Nile Finney
Prof. Mayeda
Extra credit assignment
Problem: Food Heath Risks in America. Solution: Go Organic!
Many nutritionists, say organic food is healthier for you. Even though the price of organic foods is high, organic food is healthier and better for you than conventional grown foods (regular crops and farming) because organic food is food grown without using synthetic fertilizers, chemicals, and pesticides. Organic food on average has a higher nutrition level over conventional crops.
To classify food as organic, it all depends on the way the food is grown. According to Valenvuela (2003), “Organic food are crops or livestock that are grown on the farms without the application of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, and without using genetically modified organisms.” All organic farms are used with all natural fertilizers such as manure or compost. Even for animals, they are feed organic feed and allowed to go outdoors. Farmers rotate the grazing and give the animals a balanced diet to help prevent disease.
Organic food is better for you because of the way it is grown. Organic food does not have all kinds of chemicals on the foods, even after its rinsed. So in the end you do not end up eating all kinds of chemicals. It is also better for the environment. The way that organic food is grown without all that chemicals, it also benefits the environment. Organic farming is designed to encourage soil and water conservation and also reduce pollution.
Some people like to say the organic food is not just healthier for you, but also taste better. But not all of it is necessarily true. You can’t truly prove that organic food taste better but we can prove that organic food is more nutritious than conventional grown foods. According to Phillips (2008), researchers from British Columbia in 2007 did a study on children that proved children that had 90% organic food as part of their diet had a 30% lower risk of getting eczema (a medical condition that affects the skin), compared to children who had 50% of organic food in their diet. Even hotels around the world are opting for the more nutritional and healthier foods (Phillips, 2008). Another study also proves organic food is healthier, According to Williamson a nutritionists for the British Nutrition Foundation (2007), “Organically grown potatoes, for instance, were found to have higher levels of vitamin C than conventionally grown spuds. In fact, half of the studies the British Nutrition Foundation reviewed on vegetables found higher levels of vitamin C in organically produced vegetables, particularly in dark, leafy greens like chard and spinach—and no studies showed the organics coming in with lower nutrient levels. Several studies also showed differences in nutrition levels in organic milk and cheese, including a higher levels of vitamin E, beta-carotene and omega-3 fatty acids.” According to Spiselman (2008), “Organic and local generally go hand-in-hand in Europe, especially at hotels in towns and the countryside. The Romantik Hotel & Restaurant Minichmayr in Sleyr, Austria, is typical. Co-owner Yvonne Viertler says the hotel has been serving organic food since her family bought it in 1978, but more people are asking for it now and availability and quality have improved, spurred by stricter standards for certification. About 40% of the menu is organic, including local and regional beef, lamb, poultry, trout, cheeses, breads, sparkling pear wine, and oils and vinegars. Eighteen-year veteran Chef/Food and Beverage Manager Klaus Rammer frequently buys directly from farmers but turns to markets for organic ingredients he needs in larger quantities, such as potatoes and cabbages. If he can’t get something in the area—for example, tropical fruits—he won’t bother to buy organic, partly because he says, “it doesn’t come with a guarantee.” Organic food is now all over the world, it is becoming the new thing. Organic food is becoming a popular demand worldwide.
The cost of organic food is higher than the cost of conventional grown crops. According to Mi-jin (2008), the cost of organic produce to non-organic produce has a 20-30 percent price range difference. That may not seem like much to some people, but it may be too much for others. But for the nutrition and less chemicals that you intake, organic food just might be worth the cost to some people. The price of organic food is also higher because organic crops desire more labor work to be done. According to Spiselman (2008), United States customers of a Hotel, fine dinning room called Latilla, are willing to pay $26 to $46 more for organic food that is healthier for you. The cost of organic food is higher even around Thanksgiving. According to New Times Naturally (2007), the cost of turkey per pound organic is $4.95, when conventional is $0.99. Ham is $18.99 for organic and $3.99 for conventional. Brown Rice is $2.38 per two pounds organic, when it is $2.19 for conventional brown rice. Broccoli cost $2.99 per pound when it is organic, and $1.99 per pound when it is conventionally grown.
So why chose organic food? In the end organic foods have much more nutritional value than conventional grown foods. So even though the cost may be higher for this type of food people are willing to pay the price for a healthier life, which in the end might be worth the cost don’t you agree?
