Students Oblivious to Danger

Today I came across an article/video about how student's at IU are still partying hard and walking home alone at night - even after the disappearance of a fellow classmate; Lauren Sperier, 5 months ago.  The video/news story spoke about how they had an under cover cop roam the streets at night during the weekend after a huge football game at Indiana University.  The under cover cop was 6'5, masculine and African-American.  Whenever he spoke to students one on one (mostly were intoxicated), the students were oblivious to the fact that there was a camera crew in front of them, and they still acted belligerently drunk. The under cover cop spoke about how students were not even intimated or questionable about him, even though he appeared suspicious. It seemed as though students assumed he was part of the "in crowd" because he had a beer in his hand. Why is it that schools need to show how hard they can party, even though there is still a missing person case that is not solved?  Are the students that oblivious and unintelligent to know how badly they are portraying their school? Not only did they students on camera make fools of themselves, but they made it easy for the publicly to understand how Lauren Sperier was abducted so easily on June 3rd after a night of partying. Students clearly assume that just because they are in a safe town, they are invincible to danger.

Taking Fandom Too Far

Yesterday in class, we had a discussion about Fandom. To sum it up, fandom is the community that surrounds a tv show/movie/book and so forth. Fanfiction writers, artists and poets are all members of this fandom. These communities often consist of message boards, livejournal communities, and, of course, people. Before class we were given photo's of fans that were dressed up as their favorite celebrity idols and discuss why they were dressed the way  they were. As each of my group members was giving their opinion, I was questioning myself as to when this "fandom" goes too far. For some people, healthy admiration of a favorite star or television show can turn into a sick obsession - resulting to extreme measures such as plastic surgery or even stalking.  It's no huge secret that America is obsessed with fame, and you do not need to read internet sites or magazines to be aware of this either.  But what happens when Fans take it to far?  Over the passed few days I have been looking at different groups of fans and the extreme measures they go to look like their idol. Some of the people I have come across have gone to extreme measures and have spent a large amount of money on plastic surgery.  One person, A 37-year-old woman, was inspired by J-Lo's gigantic booty, paid $7,000 for "gluteal augmentation" which is a fancy name for receiving butt implants. Likewise,  one 20-year-old man paid $8,500 for a nose job and a new chin dimple to make him look like his idol, John Travolta. The fact that fans are using plastic surgery to show their commitment to their idol can be a very scary thing to think about. Artists, for example, try to relay a message out to their fans to "Be who you are" - but it seems as though fans misinterpret that phrase and hear "Be me." It seems as though individuals who are associated with these Fandoms are losing their self-identity and literally becoming their idol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPYfWnnlLZk This link can show one fan who goes to the extreme to look like Michael Jackson

Fake Housewives of Fantasy Land

The Youtube clip "Class Dismissed" - really opened my eyes to how television shows portray certain classes of people.  For example, the show "Real Housewives of Beverley Hills" shows the public how upper-class people live their comfortable lives. Watching this show has made me despise these women because of the way the creators have portrayed them. Because I do not judge people instantly, I realized that not all "upper-class" people act like snobs, such as these specific house wives act.  Not all upper class women receive a large amount of plastic surgery nor do they allow "high-school" drama to invade their personal lives every single day. Creators of this show have been able to create some type of "Fantasy Land" for these women to play around in, while entertaining audiences around the world.  While the show can be entertaining, it leaves viewers believing that this is the way the upper class is in real life. While they have money, unlimited resources, and a pension to dress like they're 20 years old - housewives also have children. Housewives who watch the show either feel offended by the fact they these mothers barely spend time with their children, or by the fact that they even should be labeled as "housewives." I mean come on, if my mom dressed like these women, I would NEVER let her leave the house - let alone meet my friends. All in all, television shows put a large mask over their entire cast members, giving the viewers a false identity of who these women are.

The Media Monster

Social media influences the way men and women interact with one another. Whether it be in a negative or positive way, the amount of influence that social media has on society today is nerve-wracking. While watching the two videos in class about the idea of men over-powering women, I was hoping they would include some type of research about teenage domestic violence. I believe that more domesetic violence occurs between teenagers because of the "social media" world we live in today. Textual harassment and electronic bullying are just a small glimpse at the issues teens have to confront in the age of social media, dating and relationship building.

            The fact that teens can have constant communication with each other because of the internet and cellphones can be a negative and positive.While technology has helped teenagers  stay in touch with their family and friends, it has also presented a obstacle to service providers who work with teens experiencing dating violence. Because it is so easy to contact someone through these devices, the abuser is able to use these tools against their victim.  While teens experience the same types of abuse as adults, the methods on how they abuse their victims is different.  The controlling behavior, or "monitoring", that abusers use against their partners checking their cellphones, stalking Facebook or making their partner check in with them.  Between texting and constant phone calls, the abuser can have total control over their victim through the day and night.

