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

Lincoln Vs. Obama

In celebrating the bicentennial birthday of Abraham Lincoln, many comparisons have been made between our new president, Barack Obama, and Lincoln himself. One video i found on MSNBC listed similarities from their political backgrounds to their physical appearances, being tall and lanky. Another article i found had listed America's presidents from best to worst, based on the opinions of several historians. While this didn't didn't make any references to Obama, it did list Lincoln as the best president in history, Buchanan as the worst, and president Bush as 36th worst.

I found it interesting that the worst president, Buchanan, was directly preceding the best president in history, Lincoln. Seeing as president Bush didn't rank much higher than Buchanan, it's interesting to compare the situations that they were both in. Buchanan was faced with the problems of territorial expansion, the threat of the south succeeding, a failing economy, war, and a stalemate in the federal government. George Bush actually faced many of the same problems, though in a very different time.

In the case of both George Bush and James Buchanan, the problems arising in their presidencies were very possibly going to happen regardless of their actions, but were accentuated by decisions that they made.

If history is cyclical, lets hope that Obama's presidency resembles that of Lincolns, solving the problems arising in Bush's presidency as Lincoln did of the one's from Buchanan's. Hopefully the similaities pushed on us by the press are as close as they suggest.

How Much Do We Really Need In A Cell Phone?

I was recently browsing through CNN when i came across a couple videos regarding new "innovations" for cell phones. One of the videos was all about new motion sensing software that can be programmed into phones that allows the user to control it by tilting and moving it. While this may be cool, it does seem rather unnecessary. Since when is a cell phones primary function to play videogames and surf the web, not to actually make phone calls? It seems that as a society, Americans tend to romanticize their gadgets, especially their phones. All these new things that we can do with our phones are described as "groundbreaking" or "revolutionary", but in reality, most of them are just glorified ways for us to waste our time. The actual importance of these things seems to have been lost in an obsession for all things new and technological. This point is best said by the famous comedian George Carlin, who commented that “Nobody questions things in this country anymore, nobody questions things. Why? People are too fat and happy. People are way too f****** prosperous for their own good. Everybody’s got a cell phone that’ll make pancakes... now”. The other video that i found on CNN was showcasing a new phone that is a watch. The man showing the watch/phone to us compared it to gadgets from James Bond or Dick Tracy. Yeah, great, well as much as i want to talk into my wrist all day, i think i might leave the novelty factor for the movies. All i need in my phone is the ability to call people and send the occasional text message. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/podcasts/showandtell/site/2009/02/04/st.ces.eyeball.cnn,