References:
Is organic food really more nutritious?. (2007, September). Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, Retrieved August 25, 2008, from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database
Does Organic Cost That Much More? Yes and No: A Guide to Your Organic Thanksgiving Produce. (2007, November). New Times Naturally!, Retrieved August 25, 2008, from Alt HealthWatch database.
ROK Daily: Shoppers Demand High Quality Food. (2008, June 25). World News Connection, Retrieved August 7, 2008, from International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center database.
Phillips, D. (2008, June). Organic and Natural CAMPAIGN '08 CONTINUES. Dairy Foods, 109(6), 50-56. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from Business Source Complete database.
Valenzuela, H. (2003). Organic Food In S. H. Katz (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Vol. 3. (pp. 21-24) New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from Gale Virtual Reference Library via Gale: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3403400458&v=2.1&u=apollo&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
Friday, May 14, 2010
Final Paper Part Three
Part III: Final sociological analysis with work cited
When deforestation happens it really affects everyone. The Earth’s supreme biological reserves are suffering. The tropical rainforest once sheltered about 14 percent of the planets land mass, and currently, they only guard about 6 percent of the earth’s values. Many environmentalists say that the remaining wooded areas could be eaten and consumed in approximately less than a period of 40 years. Thousands of acres of tropical forests are lost every other second with terrible consequences for both emerging and industrialized countries. Experimentalist estimates that deforestation is held responsible for the loss of 137 plant types, animal of various species, and insects every day. The total death rate of species lives per year rounds up to at about 50,000 losses.
With deforestation increasing rapidly the chances for finding cures for very serious diseases is depleting. With that being said you can see were deforestation is going and the casualties it brings. So to sum up deforestation, about ten thousand years ago, at the end of the last major ice age, well over 50 percent of the lands surface was covered with forests. Roughly half this vast forest was tropical, with the vest divided more or less equally between the cooler temperate forests and the boreal forests of the cold north. So if we do not stop deforestation eventually we will be hurting ourselves in the long run. The only good thing I can tell about deforestation is the simple fact that it gives a lot of people in the world jobs.
I think (deforestation) is a good economic tool but at what cost! America and other countries especially need to look for better ways to obtain resources that people depend on every day. If not then one day we will use up most of all the forest’s resources not to mention all the species that depend on the forest will parish. At this rate it said that all the moist rainforest’s will be destroyed by the year 2050! But at the same time if deforestation is to stop we cannot just sit around and talk about it; you have to get up and do something about it or this terrible process of destroying forests will continue. “The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves” (Albert Einstein).
Work Cited
“National Geographic: Eye in the Sky—Deforestation”. National Geographic. 06/15/09
Lindsey, Rebecca. “Tropical Deforestation: Feature Articles”. NASA. 06/17/09
Rochen, Jocelyn. “Deforestation”. 06/15/09.
“Deforestation Facts, Deforestation Information, Effects of Deforestation – National Geographic”. National Geographic. 06/17/09.
Wallace, Scott. “Amazon Rain Forest, Deforestation, Forest Conservation – National Geographic Magazine”. National Geographic. 06/19/09
"The future of the forest." Economist 392.8635 (13 June 2009): 27-29. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 27 June 2009;.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/04/21/panama.deforestation/index.html#cnnSTCText CNN- Rain Forest Clash in Panama
When deforestation happens it really affects everyone. The Earth’s supreme biological reserves are suffering. The tropical rainforest once sheltered about 14 percent of the planets land mass, and currently, they only guard about 6 percent of the earth’s values. Many environmentalists say that the remaining wooded areas could be eaten and consumed in approximately less than a period of 40 years. Thousands of acres of tropical forests are lost every other second with terrible consequences for both emerging and industrialized countries. Experimentalist estimates that deforestation is held responsible for the loss of 137 plant types, animal of various species, and insects every day. The total death rate of species lives per year rounds up to at about 50,000 losses.
With deforestation increasing rapidly the chances for finding cures for very serious diseases is depleting. With that being said you can see were deforestation is going and the casualties it brings. So to sum up deforestation, about ten thousand years ago, at the end of the last major ice age, well over 50 percent of the lands surface was covered with forests. Roughly half this vast forest was tropical, with the vest divided more or less equally between the cooler temperate forests and the boreal forests of the cold north. So if we do not stop deforestation eventually we will be hurting ourselves in the long run. The only good thing I can tell about deforestation is the simple fact that it gives a lot of people in the world jobs.