         One recent story that was in the news was about a ex-boyfriend, Nathaniel Fujita, that murdered his then girlfriend, Lauren Astley. The two high school graduates were dating for three years before Lauren Astley  broke off the relationship - which triggered the attack by Fujita. Fujita had been constantly harrassing Astley through phone calls, texts and Facebook messaging until she finally decided to meet up with him.  Because Fujita swarmed her with massive message, Astley believed that by meeting up with him, the harassment would stop - and it...with her life. Today, I personally believe that social media makes it easier for teenagers to have easy access to domestic violence.

Is physical appearance more important than one's natural talents? Ask JLo's butt.

I am a enormous fan of reality TV shows.  Not like the Real World or Real Housewives, but reality shows where people compete against one another in a variety of ways to win the grand prize. I have tried out for two reality TV shows in my life: America's Got Talent and The X-Factor.  Both of these shows are competitions, now held in various countries, which puts contestants against each other (whether it involves singing or any other talents). Since The X-Factor just started up, I've been carefully observing which contestants got cut and which ones made it through. Being an actual contestant for these shows has allowed me to experience racism/sexism first hand. After reading the Jennifer Lopez article and also watching YouTube clips about the spin off of the Cosby show in class, I realized that there was a lot of stereotyping involved during my audition process.  Whenever we were sorted into groups, it seemed as though one group was the "ethnic group" or another was the "cute girl" group, "older group", "not as attractive group" or the "weird group."  It seemed as though these two reality shows were categorizing people based on their appearances or what ethnicity the producers "assumed" the contestants were. As the rounds continued to carry on (I made it through 5 rounds, then got cut) - it seemed as though one specific ethnic group was being cut more than the others: the African american/Hispanic group. The three most dominant groups of the auditioning processes appeared to be the "pretty" white females, the "handsome" young men...and surprisingly the "weird" group. Even though I may have a bias against The X-Factor (why would they cut me......just kidding), I do not think that the producers were really taking talent into consideration. They seemed to be focusing on the physical appearances of the contestants and what the public would want. Like the Jennifer Lopez article, it appeared as though "JLo's bootayyy" made her famous and not her actual talents. I understand that her butt is ginormous and cannot be ignored, but do people need to focus on that rather than her accomplishments? I do not wake up everyday wondering how Jennifer Lopez's butt is doing or whether it grew. We, sadly, live in a world today where people tend to judge a person on their looks rather than their talents and accomplishments- which could possibly lead to a disastrous outcome. Like for example, choosing our next president. Thoughts?

Homo's Say What?

The other day in class we watched video clips showing how stereotypes are portrayed. The one video that caught my attention was the one with Jim Carey portraying a stereotypical gay guy.  During this sketch, Jimmy Carey portrays a gay man who recently came out of the closet, and wants everybody to know that he is not straight. When he enters the room, his friend tells him to not overdo it - which he says he won't, but ends up doing. It starts with Jim Carey walking up to a man and telling him "Hi, I'm gay and I'm proud of it" The man replies with "That's great."  Jim Carey continues to be "overconfidently gay" by telling the man he is going to kiss hims hard and passionately if the man was gay as well.  As he makes his way through the room, he comes across two women that he tells to not try and take him home because he is gay. Those two parts of the sketch made me laugh and even question what the point of this sketch was.  After watching it one more time to refresh my memory, it seems to be poking fun at society and how we portray homosexuals.  We tend to believe that homosexuals are very flamboyent and need to express to society that even though they are gay - they still need to be fed and given attention. Going back to the beginning of the sketch, Jim Carey's friend tells him not to overdo it, even though he has just come out of the closet. This shows that Jim Carey is trying to fit the stereotype of a gay man that society has created, because he does not know any better. This proves, as a starting point, that people base their actions and appearances off of stereotypes that society gives a certain group.  I believe this to be bad because people tend to lose their own identity when seeing how society stereotypes groups.

A Lost Identity

 Amanda Knox has just been released from jail in Italy.  If no one is familiar with the name, you really need to start picking up the news paper. Amanda Knox is an American woman convicted by an Italian court of murdering her roommate last year while studying abroad. Just a few days ago the Italian court overturned the case and allowed her to return back to the US, after being jailed in Italy for four years.  During this whole ordeal the Italian media completely destroyed Knox's image.  The media molded Knox into a notorious serial killer, nick-naming her the "Monster of Florence" and "Foxy Knoxy". On the other hand, the American media made Amanda Knox appear as an innocent young women trapped in a foreign country and was being forced to abide by the rules. It appeared as though the American and Italian media were competing against one another on who could create the better "Amanda Knox".  Honestly,  after following the case since day one, I really do not have any idea who the real Amanda Knox is nor whether she is really guilty or not.  The media had the power to mold Amanda Knox into two different people - leading her to lose her own true identity, which I find completely preposterous. I could never imagine being 20 years old and be labeled and judged by the entire world. It is outrageous how the Italian media  portrayed her as a monster instead of a human being and completely destroy her entire image. Although Knox was found not guilty, no one can help her find her true identity. They might as well add her to the Missing Person's list.

