Children Helping Children

When Craig Kielburger was 12 years old he decided that he wanted to help fight child labor, so he started Free the Children in 1995. Can you believe at the age of 12 he would start the world's largest organization of children helping other children be free in under developed countries? At 12 most children spend their money on materialistic things like computers, and cell phones. Not to fund their own Activist Projects. This organization is set up so that children who have it better here in North America, can help those who need it in other countries.

Free the children has currently built more than 500 schools around the world and has reached more than one million youth in North America alone. The main goal of the organization is to free children from poverty and exploitation. It lets those children who think they are powerless take a stand for positive change where they are from, and around the world.

When I was in high school my school had a club dedicated to bringing awareness to social issues around the world. Though I was not apart of this club, I did all I could to support anything they organized to help organizations such as free the children. My school was very involved in the Me to We program sponsored by Free the Children. They would sell t-shirt where most of the proceeds went to help the organization. What I really liked about my schools involvement with the Me to We project, was that they were supporting the main message of the program by selling these t-shits. By buying a t-shirt you were supporting the children in other countries, which was the organizations main message children helping children. It is consumerism with a cause. I personally own a Me to We t-shirt and am very proud of my contribution to this cause.

Their are many programs that involve youth and educators to help out whether it be to building a school or adopting a village. If you and your friends raise $8,500 you can build a whole school, which is pretty amazing. So I urge you to help out so that all children have the chance to be free, giving anything helps. All children deserve a chance.

Source:

"About Us." Free the Children. 2008. 26 Nov. 2008 http://www.freethechildren.com/aboutus/index.php.

Fake News

Imagine waking up in the morning and then heading down to school when you see a billboard that reads, "Cigarettes are kind to your throat". I mean if I saw that the first thing that would come to my mind would be that the statement is false. But if you are a women living in the 20's and you see an opera singer in an ad saying this, then you might believe it. Back then fake news was a way the Public Relations reps would trick people into believing what they wanted them to, in order to please their corporate clients.

Today fake news is used more for a means of entertainment. There are so many fake news shows out there right now like this hour has 22 minutes and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Their main purpose is to deliver the news in an entertaining fashion. The sad thing is that most people get there information from these shows which are not always true 100% of the time.

Even though the fake news of today is not as manipulative as the news back in the 20's, it is still a sad fact that you can not depend on the news. It is more for the purpose of entertaining then reporting the truth. What would you rather listen to the opening of a new library in Toronto's east end, or if Sarah Palin spends $250,000 on her cloths?

Cigarettes were seen as a sign of freedom by women after world war one. Propaganda made it seem like a women could let go if they smoked. During that time health wasn't an issue because not many people knew the true effects of smoking. Eventually when women probably found out that cigarettes were not so good for them. It was too late to turn back and the PR reps were already on their way to coming up with a new campaign, to trick the public once more.

Sources:

Stauber, John, and Sheldon Rampton. Toxic Sludge is Good For You! Lies, Damn
Lies and the Public Relations Industry. 1st ed. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995.

Getting the Word Out

Social Networking is a huge part of participatory culture especially when it comes to my contribution. Participatory Culture is when you are not only obtaining information but also contributing information to others. So the first thing I think of when I hear that definition is Facebook. Though it is mostly for me to talk with my old high school friends about their lives, I have also found it very useful for school work and providing me information on what is going on in the world. When someone needs information for an assignment I am able to provide it for them through the site. During the election I was very involved with keeping up with the news from Barack Obama's Campaign. On the Site I was able to join his fan page and get updates on his campaign, along with information on how I could help him to get his information across. So then I would go along and tell all my American friends that he was having a rally in there state or explain what exactly his platform stood for.

There are many different ways people can be involved in participatory culture. Henry Jenkins a Professor at MIT, believes that with the growth of technology the average person is now able to become involved in the new phenomena. These new forms of convergence adds to Marshall McLuhan's idea of a global village. This is becuase now you able to get media and information from places all over the world. Right now I am partaking in this new movement of providing information to others by writing this blog. Facebook was more a personal way of conveying my message, but since I have started to write a blog I am now a global participant. I am proud to be part of this new culture, because now I'm giving back to the internet society for all the times I have used the information from it. I am continuing the cycle of participatory culture.

Source:

Jenkins, Henry. "Convergence? I Diverge." June 2001. MIT. 25 Nov. 2008 .

YouTube is a Culture Jammers Dream.

I will admit that I'm a huge pop culture addict. I mean who wouldn't want to buy the newest iPod or know if Jennifer Aniston is in a feud with Angelina Jolie? Trying to figure out exactly what culture jamming is, I found a lot of what these activists are saying are funny but at the same time very true. Culture jamming is basically going against anything that is the cultural norm. They expose the true content of an advertisement. They could be seen as ad busters. They do not only invade advertisements, but all forms of media. I think the best example of a ad buster is Ron English. During the U.S election this year he produced many of his anti-propaganda billboards and has also produced many other billboards for companies such as shell, and McDonalds.

This years U.S. election saw an increase in the use of the internet as a campaigning tool. What also increased was the amount of youtube videos produced by fans about the election. In an interview with Stephen Duncombe an expert on culture jamming, he discusses a site that invited the submission of these type of videos. At www. moveon.org they invited people to send in videos that were anit-Bush advertisements. He explains that it displays the awesome power of the audience who use the pop culture language and desire to make their own message. So now the public are now becoming their own culture jammers because they are now themselves underatnding the message.

It is assumed that we are all of a pop culture nature and should follow the staple of what society thinks we want. But with this increase of cultural mash up in music and internet videos, the people are now saying what they want using the media's own outlets. Buy Nothing day was declared just for this reason, to stand up to the advertisers and media and take a stand on consumerism the worst type of pop culture. Culture Jamming is the best type of media because it lets the people stand up for what they actually want, and not what a company thinks they want.