I think (deforestation) is a good economic tool but at what cost! America and other countries especially need to look for better ways to obtain resources that people depend on every day. If not then one day we will use up most of all the forest’s resources not to mention all the species that depend on the forest will parish. At this rate it said that all the moist rainforest’s will be destroyed by the year 2050! But at the same time if deforestation is to stop we cannot just sit around and talk about it; you have to get up and do something about it or this terrible process of destroying forests will continue. “The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves” (Albert Einstein).
Work Cited
“National Geographic: Eye in the Sky—Deforestation”. National Geographic. 06/15/09
Lindsey, Rebecca. “Tropical Deforestation: Feature Articles”. NASA. 06/17/09
Rochen, Jocelyn. “Deforestation”. 06/15/09
“Deforestation Facts, Deforestation Information, Effects of Deforestation – National Geographic”. National Geographic. 06/17/09
Wallace, Scott. “Amazon Rain Forest, Deforestation, Forest Conservation – National Geographic Magazine”. National Geographic. 06/19/09
"The future of the forest." Economist 392.8635 (13 June 2009): 27-29. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 27 June 2009
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/04/21/panama.deforestation/index.html#cnnSTCText CNN- Rain Forest Clash in Panama
Final Paper Part Two
Part II: Major contemporary concerns and sociological analyses
One of the stories that I found very interesting was a piece CNN did recently about deforestation in Panama. Raul Mezua who is an Embera tribesman in the area where forest is being decimated told CNN that the rainforests are apart of his language and culture. That it is much more than just trees and resources for people. But things are taking a turn in terms of the people responsible for forests being cut down. According to the article; places that once were booming with business from farms and cattle ranching our now places where forest flourished originally. Scientist say that rainforests that were once cut down can actually grow back faster if they are left untouched. Scientist Joseph Wright says, “After about 20 years the forest will be about 60 feet tall”. He also believes that the re-growing of tropical rainforests is going to help a lot with removing the excessive amount of carbon dioxide that is in the Earth’s atmosphere. But this is not the whole answer to the deforestation problem. According to the director of Panama’s Museum of Biodiversity, creating new forests is not exactly the same. He believes that if society would just let rain forest be that basically this would be ten times better than grown a whole new forest. Once you cut down the original you loose certain plants and species that you may never be able to get back. Reading this piece really reminded me a little bit of the movie “Avatar”. I’m not sure if you have ever seen it; but in terms with Raul it’s almost the same story.
I learned a lot from this article. At the rate that forests are being destroyed, the cure for certain diseases, or the discovery of new species is drastically being depleted. “More than 7 million hectares of forest were destroyed globally each year between 2000 and 2005” (CNN). This article to me is very saddening! I really didn’t care that much about deforestation before looking into this for my paper. I didn’t realize whom many lives it can affect not talking about the people who benefit from tree’s resources. It’s amazing to see what people will actually do for money and business. The locals or the people that depend on the rainforests are being pushed out of their land. But for some reason I am not surprised because as we all know “history repeats itself”.
Another reason why a lot of forests are destroyed is because there is fast growth with the international fast food chains. Fast food chains are a big factor when trees get cleared because of the fact that animals and cattle need land. Cattle are primarily the main source of meat to allot of these fast food chains. Therefore you need acres of land for cattle grazing, thus a lot more forests are going to be destroyed.
In the article The Choice: Doomsday or Arbor Day the author Jocelyn Stock Andy Rochen stats that, “Beyond the major causes of deforestation lie some supplementary ones that too stack the odds against forest around the globe. Acid rain and the building of dams have their share of harmful effects.
The race to produce cash crops such as fruit, spices, sugar tobacco, soap, rubber, paper, and cloth has given cause to many to try to farm them by using soil and other products that can be retrieved by destroying the forests. Even those in industrialized countries may participate in the destruction of forests in the 3rd world. The need for products in industrialized countries drives production in other poorer, less developed countries. This production is at the cost of the trees and the services that they provide”.