If you ever go missing - you better make sure your attractive.

Over the summer I started following the story about a missing Indiana University student named Lauren Spierer.  Lauren Spierer, of Greenburgh New York, was just 20 years old when she disappeared June 3 after a night of partying with friends.  There have been a lot of conspiracy theories that she either diagnosed on coke and her boyfriend/friends hid the body or that she was, sadly, abducted.  While following this story over the summer, I became intrigued by how the media was dealing with the story and how the public was reacting.  Many people believed that Lauren Sperier was receiving more attention because she was a beautiful, wealthy, white, blue eyed girl.  The public also persisted to say that there was another girl that went missing four months ago and she did not even get nearly as much attention as Lauren Sperier was receiving. She was African American, not as attractive, and had no education. But why do any of those stop her from receiving the same attention as Lauren Spierer did?  She is still human and missing - but the media decided not to pay any attention to the story.  Throughout the case, I kept a clear head and just listened to people's opinions rather than agree with them.  I denied the fact that Lauren Sperier received all of this attention because of her looks up until last week.  Almost two weeks ago a 19 year old girl named Amanda Bach, from Indiana, went missing. Like Spierer, she white, goodlooking and wealthy. She was found a few days ago, near rail road traicks, with a gun shot wound to her throat.  Her ex-boyfriend is currently being charged with murdering her.  Simliar to Spierer, many Facebook pages were created in memory of Amanda Bach.  Many of the posts said, "How could someone murder someone so beautiful?" or "She was too beautiful to leave. I will miss her beautiful smile " or the worst, "Why couldn't he kill someone ugly?" Why must society soley focus on just her physical appearance?  What about the fact that her family will never see her again or that she will never be able to finish college?  Or that she will never be able to grow into an adult and live out her dreams? The fact that the media is able to pick and choose what missing person case they want to focus on is like choosing life or death for someone they never even met.  It is pathetic.  People need to start taking notice of this and see that every missing person that is reported on the news is either attractive or the family has a lot of money.  The media is ignoring missing-person cases involving men or people of certain ethnicities - it is like they want people to rescue the "damsel in distress" from the villian. Open your eyes and see the missing person cases that the media reports on. It's shocking, disgusting and it's all for ratings.

When people are confused, they ask questions. But what if no one has the answers?

I am the type of person that enjoys checking the BBC news everyday to see what is going on around the world. I particularly enjoy reading conspiracy theories (especially ones that include the missing team from Bloomington Lauren Sperier, 9/11, JFK and Marilyn Monroe.) I do believe that the media likes to stretch away from the truth and either make the public scared or make them come up with some bizarre ideas. One media story that I recently started to follow was the idea that the US government has a plan to decrease the US population by releasing a very deadly disease. Not only would this disease exterminate millions of Americans, but it would force people to be isolated into camps and forced to follow strict laws. That was only a small portion of information I received from one article, but there is more information about this conspiracy spread out throughout the internet that people choose to ignore. I feel like the media tries to hint to the public about what could or will happen in the future.  One way of them spreading the word and fear to the public is through movies and YouTube.  Last weekend I went to go see the new movie Contagion,  in IMAX ,at Navy Pier.  The movie is about how a deadly disease spreads from person to person and in just a matter of weeks kills millions of people around the world.  Whether it be from touching another persons face or merely sharing the same food or drink; people were dying in a matter of seconds.  This movie pulled me in as soon as I saw the first trailer for it on YouTube, which showed my least favorite actress, Gwenyth Paltrow, become the first victim to contract the disease. Watching these YouTube clips made me overly excited to see the movie Contagion, but at the same time put fear in my mind. Throughout the entire movie it seemed as though the director was trying to make a point and inform the audience.  There were times during the film where I actually thought I was watching a documentary instead of a fictional movie; I had to subconsciously remind myself that this did not happen.....but it could in the future.  I believe that the movie industry can easily communicate with the public by creating these informative movies and putting ridiculous scenarios in their heads. While this could be a good thing,  the idea that movies can easily persuade the public could cause a sudden uproar of fear and confusion in society, eventually leading to tensions between groups of people. When people are confused, they ask questions. But what if no one has the answers?