For a while now, the FCC’s kept lines of communication open to the public’s opinion of Net neutrality. But on January 14th, they’re gonna close the lines and come to a decision soon.
It’s the principle that the people who you buy your internet service from (Comcast, Cablevision, AT&T, etc. ) can’t stop you from doing what you do on the internet. It’s the idea that internet service providers can’t stop you from looking at whatever you like on the internet. In this way, all websites on the internet are “neutral” in that as long as you can type it in the search bar you can see any site you want on the internet. It sounds pretty good, no? Who wouldn’t be against that? (more…)
For the past two and a half years I’ve been digging around American culture and my life, chasing this notion that there was something fundamentally wrong with both of them. Explaining this notion has been one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, because this feeling leaves me at a moment’s notice and has a knack of doing so right when I try to explain it to people. Which was why I was so happy to learn that the media, made up of specific companies and industries that I can point to, have a role in shaping what we do with our lives. It’s this fact that I’m truly proud of this blog for: Unlike Fight Club and Adbusters that advocate ridiculous solutions (explosives) to undefined problems (The things you own wind up owning you? What does that mean in practical terms?), I’m trying to highlight specific laws, businesses and practices that have changed the way we think for the worse. (Just in case I might apply for a job with Adbusters sometime in the future, I think Adbusters does good work but I think they could benefit from being more specific).
Unfortunately because I was so eager to explain everything, when I made the blog I figured that all of our social problems are because of the media, and that isn’t true. The media is only one piece of the puzzle. In addition, I started blogging about things that are other resulting problems of bad media, like the decaying state of journalism and Glenn Beck. As a result, keeping updated in all of these things meant I updated less. Those things are important but they’re not what this blog is about. This blog is about how life in America on a day to day basis is not good for people’s psychological happiness and where these bad habits, rituals and ideas come from, but because they’re important too maybe I’ll cross reference an article every once in a while that talks about that.
So sorry if I’ve been rambling incoherently and have misled you. If it makes it any better, I’ve also been misleading myself. I’ll be revamping the website soon to reflect this new change in thinking that will hopefully make more sense to you all. And in addition, if you can’t see the bigger picture I’m trying to paint drop me a comment that says “WTF is this?” and I’ll sort it all out. I can’t say I’m going to know all the ways that our brains are manipulated and how we’ve come to live in this world, but I can say that it’s a start and we’ll be closer to the truth.
This is Ken Robinson. Sir Ken Robinson. He studies creativity. This is his take on schools, which I agree with. It’s a bit long but it’s worth it. When you think about why people act the way they do, it’s not only media that’s influencing us. It’s any big cultural force that has access to shaping us all, and schools also fit that. Who doesn’t go to school? Here’s a couple excerpts from the speech.
“My contention is that all kids have tremendous talents. And we squander them, pretty ruthlessly.”
“Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”
“Kids will take a chance. If they don’t know, they’ll have a go. They’re not frightened of being wrong. Now, I don’t mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know is if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. By the time they get to be adults most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies this way. We stigmatize mistakes. And now we’re running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities. Picasso once said this: he said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately; that we don’t grow intro creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.”
“If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think that they’re not because the thing that they were good at at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized.”
“Our education system has mined our minds in the way in the way we strip mine the earth: for a particular commodity. And for the future, it won’t serve us.”
There’s a great ol’ American tradition of ours, most actively performed by people who most identify as “patriots”, of putting the winner on a pedestal and blaming the loser for not being more like the winner. This type of opinion frequently comes up in discussions about the American Dream. You know the opinion…The rich got that way because they had the drive and the diligence that you don’t, bum. Maybe if you worked harder, you’d be one of them. You also see this idea promoted by health and beauty magazines about weight loss. Just replace “rich” with “skinny”, and “bum” with “fatty”. You also see this when in sports training. The best athletes train hardest. You snooze, you lose. And maybe you’ve heard the childhood variation of the philosophy. You can do anything you set your mind to. When you grow up, well…it gets meaner and starts to blame you for not getting what you want.
When stuff like this gets said over and over, people start to believe it. They also start to hate themselves for not being like how everyone wants them to be. It makes you feel bad and then gives you a way out. Like you’re some twisted wretch of a person unfit to live, but even you can work your way out of this hole you dug yourself in. It gives you a problem and then sells you a solution. (more…)
A bunch of teenagers hit an apple store, grab everything in sight. Tens of thousands of dollars’ worth in computers stolen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it went out of business. But the newscaster Dan Cuellar can’t even stop himself from having so much fun with it. 46 seconds into this video, this video ceases to be news and becomes a joke.