One of the stories that I found very interesting was a piece CNN did recently about deforestation in Panama. Raul Mezua who is an Embera tribesman in the area where forest is being decimated told CNN that the rainforests are apart of his language and culture. That it is much more than just trees and resources for people. But things are taking a turn in terms of the people responsible for forests being cut down. According to the article; places that once were booming with business from farms and cattle ranching our now places where forest flourished originally. Scientist say that rainforests that were once cut down can actually grow back faster if they are left untouched. Scientist Joseph Wright says, “After about 20 years the forest will be about 60 feet tall”. He also believes that the re-growing of tropical rainforests is going to help a lot with removing the excessive amount of carbon dioxide that is in the Earth’s atmosphere. But this is not the whole answer to the deforestation problem. According to the director of Panama’s Museum of Biodiversity, creating new forests is not exactly the same. He believes that if society would just let rain forest be that basically this would be ten times better than grown a whole new forest. Once you cut down the original you loose certain plants and species that you may never be able to get back. Reading this piece really reminded me a little bit of the movie “Avatar”. I’m not sure if you have ever seen it; but in terms with Raul it’s almost the same story.
I learned a lot from this article. At the rate that forests are being destroyed, the cure for certain diseases, or the discovery of new species is drastically being depleted. “More than 7 million hectares of forest were destroyed globally each year between 2000 and 2005” (CNN). This article to me is very saddening! I really didn’t care that much about deforestation before looking into this for my paper. I didn’t realize whom many lives it can affect not talking about the people who benefit from tree’s resources. It’s amazing to see what people will actually do for money and business. The locals or the people that depend on the rainforests are being pushed out of their land. But for some reason I am not surprised because as we all know “history repeats itself”.
Another reason why a lot of forests are destroyed is because there is fast growth with the international fast food chains. Fast food chains are a big factor when trees get cleared because of the fact that animals and cattle need land. Cattle are primarily the main source of meat to allot of these fast food chains. Therefore you need acres of land for cattle grazing, thus a lot more forests are going to be destroyed.
In the article The Choice: Doomsday or Arbor Day the author Jocelyn Stock Andy Rochen stats that, “Beyond the major causes of deforestation lie some supplementary ones that too stack the odds against forest around the globe. Acid rain and the building of dams have their share of harmful effects.
The race to produce cash crops such as fruit, spices, sugar tobacco, soap, rubber, paper, and cloth has given cause to many to try to farm them by using soil and other products that can be retrieved by destroying the forests. Even those in industrialized countries may participate in the destruction of forests in the 3rd world. The need for products in industrialized countries drives production in other poorer, less developed countries. This production is at the cost of the trees and the services that they provide”.
Final Research Paper- Deforestation Intro
Forest Massacre
“Give me a land of boughs in leaf, A land of trees that stand; Where trees are fallen there is grief; I love no leafless land” (A.E. Housman). In my proposal I wrote that my research paper was going to be about mountain watershed and how people need mountains for survival. But as I was looking into all the environmental situations deforestation caught my attention the most.
Deforestation is the destroying of forests. Deforestation happens for multiple of reasons. People do this because development of cash crops and cattle ranching, both of which earn money for tropical countries. There is also commercial logging which supplies the world with certain woods. When commercial logging companies do this they destroy trees as well as opening up forest for agriculture. If the destroying of forests doesn’t stop it could take a serious toll on Earth’s resources. These devastating consequences include social conflict, extinction of plants and animals, and drastic climate changes.
The logging industry is fueled by the need for deposable products. “11 million acres a year are cut for commercial and property industries” (National Geographic News). Peter Heller (environmentalist) found that McDonald’s needs 800 square miles of trees to make the amount of paper they need for a year’s supply of packaging. Entity Mission found that British Columbia manufactures 7,500,000 pairs of chopsticks a day. “The logging industry not only tries to accomplish all this but it even indirectly helps the “shifted cultivators” and others to do more damage. The roads that the loggers build to access the forests and generate hydroelectric power create an easy way for many people to try to manipulate the forest resources. The amount of damage that this adds to the forests cannot be measured nor can that of the illegal logging. Some importers may even be buying illegally logged wood and not even known it” (Rochen 2009).
“Give me a land of boughs in leaf, A land of trees that stand; Where trees are fallen there is grief; I love no leafless land” (A.E. Housman). In my proposal I wrote that my research paper was going to be about mountain watershed and how people need mountains for survival. But as I was looking into all the environmental situations deforestation caught my attention the most.
Deforestation is the destroying of forests. Deforestation happens for multiple of reasons. People do this because development of cash crops and cattle ranching, both of which earn money for tropical countries. There is also commercial logging which supplies the world with certain woods. When commercial logging companies do this they destroy trees as well as opening up forest for agriculture. If the destroying of forests doesn’t stop it could take a serious toll on Earth’s resources. These devastating consequences include social conflict, extinction of plants and animals, and drastic climate changes.
The logging industry is fueled by the need for deposable products. “11 million acres a year are cut for commercial and property industries” (National Geographic News). Peter Heller (environmentalist) found that McDonald’s needs 800 square miles of trees to make the amount of paper they need for a year’s supply of packaging. Entity Mission found that British Columbia manufactures 7,500,000 pairs of chopsticks a day. “The logging industry not only tries to accomplish all this but it even indirectly helps the “shifted cultivators” and others to do more damage. The roads that the loggers build to access the forests and generate hydroelectric power create an easy way for many people to try to manipulate the forest resources. The amount of damage that this adds to the forests cannot be measured nor can that of the illegal logging. Some importers may even be buying illegally logged wood and not even known it” (Rochen 2009).
Monday, April 19, 2010
Essay #4
Nile Finney
Pop Culture- 4th essay
Soc 3380
Dr. Mayeda
More than a Mall
If you were looking for an analogy for the modern mall you would have to go back to the walled cities of Italy and France. Like San Gimingnano or Les Baux de Provence, the mall offers the ancient trifecta of enclosure, protection, and control. The analogy is not with a well-policed downtown but with a small, thoroughly fascist medieval city state (James B. Twitchell). People say that the mall is just a place for shoppers. I am here to tell you that I think the total opposite. For this 4th essay we are suppose to talk about and analyze today’s pop culture such as: television, movies, fashion, and advertisements. I feel like the mall is filled with these key components and more. A mall is part of the biggest Americanized popular cultural group I think that exists. People from all age groups for all different reasons attend malls all over the country.
The mall is more than just a mall. It is a place where people meet up like a town square. Malls have been around since 1956 when Eisenhower was in power. Malls today are the same but still different in some areas. In each mall that I have been too I have seen groups of different people and different ages gathered together like they had a meeting planed. Take Oahu malls for example; I used to go to the Kahala mall quite a bit and I always would see a smorgasbord of different races of all elderly people. I walked into the center of the mall one day and just sat there to observe my surroundings and what I saw backed up my decision that a mall is more than just a mall. All the elderly people where doing different things. Some of them had exercise clothes on walking back and forth through the mall. Other senior citizens where sitting down at these tables playing board games like checkers and chess. Some of them where there to see a concert on this stage that the mall provides and always has set up. But the majority of the elderly people there looked like they came to the mall simply just to meet up with their friends and have a cup of coffee. Seeing these activities that where going on in the mall conveyed my decision that the mall is more than a shopping center. I saw almost the same thing at the Windward Mall in Aiea when I went. Although I saw the same things happening when I observed these malls; it was all around the same time of the day. The elderly people seemed to only gather and meet up with each other during the early hours of the day.
I said earlier that some malls are the same but different. I had visited Maui and while I was over there I went the mall to do some browsing. When I was inside to my surprise I saw that the majority of the people there were young. I was expecting to see the same thing I observed at the Oahu mall. All these kids were there who looked like they were having a blast. The age group ranged from middle school kids to high school. There were two levels of the mall and in which both levels were filled with kids. It seemed like the mall was an ant farm and all of these adolescents were the crazy ants. Most of them didn’t have shopping bags in their hands so I assumed that they were at the mall to meet up and socialize. I overheard these three girls talking about what boys they thought were attractive and what they had planned for that night. This to me seemed like this was a prime example of a communal gathering. These girls weren’t even shopping; yet still there at the mall talking about their plans.
If someone still doesn’t believe that the mall is more than a mall; than I would tell them to conduct the mall observation so they could see it for themselves. I feel the mall is where people go to find out what new cloths are out, to go and watch movies, and more. I feel that malls will continue to be at the top of the pop culture world and will stay at the top. But with malls being the way they are today it makes me wonder! If malls today have chapels, amusement parks, and hotels; what do you think is going to be in store for malls ten years from now? Maybe you won’t even have to go to the mall. With a push of a button you will be able to just have your clothes sent to you instantly through a mail shoot. Time can only tell.
Pop Culture- 4th essay
Soc 3380
Dr. Mayeda
More than a Mall
If you were looking for an analogy for the modern mall you would have to go back to the walled cities of Italy and France. Like San Gimingnano or Les Baux de Provence, the mall offers the ancient trifecta of enclosure, protection, and control. The analogy is not with a well-policed downtown but with a small, thoroughly fascist medieval city state (James B. Twitchell). People say that the mall is just a place for shoppers. I am here to tell you that I think the total opposite. For this 4th essay we are suppose to talk about and analyze today’s pop culture such as: television, movies, fashion, and advertisements. I feel like the mall is filled with these key components and more. A mall is part of the biggest Americanized popular cultural group I think that exists. People from all age groups for all different reasons attend malls all over the country.
The mall is more than just a mall. It is a place where people meet up like a town square. Malls have been around since 1956 when Eisenhower was in power. Malls today are the same but still different in some areas. In each mall that I have been too I have seen groups of different people and different ages gathered together like they had a meeting planed. Take Oahu malls for example; I used to go to the Kahala mall quite a bit and I always would see a smorgasbord of different races of all elderly people. I walked into the center of the mall one day and just sat there to observe my surroundings and what I saw backed up my decision that a mall is more than just a mall. All the elderly people where doing different things. Some of them had exercise clothes on walking back and forth through the mall. Other senior citizens where sitting down at these tables playing board games like checkers and chess. Some of them where there to see a concert on this stage that the mall provides and always has set up. But the majority of the elderly people there looked like they came to the mall simply just to meet up with their friends and have a cup of coffee. Seeing these activities that where going on in the mall conveyed my decision that the mall is more than a shopping center. I saw almost the same thing at the Windward Mall in Aiea when I went. Although I saw the same things happening when I observed these malls; it was all around the same time of the day. The elderly people seemed to only gather and meet up with each other during the early hours of the day.
I said earlier that some malls are the same but different. I had visited Maui and while I was over there I went the mall to do some browsing. When I was inside to my surprise I saw that the majority of the people there were young. I was expecting to see the same thing I observed at the Oahu mall. All these kids were there who looked like they were having a blast. The age group ranged from middle school kids to high school. There were two levels of the mall and in which both levels were filled with kids. It seemed like the mall was an ant farm and all of these adolescents were the crazy ants. Most of them didn’t have shopping bags in their hands so I assumed that they were at the mall to meet up and socialize. I overheard these three girls talking about what boys they thought were attractive and what they had planned for that night. This to me seemed like this was a prime example of a communal gathering. These girls weren’t even shopping; yet still there at the mall talking about their plans.
If someone still doesn’t believe that the mall is more than a mall; than I would tell them to conduct the mall observation so they could see it for themselves. I feel the mall is where people go to find out what new cloths are out, to go and watch movies, and more. I feel that malls will continue to be at the top of the pop culture world and will stay at the top. But with malls being the way they are today it makes me wonder! If malls today have chapels, amusement parks, and hotels; what do you think is going to be in store for malls ten years from now? Maybe you won’t even have to go to the mall. With a push of a button you will be able to just have your clothes sent to you instantly through a mail shoot. Time can only tell.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Review Paper #3
Mr. David Mayeda
Cross-Cultural Relations Soc-3380
3rd Review paper Sociological Images
Nile C. Finney
Tension in Consumer ad’s
I found this particular assignment to be really interesting to work with. Besides the articles that I selected for this review paper I did get a chance to read many articles from this website which were also very intriguing. The first article I did read was labeled “Tickle Me Elmo and The Gangster Meme”. This is about a toy ad that uses rap music and what look to be like gang signs as a marketing approach to lure kids to buy their product. This kind of marketing scheme in my opinion is not that bad as people make it but by all means they could have made a more appropriate commercial that is more suitable for children. In the commercial I did look like the children were throwing up gang signs but at the end of the day you have to use common sense and say,” Hey, I really doubt these children are throwing up gang signs!”, simply because of how young they are. Some people also say that this commercial is also somewhat racist or discriminating but again I really can’t see anything racist that is big enough for anyone to mention. In today’s society I think cultural diffusion is a part of life that is important for America’s growth. I think me need to get a hold on the racial tension in this world because you can really cut it with a knife!
The second related topic that caught my eye was the “Alvin and the Chipmunks- Modernized? Urbanized? Racialized? All of the above?” In this you can see many updated versions of the chipmunks. They have more of hip-hop style and swagger about them. This is a very smart way of marketing because kids think this kind of a style is cool. In today’s society kids are more into the urban wear such as the type of clothes the chipmunks have on in the advertisements. If I had to answer the question whether or not I think that in these advertisements do “Alvin and the Chipmunks” look more modernized, urbanized, and racialized; I would have to agree in some of the cases. In terms of this advertising being modernized and urbanized I would have to agree, but I don’t think it is racialized. It is definitely modernized because it gives the chipmunks a more up-to-date look compared to the old style of the group. Because of the style of clothes the new chipmunks are wearing is urban I would think it would qualify under as being urbanized. I wouldn’t say that this is racialized because then you are saying in my opinion that because “Alvin and the Chipmunks” are wearing urbanized clothing that this style is only for minorities (primarily African-Americans). So in that sense I would not classify these children advertisements a racialized.
