Video Project: Hostess

Violence in Video Games

I think violent video games are the perfect scapegoat for others to place blame. The fact is violence has been around since the beginning of video games.as games become more advanced and realistic so does the violence. I think this scares a lot of people who fear that this will cause the people who play them to act violently. However I do not believe that a video game can be the reason for someone to become violent. I think that it is an easy connection that people make and simply overlook the other factors that are really making the person to act in a certain way. I think violence in video games gets more attention than it deserves. The simple fact is if you do not agree with violent games do not play them and do not allow your children to play them. I think the majority of people play these games and ever act out violently. I think it can even be a great way to vent so inner rage. What gets all of the people's attention is when someone who would probably be violent regardless if they played video games or not acts out and tries to mimic the violence shown in the game. People then blame the video game for making that person violent when they would have found subject to base their violence off of. Whether its Mario shooting fireballs at turtles or a highly realistic war game violence will always play a key role in video games.
Justin Eshelman

Gender Roles

I think the reason we have gender roles today is because of the way humans were before we started to become more civilized. These ideas of what we believe a woman or a man should be or act like have been around as long as we know. Now that we have widespread media, these gender assumptions can be found almost everywhere. I do believe we are started to realize that these ideas have little merit. I think that we are on a very slow transition until we no longer see the assumptions anymore. It takes a very long time to completely get rid of ideas that have been around as long as gender roles have. I think the fact that we are now widely questioning the roles shows that we are slowly starting to realize that these assumptions do not pertain to real life scenarios. I think gender roles will be around for many many more generations in the future, but they will start to become less and less prominent in our culture. I also think that showing these roles in media is very popular. I think this is because so many shows and advertisements that play of the assumptions we have of what makes a man a man and a woman a woman are still very popular. It is my prediction that these will become less and less popular as years and years pass. As more people start to realize that gender roles do not carry any merit I think we will start to make even more progress as time goes on.
Justin Eshelman

Food, Inc.

I grew up with a very strong passion for the outdoors. As long as I can remember I was stalking through the woods searching for game or wading a nearby creek with my fly rod catching bass and sunfish. All of these critters are the healthiest, most organic foods one can find. Unless I go out to a restaurant I rarely eat meat that was processed by anyone but myself. I am grateful I was taught the skills to provide food for myself. I think this is a very good way to get a better understanding where the food we eat comes from. I thought the video shown in class Food, Inc. was very interesting and I got an even better understanding of what that steak on someone's plate has gone through. I believe that the understanding of where food comes from is becoming even more skewed in recent times. People believe that meat comes from a grocery store wrapped in plastic. I thought the class's reaction upon the butchering of a chicken was very interesting. I would like to know the total amount of chicken nuggets consumed by the entire class through our lifetimes. My guess is, it would be an impressive number. However there was a very audible shriek of terror admitted upon the removal of the chicken's head. I do not believe that someone must go out and harvest their own food. I do think it would be beneficial to become more informed and put a little more thought into what our country is eating. I get enjoyment knowing that the food I collect for myself is 100% free range, organic, medication free and must cheaper than what can be purchased. I would highly recommend that if someone is interested in what we are feeding our country to get a little more hands on experience with the food process.
Justin Eshelman

Sports Promoting Military

While watching the video in class about how sports in politics mixed made me realize just how frequent sporting events promote the military. I started remembering all the football games I had watched and all the stock car races I have attended since childhood that had something to do with the United States military. Sports is one great way to promote patriotism and pride in one's homeland no matter what country you live in. I think this is a great way to advertise for our armed forces. I might not agree with many military situations this country gets involved, however even if we never have to use them we need a great number of the men and women in the armed forces. I do not think I would ever willingly join any branch of the military but I have the highest respect for the people in this country who do. They are all heroes and all devote their whole career to protecting the country that I call home. I personally believe that the advertisement and recruiting that the military does is for a good cause. In the end it is the person's own decision to join or not. It can provide a great way of life and installs a great work ethic and attitude in many of the people who willingly risk their lives not because they always agree with our leaders' decisions but because it is their duty to. I also believe that athletes and those in the military must share some similar qualities to be successful. Hard work, determination, and sacrifice are all qualities that are in standout athletes. I would imagine to go through the incredible hardships that the people who join our armed forces might have to endure, these qualities would have to be present in great quantity.
Justin Eshelman

Twitter

I have never been what you would call a tech savvy kind of person. I have always been behind the curve when it comes to the latest form of social media. Recently I was convinced by a friend to join the world of Twitter. I had resisted many other friends that had tried to get me to start an account on previous occasions. I have never been too interested in what a certain celebrity was eating for lunch or the lyrics to a song that an acquaintance was currently listening to. I have never had a problem staying in contact with my friends through texting or simple phone calls so I did not see the any need for a Twitter account. The main reason for my resistance to join is that I did not understand the social media's full potential as a way to stay informed about current events.
 What finally made realize that I was missing out an a very helpful tool was something I never thought I would link to technology, hunting. I was in a duck blind and the birds had not been flying. I got curious to why we were not having much luck when my friend said that he just heard that the ducks had still not migrated this far south. When I asked how he knew this he told me that he gets updates from Ducks Unlimited via Twitter.
I know use Twitter quite frequently. I do follow friends from school, but most of the accounts I follow are news and organizations that I am interested in. Instead of watching news on television I can get headlines and breaking news through tweets. I also enjoy getting updates on the going on's of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team. Twitter has the great quality of being able to bring breaking information immediately after it occurs. Recently there was a safety crisis in my home town and I was able to instantly receive information regarding what I needed to do to remain safe.
I now wish I had tried to understand how Twitter works earlier. I feel like I missed out on a great tool for information on current events, news, and updates on organizations that I like to stay up to date with.
Justin Eshelman