Media Chatter

Drugs and alcohol has always been a major influence in rock music.  Many artist claims that it takes them to another level and they are able to create “better” music.  Drugs and alcohol continue to be a major factor in music as we know it today

In the late 1960’s artist were just now coming out with the idea of using drugs, but they were not singing about it.  They used it as a way of “helping” them make better music.  They saw it as a tool that helped them.  Record labels did not see it as a bad thing; they either ignored it or bought it for them to enhance their performance.  As long as the artist was producing hits they did not care.  Teenagers began to turn to drug use also because they wanted to do what the popular singers were doing.  With drug use on the rise rock music became changed forever.

So how has this affected music today?

Studies have shown that majority of music has to do with drugs and alcohol.  “Illicit drugs were mentioned in 63 percent of Rap songs versus about 10 percent of the lyrics in the other categories.” http://www.mediacampaign.org/publications/movies/movie_partII.htm.  With artist focusing much of their attention on drugs we find that drug use among teens continue to rise. ”One study found that teenagers who listened to heavy metal were more inclined to use drugs, though they were not more likely to use them excessively or become addicted.” http://cognitive-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/psychology_of_heavy_metal_music .  Music, rap music especially, tends to be more geared toward living the “thug” life, which includes using drugs, selling drugs, and drinking alcohol.  Over the past year we have seen some artist such as, Kanye West and Mary J. Blidge, take a stand against drug use and sing about the damages that it can cause. 

Drugs and Alcohol will always be an element in the music industry.  We will see people sing for it and people sing against it.  Either way the music industry will never find a way to escape the hands of drug and alcohol

The television that young adults watch is just a bunch of crap.  Atleast I know it is because I used to be one of them.  As I have gotten older the shows that I was now, especially in the mourning are very informative of the world.  If I were a teacher in school, I would require my students to watch some sort of education program or informal news one night a week on the same sation so everyone could talk about it on the same day.

Once they had done this I think that socially as a group they would better understand eachother as well as the world and its views on certain issues.  If the kids knew anything about politics and they will after watching the elections, they could better appreciate what our modern day America is standing for and how it wants young minds to work in the future.

Also by watching educational and politcal programs the students will better understand one another and give them something positive to talk about in their own personal world and hopefully with them gaining this knowledge they will be able to pass it on to others.

I know that the younger generation can improve socially and politically, it is just a matter of what they are interested in watching and if you gave them the option while they were in school I think that they would have a better apprecation for these types of things in the future and it would make America that we live in a better place to be for years to come. 

Overall I think our current movie rating system is okay, but it has its flaws. Some people make too much fuss over it when it shouldn’t be that big a deal. Most of the ratings seem okay. The only problem I have is with the PG-13 rating. It seems that some movies are labeled PG-13, but they are too bad to be in that category.

The G, PG, R, and NC-17 ratings are appropriate ratings for the movies that are grouped in their categories. I feel that these ratings warn parents, children, and teenagers enough so they will understand what each movie contains. Everyone knows that G specifies that a movie is suitable for everyone and that parents shouldn’t be worried about any inappropriate material in these films. Next, PG means that parental guidance is needed. Every parent is warned by this rating that the specific movie contains some suggestible content in which the parent may not be comfortable allowing his or her child to see. An R rating has adult material and parents are advised to learn more about the movie before taking their children to see it. For a movie with an NC-17 rating, only those over 17 years of age are admitted to see the movie. All of these ratings give enough warning to parents about some inappropriate films for children.

Most Americans know that an R rated movie contains some or all of these: language / profanity, sexuality, nudity, drugs, violence, etc. People also know that an NC-17 movie is an R rated movie taken to the extreme. Any parent in his or her right mind would know that a movie with either one of these ratings would be inappropriate for their children or their teenagers.

In my opinion, it’s the parent’s responsibility to judge which films are okay for their children to see, but as far as the PG-13 rating, there doesn’t seem to be enough warning. Many PG-13 films feel like R rated movies. They have even more bad language and sexuality than they did in the past. Take the movie Meet the Fockers for instance. I felt that I was watching an R rated movie during some parts of the film. I know that the movie probably wasn’t bad enough to be rated R, but perhaps it should have been. Maybe there should be another category for those movies that are too bad to be rated PG-13 yet aren’t bad enough to be in the R category.

Web sites concerning the movie rating system:

MPAA Movie Ratings

One man’s reasons for a new movie rating system

Is media research actually effective in our media institutions? Many people complain that the research doesn’t make much difference in changing the content of our media. I say that some changes have been made such as the television parental guidelines that were placed on TV shows, but I will have to agree that there has not been an enormous impact on changing our media institutions. I feel like the research will never made a large impact because most of the time the research does not have any significant results. Yes, some studies have found that viewers’ aggression and violent television programs and movies are correlated, but they do not have a cause-effect relationship. Nothing has been proved for a fact.

Albert Bandura’s “Bobo doll” experiment , for instance, found that many children who watched adults beat up a Bobo doll did so themselves. Many people believe that this experiment shows that a subject who witnesses aggressive behavior in the media will be likely to imitate the behavior if there is a social reward or reinforcement (pg. 528 of the text). Bandura’s supporters agree with his social learning theory, but there are also people who do not agree with it at all. They feel like studies have not found any relation between media content and aggression. It’s true that many people watch violent television programs and movies and are not affected at all. They do not display aggressive behavior afterwards.

The psychological effects found in media research, as well as cultural approaches, in my opinion, will not really change our media institutions because there has not been enough proof related to either one. I believe that even if a lot of evidence were found relating violent television programs to viewers’ aggression, there still would not be any change. We Americans love television programs with bad language, sex, and violence. Such programs, as well as movies, give us guilty pleasures and provide an escape from our everyday lives. We enjoy these types of programs. Not all of us imitate the behavior we see on television or in movies. Not all of us will let the media distort our view of reality. We can be firm in our values and beliefs no matter what we watch or listen to in the media. We can make up our own minds about what we believe and what we will do. We do not have to be swayed by violent television programs or something like political news. We decide what we’re going to expose ourselves to (selective exposure) and decide what we’re going to do with what we receive from the media.

In conclusion, media research has helped us to understand the power of the media and warns us of what it can do to us viewers, but I don’t feel like it will significantly alter our media institutions. Our media institutions are just too powerful and influential, and we allow them to be. Most of us would not want censorship in the media. I think that our media institutions are fine the way they are. We just need to be aware of what we see and hear in the media and be careful about what we do with the content we expose ourselves to.

If I were a reporter or an editor, I would not quit voting in order to demonstrate my ability to be neutral. Voting is a privilege to every citizen and should be taken advantage of. Journalists are citizens and therefore have the right to vote like any other person in our country. Every person, regardless of his or her occupation, should vote because it matters. Each American citizen helps get someone in office or keep someone out. Each person should take his or her vote seriously.

Some journalists don’t vote because they want to appear neutral about politics since they are neutral in their writing. Well there’s a fine line between doing your job and doing your civic duties. A person’s career shouldn’t consume every minute of his or her life. There are other responsibilities that need to be taken care of. Voting is one of those. Reporters and editors should separate voting from their jobs.

Observers should not bother reporters and editors about voting. Journalists, for example, shouldn’t receive criticism for voting or be bothered about their political affiliation or who they voted for. Famous journalists should vote, but try not to be noticed by a whole lot of people. Journalists should keep quiet about their voting decisions and refuse to discuss it with curious observers.

Another reason why reporters and editors should vote is because they are well educated and well informed. Most journalists know a lot about politics and keep up with the news since they write about the news. They know a lot about what’s going on in the world so they should exercise their right to vote for this reason as well.

In conclusion, reporters and editors are people too. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, and people of other professions vote. Reporters and editors should too.

More to add to my argument: an article by journalist Jane Ann Morrison about why she votes .

I do stay updated on international news. I always read about international affairs in the newspapers and magazines that I read, such as Time, U.S. Daily and News Report, USA Today, and a few local newspapers. I have read extensively about the war in Iraq and Iraq’s new government, for instance.

One international publication that I used to read was the Voice of the Martyrs . The newsletter is about the lives of persecuted Christians living in over forty countries throughout the world and how readers could help send Bibles or other supplies to them. It focuses on martyrs from such countries as China, Afghanistan, and Iraq, for example. I read about these Christians who were not able to share their beliefs due to their country’s culture, government, and official religion (like Islam). If they did, they had to live in isolation, escape from their country, or suffer the consequences. This publication contained news that wasn’t shown in local newspapers. This newsletter helped me to see what was going on internationally for Christians. It expanded my thinking from how Christians live in America to how Christians live throughout the world. Some of the stories horrified me, but it exposed me to news that I wasn’t aware of.

I do not read any international publications like this anymore, but like I stated earlier, I do read a fair amount concerning other countries. I believe it is important to stay informed about international news because we all live in the same world. We, Americans, need to know what’s going on outside our self-centered country. Other countries affect us and we affect them. That’s the case with our war with Iraq and all the other wars that America has had with other countries. We should be aware of what’s going on in other countries and how we may help them or how they can help us.

The hostile relationship between journalism and PR professions can be mended and perhaps it would be good for both if it were mended. Journalists and those in the public relations professions should see that they need each other and just accept their dependence on one another. Journalists need public relations for their stories. The press releases, for instance, take a lot of work off their shoulders when writing their articles.

The text says that journalists consider themselves “to be part of an older public-service profession (pg. 442)”, while PR professionals are considered to be a part of a “pseudo-profession created to distort the facts that reporters work so hard to gather.” Journalists and editors consider PR agents “flacks” whose job is to say kind things about their clients and “insert themselves between their employees/clients and members of the press.” Despite their dislike for those in public relations, journalists and editors both need PR for story ideas.

Some journalists make the switch to public relations. Since so many journalists speak so poorly of public relations, why do some go to work later on for PR? That doesn’t make sense. Those in public relations should feel free to make the switch to journalism, but not that many do because it seems that the news profession doesn’t want those who have been in PR. Those who have been in public relations are considered to shape images into what they want them to be and may be rather manipulative and self-serving. Well it seems to me that if journalists switch to PR, those in public relations should be kindly welcomed into journalism if they want to switch.

Journalism and public relations need each other so I feel they might as well let go of the animosity between them. Like the text says, “PR needs journalists for publicity, and journalism needs PR for story ideas and access.” Many journalists believe they are working on behalf of the public, but many of them give into corruption and sometimes they only care about their own well being. There are journalists who are manipulated and who fabricate their stories to make it big. Some journalists shape their stories into what they want, much like those in public relations who tries to make an individual, cause, company, or product look good . Like PR, some journalists have selfish motives. Those in public relations and journalism should evaluate their similarities and differences and learn to get along. Their contradictory relationship seems illogical. There seems to be more similarities between them than differences.

Many people, including myself, are critical of advertising because it seems like the goals of most ads are to get us to conform to what our society wants us to be as consumers. There are also so many bad advertisements that actually make bad activities look like good things to do. There are many ads that portray premarital sex and just having sex “anywhere, any time” as being okay. There are ads that actually seem like pornography instead of advertising, such as Hardee’s ad that shows a half-naked Paris Hilton washing a car in a rather inappropriate manner . These types of ads are just gross. In my opinion, they shouldn’t be on television. Many people are also critical of advertising because ads do not reflect us as individuals. Ads just try to sell their products to us. Advertisers only care about pulling us in and pressuring us to buy their products.

There are commercials for certain brand name jeans, like Levi’s and Wrangler , for instance. What if some people want to buy Wal-Mart or K-Mart jeans? Some people just don’t have the money to spend on more expensive name brand jeans or any big name product for that matter.

Most teenagers today are greatly influenced by advertising. Some of them feel that they have to wear name brand clothes and shoes to fit in with their peers. They are pressured by big names like Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle , for example. Teenagers should feel comfortable wearing whatever they want, whether it is a big name or not. They shouldn’t be looked down upon if they’re not wearing all the “trendy” name brand clothes and have other name brand items.

I feel comfortable using generic brands because I know I am saving money and I am not conforming to what advertisers or American society expects me to be. I choose for myself what products I will buy. I know that some big name brands are better than generic and I use them based on quality, but I never buy a name brand item to impress others and make myself look good. That should not be the case.

In conclusion, some advertising today has gone too far in trying to shape people into what society wants them to be. I am sure that there are plenty of young girls who feel they need to be super thin like the models and actresses in ads. There are also many people who see the condom ads, the beer commericals, and cigarette ads and think all of it is appealing. Some ads distort the truth and some are only trying to bring conformity to America. Every individual should be careful about advertising and he or she should make their own well-informed decisions about the products they want to buy.

