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I commented on CEC's "Who Cares If Johnny Can't Read?"

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I commented on Littlecoe4's Argument!

FILM vs. BOOK

Claim: It is untrue to assume reading books are an active action, and watching movies are a passive action.

Reason:Although, when watching a movie you don not have to use your imagination like you do when reading, your brain is still being used and stimulated.

Evidence: Using brain to depict situations, analyze characters, observe what characters are thinking and feeling.

Evidence: "Who Cares if Johny Can't Read?" (Source)

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I commented on Sophi's "Hope Show".

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I commented on Sophi's "HOPE".

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I commented on Paris Hilton's "Texting Taking Over?"

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I commented on Kee's "A Skinny Campus".

Entertainment: The Essence of Society

Alpha Chi Snow Angel 

(Click for Video Link)

I am sure almost all of you have seen, and been entertained (to say the least) by the infamous YouTube clip "Alpha Chi Snow Angel". Although this clip never gets old, and I laugh harder and harder every time I see it, it makes me feel sorry for the girl who was unjustly video taped and exploited on the web. This clip makes me wonder and question the morals our society has when it comes to entertainment. It is almost as if there are no limits when it comes to entertaining the public. 

  

Our society thrives on entertainment from the media, and the media will go to any means possible to provide it. It doesn't matter if the entertainment source ruins that person's reputation, is humiliating to someone, destroys relationships, or hinders that person from job opportunities, because the main goal is to entertain, and be entertained, by any means. 

I feel as though this clip is a great example of someone who has been a victim to the type of entertainment, because the girl in "Alpha Chi Snow Angel" is clearly in a state of inebriation. Therefore, there is no way she could have possibly agreed to being video taped in her state of hysteria. What's even more saddening is that her "good friend" is the one who recorded and posted the video on the web. I mean honestly! What is this world coming to? It just shows how society has no sympathy towards someone whose action could be potential entertainment.

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I Commented on BLOG's article "Daddy at 13?"

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I commented on A Roach's "Is The Economy Making Us Students Fatter?"

COVERGIRL No More?

We all are aware of the unfortunate mishap that took place between Rihanna and Chris Brown. Rihanna was reportedly, so horribly abused by Brown that she was taken by an ambulance to the hospital. Yet despite the devastating facts, and the Nations advice (a.k.a. Opera and Tyra Banks) to STAY AWAY from the young rapper... Rihanna has gone back to him.

Ok, ok, so she goes back to him... I mean if she wants to risk her life to be with a man that could possibly kill her than thats her business, right?! WRONG! Rihanna's weak and immature decision to return to her abusive boyfriend may hinder her contract as a  COVERGIRL model.

Although many people feel it is wrong and unprofessional to use someone's personal life against them in the field of business,  I completely agree with COVERGIRL's decision to let go of Rihanna. COVERGIRL, as a company, has a certain reputation to uphold, and they can not let that be compromised by anyone. A COVERGIRL model is a woman that people admire, not just because she is beautiful, but because she is strong, intelligent, and moralistic. Rihanna is a role-model to young woman, yet her actions have demonstrated none of the qualities a COVERGIRL model should have. So one should always remember, although it is unfortunate your personal life can be held against you when getting or losing a job, you should always be mindful of your actions, and act the way you want to be viewed... while remembering no ones perfect. 

Baby Beauty Pageants

While I channel surfed the 'tube' the other day I came across a, what you could call, disturbing TV show, so of course I had to watched it. It was a show that documented the quest of 4 little girls and their mothers, on becoming Baby Beauty Pageant Winners. 

It was absolutely wild to see 6-8 year old girls with spray on tans, heavy make up, and flaunting skimpy string bikinis. However, the most crazy thing had to be their mothers, who, through out the show, demonstrated how they were pathetically living through their child by exploiting them in such a ridiculous competition that somehow measures "beauty".

It was so uncomfortable to watch the mom's coach the girls on how to smile and answer questions, forcing them to go through grueling cosmetic processes, and shooting them up with over-sized pixie sticks so they can be "perky" and "energized". No child should be exposed in this way, and the mothers should be ashamed of the lessons they are teaching their daughters by forcing them to participate in these pageants. The girls are going to grow up with the wrong since of what true beauty is. They are always going to believe that they are only as good (or in this case, as beautiful) as the trophy they receive.          

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I commented on Bo Pressly's Really? Come on!

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I commented on Gimme Gimme More's How to be an appropriate formal date!

Our Addiction to JUNK

It was exciting for me to finally see a reference to A Brave New World in Steven Johnson's book Everything Bad is Good For You, because I read this book in high school and it really opened my eyes to the same issues discussed by johnson and Siegel. A point both writers agree on is that people are inevitably attracted to "junk"(180). However, it is the reasons why we are attracted tot his mindless media that are different to Johnson and Siegel.

I agree with Johnson who believes that the only reason junk culture is thriving, is due to the fact that "people are naturally drawn to simple, childish pleasures" (180). He, unlike Siegel, still believes that although our minds are at a state of rest while observing numerous media examples of this junk culture, our brains are still functioning and continuing to seek and obtain knowledge. Johnson states that our minds are constantly searching for "new challenges and experiences" so evidently our minds are never resting and always working.

As a diehard reality TV fanatic, I completely disagree with Siegel who feels that this mindless media is truly empty and cannot give us anything knowledgeable to acquire. He reiterates his feelings to the pointlessness of junk culture with the example to Stephen Colbert. Siegel believes that there is nothing to obtain from information that has been made from "cynicism and sarcasm" (155). This form of satirical humor "depends in information for its effect [therefore it] is just another mode of information" (156). This concludes that there is no new information or opinions to gain to enable us to gain knowledge, it only gives us a since of entertainment. 

Generation SPARKNOTES

While reading "Is Google Making Us Stupid" by Nicholas Carr, I couldn't help but identify with the peoples' inabilities to read an in depth and through manner. When I am assigned to read a large body of literature, "I get fidgety, lose the thread, [and] begin looking for something else to do". My first instinct is to get on the web and search for a summary of what I'm reading.

I am sad to say that I am a perfect example of the youth today that has been negatively effected by the internet. I, like many others, am constantly looking for short cuts when it comes to reading. I tend to feel defeated before even beginning to read when looking at a lengthy article, or hundred page book. This is the result of a bad habit I acquired all the way back in 6th grade, when a website called SPARKNOTES was created. 

SPARKNOTES was supposed to be used as a means of gaining a greater understanding for a complex novel, yet I, and more than 50% of my fellow class mates, abused its services and relied on its chapter summaries for our complete understanding of the book. Not after long I began using SPARKNOTES for literally EVERY reading assignment, and "the more [I] used the Web, the more [I] had to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing". 

Sadly, I am paying for it now, where I am in a learning environment where I am forced to stop "seeking convenience", and being forced to read and analyze pieces of literature that, to my dismay, cannot be found summarized on the web. Here at SMU I've been given the opportunity to exercise my brain by reading in a way to think and comprehend creatively again, instead of coming to "rely on computers to mediate [my] understandings of [things], it is [my] own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence".