Blog Overkill--Not Quite What its Craked Up to be

Jack Shafer, "The danger of hyping a good thing into the ground" October 12, 2009 http://www.slate.com/id/2112621/

Blogging is a very effective form to get news out, but will never replace the news. Although in the past there have been a few outlandish claim that new technology and such would out-do the media in news and in entertainment, but sadly it isn't and never will be so. As we obtain these modes to get news and whats juicy to the people, the media gains these modes of communication and entertainment as well. The media evolves so that we will never be able to overcome it by our own means. It is similar to when the video camra was invented, we would eventually become better than the movie makers all becoming directors and film makers. This never worked, although the videos that we can make now days are much better than some of the movies in the past we cannot trump the media of the present. It is the same with blogging. Blogging is a creative means in which anyone can say anything they want, and they can expose any sort of news much faster then the news coorperations that do, the next day. Im afraid, however that we will never become better than these newscastors and journalists and so our mode of information still loses.

I believe that this is very true. There is a lot of hype about how then new and next big thing will be what outdoes the media in reporting, or in film making, or in journalism. We will somehow better these professional business by all working together, but that is the problem. We are not all working together in the blogging world. We all may help to inform others through one means or another and can only hope to someday be as good as the pros. The biggest reason this is, is that we the people may believe that we can get along better on our own, but we do not get paid to do what we would do. If news was left up to blogging we would never know what goes on because there would be no drive to do the work. Journal enteries online and news column frauds would be biased and misinformed often. The biggest barrier to us becoming better then the pros is money. It is simply not our profession, so we can critique, but we will never be as good as them because we don't recieve the compensation that they do for writing their articles. We overhype the blogging world because we think that we can do better, but in reality we will never defeat the strong media powers.

Whats Good About the Web--Advertisement's Various Attacks

Robin Hafitz “Will the Internet Become a Significant Advertising Medium?” Slate. Sep 20, 2009. http://www.slate.com/id/2076621/

The internet is a very effective advertising medium. Online advertising is effective because in our generation today everyone is online all the time. This online advertisement has begun to get too cocky in a sense that they believe they are the only effective means of advertisement. What must be realized is that this advertisement is only successful as a form of repetition of advertisement. Advertisement is successful because there are multiple forms of advertisement attacking the consumer at all times. Ads on the internet, therefore, are just a repetition of something that the consumer has seen before dozens of times. This online tactic just provides a more convenient way for the consumer to obtain the product, buying online. No form of advertising can survive without the others, interwoven to support each other. Although at times we feel like we are overwhelmingly bombarded with ads and only one means of advertisement would be sufficient, these multiple advertisement tactics are what sell the products.

I agree with this article in the sense that if we are going to be convinced to buy something, it has to be something that we have seen and heard time and time again. We need repetition of a product that attracts us so that every time we see an advertisement for the product we get one step closer to purchasing it, and we do so when the purchase is most convenient. We are a technologically advanced age and as a result our generation is online at all times. Therefore it is probable that the most effective form of advertisement could be online. This effective form of advertisement, however, is not solely responsible for the consumers purchase, but rather the constant repetition of the ad that made us buy the product. We see advertisement in billboards, on the radio, on television, in newspapers, and in multiple other ways as well. It is these multiple different modes of advertisement working in unison things get sold, and only with various styles of advertisement can the merchandise be sold.

"Television at an End"--the result of insufficent advertizement

Stevenson, Seth "Is Television Over." Slate. 13 Sep. 2009.http://www.slate.com/id/2224464/pagenum/all/#p2

Television is a large source of entertainment in our society. What is it that everyone will do when there is nothing to do? Sit down on the couch flip through channels and watch brain melting shows with no point and little appeal. This is what has happened to television viewing with our generation. There are very few shows that actually grab the viewer’s attention. This popularity is a necessity in television shows in order to make money. If a television show is popular then it is more widely viewed by the public at any given time. This viewer number is what gets advertisers interested. The more viewers the more people will see their advertisements and the more these advertisements will cost. This is the reason that advertisements in the Super Bowl are upwards of $4 million, people will see the ads, see the product, and hopefully want to buy it. Our nation is viewing less and less of the same broadcasts on television so advertisements are striking fewer eyes. As our nation views more various television broadcasts the advertisement will change from all shows to the popular ones. This absence of advertisement will cause budget cuts in the less popular television broadcasts resulting in poor quality, fewer viewers and a termination of that show. This will lead viewers to find different forms of entertainment, and advertizing to find that form of entertainment as well. This could be the end of television.