The last topic I came upon was called “Pointlessly Gendered Products”. It was probably the most interesting out of all the material that I used for this assignment. On this page of the website it had a lot of funny (of course in my opinion) and pointless genderized advertisements. One that I found to be really useless was an advertisement for Shoprider GK-10 Scooter for people that are not able to walk or move as well. I found this particular advertisement to be useless because they scooters were separated not by attributes but by color. To me this is stupid because I highly doubt someone is going to choose a scooter based off color especially if those two colors are pink and blue. But as scrolled down on this page and noticed all the other advertisements I notice that all of them for the most part were gender motivated. In my opinion this just goes to show how discrimitive and gendered based America is. All the advertisements where differentiated by girl or boy characteristics. For, example there was an advertisement for costumes; but for boys they only had superman and for girls only Tinkerbelle. Another example was a pair of earplugs for people while you sleep. The only thing was that the earplugs were pink and had a woman on the cover of the box. To me this sends a message saying that only men snore loud enough to the point where anyone would need to buy earplugs. After using these articles and reading many more from the website given to us from Mr. Mayeda tells me that this world is still a long way from correcting America’s problems not with cultural diffusion and discrimination but also dealing with socialization (obviously), social stratification, and prejudice.
Resources:
http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/09/30/tickle-me-elmo-and-the-gangster-meme/
http://contexts.org/socimages/2008/04/10/modernizing-alvin-and-the-chipmunks/
http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/01/21/pink-earplugs-for-your-beauty-sleep/
Cross-Cultural Relations Soc-3380
3rd Review paper Sociological Images
Nile C. Finney
Tension in Consumer ad’s
I found this particular assignment to be really interesting to work with. Besides the articles that I selected for this review paper I did get a chance to read many articles from this website which were also very intriguing. The first article I did read was labeled “Tickle Me Elmo and The Gangster Meme”. This is about a toy ad that uses rap music and what look to be like gang signs as a marketing approach to lure kids to buy their product. This kind of marketing scheme in my opinion is not that bad as people make it but by all means they could have made a more appropriate commercial that is more suitable for children. In the commercial I did look like the children were throwing up gang signs but at the end of the day you have to use common sense and say,” Hey, I really doubt these children are throwing up gang signs!”, simply because of how young they are. Some people also say that this commercial is also somewhat racist or discriminating but again I really can’t see anything racist that is big enough for anyone to mention. In today’s society I think cultural diffusion is a part of life that is important for America’s growth. I think me need to get a hold on the racial tension in this world because you can really cut it with a knife!
The second related topic that caught my eye was the “Alvin and the Chipmunks- Modernized? Urbanized? Racialized? All of the above?” In this you can see many updated versions of the chipmunks. They have more of hip-hop style and swagger about them. This is a very smart way of marketing because kids think this kind of a style is cool. In today’s society kids are more into the urban wear such as the type of clothes the chipmunks have on in the advertisements. If I had to answer the question whether or not I think that in these advertisements do “Alvin and the Chipmunks” look more modernized, urbanized, and racialized; I would have to agree in some of the cases. In terms of this advertising being modernized and urbanized I would have to agree, but I don’t think it is racialized. It is definitely modernized because it gives the chipmunks a more up-to-date look compared to the old style of the group. Because of the style of clothes the new chipmunks are wearing is urban I would think it would qualify under as being urbanized. I wouldn’t say that this is racialized because then you are saying in my opinion that because “Alvin and the Chipmunks” are wearing urbanized clothing that this style is only for minorities (primarily African-Americans). So in that sense I would not classify these children advertisements a racialized.