Sources:

Jenkins, Henry. "Manufacturing Dissent: An Interview with Stephen Duncombe (Part One)." Confessions of a Aca-Fan The Offical Webblog of Henry Jenkins. 23 Jan. 2007. 25 Nov. 2008 .http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/07/manufacturing_dissent_an_inter.html.

Dery, Mark. Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs. 10 Oct. 2004. 25 Nov. 2008. http://www.markdery.com/archives/books/culture_jamming/.

Photo Found at: http://www.popaganda.com/billboards/index.shtml

I Guess Phone Companies Don't Agree with Free Speech.

Free speech is seen as a right in our society, not a privilege. Whether it be protesting in the streets of Washington for the rights of same sex couples, or writing a blog for your mass communications class about how the world is mediated. Net Neutrality is the principle that the internet should be an open space that anyone should be free to write whatever they want, without having it regulated. So basically internet service providers can't block, speed up or slow down anything on the web due to who wrote it or who owns the site.

Currently Net Neutrality is at risk as telephone and cable companies work to own all rights to the internet. This would mean they would decide which websites would go faster, slower, or won't be able to load at all. So companies like Time Warner or Verizon could make their websites move at a faster pace then their competitors. Why is this so bad? Well it would mean that those large companies such as Disney and Wal-mart would have to pay these companies to have faster bandwidth on their sites so their sites would run faster. Which we all know wouldn't b too much for them to pay for. This is bad news for other companies who wouldn't be able to afford to keep up with these companies. Even a blogger like my self wouldn't be able to get my message across because it would either be blocked or to slow to actually be seen on a computer. The cable and telephone companies already own about 98% of the broadband market. If they own it completely it will go against all morals of free speech.

At the University of Guelph-Humber we use Cisco Systems to log in to the wireless internet. What we don't know about this system is that it lets the universities service providers control what sites the students can go on. This is done by providing filters to keep students away from bandwidth hungry sites such as peer-to-peer applications. If they are able to do this with peer-to-peer sites, who knows what will be blocked or slowed done next.

Sources:

"Frequently Asked Questions." Save the Internet. 24 Nov. 2008 .

"Examples of Net Neutrality." What is Net Neutrality? 24 Nov. 2008 .

Here is a speech by Barack Obama on his belief in Net Neutrality.

What Happens When We Run Out of Nature?

Buy Nothing day is an event held around the world to bring awareness to over consumption. This year is more important then ever due to the recent economic crisis that is sweeping North America. Currently the credit card debit in the United States alone is 951.7 billion which is up 8.2 percent from last year. Which leaves you to ask why people who can not afford to have a credit card can get one? Even with all the foreclosure on homes along with rising unemployment rates, one would think there would be a decrease in spending. Instead there has been an increase in spending and consumption, North America being the biggest offender. We believe that just because we are a rich nation we think we are able to keep consuming without any consequences. But if we look at the real picture, we would see that though there may be an increase in new products, we are losing our natural resources in the process. So buying that shiny new Ipod can lead to having part of the rain forest cut down to make the box for it.

So I ask you for one day out of the year to lock up your wallets, hide your money. Don't buy anything and when I say don't buy anything, I mean nothing. You have to start preparing now, go grocery shopping, make sure your car is filled up or you have bus tokens. We only have one day to stand up to these corporations and we should make it count, anything can happen. If we look at the outcome of the recent U.S election we know that change is possible. On November 28th take a stand and buy nothing.

Sources:

Westrich, Tim. "Problems with Plastic." Center for American Press. 18 Apr. 2008. 23 Nov. 2008 .

"Buy Nothing Day." Adbusters. 2008. 23 Nov. 2008 .

Mickey Mouse is going to take over the Media World

What is the first thing you think of when you hear Disney? I think of Mickey Mouse, happily ever afters and happy family moments. Most people grew up as a kids watching Disney or dreaming of going to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. Clouded by all these so called happy memories you do not see The Walt Disney company as being a giant global corporation. If I say Mickey Mouse would you think ESPN or Automotive Industries magazine? The Walt Disney Company owns shares in every single type of media. These include anything from Walt Disney Pictures to SOAPnet. The complete list can be found at http://www.cjr.org/resources/?c=disney.

So why does Disney own so many different media companies? According to journalist Robert W. McChesney it is because the major media companies want to establish powerful distribution in the U.S. and Globally. All of these global media markets are dominated by eight companies, one of these being Disney. Recently Disney and Time Warner have tried to become global players, causing a growth in the abroad markets. Even though these companies are very successful in their major market in the U.S, there is still worry about the evolving market they will be over powered by other U.S companies.

Though it is said that we live in a democratic society, we are still controlled by the media. These days our opinions are very much shaped by the media and Public Relations representatives. Cross media ownership is a very good thing for companies looking to connect with every demographic. Disney owns 50% of U.S Weekly, so if they want to they can print an advertisement for a new movie or a review of a new DVD release. They are able to control what is written and sway the opinion of the subscribers. Most people don't know who owns these different media companies so the trust what they believe to be a respectable magazine or newspaper to be accurate information. The more a media company owns, the more people it can reach and manipulate into buying into their companies.

Sources:

CJR. "Who Owns What." Columbia Journalism Review. 30 July 2008. 22 Nov. 2008 .

Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. Dir. Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick. Brightcove. 10 Sept. 2002. 22 Nov. 2008 .

McChesney, Robert W. "The New Global Media." The National. 11 Nov. 1999. 22 Nov. 2008 .