#7: Bibliography

Cozic, Charles P., ed. Garbage and Waste. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.

Lenin, V.I. "Capitalism and Popular Consumption." Lenin Collected Works, Vol. 18. (1912): 224-226:

Leonard, Annie. The Story of Stuff. New York: Division of Simon and Schuster, 2010.

Oaks, Lauren. "Humans and Nature: Can the Gulf be bridged?" Green (September
 13th, 2012): http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/humans-and-nature-can-the-gulf-be-bridged/?ref=globalwarming

Shapley, Dan. "15 Facts about the Paper Industry, Global warming and Environment." The Daily Green. 10.2 (2007): http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/7447

Wilson, Abbey and Coza, Anne. "Western Lifestyles Continues Environmental Footsteps." Project Censored. (October 2, 2010):  http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/21-western-lifestyle-continues-environmental-footprint/

# 4: Discovering New Views

I never really have given much thought to the idea of politics or whether I believe in politics up until this class. The idea of splitting people up according to different parties is believed to be harmful to the country as a whole. The United States idea of equality was a major problem for our country from woman's rights to race disputes. Could politics create a dispute like this? I managed to get past this anti politics idea after I completed the political compass test we were required to do in class.  I had fun with the fact that no one's answers matched up to what my views were.  This was interesting and made me realize how important it is to have different political parties.  This comes back to the whole freedom of speech concept.  Everyone is entitled their own opinion.
My dot landed smack dab in the middle of the four quadrants.  This isn't uncommon for someone my age, it just means I am confused on what exactly I believe.  Usually these characteristics begin to develop slowly over time.  Some developing beliefs early.  Others needing time and proper persuasion in order to figure out where they belong.  After seeing how torn I was in the world of politics, I decided to look into the ideas behind each political party.
I quickly noticed I favored the conservative party or in other words the Republican party. Although growing up with a dad as a republican plays a part in me making this decision, that is not exactly why I favored this particular party.  Just the fact that I haven't been subjected to believing in a certain party is an example of being a conservative.  This party was initially founded by anti-slavery activists on the belief of individual responsibility, consumer owned free market, and keeping traditional views and values.  I demonstrate these views by being strict when it comes to accepting change without being heavily educated on the issue.  With something so simple as the way people dress to the big argument of marijuana legalization. There is only time out there and things are good the way they are so why change them?

#5: Propaganda describing propaganda

The four minute minute video "The War You Don't See" by John Pilger is a video explaining the effects of propaganda on the U.S government and their role foreign relations.  As the video begins it starts to play very upbeat music.  Our emotions can be altered by the slightest sound of music.  This means music has the ability to change your mood whether it is a bad or good mood.  In this case the music Pilger decided to include in the video created a sense of excitement and intensity.  This showed the seriousness of paying attention to what the video is trying to portray.  When the tempo changes it switches to a song that repeats "I'll take your brain to another dimension, Pay close attention". This is directly telling people to pay attention to what Pilger is trying to persuade you.  Direct result of propaganda in the process. 
Along with the music the video does not have any commentary. The reason he made the video this was it to use a different kind of technique. The video portrays a series of pictures one after another, creating a story like the childhood books we all used to read.  These pictures vary from the attack on Hiroshima, the idea of life on mars, images of Jesus and bible references, and argumentative subjects such as marijuana. These images were chosen to back up Pilger's idea of how propaganda has been used in the past to directly influence the result of major events that startled people.  Propaganda was used by the government to hide UFO sitings, to cover up the effects of the attack on Hiroshima, and now recently the reason we are at war with Afganistan. 
I think John Pilger did a great job using propaganda tricks in order to keep the listener interested and aware of the issue he had behind these tactics.  Basically he directed the audience's attention to where it needed to be so that made it a lot easier for him to persuade.