The first magazine I read regularly was the Disney Adventures Magazine . As a kid, I loved the Disney channel and Nickelodeon television shows so that is one reason why I was attracted to the magazine. I loved the stories, comics, and jokes that I read in Disney Adventures. My parents bought one issue of the magazine for me in a store one day, and after reading it, I begged them to subscribe me to the magazine, and they gave in. I collected many issues of the magazine, but eventually my subscription ran out and I did not want to renew it.

When I became a teenager, I started to like all of the pop idols and celebrities so I turned to magazines like Teen People and YM . The stories weren’t good in these magazines and they didn’t allow me to use my imagination like Disney Adventures did. I only liked them for all the pictures of celebrities and the gossip.

Now in college, I regularly read magazines like Time and US News and World Report . I like to know what is going on in national and global affairs. I believe it is important to be informed of these issues because they affect our daily lives. Other than these magazines, I will occasionally read Reader’s Digest or pick up a celebrity magazine like People when I’m in a waiting room for a doctor’s visit.

I believe that perhaps everyone goes through different stages and read different books and magazines as they grow older. Some people stay the same and never expose themselves to something different. With me, I wanted to expose myself to different things as I matured and as my interests in life changed. We have so many different magazines that every person can find something he or she is interested in and turn to different magazines as they grow older or be devoted to the same magazines they have read all along. We have magazines to appeal to just about everybody.

Going to see a movie at the theater is an exciting experience to me. I love seeing movies at the theater more now than I use to. I don’t rent movies on video or DVD. At home, my family and I usually order movies on Pay Per View or watch them on the movie channels, but I prefer going to see brand new movies at the theater. I will say that I go to the theater at least once or twice every couple of months. The last two movies that I saw at the theater were The Brothers Grimm and Red Eye . It was so exciting. I had really wanted to see these movies. The Brothers Grimm had some scary scenes in it, and in the theater I jumped sometimes when something popped out and one of the children in the village was attacked. Red Eye was equally exciting. It was a suspenseful movie and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I believe that going to the theater is a more stimulating experience because you get to see brand new movies and you get to see them up on the big screen with the sound extremely loud. When you’re sitting in the theater watching a movie, you feel like you are actually inside that movie. At least that’s how it feels to me. I also like watching the trailers for other movies. I always like to see those previews so I know what other films are coming out soon and what looks interesting to me.

Going to the theater is expensive, but at least now that I am in college I get a discount with my student ID. An adult ticket for an evening movie is seven dollars. That’s too expensive for a lot of people, but I feel like going to see a movie once in a while is okay. It is worth it. Renting a DVD or a video is cheaper and you can see the movie several times before returning it, but it isn’t the same as watching a brand new movie in a theater. It’s all about the experience.

The only cable channels that I watch are ABC , CNN , and occasionally I’ll watch TBS and TNT. Back at my home, my parents have DirectTv and so we have all of the movie channels. So when I’m back at my home, I watch HBO, Starz!, TMC, Showtime, and all of the others.

I am interested in ABC mainly because of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. I also like some of the Saturday night movies that are shown on the channel. I am also excited about the new show they are premiering on Tuesday called Commander in Chief with Gena Davis. I love CBS due to The Price is Right and the soap operas, The Young and the Restless and the Bold and the Beautiful. I also like CBS’s news programs. I love watching CNN because I like to be informed about what’s going on in our world so I like to have my news ready for me at all times of the day. I like watching TBS for Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. I also like it for the movies that it plays sometimes. TNT plays great movies from time to time as well. Several weeks ago TNT showed Forrest Gump and City of Angels, and I made sure I tuned in to watch both of them.

I love DirectTv because it offers so many channels. We have over five hundred channels on ours at home. I love watching Saturday Night Premieres on Starz!. Besides all the movie channels, I like all of the different music channels and the Christian stations.

I use to watch television all the time, but once I got in high school I stopped watching as much because I didn’t have as much time. Now in college I barely find the time to watch just an hour a day. But usually I watch about an hour a day or less.

