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.