The Catfish Epidemic

James Riley, Matthew Perry, Shane King, Dawn Stump, Kolleen Whitford, Kourtney Cooper

Comprehending Rhetoric

I was thinking about the beginning of the semester when I was trying to grasp the concept of rhetoric, in all its forms. I thought I was never going to actually get it, because it is a rather difficult concept to fully understand. After several readings and lectures, it finally made sense, but it opened my eyes things I was happy to not realize. You know the saying “ignorance is bliss”? Well, I believe it is true. I feel like everything I read, see, or even speak is a form a rhetoric seeking some kind of discourse or persuasion.  I didn’t use to see things this way. I guess it would be pointless to not be either agreeable or rhetorical, though.  It is just that, now, I believe there is a hidden message in everything. Ulterior motives create a sense of skepticism in the actual truth in whatever message I am exposed to.

            Right after I started to understand what rhetoric is, the election campaigning starts flooding in our media outlets.  This made me see that I couldn’t trust what any of the politicians were saying, because I knew it was just for votes. Sure, they might care about what they are talking about, but the main reason for talking about these things was to gain support from the majority. It is unfortunate that we can’t receive messages with out bias. The main angle many politicians went this year was bashing the opponent. This is such a terrible way to gain support. I hope, in the future, I can see politicians run truthfully with the goal to improve our country, not win popular vote.  

Labeling Members of Society: But Why?

It is impossible to escaped labels. It is in our human nature, no matter how disappointing that is. I'm sure we all know plenty of examples of labels that have plagued both genders for decades and even centuries. We discussed these in class plenty of times. I was thinking, though, is the media responsible for creating these labels?

I wonder where we are headed, you know, since media companies are growing substantially every year. Those media companies feed people with a perspective of how we should look, speak, and act. They influence these gender codes. If they are growing, then their influence is growing. It seems like they have labeled just about everything and created a manual to go with it.  It worries me to think originality and the need to be different could be overshadowed by being cool and socially acceptable. It would be nice if the media could find a way to get rid of the labeling system, but it just wouldn’t work.

See, as an audience, we want to see labels. The majority of humans are followers, not leaders. I actually read somewhere that, on average, 5% of people are leaders. This means that most people want someone to tell them how to act or look. They won’t admit this because, most of the time, they aren’t even aware of this happening. Ratings actually increase when recognizable labels are used in television, which has created an endless tug and pull between people and the media. We need them to entertain us; they need us to be entertained. The only way to dissolve the idea of labeling people by size, color, hair color, etc., is to convince the majority to do something that is unnatural to them, make up their own minds.

Let's Abolish Gender Codes: Oh Wait, We Can't!

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What happens if we all protest the idea of gender codes? We could praise neutral colors or even make it okay for both sexes to wear any color. There are many things we could do to crash the system and abolish the codes we have now. Hell, maybe we could make guys doing all the dressing up where those painful high-heels. I could go on all day about ways to break the gender codes we have written for ourselves in society. It wouldn’t matter, because do anything to break the codes is just as bad as supporting them.

            There is a never-ending evolution of how men and women are supposed to act. When something is done to break a code, that action becomes the replacement. Here’s an example. Guys used to not be able to wear the color pink and look masculine to society. Some people wanted to change that rule by confidently wearing the “girly” color. Pink had turned into a “cool” color for guys to wear. Come on, you guys remember the pink polo with the popped collars. The same goes for many situations. Men and women have witnessed this evolution in the work force, fashion, and even in the education systems. I remember when most teachers were women, but look how it is now. It has become socially acceptable for men to teach, but that has created a new nametag for these male teachers.

            I feel like, for the rest of our lives, we will be flipping back and forth on what men and women are supposed to do in society. I have seen improvement, but from it I have also seen a new gender code developing. While it might be a better representation of a particular gender, the new code is still and code. We will always have certain expectations on people based on their gender.

Saving the World: One Video Game at a Time

          I recently watched a TED talk by Beau Lotto that discussed the importance of "play" in our daily routine. According to this video, playing encourages us to overcome uncertainty while creating more positive perceptions of ourselves and the world around us. If this is true, then it seems like playing video games should be seen as positive. Unfortunately, I think many people have a hard time supporting games that include controversial issues, like violence and profanity. These games happen to be extremely popular, which creates issues in popular culture. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jane McGonigal explain her plan to save the world through video gaming. It is truly a great idea, but will it really work? I think people enjoy controversial game content because it makes it less realistic and more exciting. Keeping people interested in video games while promoting world problems can influence unrealistic expectations of the solutions. I do agree that playing video games encourages behavioral traits that aid in solving world problems, I just think contradictory content can cause confusion. I have to admit, I love playing games like Call of Duty and Mortal Kombat and I think the determination and suspense is healthy and fun. I also believe that some people can get out of control or make unhealthy judgments if they take these games too seriously. What I want to know is where do we draw the line? In class today, we talked about the negative stigma of a gamer, which included things like slob, Cheetos and sweat pants. When has someone become that stereotype? If the article and videos I've viewed are correct, a serious gamer should be praised in our society. Strangely, it is the opposite and we need to find better ways to make people see the good that can come from video games.

Good Thing I Wasn't Planning on Doing Stand-up

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Although they were very interesting, I was not a fan of the Vanity Fair articles about women being funny. Maybe there is a little truth in both of the readings, but that just doesn’t seem balanced or fair. I know plenty of men that like all humor, male or female. Unfortunately, when talking about a perfect girl, being a comedian isn’t exactly on the list. Why is this?   Surely men don’t have as big of a confidence issue as Vanity Fair made it out to be. A girl that makes people laugh results in taking dominance away from them seems exaggerated. I hope it is, because, if not, we haven’t made as much progress as I thought since the feminist movement began.

            The second article was even more aggravating. Girls can actually be really funny, but only if they are Jewish, lesbian, hideous, or extremely hot. Can’t there just be a funny girl, without an outrageous label that stays true to its ability to make people laugh. If she is attractive, she will probably be portrayed as dumb or awkward. If she is Jewish, she’s got chutzpah.  A lesbian is outrageous, and the hideous comedians just make fun of themselves. This isn’t fair to the people that don’t fall into these categories.

            I know the articles had truth to them, I just didn’t like hearing that I, as a girl that doesn’t fall into those labels, can’t ever be a comedian. The funny thing is that I never really wanted to be a comedian in the first place. I just really don’t like it when someone, or society as a whole, says I can’t do something. Only I should be able to decide what I want to do with my life, and my gender should not have anything to do with it.