I think that this article has a very valid point. Our nation watches fewer and fewer of the same shows, so advertisement is not getting the publicity that it would hope for. Television is run by the advertisers and advertisers are run by the people. If television does not have the necessary numbers of people then advertizing will eventually pull out and find some other form of advertisement that will get more people's attention. This will lead to funding problems and poor quality in TV programming. As our nation diversifies in interest of entertainment, ironically entertainment will diminish, leaving us without the television that we hold so dearly to our hearts.

"The Diagnosis"--addictions become disorders

Lane, Christopher. "Bitterness, Compulsive Shopping and Internet Addiction." Slate. 4 Sep. 2009.

http://www.slate.com/id/2223479/pagenum/all/#p2

The world has become an addictive world. As we live our lives we seem to become addicted to more things like shopping and internet addictions. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the fith manual is expected in 2012. It seems that there are more and more small simple addictions that they are beginning to classify as mental disorders. At first the DSM was simply a guideline to the diseases and classifications of which diseases are which. Later when the DSM-III was published multiple ridiculous "mental disorders" were added some of which included: "caffeine intoxication disorder, mathematics disorder, sibling relational problem, and frotteurism, the "intentional rubbing up against or touching of another, usually unsuspecting, person for the purpose of sexual arousal." As time goes on the APA is classifying more and more nitpicky things as mental disorders and if this continues, soon over half the country will be defined, as by the APA and DSM, mentally ill.

I believe that this is a serious problem with the media today. We will see actions and tendencies that people have and will immediately decide that we have to classify them with some sort of disorder. The mentality that we have is that if they are not perfect, which no one is, then they must have some sort of mental disorder. Our nation is destroying itself. I think that this is very evident in an addiction to computer technology and cell phones. It seems that every time we hear about someone who is on their computer for hours at a time has an addiction. I know of very few people not guilty of this. It is easy to sit down and watch videos on youtube and hulu for hours, or to spend days looking at itunes searching for new songs and naming old ones, and one of the most common is wasting away time on facebook or myspace. We all do this. Only if you are expecting someone to hang out do you ever pay notice to it. We immediately wonder what is wrong with this person and that they must have some sort of disease. In reality we have no disease at all, and so should not be classified as having a disease. We are trying to find reason behind the things we waste our time away on. We can use these disorders as an excuse to waste away more time. “I have computer—video disorder, so it is okay that I am wasting all my time away, I’m mentally ill.” I believe that this is the mentality of our nation especially of the APA, and we need to move past it and realize that what we are doing is wasting our time, we may have better things to do and should be doing these things, but we should not make excuses such as disorders for our addictions. We can beat these addictions very simply with a little effort, and if we do not put forth this effort, with the way that the DSM manual is headed half our nation really will be classified as mentally ill.

Michael Vick is Back

Michael Vick previously quaterback for the Falcons was sentenced to serve an 18 month sentence in prison for dog fighting. His time is finally up and he has been reinstated into the nfl, but is this something he actually deserves? Vicks crimes seem to be forgotten now that he has returned to the nfl playing for the Phillidelphia Eagles. Should he be denied the right to play in the nfl? No not at all. Can we really blame him for what he has done. I mean Vick is a professional football player what does he have for entertainment? We all have professional sports to watch, but that is his profession and so what can he do in his spare time. He picked this dog fighting as his form of entertainment. This is a very corrupt form of entertainment, but what do we expect a millionair athlete to do with his free time. The stereotypes of professional athletes are that they buy expensive things and workout doing little else. This life obviously got old and so Vick decided to try something new. Vick thought that maybe, just maybe because he was so good at football and the respect that people had for him, he could live above the law, but a realization came to him hard and fast when he got caught and that is that no one can live above the law. I believe his stay in prison has humbled him a great deal and helped him to realize that he is not untouchable, he is simply a nfl quaterback which brings us back to the question: Should Michael Vick be allowed to play in the nfl? Absolutly, Michael Vick is an unbelievable athlete. His talents are what god has given him in this life and he should utalize what he has. He has done this by signing a year contract with the Eagles for $1.6 million with the option for two years at $5.6 million. What has to be realized by the people is that Vick is good at what he does. He can bring crouds, win football games and resultantly help rake in the money. This is a world run by money and as long as the money is being made, the big nfl owners don't care who does it, no matter their past.

In the beginning there was light