The last topic I came upon was called “Pointlessly Gendered Products”. It was probably the most interesting out of all the material that I used for this assignment. On this page of the website it had a lot of funny (of course in my opinion) and pointless genderized advertisements. One that I found to be really useless was an advertisement for Shoprider GK-10 Scooter for people that are not able to walk or move as well. I found this particular advertisement to be useless because they scooters were separated not by attributes but by color. To me this is stupid because I highly doubt someone is going to choose a scooter based off color especially if those two colors are pink and blue. But as scrolled down on this page and noticed all the other advertisements I notice that all of them for the most part were gender motivated. In my opinion this just goes to show how discrimitive and gendered based America is. All the advertisements where differentiated by girl or boy characteristics. For, example there was an advertisement for costumes; but for boys they only had superman and for girls only Tinkerbelle. Another example was a pair of earplugs for people while you sleep. The only thing was that the earplugs were pink and had a woman on the cover of the box. To me this sends a message saying that only men snore loud enough to the point where anyone would need to buy earplugs. After using these articles and reading many more from the website given to us from Mr. Mayeda tells me that this world is still a long way from correcting America’s problems not with cultural diffusion and discrimination but also dealing with socialization (obviously), social stratification, and prejudice.
Resources:
http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/09/30/tickle-me-elmo-and-the-gangster-meme/
http://contexts.org/socimages/2008/04/10/modernizing-alvin-and-the-chipmunks/
http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/01/21/pink-earplugs-for-your-beauty-sleep/
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Review paper 2
Nile Finney
Review paper #2
American Taliban Soldier
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor, he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague” (Marcus Tullius Cicero- Ancient Roman, Lawyer, Writer, Scholar, Orator, and Statesman, 106 BC- 43 BC).
The article that I read is full of cultural diffusion and symbolic interactionism. This man that you are about to read about was from the U.S. but I believe since this man was full of some of the key concepts we learned about it could be a interesting topic. John Walker Lindh grew up and spent most of his younger years in an open minded town in Takoma Park, Maryland, so you can imagine how dumbfounded a lot of Americans were when they found out what he had been doing in Afghanistan.
John as a kid was known to be a very smart artistic young man. He had been interested in Islam since he was twelve and was dedicated to learning the Koran in and out. In October of 2000, John joined a radical Islamic group. Lindh lawyer said soon after joining he was mis-lead or disillusioned about the cause and asked to join the Taliban. He trained with al Qaeda in a military camp and even met with Osama Bin Laden. Reports say Lindh had been asked to swear his allegiance to al Qaeda but declined, but said he swore allegiance to Jihad.
To me in a way I feel kind of insulted because I have a lot of family in the military. My parents unparticular both have been deployed overseas and both have dedicated their lives to the military service. So when I hear or read about something like this it gets me upset a little bit because millions of soldiers have died trying to keep America free from terrorist.
In conclusion it seemed like John Walker Lindh (aka Johnny Bin Walker) was really obsessed with Islam which in my opinion led to his current predicament (Socialization problems). “ Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever widening thought and action…into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.” (Rabindranath Tagore)http://www.dailypaul.com
http://www.guruju.com
Review paper #2
American Taliban Soldier
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor, he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague” (Marcus Tullius Cicero- Ancient Roman, Lawyer, Writer, Scholar, Orator, and Statesman, 106 BC- 43 BC).
The article that I read is full of cultural diffusion and symbolic interactionism. This man that you are about to read about was from the U.S. but I believe since this man was full of some of the key concepts we learned about it could be a interesting topic. John Walker Lindh grew up and spent most of his younger years in an open minded town in Takoma Park, Maryland, so you can imagine how dumbfounded a lot of Americans were when they found out what he had been doing in Afghanistan.
John as a kid was known to be a very smart artistic young man. He had been interested in Islam since he was twelve and was dedicated to learning the Koran in and out. In October of 2000, John joined a radical Islamic group. Lindh lawyer said soon after joining he was mis-lead or disillusioned about the cause and asked to join the Taliban. He trained with al Qaeda in a military camp and even met with Osama Bin Laden. Reports say Lindh had been asked to swear his allegiance to al Qaeda but declined, but said he swore allegiance to Jihad.
To me in a way I feel kind of insulted because I have a lot of family in the military. My parents unparticular both have been deployed overseas and both have dedicated their lives to the military service. So when I hear or read about something like this it gets me upset a little bit because millions of soldiers have died trying to keep America free from terrorist.
In conclusion it seemed like John Walker Lindh (aka Johnny Bin Walker) was really obsessed with Islam which in my opinion led to his current predicament (Socialization problems). “ Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever widening thought and action…into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.” (Rabindranath Tagore)http://www.dailypaul.com
http://www.guruju.com
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