I was watching the Daily Show last week, and i saw this segment on Pakistan and their problems with the Taliban. I didn't think all that much of it then, even though it was interesting, but while i was writing my simulation reflection this afternoon, i thought about how it connected to many of the things that i have learned throughout this unit. I think that Jon Stewart does a great job satirizing the relationship between the United Sates and the affairs of the Middle East, and in fact the situation in the Middle East as a whole. The way that the situation in Pakistan is depicted, Stewart shows a large difference in what the United States expected when they sent $10 billion to the Pakistani government to counter terrorism, and what they have actually done with it. He also shows how the U.S. has also been unsuccessful in their war against terrorism, and how perilous a situation Pakistan is actually in. According to the segment, which is admittedly a comedy show, but also a reasonably trustworthy view of current events, the Pakistani government is on the verge of collapsing, the Taliban is close to reaching a major city, the nukes are possibly in danger, and the President is in America asking for help. The way it is shown makes it seem like the Pakistani president is using America's economic power as an argument that we should be giving them money. Seeing as America is already dedicated to fighting terrorism, and helping Pakistan would be beneficial, the President has a point. At the same time, it seems like they are just taking advantage of us because we're locked in. The point i'm trying to make is that this unit has taught me not to trust any one dialogue in regards to a political or military crisis, and to see the problem from all sides. This show connects that lesson to a current topic, and reinforces McNamara's argument that you need to understand how you're enemy feels, and act accordingly.

By the way, hulu.com is a fantastic place to get any video clips from shows, it lets you embed clips in, choosing which segment of time from the video. It also has a huge collection of tv shows and movies, and is legal. Check it out

Iran Cartoon

I often find that cartoonists have some of the most interesting ways of portraying a topic. In the case of Iran and Mr. Ahmadinejad, i found this picture. As we were talking about some connections between Ahmadinejad in class today, i thought it was particularly relevant. It was noted that when Hitler first took power, nobody really believed that he would do all the things that he had said he would do. Hitler wasn't taken seriously, and we all know the end result. What i find interesting are the parallels between Hitler and Ahmadinejad, obviously pointed out in this cartoon, with the "Hitler Moustache" spelled out as Iran, and the atomic bomb exploding in his eye. Some people are arguing that Ahmadinejad's threats are not to be taken seriously, and while they may be right, the consequences of being wrong are severe. I think that this image effectively captures the fears of many people. It includes a suggestion of nuclear war, as well as another holocaust (with the connection to hitler), and gives an overall sinister image of Iran. As McNamara was saying in "The Fog of War", everybody in positions of power make mistakes, and even if people don't like to admit them, the least they have to do is to learn from them. If Ahmadinejad and his promise towards the eradication of Israel and hostility to the western world are legitimate, then we have a situation not completely dissimilar to that which America had to deal with Hitler. This image seems to suggest that we need to learn from our mistakes in the past, and not allow the Iranian situation to break out into war, for now that atomic weapons have been brought into the mix with arguably equally irrational leadership, the stakes have been raised. Again, as McNamara said, there is no learning period with nuclear weapons, just the destruction of nations.

Since we were exploring visual arguments in regards to war, i wanted to look at some commercials for the U.S. Army and Navy. I tried embedding a couple that i found on youtube, so hopefully they work. If not, here are the links http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDXK1dFY_Pc, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MorDCtBPR8&feature=related.

In watching these videos, i was struck by how completely they ignore certain aspects of going into the army. Though i had seen them on tv before, this time i was comparing them to the images and videos that we watched in class last week. I thought immediately of the set of pictures that we investigated, with the picture of Dresden after the bombing, then on the children in Vietnam, then the dead U.S. soldier, and finally the U.S. soldier with the child. If you look at each of these pictures as a different side of war, one being massive destruction, the second being the trauma and horror that is dealt to innocent people, then the third being death, and the last one, the only positive one, being the army helping people and making people happy again. I feel that these commercials barely even cover one of these sides of the army. For a brief second in the army commercial you see them helping civilians out, but apart from that, both commercials are focused solely on self-improvement. The navy commercial talks about why getting an education with the navy would be great (the ship, of course), and the army talks about the "strength" of being a U.S. soldier. Neither of them even suggest fighting, or the possibility of death, or the destruction towards innocent people. While it's logical that this would be the case of a recruitment tool, it makes me wonder whether it fundamentally changes the way we all see the army. If all we ever see are glorified self-improvement videos, what is the mindset of people who actually sign up. Maybe the idea of death is pushed aside, and we only expect success. I think that instead of advertising how the Army and the Navy can improve our own lives, it should advertise the importance to help others around the world, and to protect citizens, at least then people might enlist more for the goal of service than to help themselves out.

College Kids Hit By Recession

Of all the things i want to do with my life after graduating from college, paying off thousands of dollars of debt is not on the list. However, this is growing to be the case for a majority of college students, and whether it is due to irresponsible spending or unfortunate circumstances due to the country's economy, they're feeling the strain. I recently found an article on CNN that talked about how college students were relying more on their credit cards than in earlier years. It stated that

"students are carrying record-high balances: an average of $3,173 for undergraduates, up 46 percent from 2004; and more than $4,100 for graduating seniors, up 41 percent from 2004."

While it does suggest that this is partly due to the rising costs of colleges, it more points to the recession as the cause of this increase. In particular, one student was interviewed, and he admitted that he has not been spending money very intelligently. As well as paying for college, he was paying for two luxury cars on his credit card. However, he has since changed his ways and is now working, attending a community college instead, and not using his credit cards.

I think that this student is a good example of today's kids in general. While it is their parents who work most of the time, and have the major financial responsibilities in the family, the kids have had to change their ways as well. I know that i have had to reduce spending almost to nothing, and i have been trying to get myself a part-time job for some time. Based on my difficulty getting a job, i assume that there are a lot of kids in the same situation.

I would be interested to see how the economy has affected kids at New Trier. Considering the fact that we live in a wealthy area, and the lifestyles of many is rather extravagant, i am sure that many kids are starting to realize that they can no longer afford to live the same way that they have been. It is not just our parents that have to be financially responsible, but it is us too. Any way that we can help to relieve some financial strain is important. I guess that the lesson learned from this article on college students racking up debts on their credit cards is that we all have to cut back. It seems that it would be logical not to buy something that we can't afford, but as a society, America has been in that habit for some time. I think that very soon, people are going to start changing this trend and make a few more sacrifices to avoid debt.

Recession Pictures

Following the videoconference that we had on thursday, i wanted to write a blog post in which i found a way to connect some form of artwork to the recession/depression. While i didn't find one specific artifact, i found a page from the New York Times in which they had encouraged people to send in their pictures representing the economic troubles. While i can't bring out any of the pictures and put them onto this post, here's a link to the page. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/02/business/economy/economy-user-photos.html#/0/.

Much like the pictures we looked at from the Great Depression of the 1920's, these pictures subtly displayed the general mentality of the economy not only in the U.S., but around the globe. One of the pictures i thought was very interesting was a picture of a man dressed in a suit, standing on a street corner holding a sign saying, "Not looking for a handout, Just Need A Job". The caption says that there is a phone number written on the back of the sign. This picture, along with many others reminded me of the pictures from the 20's of businessmen either sleeping on the ground, or walking long distances, or looking for jobs in general. There was one picture that looked almost identicle to the one of people lining up down the street looking for a job.

Overall, there was an eerily similar appearance between these pictures and the ones we explored in class. I suggest looking through them, because there are far too many for me to describe, but together they provide an interesing perspective to the economic struggles of all people, businesses, and countries.

Advertising: Science or Art

I don't know about any of my classmates (except for McClone), but i was somewhat irritated when we looked into how advertising worked last week. Though i am generally pretty skeptical of advertising anyway, just seeing and talking about how advertising agencies play on social fears made me feel like the entire industry is designed to manipulate us past seeing the actual products that they are trying to sell, and instead makes us think about what other people will think of us if we buy the product or not. It's just not right!

Anyways, there is often a debate about whether advertising is an art or a science, or both. Based on what i know of advertising, i feel that while it is definately a mixture of the two, it is the science aspect of the advertising that is dominant. I have a little insight to this because my dad works in the market research business, which more or less means that the company he works for collects research on consumer behaviour. Through seeing some of his work and talking to him about it, i was surprised by how much effort companies put into knowing how their customers act; who buys what, when, and why they do it.

It doesn't seem to matter what the product is, big or small, cheap or expensive, they all go through this process of understanding what the consumer wants, from underwear to luxury cars. For example, today i learned about reinforcement advertising, where advertisements are specifically designed simply to reinforce the buyers decision after they already own the product, as if to convince them that they made the right choice. Supposedly this is common in car commercials.

Either way, our class last week regarding advertising just made me more aware of what i actually see when i see a commercial, and though i am no longer irritated by them, i am definately more intrigued to figure out what the advertisers were thinking when they made the comercial.

Will The Depression Be Good For America?

The other day we were talking about how material possessions and technological advancements do not necessarily lead to happiness, shown by the fact that many impoverished countries rank higher on a supposed "happiness scale" than America does. When Mrs. Logan suggested that the new depression could possibly be good for America in the long run, i was intrigued to see if anybody had already written about this online. I ended up finding an post from a liberal news and opinion site called OpEdNews. The post, written by Gene Messick, talks about how when the first great depression came, it forced Americans to reflect upon how they conducted their lives, not only in a business way, but in how they were willing to live without what they had been taking advantage of beforehand. The author argues that out of greed and laziness, the lessons learned from the first Great Depression were forgotten, and once again we have managed to end up in the same situation.
The post is not pessimistic, however, it talks about how this time round, we are better equipped as a country to deal with the depression and learn from it, and how it may teach us to be more responsible with the way we live our lives. Maybe as a country we will start to detach ourselves from greed, and live comfortably instead of extravagantly. Or maybe not. Either way, the depression is a vehicle driving us to actually reflect upon ourselves instead of living in ignorance and neglect.
This idea, along with the idea that people can actually be happier with less "stuff" makes me feel like in the long run this depression will be good for Americans. A quote from one of my favorite movies, "Fight Club", states that "The things you own end up owning you". I think that people get more worried the more they own, for they are constantly dealing with their upkeep and security, dealing less with their own lives, and more with the focus on their belongings.
Hopefully this depression works as a wakeup call that maybe the materialistic way of life is not the way to happiness, and Americans can start to change their ways for the better of themselves, the economy, and the environment.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-a-Depression-Will-Be-G-by-Gene-Messick-081224-679.html