Advertising Is Killing Us Softly

Ads are everywhere in todays society. We see an average of 3,000 per day, most of which trying to make you buy into an idea or purchase a product. The majority of those ads also feature women and men, who are by societies standards, beautiful. 

However, those men and women are not naturally that beautiful. They are edited and photoshopped into looking like that. We saw a video from Dove earlier in the term showing how much editing is done to an average person to make her look flawless. 

These ads are trying to sell their products and create a concept of "normal". Many of the ads try to sell the concept that the most important thing about women is their beauty. It's all about what the physical outside looks like, not the inside and their personality. 

We may think that ads don't effect us but in reality they do. After seeing the concept of "normal" and the unrealistic view of beauty it sinks deep into our minds. It subconsciously makes us want to strive to be those things. We buy the products in an attempt to look more beautiful, the way they portray it on the commercials and billboards, when really that will never happen because even the beauty in the commercial is fake. 

The product isn't what makes you pretty, it's the editing that does. If people could realize that nobody really looks like that, they could view themselves and beauty more realistically.

Impatience: A Growing Problem

I think the majority of people will agree that impatience is a growing problem, even though they're part of the problem themselves. I don't think anybody can really avoid being impatient these days, especially younger people.

We're living in a world where everything is handed to us. My generation was about the last to remember a time without the internet. I still had a computer as a child though. We've grown up accustomed to these things and wouldn't even be able to imagine a place without the world wide web or cell phones. I would die without it!

If I don't get service on my phone for even two minutes I feel panicked and stressed. I feel disconnected from the world and lost, even if I wasn't planning on talking to anyone at that time anyways. Today we need technology to survive. We're dependent on it and it's made us very impatient.

We're used to having everything handed to us. We need constant entertainment to keep us busy. When we don't have it we freak out. We don't know how to be patient and wait for things to come. We get more and more easily irritated and straight up rude if things don't go exactly as planned.

I honestly don't think this problem can be fixed and if it can it would take an extremely long time. I believe we are impatient because of the fast technology we have now. Unless we take technology away from children at a young age and spend more hands on time teaching them like we used to I think it will just get worse and worse.

Maybe if it gets bad enough people will open their eyes more and treat it like going green. Unless it becomes an unbearable problem or a threat to everyone I doubt people will be willing to change.

Reality TV

Even though reality TV is extremely popular in American culture I don't think it's a good thing. For many people, it doesn't effect their views, but for some I believe it can be used as an excuse for bad behavior.

Reality TV can relate to you, but it isn't relating to your every day life. Some of the drama can be realistic, some of the issues and topics brought up are realistic but in reality TV everything is overblown and out of proportion. Every fight turns into a physical brawl, every issue ends with girls screaming at each other or guys getting black eyes. Most of the time, people on reality TV don't talk things out. Instead they beat the crap out of each other and then go drink some more.

It seems that shows like the Real World and Jersey Shore focus on the bad aspects of our popular culture. It focuses on drinking, fighting, petty drama and people having sex. Sure that relates to people, but not most people. I believe some people use shows and examples like this to justify their bad behavior when really it shouldn't be justified at all.
At the same time I think that's why those shows are so popular. The majority of people don't act like that, and though it's an embarrassment to our culture it's interesting to watch people push the limit and act overly ridiculous. I know personally when I've been really mad I would have loved to leap across a room screaming and pull the person I'm fighting withs hair out. But I'm a more rational person and I would never do something like that.

By watching reality TV you're about to see things you wish you could do or would never imagine doing. You can live it through other people on TV so you don't have to look like an idiot yourself.

I believe the largest archetypes in reality TV are macho muscular looking guys and skinny attractive promiscuous girls. Basically every character on Jersey Shore if you took the guido out of them. In every reality show there is always one or more of these people. They act the same way and look about the same way but always have different personalities or personalities that are way too strong and similar. They always fight and clash so there ends up being "attractive" people drinking around and wrestling each other.

Religification

Many things in American culture have been "religified". Disney probably has one of the largest followings around the world. Each Disney movie has it's own unique following that's more specific than the broad Disney following. That goes for many other movies as well. A step down from movies are TV shows. Shows like Lost, Star Trek, Seinfeld have their own fan base that religiously follow every episode and every character.

Culture in America is set by the media. To make viewers keep watching they form these shows and characters that are catchy and easy to relate to. One of the biggest examples of this I can think of is Oprah Winfrey.
People like Oprah Winfrey because she is a charming and charismatic person. She is an easy person for many to relate to because she grew up in poverty, being raped and abused. Many people she has featured on her show needed help with difficult and similar situations. She makes people feel comfortable. On her show they set her up as a comforting and loving person (which I'm sure she is anyways).

Because Oprah gives advice and helps a lot of women they see her almost as a savior. The Wall Street Journal came up with the term "Oprahfication" to define public confessions as therapy. People have also coined the term "Oprah Effect" to speak of the influence and push she has over topics. issues, opinions and endorsements. She endorses books for her book club. She also endorsed president Obama, gaining him many followers which showed how much her opinions mean to some people.

In 1998 Oprah's show had an estimated 14 million daily viewers. In 2008 her show was airing in 140 countries. The biggest followers of the Oprah "religion" are women, Baby Boomers, Generation X, southern Americans and East Coast Americans.

Though Oprah at times speaks religiously there are certain Christian groups that reject her saying she has an "anti-biblical agenda"(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10661411987). Many others claim she is a racist, a hypocrite, and a show off. There are even lists of reasons why people hate Oprah and why you should hate her too (ex:http://www.alternet.org/media/145084/10_good_reasons_you_should_hate_oprah_winfrey.

However, with as many haters out there there are twice as many, if not more, dedicated Oprah fans that will religiously defend her until the very end. She is a very important person in our culture and she has, in a way, defined the way a lot of people think.

Popular Music Supporting Violence

There are many types of popular music out there today that support violence. I'm going to focus on two specific artists who's music is considered two different types of genres and for the most part has two separate fan bases.

Eminem is a very popular and very controversial artist because his lyrics have touched on violence towards women and men. His biggest controversy is not over physical violence with other men, but over the way he treats women. In many of his songs he talks badly about his mother and the mother of his child. He talks about the violent things he wants to do or has supposedly done to them. I found a website (http://www.jacksonkatz.com/eminem2.html ) that gives multiple other reasons why Eminem is "bad" for women.

Insane Clown Posse is a popular but more underground band. I personally think they're disgusting and would rather listen to Eminem any day. They consider themselves "horrorcore" hip-hop. Some of their lyrics have focused on cannibalism, murder and necrophilia. They obviously do not do these things in real life and are under the "illusion" Klosterman touches on in his Appetite for Replication article but their lyrics still send this message out. People may argue that other lyrics of theirs oppose racism, bigotry, child abuse and domestic violence but does that really make talking about those other subjects okay?

The part that bothers me the most about these artists aren't necessarily the artists themselves, but the fans. Not the people who listen to their singles on the radio (in Eminem's case) or have one or two songs they'll occasionally listen to on their iPods. I mean the hardcore dedicated fans. Eminem has plenty who idolize him and think everything he says is true, making them violent and sexist people. Insane Clown Posse has even more dedicated followers (Juggalos) who go to their shows and follow with a mob type fashion. If the crowd doesn't like the people preforming before them they've been known to chant things, boo them and even throw things at them until they leave the stage. To my knowledge ICP does not stop this behavior or apologize for it. In a TMZ article ( http://www.tmz.com/2010/08/16/insane-clown-posse-tila-tequila-gathering-of-the-juggalos-violent-j-warning-show-concert/ ) one of the band members simply says "I wish they didn't throw stuff at her." However, never addressed the fans saying he was ashamed or upset with them for acting that way, which is part of the problem.

These musicians themselves have been known to get into fights, hitting their own fans or getting into altercations with people in public. They themselves act violently and when their fans act violently they do nothing to stop it. When male violence is shown in the media like this and nothing is done to stop it and there are no real consequences what message does that send? It's just going to be a cycle of fans following their idols, becoming more and more violent by encouraging each other.