I try to tune in to watch game shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. I like watching reruns of Friends , Seventh Heaven , and Dawson’s Creek . I love watching game shows because I like to play along. I have fun trying to solve the puzzles for Wheel of Fortune. I’m really good at that show. I feel like one day I may even try to be a contestant on it (if it’s still on the air). I feel dumb when I watch Jeopardy, but always learn something new when I watch it. I feel kind of smart when I get at least three or four questions right! I always think that I will be able to get more questions right the next time I watch the show.

I love Friends because it is so hilarious and it explores relationships. Whenever I want to feel better, watching Friends makes me laugh. Monica, Rachel, Chandler, Ross, Joey, and Phoebe, in my opinion, are the best characters out of all television sitcoms.

Seventh Heaven also explores relationships and many other aspects of life. I love the characters, story lines, and Christian elements. Dawson’s Creek is quite different from Seventh Heaven because it’s mostly about sex. I love Dawson’s Creek anyway. It’s like a guilty pleasure. It’s just like a soap opera: you know you shouldn’t watch it, but you do anyway. You have to keep tuning in to find out what happens next.

Besides these shows, I watch the news and occasionally I’ll watch a football game or a movie on television. I don’t have the time to watch a lot of the new programs on television. They don’t seem that interesting anyway. I don’t have the time to watch everything on the tube.

If I could own and manage my own commercial radio station, I would want to have a mix of the adult contemporary format and contemporary hit radio. I would want the AC format because I would want to have some news and talk plus I would like to have some oldie songs on my radio station. I would want the CHR format because I would like to have some MTV music and possibly a few Christian songs. The music on my radio station would be a mix of 98.1 , 89.3, and the oldie stations. My radio station would also contain the news and talk found on such radio programs as the Neal Boortz Show on WSB750 .

I would want a mix of all this because I feel variety is good. People need to hear the news on the radio to stay informed if they don’t have the time to pick up a newspaper or watch the television news. Yes they can get their news from the Internet, but employees driving to work in the morning can get their news really early in the morning and perhaps hear the news on the radio before they get a chance to go online.

Next, I believe that a mix of music is beneficial to people. They would be exposed to a wide variety of musical talents. People who only listen to such radio stations as 98.1 and B93.7 don’t get the opportunity to hear how nice and calming the Christian radio stations are, such as His Radio 89.3 . On the other hand, those people who only listen to Christian radio don’t allow themselves to listen to popular music found on MTV that can be fun, wild, and a nice escape from reality.

In conclusion, I would love to have a mix of several different formats of radio stations. I like variety. I don’t always like listening to just one type of radio station so I feel like my listeners would enjoy the diversity that I would offer if I did own a radio station.

My first favorite group would have to be the Backstreet Boys . I was obsessed with these guys back in the seventh grade when I was twelve years old. I was in love with all five of the “Backstreet Boys”: Kevin, A.J., Brian, Howie, and Nick. I had all of their cds and had their posters hanging up on the walls of my room. I actually argued with people at school who said the Backstreet Boys weren’t a good group. I also recall being the same way about the group ‘NSync.

First of all, I loved the Backstreet Boys due to their overall sex appeal. Besides that, I enjoyed their music and lyrics. Back then, listening to their love songs made me feel good. I wasn’t dating then and I was lonely. Their lyrics “warmed” my heart. Some of their songs were fast and good to dance to, such as “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” . These songs were really enjoyable, but the slow, romantic songs such as “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” were good too. I loved singing along with the guys and thinking about how great love is… Yes, I was quite pathetic back in those days…

The Backstreet Boys’ music gave me much comfort and I loved those good-looking guys. Their music soothed me, entertained me, and brought some happiness to my life. The Backstreet Boys are still around today and even have a new album called “Never Gone”, but I’m not really interested in them anymore. I still think their music is good, but I don’t have a silly crush on the guys anymore. Regardless of this, their music and lyrics are calming and are a nice escape from the negative aspects of life.

The first group that I remember having an obsession with was…. the Spice Girls. I can’t believe I just admitted to that. I was in elementary school, in the fifth grade, and my best little girl friends and I would hide out in the bathroom and stand around in a circle singing Spice Girls’ songs. Thankfully, the phase didn’t last very long.