#2: They Say response

Douglas Rushkoff attacks his piece "They Say" with much enthusiasm and knowledge on the subject.  Since he is a well known author and extremely intelligent on the subject matter, a since of authority is shown in Rushkoff.  Right from the beginning the author persuades you to listen more openly to what he is saying.  If he was just a unimportant stranger telling you a story you would be more likely to ignore what he says and not trust it.  This same technique Rushkoff writes about it and explains how its used to manipulate us in the marketing aspect of our lives.  Rushkoff starts off by saying "we are under constant scrutiny and constant assault by a professional class of hidden persuaders".  People persuade us everyday sometimes even without us knowing.  From the local sale associate, a car salesman, telemarketers and politicians.  These techniques have changed over the years in order to cope with the changes our society has made because of the newly formed technology and ideas.  Rushkoff distinguishes persuasion techniques into two categories, "hard sell" and "soft sell".  Hard sell techniques are more direct and forceful like the typical car salesman idea that used to work.  People began to catch on and with the younger generation not wanting to be subjected to conformity. This directly influenced persuading techniques to be changed in order to be more effective. The switch was made and now soft sell techniques were put into play.  This idea was to act in a more laid back subtle way. In order to persuade this group of individuals these persuasion techniques must be less visible then they were in the past. An example of the hard sell technique was the typical "sale associate" where they would walk up to you and show you a certain merchandise.  Now we have evolved to using the soft sell technique which would be the whole concept of a shopping mall.  The floor pattern of a mall to influence what you see and buy.  These indirect techniques are becoming more and more well known even used by Rushkoff in the article.  He doesn't come out and tell you to think a certain way but he does explain his way of thinking and backs it up with lots of hard facts.

#1: Theory of Stories

In the Theory for beginners the author analyzes human race and the changes it makes as it evolves over time.  He feels very strongly that the experiences we have throughout life directly result in forming our perception of the world. The author used the word "Islam" in order to explain how distorted someones assumption of a word could be. Since 9/11 the this powerful five letter word has been morphed from being a real thought to a contingent idea.  When I searched the word "Islam", it led me to find out about "Islamic Relief". This is group that responds and acts in the Islam values in order to minimize the suffering of the worlds poor.  In modern day society people associate this word with "fear" and "terrorism". This shows what a biased opinion could disguise a saint into being a helper of the devil.

The author states that "It might make less sense that one group should monopolize society's wealth for themselves while another, equally talented but less well-born or well-educated, languish in prison, the victims of poverty".  This idea proves indeed that we are born into a predictable life.  A life where it is easy to manipulate what someone thinks when they hear certain words and how to manipulate what a person thinks their role in life is.  If you are born rich you will stay rich and play a easier role in life.  On the other hand if you are born poor you will have to work harder in life to be considered equal to the born rich.  People today don't argue this law they abide by it and live the life they were choose by their ancestors. Not only does it place you in a economical group but it imposes norms like the one we the author explained about Islam and the Middle East.  These norms I have caught myself believing without having any background information behind the subject.

The author effectively turned me into a firm believer on the idea. Cultural stories not only impose norms but also help out grow out of the useless old norms we once made sense out of.  In conclusion I think stories are important tools that help create diversity in norms, culture, and belief throughout the world.  Without these tools everyone has the potential of being just alike and what fun would that ever be.

#3: Enlightenment and education

From the beginning of Taylor's video he created a sense of urgency to need to live differently in the 21st century.  Copernicus, Galeio, and Newton paved the way for the the Age of Enlightenment when they failed to prove the laws of nature.  This disproved the idea that the sun rotates around the earth.  Imagine what that did to the minds of people who believed the earth stood still.  This was the exact change that was needed in the early 18th century. People were now susceptible to new ideas. These new ideas meant getting rid of old values and norms and creating new ones.  Prior to the Enlightenment, things were decided solely on faith and tradition. Now the goal was to reform society using reason.  Do the previous values still work?  What do they mean?  Do they still meet the challenges we face? In order to live differently then the 18th century, society needed to adapt and think differently. 

Education is a very argumentative topic that Robinson speaks about.  The main problem he addresses is the fact that society is trying to meet the future with what they had already been doing. School was designed to create cultural background and values and norms for children.  In the 18th century education had recently been introduced into civilization and was highly susceptible to diversity. The industrial revolution and the 18th century culture played a big part in creating the desired education. In the 21st century Robinson argues that the education system needs to question whether or not to think differently about society.   Originally education systems were based after industrialization and were typically organized as if they were a production line. Children that attended school were taught that if you complete schooling and go to college you will be successful.  Unfortunately, today that is not a guarantee.  Kids now are losing the purpose to go to school and are being treated for ADHD.  This is not the new idea both of these authors are trying to prove.  Instead Robinson wants school systems to start divergent thinking.  Why is there a right and wrong? Why are grades decided by age? Why is there only one right answer? 

Without the Enlightenment era many things would be different and we certainly wouldn't be what we are today.  Over the years the 21st century has continued to expand empathy's reach to create a better environment.  With people like Robinson and Taylor,  more and more people will conform to a new age of thinking.  One where the number of right answers could be limitless.