and threatening. That is such a simple, yet perfect way to describe the views of this culture. This is most obviously seen in films, with representation like this:

not exactly accurate...

not Arab

I liked Said's point about how orientalism started with art and literature. I had never really thought about that, because I was just so used to thinking about television and film. However, poor representation in art and literature could be just as harmful. Said told a story about how books about Egypt were written for Europeans. This meant that the portrayal of the Egyptians was very much constructed and not very accurate. It is the same notion that history is only written by the winners. Said mentioned how American orientalism has become politicized. This could not be more true. It has become a weapon to vilify an entire people. Islam has become synonymous with terror. This could not be more clear in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. Immediately following the attack the suspect list was only Arab men. The attack was being described as a terrorist attack from an Arab threat. Then of course, when it came out that Timothy Mcveigh was actually responsible the conversation changed. However, it was clear that orientalism runs pretty deep in our culture.

Said was optimistic in thinking someday we could overcome orientalism and even bring peace to Israel and Palestine. While the Israeli Palestinien is a topic for another day, I cannot say I can be as optimistic as Said. At this point, the concept of orientalism is so ingrained in our culture that I fear that we will never be able to change. It's a shame really, but how would we even start to change the minds of Americans. Sure we could try to get more positive representation out there, but when a group of people are vilified by your government I do not think that would do much. I enjoyed the film, it had some interesting points, but I think other films did a better job. For example, I liked "Reel Bad Arabs" more than this. Be that as it may, Said is very insightful and demonstrates that well throughout this film.

Reflection on Part 1

Dr. Crane as The Scarecrow

I have always been fascinated by fear. When I was a kid I remember watching the Batman Animated Series. I thought it was so cool that one of Batman's villains, the Scarecrow(pictured), literally used fear as his weapon. Therefore, when I saw this course in the catalog I had to take it.

I am very much enjoying the course so far. It is very interesting to see just how much fear has become saturated into our culture. The readings are varied, but all contribute to the same conversation. I think our class disillusions are good, and similar conversations should be conducted in other classes across this campus. Issues we have discussed affect everyone and everyone should be aware of them. The highlight of the curriculum, for me, has been the films we have watched. From enlightening documentaries, to classic horror films, I seem to get more and more out of each one.

As much as I have enjoyed the material, it tends to be pretty depressing. Watching Bowling for Columbine is hardly a pick me up. Realizing just how convoluted our prison and news systems are was tough to swallow. Clearly there are plenty of examples throughout this class so far, that make me wonder how will things ever change? I would like to think that study this material could help, but it is only a step in the right direction. Therefore, I like to make memes related to the topics we cover and put them in my blog. Sometimes, a little humor can make me feel better.

I am excited to see where this class is going, and to further explore Glassner's book. I am confident that this last half of the class will be as strong as the first. However, until then I will be enjoying my spring break on a beach in Cancun! I know I have posted this clip before, but I think it perfectly summarizes the power of fear and many of the themes in this class. This is an episode from The Twilight Zone, about one city block that begins to turn on each other. Even though the fear revolves around communism, it is still very much relevant today.