Rational and Logical Public Sphere

1. To what extent can you see the "complicated intersections" of genre and the "irrational/logical" explanations play out in the public sphere, especially as that sphere "works" online (in blogs, websites, news sites, etc.?
The movie illustrated the idea of “irrational/logical” explanations perfectly. Although the content was extremely serious it was interesting, and sometimes humorous to watch the reactions of everyone watching it. There were times where the explanations of who the murderer was had my classmates and me looking around in confusion, or laughing out loud because of the ridiculousness of it all. For instance, when the media blamed an Egyptian national who didn’t speak any Spanish, but supposedly was running, not only the Mexican gangs, but the Maquiladora bus drivers. Giving them directions on who to kill, and what to do from inside his jail cell (since the murders kept occurring after he was arrested). There were times where explanations simply got silly.
This happens all the time online, especially in blogs. Blogs are a place where you can communicate anything you think, feel, believe, or know in a hot minute. Any information you get can be put up for others to see, whether it’s true or not. This often leads to irrational or logical understandings of an incident, just depending on what type of information is publicized, and what kind of ideas are spread. For instance, whenever someone dies mysteriously, blogs and other online venues blow up with hypothesis of what could have happened, but often it’s simply a bunch of people guessing, and not many people really hold truthful and realistic insight. This creates A LOT of false and silly stories, some which people believe to be true.

The Class Video

Watching the video in class made me S-I-C-K. When the woman in the video was talking about the pictures of women having their nipples bit off and men setting them on fire I almost threw up. What compels people to be so unbelievably hateful? It disgusts me. I'm an optimist, but seriously I feel like this world is so corrupt that even the people who are good can be polluted in the most disgusting ways (not that I'm saying the people who did this were good, or are good). Just generally, what turns people into such animals??? How did the people who did this find each other? And how and the hell are all of them keeping it so quiet? There's been what, over 250 women killed, maybe more? This is not one man. This is obviously happening at a higher form of the Mexican social strata. Powerful people are covering this up and that’s scary.

What a sick world we live in.

The video that we watched in class really got to me and made me lose a little more of my already dwindling hope in humanity. To think that so many women are being murdered at such an exponential rate is bad enough, but the thought that there is little to nothing being done about it, makes the situation just sickening. I was extrememly upset about the girl who could have been saved if only something had been done about her disappearence in the first 14 days that she went missing. The story that was told about the woman in the cell who was shown the pictures bothered me, but the skeptic inside asked the question, "why didn't they kill her, too?". I just don't think it would make much sense to show a person pictures of a horrendous crime that you committed, only to let them go and tell their story to the world. All in all, the video reminded me that we live in such a nasty world where people have no value for life, and others won't help because they believe their live to be more valuable than the life that belongs to the missing people. It is truly sad.

Kemmis' Good Citizen

The good citizen in this articale seems to be someone that has common sense. I think that it goes much further than that. A good citizen is someone who is willing to pull their own weight, and help their fellow citizens for the greater good. The answer to my topic is solely based on the idea of good citizens. If we are going to get the homeless off the streets and create better living conditions for them, then we have to come together for support. The idea of paying more money, or donating money to this cause is based off of the idea that people will rise above their everyday problems and help their fellow citizens who are unable to help themselves.

Kemis and Habermas

Regarding Kemis's "Good Citizen" and Habermas's ideal of the public spere, I think they have alot in common. The examples of the public sphere that Kemis gave looked alot like Habermas's ideal, a space where anyone could come, have their opinions heard (and those opinions would matter), and could evoke change. However, our group in class was debating (politely of course!)whether or not the two were "synonymous". We felt like the public sphere is now more of a place where you do often "self-abstract", but in Kemis's "Good Citizen" the faces and personal stories of those citizens who are changing their cities and communities are important. They have to be physically a part of the community to evoke change in their public spaces. However, citizens do in a way, have to "self-abstract" from their own biases, in order to come together and make strides towards solving the issues their cities face. Both sides have to come together and meet in the middle. This requires a more mild form of self-abstracting. A self-abstraction from the personal need to argue, to be "right, and ultimately "win".