Rap and Country: More similar than different

Obviously rap and country and very different from each other. Their general fan bases are as far apart as can be, their sound is on opposite ends of the spectrum and the lifestyles of the artists are very different, or so they appear to us in their advertising. I'm sure there are many people out there that listen to both rap and country. But there are many fans of both that have a great divide. Some diehard country fans would never listen to rap, and a lot of rap fans completely reject country. This could be because of the difference in sound. Country and rap both have unique musical styles. Country is normally more of a slow and subtle musical style. You can understand what they are saying in their songs and any normal person could relate to it. Their songs are more about the lyrics and the story. Rap seems a little more exaggerated. Many rap songs are so fast you can't understand what they're saying and even if you can hear the words you may not know what they mean. They're more about the beat than lyrics. Rap artists portray themselves and being flashy with their expensive brand names and jewelry. Country musicians seem to try and keep themselves low key. You often see them in just jeans and a button up shirt and a cowboy hat on.
But with all these obvious differences, there are many not so obvious similarities between the two that makes them more similar to each other than any other genre of music. First off, country and rap are both "southern". They originated in the south and when you think of the mainstream artists from both genres they're from the southern states. This gives them a similar background with similar influences. Another similarity is their ability to exaggerate. Though country sounds "tame" and "innocent" it really isn't. A lot of rap songs talk about shooting people, doing drugs and having sex with loads of women and they get criticized for being so crude. But, country songs also often talk about shooting people, drinking a lot and having sex with women and it isn't seen as so bad. Yet another similarity is that both genres of music are very unpopular with certain people. Many people have an EXTREME hatred for either one or both rap and country. Both are extremely popular, but equally hated at the same time. And a last large similarity between the two is that they both have a stereotype for their fans. People are often surprised when they find out someone who doesn't fit that stereotype listens to that kind of music. To listen to country you need to be black and dress a certain way. To listen to country you have to be a hick living in the middle of nowhere. But that isn't really the case at all, people just try to ignore the reality of it and deny they listen to it as Klosterman said.

Results of Pop Culture Media

In a way popular culture has made us all smarter, stupider, nicer, meaner, healthier, unhealthier, gentler and more aggressive. I want to focus on the meaner aspect though, because I feel like today kids are a lot meaner than they were 50 years ago. Even 10 years ago. There's a lot more bullying out there and this IS due to media. Because of the internet bullies can find you and target you at home too. With this bullies have become smarter. Not necessarily book smart, but tech smart. They know how to manipulate better and bully without being caught. They don't get caught mainly because physical fights have now turned into technological fights. When you're fighting on the internet or through texts you don't get black eyes and cuts, you get emotional trauma, which doesn't heal nearly as quickly.
Another reason kids are meaner is because movies and shows they're watching. My cousins are 5 and 7. One night we were watching Disney Channel and a movie came on about a girl who was turning 16. She was the main character and she was HORRIBLE. She did mean things to everyone and treated her "bestfriend" like dirt. In the end she ended up "learning her lesson" as always in kids movies but I felt the ten minutes they spent on the lesson didn't really make up for the 50 minutes of torture she reigned down on others. They also made this main character the best looking in the whole movie and this reminded me of the movie Mean Girls. I personally love that movie but all the bullies were the popular girls who were the prettiest. When a ittle kid watches a movie like that, or with any situation like that (which happens often) they likely won't pay attention to the ten minutes at the end where they learn their lesson and "change their ways". They're more focused on the rest of the movie where the mean "pretty" girls get ahead the whole time and have control over everyone else. I believe these movies, ontop of everything on the internet is teaching younger and younger kids that it's okay to be mean because it gets you ahead of others and that there really aren't any real consequences to acting that way.

Masculinity=Violence?

In the "Tough Guise" video many examples of men putting on an act of being violent were given. I believe that the relationship between violence and masculinity is something to be concerned about in our society. I feel like more and more boys have to prove themselves through sports or playing violent video games. If they did more "girly" activities they would be made fun of. Just a month ago a gay student committed suicide due to a hate crime against him and his privacy. Many school shootings happen by students who are teased and made fun of for years. All boys. I believe people are pressured to feel manly by society. If they aren't tough enough they're made fun of and some end their lives or feel that stepping up with guns and shooting people is the only way out. I feel that in more recent years this is becoming more and more prevalent. More men are being murdered by other men, there is more violence on television. Video games and children's toys are becoming more violent as well. It's spreading fast and it's having a negative influence.

How Important Are Muscles and Sports?

I really don't think having muscles or being involved in sports have anything to do with being a "real" man. I personally think men with huge muscles are gross. They don't prove anything and they don't make a man what he is because it is just a physical trait. I also don't think sports should be what characterizes someone as manly. I have never been involved in sports, watched sports or really cared at all about sports. I get along better with guys who aren't athletic. I don't see them as any less of a man because they don't play a sport.
Seeing those traits as what characterizes someone as a man is just as bad as characterizing women as beautiful for just their breasts. We should be more focused on intelligence and personality. Where will sports get most people in the long wrong? Most people can't make a career out of it and just watching it certainly doesn't make you manly. Having muscles is only physical and it won't really get you any farther in life unless you have other talents. Being smart and having some character will get you a lot farther in your work and personal life.