The Spice Girls were important to my friends and I for several reasons. First, they represented ‘girl power’. All of us picked a Spice Girl to imitate (why oh why?!), and we would walk around together like we were invincible. The Spice Girls also represented the power of unity and sisterhood for us. Another, slightly less positive reason that the Spice Girls were important to me was the popularity that came with liking the Spice Girls (of course!) To be in the popular crows at Green Valley elementary school, you had to know the Spice Girls songs. The songs were edgy, obviously meant for an older audience, which made us like them even more. We would walk around singing “tonight is the night when two become one” like we really understood it and knew exactly what we were talking about. It made us feel cool.

The Spice Girls craze didn’t last long at all though, not only for my friends and I in Virginia, but for people around the world. By the time the Spice Girls movie came out, everyone was already sick of the Spice Girls. Their “girl power” had worn off and their authenticity as role models vanished as their “naughty girl” appearances became prevalent. The Spice Girls were dangerous for children. No little ten-year-olds should be skipping around at recess singing Spice Girls songs.

I love being in online groups and meeting other people, but I must say that these virtual communities are not as good as real, true communities. Genuine communities, to me, include churches, schools, businesses, and groups of friends physically spending time together. Online environments lack physical contact. In groups or chat rooms online, you are talking to strangers you know nothing about. Are they who they say they are? The people you talk to online may create different personalities and be completely different in real life. The person you meet in a chat room and begin talking to on a daily basis may just be a murderer, rapist, and/or child-molester. How are you to know?

Chat rooms and groups online are interesting because you get the opportunity to meet people from around the world and discuss and debate topics that you are passionate about. At Beliefnet , for instance, you can debate such topics as abortion, church and state, and racism. All of this is great, but it does not have the same effect as talking to these people in person about these issues. Without a web cam and microphone, you cannot see these people and hear their voices. You cannot tell what they are truly like and what they really stand for.

Any dating community, like eHarmony , probably isn’t all that good. Dating online is not the same as dating someone in person. You cannot kiss, hold hands, or cuddle over the Internet with someone who lives many miles away. The only way to do so would be to visit each other. But without that, dating online has many limits. Also, the person you start having an online relationship with may have lied about their interests and personal life in his or her profile.

Chat rooms and groups can be really enjoyable, but they are not as fulfilling as actually being with a group of loving family members, genuine friends, colleagues, or co-workers. You probably know these people much better than any of the strangers you talk to online. The people in your physical environment get the chance to know you better than any stranger online could. Strangers online never get to know what you are really like, and chances are, you probably would not want them to.

Links to other online communities:

Yahoo!
MSN

The media today has an effect on everyone even young children. These effects can be very harmful if not aware of them. The media even has certain ways to target children and brainwash them into believing that their product is the best. I believe that one product that is very harmful to children is cigarettes. Cigarettes are aimed toward young looking people. They try to aim their product to younger children, so they can start smoking at a young age and get addicted to it and buy their product for life. Once the children are hooked then they have their set customers.
One way to make your concerns know is to go to the cigarette company yourself. You need to let them know that they campaigning to the wrong crowd those children don’t need to be smoking at ages like twelve or thirteen. Some actions have been taking by people to stop this type of advertising. I have seen many commercials about a website called truth.org. This website is supposed to be a way for children to go to and learn about the harmful risks of smoking. I think the commercials have a positive impact on children and adults today.
I believe the product should be removed from circulation because cigarettes are not one bit positive. They cause cancer and harmful diseases. But then if the product is taken out of circulation you have all the cigarette companies that go out of business. The way to ban the product is just to get the truth out to people that cigarettes are harmful and are addicting. One way to go about banning cigarettes is to just try to stop one person at a time from smoking.

Music has always played a role in my life. I listen to it all the time, and I notice that I listen to different genres of music depending on what type of mood I am in. Conversely, it has the ability to affect my attitude and mood. When I was younger, I only listened to country music. Back then, it talked about pure, true, and loving relationships, which made me want to love and be loved. Now, it is tainted with discouraging acts of cheating, lying, etc. that depresses me and pushes me further away. It hardly ever expresses joy and happiness anymore. Why would I make a conscious decision to listen to this type of music, fully aware that it will put me in a frame of mind that I would rather avoid? Because country music has changed, my preference as to what kind of music I listen to has also. The earlier country music style did make me want to engage in happy and fun-filled relationships, and in this way, I feel that country music did help in molding me into the person I am today. However, with the current decline of moral content in country music, I find myself very disenchanted with the music and its artists. As we all know, music styles are constantly changing, so perhaps the day will come when I will once again tune into my favorite country station.