I'm not rational, I like people to know who I am.

The Warner reading this week is driving me up a wall. What I got from it is that in order to be heard as a member of the "public", then I have to drop who I am and let everyone assume that I am someone I am not. He does always say that it is nearly impossible to do so. I am sure that many people can achieve this goal, but I do not see why they would want to. I AM a woman, and I AM many other things. My ideas about certain topics stem from who and what I am. I do not think that it is right that in order for my ideas to count to the public, I have to basically speak under the assumption that I am a white male with money. I am just saying, I am proud of everything about me that forms my opinions. I do think that I can assert who I am and be able to speak in the public sphere at the same time.

Choosing Sides

Now I'm not the most political person in the world, but living in a nation such as this, in times such as these I think it's really, really difficult to not be political in some facet or form and expect to make change. When I personally think about my own political life I can't help but go straight to thinking about my "position" and what party I fit into and that is the problem. The main parties in our political system are Democrat and Republican, but I can honestly say I don't really fit perfectly into either and I think it would be fair to say that most people don't as well. Human beings, in general, are not black and white...most of the time decisions are fuzzy and lines are blurred...that's life and there's beauty in that, even though it often makes things harder. With this in mind I can't help but recognize how flawed our democratic system can be...I personally feel forced to "pick a side", but it's not that easy. Sometimes I agree with Republican candidates on certain issues and Democratic candidates on others, but I have to choose "someone" instead of the "something’s" I agree or disagree with. It's hard. I think with such strict lines drawn it creates massive divides in a time where we need unity the most. These parties often perpetrate corruption and backstabbing in our political system and it makes me think they're just a bunch of bullshit really. What if we lived in a nation where instead of voting for our "party", we voted on the issues at hand and put people in charge who made our demands as a society happen? I know there are flaws in this as well and it to could fail, but I think the strict lines placed between the Democratic and Republic parties are making this nations political problems worse, not better. What do you guys think?

Global Warming IS BUNK!

Oh Alan Caruba. Oh you and your conservatist propaganda, you sincerely leave me speechless...
Caruba believes that Global warming is just a bunch of bull pucky...O yes he does! And he has no legitimate resources to prove it (thus exemplifying the issue of blog legitmacy and factual regergatation)! He claims that environmentalism is fear-driven and I must admit this is a fair statement, because, OF COURSE IT IS! When an asteroid is coming at you at a hundreds of miles an hour or a tidal wave is about to rain down on the parade that is your city, you're going to say "WE NEED TO GET EFFIN' MOVING!". Although the examples above are severely dramaticized Global Warming isn't...although it's happening slowly that DOES NOT mean it isn't happening. Global warming, like a tidal wave, or an asteroid is a destructive force that will and is affecting our planet and “WE NEED TO GET EFFIN MOVIN’!
Caruba believes that Global Warming is a hoax. Sir, have you watched Discovery? I mean really, there is pretty real evidence that ice caps are melting, animals and plants are dying, and the ocean is rising. And I sincerely don't think that alllll the people involved in environmentalism are plotting to take down the government, kill technology, and kill millions, as you say...crazy. You're seriously taking on the roll of those conspiracist liberals you hate so much eh? So what environmentalists want to create clean fuel sources? What’s it to you? If we can get cleaner air, even if you were right about this global warming stuff, why is that a bad thing? O because you say it’s a conspiracy to make food costs rise (because of liberals tendency to want to make food into fuel), because I’m sure all those “pot-smokin’ hippies” want to pay extra for their granola and organic veggies…you got em’ Caruba…really found out their diabolical plan…and in the meantime sound like my senile grandpa and are just as blind as him

Into The Blogosphere

Was anyone else a little confused about the article for wednesday? The first few pages I understood, but when it started to get into "geographically-bound stories", I became slightly confused. Can anyone possibly explain it to me?