The reporter’s so eager to play this entertaining story, so eager that it almost sounds like he’s admiring them, like it’s okay to steal or something. Um…did we forget something here? About how it’s ruinous to people and the functioning society to steal from them? Did we forget that the news was supposed to be different from the tabloids?
This is our news. This is our investigative journalism that aims to educate and inform the public. This is how low we’ve sunk as a society.
Yes, it’s a tissue box for men. Yes, it exists. And it’s on sale in England. I can’t tell if this thing is successful or not. If someone’s feeling ambitious and wants to do the work, by all means go ahead and I’ll update the blog once you tell me.
What’s blowing my mind about this is that one, there doesn’t seem to be an area of culture that marketers won’t try to upend to sell products, but that two that color scheme actually appeals to my male sensibilities. And along those lines, how on earth does black, red and white somehow equate masculinity? How on earth did they get me to think that? How badly have they twisted my mind around?
Great news today, people. Julius Genachowski, the Chairman and all around head of the FCC made a blog post (What!? Government using the tubes to talk to citizens? Unheard of.) where he said that he’s in support of an open, free Internet. A quote!
“I believe we must choose to safeguard the openness that has made the Internet a stunning success. That is why today, I delivered a speech announcing that the FCC will be the smart cop on the beat when it comes to preserving a free and open Internet. In particular, I proposed that the FCC adopt two new rules to help achieve this. The first says broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications. The second says broadband providers must be transparent about their network management practices.” (more…)
What? Really? Why would WastelandAmerica cover something like this? Doesn’t this mean stepping into the political arena and declaring a side?
I don’t want to, in earnest. I don’t want to yell at every spin doctor poisoning thoughtful political discussion with oversimplistic lies ’till I’m blue in the face. I just want to change media laws so little girls can learn to love themselves. But thankfully other people do want to debunk the hooligan, and I don’t think I could do a better job. At best, Glenn’s just a guy who has his facts so wrong and spits slop bucket tales to inflame people’s anger. At worse, he’s the voice of Rupert Murdoch and uses his inescapable media network to bend American politics to his will.
This morning, I sat down to breakfast which today was waffles. My hands found themselves around a bottle of a brown semi-translucent…syrup. Waffle syrup. I unscrewed the lid and poured myself a small pool of it right next to my waffles.
Now, what exactly is waffle syrup? It’s…um…what is waffle syrup exactly? Well let’s see what maple syrup is. Maple syrup comes from trees…does waffle syrup come from waffles? And along the same lines, does cough syrup really come from coughs?
Well, no. The logic behind the name waffle syrup isn’t the same as the logic behind maple syrup. Waffle syrup’s name is based on what waffle syrup does, rather than what waffle syrup is and cough syrup’s like that too. Waffle syrup is intended for waffles like cough syrup is intended for coughs.
What if we applied this style of thought to all food? What if we called bananas “potassium sticks”, carrots “eye maintenance root” and apples “flavored bodily fuel”? That would suck. So what’s the deal with waffle syrup and cough syrup? Why are we cool with the logic of their names but we’re not cool with it applying it to all foods?
Several days ago Congressman Markey [D-MA] and Congressman Eshoo [D-MA] submitted H.R. 3458, The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 to the House of Representatives!! The bill that will determine internet policy now and forever! This is it! Big changes are coming soon!
It was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and then from there was referred to the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. Both the congressmen who submitted this bill are on that subcommittee, and at least we know they’ll be fighting to support this bill. (more…)
America isn't a healthy place. The lives that are socially acceptable for us to be living just aren't good for our bodies, our souls, or our planet. We eat food that we don't know what it's made out of, and then think we can fix it by eating more of it when it's got health claims. We send gift cards to each other, like we're incapable of telling someone how we feel about them. We hope death will go away if we just put on enough make-up. We even sell sexually revealing clothing to little girls. And at the end of the day, the simple thing is that a life built on these rules won't be satisfying or meaningful. This society provides never-ending insecurities, toys, and distractions, but not enough lessons on how to live your life proudly, and if you ever develop into a critical thinking, confident, and creative person you run against the current of thousands of advertisers and salesmen who want you to be an insecure and dependent consumer.