The year 2005, is a milestone for mass media. Humans have been brought, through media, closer to our ever neighboring surroundings. Today, some humans might consider a few hundred miles a neighboring surrounding, whereas; in the 1400’s as few as 5 or 6 miles might be considered an alien territory. Letting our neighboring surroundings expand so vastly, numerous amounts of developments have had to take place, including the change of Human culture. When neighboring surroundings were within a couple of miles, tribes were close and the culture was kept within a tight net community. Tribes may have completely relied on tradition and their culture as a way of living as they had no way of having contact with any other tribes or people, outside of their community. However, tradition and culture soon changed as media started to rise in the country and the world.

Native Tribes would soon loose their culture and tradition as Media gathered momentum. Media would soon influence change in tradition and break up the close net communities to make way for one family of culture and neighbors, America.

Media such as, CNN and e-mail, has bought news from across the globe and allowed for people, in what use to be far away places, to communicate in real time. Such media has molded and combined cultures of native tradition from the North, East, South and West of America to one big melting pot.

America’s Melting pot of cultures has caused harm to more traditional and native cultures, by taking away tribes tradition, and in most cases completely irradiating the tribe. Although, tradition is lost through cultures merging together, America’s people have gained one big neighbor, the world.

As a child, a show that I frequently engaged in watching was Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Thinking back on the program, I believe it was the link between fantasy and reality (provided by a really cool trolley) that captured my attention, as well as the everyday interactions that Mr. Rogers promoted, such as getting the mail, feeding the fish, and the field trips he took around the neighborhood. The simplicity of the show was enough to hold my attention as a child, but as I grew intellectually, my mind desired a challenge that Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood could no longer provide. This change in taste happened partially because, as I got older, I was able to experience these “field trips” and everyday tasks for myself, whereas when I was younger (before school age), Mr. Rogers provided my only exposure to a world outside of home.
I think my television preferences as a young child have had at least a small impact on shaping my identity. If you remember, Mr. Rogers always came in and changed his jacket and shoes, every single day, without fail and without distraction. Perhaps this has contributed to my occasional obsessive-compulsive behavior. Also, I am a very analytical person, which could have stemmed from watching Mr. Rogers analyze and talk about the importance of feeding his fish for an unnecessarily lengthy period of time.
Although my taste in television has changed as I have grown, I do not completely abandon the cause of a show like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers himself once said, “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” Mr. Rogers took it upon himself to educate children and to do whatever he could to be a mentor, even through a television show. I feel that his lessons are timeless and although we outgrow the television program, there is always something to take away from it and learn from it.

LINK-

http://pbskids.org/rogers

1- http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/27/rogers.quotes.ap/

As a young child, I loved to watch Sabrina The Teenage Witch on television.I thought that it was the greatest show ever at the time, however, my tastes have changed dramatically since then. I no longer like shows that are not realistic. Sabrina is about a teenage witch and her experiences in the local high school. This show is not very realistic and the events that occur in the show do not relate to my life at all. Since I have grown older the show no longer appeals to me even though it did at the time. I now watch Dawson’s Creek and other television shows about normal American high school and college students such as myself. I believe that this change in taste occurs within everyone. Some of the things that are created to attract smaller children and/or younger adults are not aimed at older people, therefore one must grow out of them at some point. Other media also affects your likes and dislikes. If something is strongly advertised and very popular with people your age, you are automatically going to think that it is the cool thing to watch. You don’t hear very many college students talking about watching childish television shows. I believe that peers as well as other sources of media and popularity affect a person’s likes and dislikes as they grow with time, however, what you watch as a child still somewhat affects what you will watch as an adult. For instance, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Dawson’s Creek are the same type of show, one is just more realistic than the other. What you watch when you are younger helps to shape your identity, however, it is normal to outgrow it.