Hungry and homeless, anything helps.

There are many places involved in my topic, in fact, you can walk out at anytime of day in nearly any neighborhood and see exactly what it is that I am talking about. One location that never fails to remind me of the growing homeless epidemic is the intersection between University St. and Chicago in Riverside. Everytime I drived down there, I can't help but see that there is a multitude of people that have clearly made make shift homes out of the sidewalk and some boxes. It doesn't stop there. Everytime you exit the freeway, there are two or three homeless people standing on the off ramp with a sign made of cardboard that reads something to the effect of, "hungry and homeless, anything helps." These are the ones that always seem to get me. If I had food or water in the car, I will stop and give it to them; red light or not. All over downtown Riverside you can see the unfortunate people walking around in shabby clothing, draggin a shopping cart behind them; they stop, periodically, to search through garbage receptacles for food and recyclables. All I can think is, "where is your family, why aren't they helping you?" It is heartbreaking. So, this brings me to my audience. I intend my initial audience to be the residents of downtown Riverside, since they are affected most by this situation.

You can go with this or you can go with that....

The place where my issue lies is everywhere where there is power to be taken. However, due to some pondering and random wikipedia article viewing, I've narrowed my focus. Now the place, and perchance even the audience, is narrowed to californians and/or the texts we allow ourselves to be confounded with. I found a wiki article about an article George Orwell wrote for a magazine that I might like to explore with my issue... perhaps even change gears entirely. The article involved how people convolute language for selfish means. This would probably be a criticism of the people who are making people into cows rather than criticizing the poor cows (as much as they deserve it).

A National Media Epidemic

On the broader scale the idealization of female forms occurs quite often in the mass media however, specifically, it is mostly seen in movies, television shows, and magazines. For instance, sitting in the cold, but crowded movie theatre watching the SUPER gorgeous, SUPER skinny Megan Fox escape homicidal robots from outer space, all while donning her short shorts, not one hair out of place, I often can’t help but think about myself as a women. I will NEVER be that skinny or have those abs, I will NEVER have that long lustrous hair, and I will NEVER win over the handsome hero. And why? Why won’t I win over that handsome hero and have long-lasting happiness? Because I’m not as pretty as her, not as sexy as her and because I’m not those things…I’m simply not as valuable as her. So, as my male companion is hooked on the action scenes and visual effects, I’m left ogling Megan’s cellulite-free thighs and the bust bosom bursting out of her crop-top, thinking, “geez, I will never add up to that”. This may seem like an over-dramatization to some, but as a woman myself, I think it’s fair to say that most ladies I know can often think the same way and it’s unavoidable because the image of the idealized woman is all around us. We try to escape the movie theatre to forget about the taut and tight Megan Fox, but on the tube there’s Tyra’s ninety-pound top models prancing around in our heads. We try to get away from the T.V. but every magazine we read and billboard we see parades beautiful, half-naked, toned women in front of us and reminds us if we buy what they’re selling we’ll look JUST LIKE THEM. In fact, the reason this issue is so big and does affect so many already beautiful and wonderful women is because it happens in so many places. IT SURROUNDS US

Opinions

Totally forgot to post this for my third post! I think this is a great clip that adds to my paper topic. Was wondering if anyone had any input about it...maybe how it makes you feel? Reactions? Comments?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

I'm talking to...

I would like to direct my first paper towards young women specifically, teens, young adults, and woman in their twenties and mid thirties. I have chosen this group of women because I think this is who media affects the most. I believe that the majority (not all) of media spheres direct their advertising and etc. to women in these age ranges. I am also a part of this “audience” so I feel like I can add some personal experience and humility to my paper. It allows me to speak to these women, compadre to compadre and warn them of the dangers posed towards US because of the media’s influence over our lives.

Ya herd?

