Class Reflection

I want to start by thanking you, Suzie, for teaching this course; it was a real eye-opener. Prior to this class, I had not been exposed to a lot of the issues with the media. Moreover, I had never truly critically analyzed my relationship with media (particularly advertising and commericals). This class has brought about a complete shift in the way I think about these kinds of things. Our class topics such as the role that television has in shaping society are matters that need more thorough examination. Additionally, the money-hungry crookedness of the people who are running the show was really astounding and worth knowing and discussing. I am very grateful that this class was being taught here at UVM. The way in which I look at commercials and interact with media is now completely different. I feel like I have uncovered a veil and am finally able to see through a lot of the B.S. that the media puts out.

It is often overwhelming to try to truly grasp and think critically about a lot of this stuff. Like, I would like to be out there and active on the front lines, but I am still a college kid and thereby bounded by busy work and limitations. Brooding about, let's call the "Ugliness of America," stresses me out and feels overly powerful and encompassing to the point that I want to run in a corner and forget about it. But, that won't help anything. Ed Abbey once said "sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul;" but yet, it often seems too difficult still.

I'm going to back up a little bit.. Since around the time when I began having realizations that the world isn't all so warm and fuzzy, life for me has completely changed. Since then, I've wanted to expose the hidden truths behind our country's way of living. I have since taken classes that are focused around what one might call counterculture, alternative thinking and awareness spreaders. I have also taken it upon myself to explore nature and to get in touch with it. I have truly thought deeply about the problems of the world and have been dissapointed and angered by the general lack of awareness. "Why aren't we doing anything about this?" I would think. If all of these facts are true, why don't we try to fix the problem? I became so passionate in environmentalism and alternatives to capitalism in a way that could only be so true and right.

The answer to me became clearer in a lot of ways during the course of this class. It seems as though we have all bought into this system because we are entranced and manipulated into it. People feel sentiment all of the time, but rarely move towards action, because it just seems so much easier to flip on the television and forget about it. In turn, corporate America tries its hardest to distract us from thinking about these glaring problems. They pump money into abhorrent Press Releases, they run subversive commercial designed to invoke feelings of self doubt and loneliness, they produce fake, camouflaged local news stories, they advertise in school, they target children, they flash, they jolt, they lie, manipulate and they tell the stories that shape culture. The large majority of America gains their knowledge (particularly when we watch television 5 hours a day. Did you hear about that? ), from media. And when almost all media is owned by 7 corporations that are geared towards profit margins and not towards public needs, there is no wonder why we don't hear about large-scale environmental degradation, negatives impacts of neo-colonialism, social inequity, a widening gap between the rich and poor, or other things of this nature. The answer is that these glaring truths threaten economic growth and the powers that be are trying their damn hardest to hide the ugly truth behind our so-called prosperous and free country.

I don't want to use this word because of its stigmatization, but it seems like its all a big conspiracy. We are all being tricked into putting faith in this system that is set up to fail. Kalle Lasn said it well in Culture Jam. Depression, drug abuse, and obesity are higher than they've ever been before as the growing juggernaut of corporate control infringes closer to controlling culture. Our country may best be marked by fast food and shopping malls, of our gluttonous consumption patterns, and corporate control. Our culture has been sold to us. People work long hours for little wages and spend their free time watching television, and their weekends shopping. The busy-ness of life exacerbates these issues because people need to work and make money, so there is little time to stop and think about the Ugliness of America. And we attain ephemeral, material happiness when we buy something new or watch a cool new television show. Collectively, however, the trends clearly show that as corporations have moved further into our lives, people become marginalized and overall less happy.

I am setting out from college to move into a field that is part of the solution to these problems.

Questions that Im still thinking (and will continue to think) about:
How can the owners of corporations sleep at night?
Why don't we something about this all?
What the best way to go about jamming AmericaTM culture