A few years ago I was a big fan of professional wrestling. I was especially fond of the WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and the WWF (World Wrestling Federation), that became the World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE (www.wwe.com). I extremely hate wrestling now due to the WWE. The WWE sends out so many terrible messages for today’s youth that include messages of violence, revenge, hatred, degradation of women, and foul language, to name a few. WWE is basically the only big name wrestling show you can watch on cable now. The WCW and ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) both went off the air and now WWE seems like the only choice. The WCW and ECW contained much more wrestling than WWE ever did. Plus the WCW was actually suitable for children as it did not contain as much cussing as the other shows did and showcased wrestling as more of a sport than just purely entertainment.
In an article at http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/mar29_lefko.html, Perry Lefko wrote about how he felt uncomfortable taking his son to a WWF event, but felt like it was okay to have his son go with him to see WCW. Lefko said this about WCW: “What you see for the most part is wrestling as it was meant to be: athleticism and showmanship. The use of the middleweight and cruiserweights such as Ray Mysterio Jr., Kidman, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko are one area in particular where the WCW excels with its performers for their pure finesse and skill as opposed to big, brawny, long-haired guys pounding on one another.” The WCW shows were always better than the WWF (and WWE) shows, and it is a shame that they are not on the air anymore.
The WWF has always contained a good bit of vulgarity and obscenity, but I did not mind it a few years ago because I loved all the story lines and action so much. Now, the WWE uses the same story lines. It is quite predictable. At http://www.useless-knowledge.com/articles/apr/aug222.html, Eric Schomburg wrote about how he feels the WWE is running out of fresh story ideas: “Sadly though, I’m getting bored with the WWE, it seems that nothing shocks or interests me in wrestling. Rob Van Dam still has the same moves and still has no microphone skills (in other words, he can’t give a good interview if his life depended on it). Kane is still some big bald “monster” that is now going to be a daddy. Vince, how many times has the pregnant story line been recycled? There was the one with Terri Runnels, a wife to a bisexual freak named Goldust, and of course the very disgusting story line with an elderly woman and a fat black man. However, the old woman did pop out something, a hand. A hand? Vince, what were you thinking?”
The WWF was entertaining and highly amusing in its day (http://www.derok.net/derek3/wwf.html), but the WWE cannot measure up. The language is simply unbearable now, the story lines are old, and the moves look really fake now. Besides that, women are now degraded more than ever. Back in the WWF, there were strong, independent women like Chyna who wrestled. She was actually a role model for women because she excelled in wrestling. She actually fought with other guys and beat them in the ring. There are no women like that now. There are just a bunch of WWE Divas running around half-naked. Yes, women still wrestle, but are they any good like Chyna? No, the WWE just pays them to look good and show as much cleavage as possible in and out of the ring.
Just recently, there was another WWE Diva contest. Ashley, a blonde with large breasts, won the contest (http://www.wwe.com/superstars/2005divasearch). Is that a surprise?
In conclusion, wrestling is not what it use to be. Wrestling is not a sport now; it’s purely entertainment. It’s not even good entertainment anymore. The WWE has gone over the top with bad language, scantily clad women, bad and overused story lines, and much more. There are better, more entertaining and intellectual television programs for youth to watch besides the WWE.

Media today makes it sound okay to do a lot of things that actually can be extremely harmful in the long run. There are millions of ads that can influence children of today negatively. One thing in particular is sex-ads. Sex is a big topic for the culture today. Looking at the ads on televisions and looking around on what’s going on in schools and everywhere else it makes it seem okay to have sex as long as you use protection. There are many ads and television shows that uphold sex. When you walk throuh high schools and even middle schools you see these pregnant young ladies that obviously have made a bad decision and can’t do anything about it. They were infleunced by the media and other sources and for that reasont their whole life is changed. You can sit down and watch a simple television show such as friends and the girls on those shows are going from guy to guy and not thinking twice about it. They make it seem normal to have sex and not be married. The children of today are seeing this and unless they are told otherwise they are going to think that it’s okay too. I think that sex-ads and different things that promote sex should be removed from circulation because nothing good is coming out of it except a bunch of young pregnant ladies that don’t know what to do with the rest of their life. I think the way to stop younger people from thinking sex is okay is not showing sex-ads and not having the actors in television shows just having sex with people just because they want to. Although some people disagree , all this does influence the children of today and definitely not in the positive direction. I think this is one of the biggest problems of today and it needs to change.

For examples on how to write for a web log, and for a little bit of html coding, go to this example site, which was set up for the LAL class.

Click the register button at the bottom of the left column to begin the registration process (you’ll only need to do this once).

Welcome to the wonderful world of miniature media.