So, who do I want to speak to regarding my problem with cows? The herd of course! But who is the herd? The world! Everyone needs to learn to keep their head above these murky waters, rather than being led astray by a blinking light in the murky depths and suddenly being consumed by a giant angler fish. I see the turning of people into cows as a serious disease that has infected the world. Unfortunately, there's no cure, but we can treat it with religious doses of analysis, critical thinking, and keeping current. I plan to medicate everyone! So pick your poison.

Got a problem with cows

Not those mindless bovines that graze, get milked, defecate, and sleep (and in some cases eventually slaughtered to put a nice steak on my plate). I'm talking about humans who've adopted cow-like traits. This is a problem. We're allowing the power of the public to diminish. The more lazy and complacent we become, the less power we have until some tyrant with half a brain shows up to rule over everything. What we're experiencing now is a reversal of what Habermas discusses in The Public Sphere. Our complacency is leading to a gross perversion of the public sphere where we think we're positing opinion and changing things for the better, but rather we're allowing an elite few manipulators to herd us here and there.

This is my problem.

Who should I be talking to?

I have decided to aim my paper first toward the residents of downtown Riverside. In Riverside, which is where I live, this seems to be the location with the highest number of homeless on the streets. I understand that if I really want to do anything with this idea, my ultimate audience is going to have to be the local government; however, there would be no use going to them if I do not have other supporters. After all, a multitude of voices are louder, and will be recognized much sooner than mine alone. What I actually plan on doing to get their attention is posting signs, printing flyers, and yes, even posting on facebook. Ultimately, I would like to have a leagal rally to raise money and ideas for how we can help our fellow human beings who have unfortunately fallen on hard times. What do you think? Are there any ideas of what I could possibly do to further this?
-Chelsea Bemis

A Public Sphere is becoming a Private Danger

So I was watching the news today and a story came on about some of our nation’s most popular public spheres "Twitter" and "Facebook". Apparently as people become more and more willing to share the intimate details of their lives, they too are more willing to share the more mundane activities that make up their days...seems innocent enough. However, as they consistently update their "status" and "tweet" where they are and what they're doing, they’re leaving a virtual timeline of their day, thus making it easier for people to track their whereabouts. This has led to an increase in break-ins and robberies, as followers are able to know when their supposed “friends” are out and about and their stuff is left to be easily taken right from under their noses. In this sense, these Public Spheres are giving people private nightmares....So with that said...Be careful and consciousness about what you're letting others know party people, for your own safety!!!

The Social Network

Ha, I don't know how to post this as a video simply as a link but, I'm excited to see this and think it'll be an interesting take about how we have made our private lives "public" to so many people. It makes me question what individiual "private" rights are even made up of anymore?

http://www.youtube.com/user/SocialNetworkMovie?v=53OUHupfqws&feature=pyv&ad=6836107426&kw=the%20social%20network%20trailer

Problem Posing Topic: The number of homeless people on the streets

I have chosen to write about the number of homeless people that are on the streets, not only in our city, but all over the nation. I have chosen this topic because it is someting that affects every person in nearly every country. There have been homeless people for generations, and there will continue to be homeless people for many generations to come if we do not help. This topic hits very close to home for me because my father was homeless for more than six months about a year ago. I am not asking for people to take in random men/women from the streets, but at least a little more compassion would be nice. There are those of us who mindlessly waste our money, myself included, without a care or a worry of when or where our next meal will come; whether or not we will spend the night our of the cold air. For me, this is just a very important topic that deserves a second look.

The Idealized Woman

For my Problem Posing Paper I'm going to be discussing the idealization of women in the media and how this idealization leads normal, everyday women, to have unhealthy self-images. These harmful self-images stem from the inability of normal women to live up to the perfect portrayals of the female which constantly bombard them throughout their day, whether it be on the shows they watch, movies they see, or magazines they read. Society has idealized "woman" and if “she” can not live up to its standards then she is "less than". The media is a MASSIVE public sphere and these days it’s where we get a lot of our information and are involved in a majority of our public discussions, at least, in broader society. The media in this sense has projected this hyperreal woman who know one can really ever live up to but has somehow managed to formulate all our ideas pertaining to what a woman is and SHOULD be. This is dangerous and completely disregards Habermas’s idea of “public authority” which “derives its task of caring for the well-being of all citizens primarily from this aspect of the public sphere” (49). There appears to be a lack of “public authority” in the media sphere since the images that are allowed to be projected continue to be displayed frivolously despite the increase of bulimia and anorexia because of them.