Interesting Article

I believe the article with the most interesting information we have read in class so far would be 'Only Two Percent of Women Describe Themselves as Beautiful'.
I think this because even though we all know most women are uncomfortable with their bodies the numbers and data gathered from the surveys support those assumptions far more than we would originally think.
Dove surveyed women from around the world to get those numbers, which is even more shocking. When we ourselves think of women being beautiful or women being insecure we automatically think about our own society. However, women from all other societies and cultures are just like us.
This information is extremely important for readers to know because it has to do with almost all of us. The media sets standards for beauty way too high. Our standards for beauty are also set by the way men see beauty. Women, especially younger girls, growing up in this time period feel extreme pressure to look skinny, wear hip and popular clothes, wear makeup and have their hair just perfect. These standards are nearly unattainable. Because nobody can reach that kind of perfection, we feel bad about ourselves.
The fact that only 2% out of so many women found themselves attractive is depressing and sickening.
I think that if more of these surveys and facts were sent out more and more people would realize how insecure women are about themselves. It isn't healthy and maybe someone will finally do something to help.

Pornography

Pornography has been around for centuries. I believe its role in American society is to entertain and bring pleasure to its viewers but there is also a proper time, place and age for its viewing. Many people in our society have a problem with pornography. I found an article called 'The Deception of Pornography' written by Mark Larson (http://www.cvillechurch.com/Articles2007/Article_TheDeceptionOfPornography.htm). He claims porn is addictive, promotes all kinds of sex that is "wrong" and that it is immoral and impure. Another article of his claims that pornography leads to divorce. Others on numerous blogs and forums argue against those claims, saying porn is "essentially harmless" and that sex is natural. It brings us pleasure so it shouldn't be considered wrong. Sure, there are people out there who are addicted to sex and watching pornography. There are people who's marriages are ruined by partners cheating which is blamed on porn, but there is no real data that can prove porn causes infidelity or any real harm. As long as the privilege isn't abused (by the majority it isn't) when you get down to it watching porn is as harmless is watching a regular movie.

Many people benefit from pornography. The actors, producers and everyone in the making of the film making their living out of it. The distributers are making money off of it. The internet grows from it and makes it even stronger. Viewers find pleasure in it. It's a huge money maker, profiting billions of dollars. But there is also a downside to it. The makers of the films are making money, however free porn made by amateurs or pirated videos on the internet is causing them to lose money. The porn industry is being harmed by other porn. Minorities of American's are also being harmed by it. A slim few do become addicted and do allow it to effect their personal lives. People try to claim it's also harming our morals, ethics and youth, but that's often disagreed and can be a controversial topic.

What is Sexy?

I believe that our popular culture regarding beauty and what "sexy" is is not at all healthy. The media is mainly at fault for this. Over the years, especially more recent years, the standard for beauty and being sexy has been set way too high. According to our class survey to be sexy a women must have large breasts, be skinny, have a pretty face, have great hair, have a nice butt, etc. Many women have only one of these features. Some have none. That does not my any means make the majority of our female population ugly. However, from a young age we've been bombarded by images on billboards, commercials, shows, movies and the internet of women who are "perfect." A generation of kids exposed to Pamela Anderson, "reality" shows, MTV, and Hugh Hefner's Girls Next Door. 99% of these women are not  naturally beautiful. The vast majority of them have had plastic surgery after plastic surgery. Botox injections. Pounds of makeup plastered on their faces. The media has told us what our standards as a culture are, and we have followed. As a country we are very shallow people. We focus way too much on physical appearance alone. But, this is because it's what we've been taught and it's hard to reverse things taught by a culture we've been emerged in all of our lives. I agree with Barbara Ehrenreich in her article 'Why Don't We Like The Human Body?'. She suggests "maybe we could start making friends with our bodies again. They need nurturance and care, but like any friend, they should be good for a romp now and then..." And it's true. Our bodies aren't meant to be pushed to it's limit with exercising and dieting. A little fun once in a while won't kill us. As a society it might even make us a little less miserable!