Courtyard

Yes, that's right! Smack dab in the middle of CSUSB... well middle and toward the front. In my opinion this might be one of the most public, and yet private places in the whole school. The courtyard is an open canvas for the public to use, and they do indeed use it. From the yard you can see banners on almost every building, the clock tower is within easy view, bards sit under shady trees slipping fingers over strings, ladies gather in the places hidden from the sun to gab and jabber, and even some of the trees speak saying: "John was here," or encapsulate two pairs of initials inside a heart. The publicity of the yard does not cease there either. Many a time the yard has been host to clubs/frats/sororities hoping to drag in new victims, or to host some rally or event. Despite all this public access, that even a casual wanderer might stumble onto, there is a certain privacy to it. Seldom does one raise their voice to stretch it across the courtyard, or makes unwarranted spectacle of themselves, and the conversations held typically lie in the hushed registers of our human volumes. The courtyard is a screeching public, but also a private murmur.

The Parking Lot Polka

Often when we think about “public”, we think about ourselves as a member of a community or group of people. We may think about parks where we play and relax or city halls where we voice our thoughts and concerns. Or maybe we think about “public” in terms of information, the status updates we make, blogs we comment on, web pages we read, all in all, it’s obvious that “public” is a term that is incredibly broad and encompasses so much. So what exactly embodies a public “sphere” where people participate, share, access information, and invite others into the conversation? Is it simply at public parks? Libraries? Schools? Yes and no. All are regularly considered public spheres however, in some cases, as Chelsea beautifully explained there are private components within that sphere. Public and private aren’t often mutually exclusive. For instance, I observed Cal State San Bernardino’s parking lot. From first appearances, we might not necessarily recognize a parking lot as a public sphere but, boy is it! Students are able to access this space, other students have the opportunity to use it as well, and there is a sharing of space. Information is giving to you in this space, like, “Stop”, “Exit”, “Staff Parking”, and “30-minutes only”. Yet, as much as it is public, there still are private components; “Staff Parking” is for THE STAFF, “30-Minute Parking” for those planning to be in the spot 30 minutes or less. There are limits to this access within the public sphere of the parking lot. And the space within a person’s car is “private” but, once they roll down those windows and blare Miley Cyrus around the parking lot, they have “shared” information about themselves and their musical preference. They have unconsciously invited people into their very own car. Someone in the parking lot could tell them to “TURN THAT SHIT DOWN” or simply sing along; they have “invited” and given people an “opportunity” to “participate” in their dialogue. As I observed the parking lot I couldn’t help but think about what we consider public and private. Is it really possible for something to be exclusively private or exclusively public or can both spheres fluctuate between the two at different points of time or instances?

The school library, public or not?

As we said in class, it is important for a "public" sphere to have three attributes which are: access, invitation, and opportunity for involvement. I decided to spend a bit of time in the library, just looking at the way that things are set up and the different ways that it can be considered public and private. The library is accessible, it invites people with the appeal of knowledge and internet possibilities, and it allows people to participate in the many activities that are supported by the facility. It is private in the sense that it is only available to those who are students or staff on the campus; however, it is public in the sense that anyone who is a student or staff member on campus can use it. The way that the computers are set up gives a very private feel; the person next to you can not see what is on your monitor unless you give them permission to do so, or they have some excellently sly peeping skills. On the other hand, the tables and chairs that are set up (either for studying or just lounging and reading) in square groups of four chairs with a table in the center. This set up allows for the possibility of discussion and visiting, which gives the library a public feel. The types of writing in the library range from notes in personal books to status updates on facebook. The school library, is it public or not?