Culure Jamming

When first looking up this terminology I found it strange that I could not find it in any of the dictionaries I searched in and that maybe like so much of the words used in today’s pop culture it was just another slang term. Then, on discovery of the origin of the world I realized that it’s quite difficult to put a meaning or definition on the term because it is best described as a form of ‘alternate media’. The term ‘Culture Jamming’ is defined in the Urban Dictionary as. ‘ The act of using existing media such as billboards, bus-ads, posters, and other ads to comment on those very media themselves or on society in general, using the original medium's communication method.’ Culture jamming has been around for decades and has been prevalent in every medium as a way of expressing alternate ideals, views and facts on topics in media and pop culture through an innovative and original way that draws the masses attention.

One of the most notable figures of culture jamming today is the Comedy Network’s most well known star, Stephen Colbert. Colbert is a comedian and political satirist who uses both of these qualities to give on a political spiel for a half-hour on fake news which is a parody of the conventional American news broadcasting and also political talk shows like the O’Reilly Factor. He entertains and informs viewers while criticising in a very well delivered and acted mannerism. “Like O'Reilly, we'll grab the most important word out of every sentence, `The,' for example. Also, I'll say, `I'm angry,' and the graphic will read, `Colbert angry.'” He sides himself as a right-wing conservative but in his delivery he is poking fun at all the Republican voters and media that sides with them. He focuses on news that sides with this group of people and pokes fun at American culture. He presents his statements and insights with humour, absurdity and condescending behaviour but attracts over a million viewers each night who receive a better outlook on politics, current government and national affairs. This is one of the most brilliant forms of attracting masses of people through the entertainment of comedy and enlightens viewers of the everyday news of what’s happening around them.

It’s amazing that upon discovery of this word I realize that it has been such a big factor of my life that I’ve overlooked. Punk Rock music, Borat, Daniel Tosh, Graffiti, The Simpsons all are valuable examples of culture jamming that aren’t given just for the sake of entertainment but are given with implications of takes on pop-culture, consumerism, news and politics. As human beings in 2009, we are exposed to more information in a given day then our ancestors a few centuries before us were exposed in their entire lifetimes. With a saturation of brand names, logos, icons and advertisements ‘Culture Jamming’ is the purpose of fighting back in response to corporate advertisers and propaganda with the aid of the media itself. It is a clever and very cunning dynamic to sweep the attention of the public and inform them of what’s going on in the world today.
Works Cited

-"Culture Jamming...What Is It?." www.jamming.wordpress.com. 16/03/ 2006. Word Press, Web. 23 Nov 2009. .

-Colbert, Stephen. "Think Exist." www.thinkexist.com. 2009. thinkexist, Web. 23 Nov 2009. .

-"Urban Dictionary." www.urbandictionary.com. 2009. Urban Dictionary, Web. 24 Nov 2009. .

Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day, having originated in Vancouver Canada is a celebration that draws attention to the effects of over-consumption and encourages people to acknowledge the effects it has on the environment and the exploitation of Third World countries that is done in the process of consumerism. In order to participate on November 27th in buy nothing day you must not only stop buying for 24 hours but shut off your television, lights and other non-essential appliances.

Its purpose is to not only express the global issues of the environment and capitalism but to give people realization of the effect consumerism and purchasing tendencies have on each and every one of us each and every day. It’s almost like a period of enlightenment or an epiphany where millions of us come to the realization of how our over consumerism effects us every day. It emphasizes how less consumerism can lead to less stress and a healthier lifestyle for people living in Industrial countries, ultimately in the Western world consumerism is the most powerful addiction being a strong backbone of both the Canadian and American economy.

I was in fifteen when I got my first part-time job, and as soon as I got my first pay check as a consumer-minded teenager my first instinct was to spend as much money as I could on clothes, CD’s, food and accessories. I soon realized that this consumerism in me captivated a new identity that millions of people try to buy into from a flashy car, to the hottest phone to a new outfit, brand names and consumerism forge new characters in all of us and personify how we feel about ourselves. Scott Mccloud writes that for many of us, objects and tools are extensions of who we are and how people perceive us. “Our Identities and awareness are invested in many inanimate objects every day. Our clothes for example can trigger numerous transformations in the way others see us and in the way we see ourselves.”(Mccloud 38). Scott Mccloud felt that our identities and perspectives were extended through the usage of comics, clothing, tools and everyday appliances. That in this age we are not simply human beings but have come to be extensions of reality with such inanimate objects. In western culture, the definition of oneself is based purely on such extensions as the coffee we drink, the clothes we wear, the music we listen to or the car we drive. We have developed a very shallow culture of individuals who only skim the surface when passing judgement or making conclusions and Buy Nothing Day has brought awareness to that. On Novemebr 27th, for everyone who participates, it will be a day where no individual is better or lesser then another but only equal and millions will see the world in a whole new outlook and with a whole new beginning.

Works Cited

"Adbusters." www.adbusters.com. 23/11/2009. Adbusters Media Foundation, Web. 23 Nov 2009. .

-Mccloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. 2nd ed. New York, NY, U.S.A: Harper Perennial, 1994. (38). Print.

Participatory Culture

Everyday no matter what day I follow the trend of checking my face book more often than anything else I do in a day. The social network has very easily become an extension of my life with practically half of my socialising in a day is done through Facebook. A network where news updates, how your friends are feeling, some events they’ve been tagged in, instant messenger is all available. Everyone no matter how far away in the world is an arm’s reach away and you can easily get in contact with them by simply signing in and clicking a few buttons. What first started as social network for Facebook had now become an entity of displaying political interest, fan base, video streaming, and an expansion of the world with the connection millions of users who all share their status, posts and social side. This is a network that is built up and constructed purely on the amount of users and depends on the input of each user to operate at a level of social efficiency. If, for example, I went offline for a given three weeks and didn’t post anything or write back to my friends I would be subtracted from the network and would not be a part in the social realm of Facebook, causing a smaller scheme in the global network. Marshall Mcluhan said in The Playboy Interview. “Because all media, from the phonetic alphabet to the computer, are extensions of man that cause deep and lasting changes in him and transform his environment.” This implies that the Facebook culture that is a few years in the making had transformed millions of users and today’s youth in the picture of it all. Never before have we had access to such an extension of someone’s personal information from addresses, phone numbers, pictures and personal profiles which has led to many privacy loop holes. Despite this being an issue, the connection of one user to another is impeccable, making Facebook the ideal form of communication of the new decade, it is a versatile network that gives many of us all that more privilege but in turn a great deal of responsibility.


Works Cited
Lewis, Richard. "PlayBoy." playboy.com. 10 Nov 2009. PlayBoy Mgazine, Web. 23 Nov 2009. .

Activist Project-30 Hour Famine

Activist Project-30 Hour Famine

There’s a forty something man at a five star restaurant who calls back the waiter insisting that his 12-oz steak is not well done, he sends it back stating that he’d prefer it to be better cooked this time and if not he’ll “take his business elsewhere”. This scene that we see every day in the heart of Toronto arouses questions as to how ignorant and complacent masses of people in developed countries can be to the point when they are completely unaware of the outside world. How over three billion people live on less then 2,50 $ a day, how 25,000 children die each day of poverty and how 1.1 billion people in developing countries don’t even have access to clean water. We can only hope that in time even at his age, this man might come to terms that that there are greater problems in the world then a “well-done steak”, but while we hope and pray there is an organization that helps open the eyes for today’s youth.

30 Hour Famine is an activist project to raise awareness to those in need in impoverished countries. It started in 1971 in a small church of Calgary when 17-year old and 14 friends participated in what they called a “starve-in” to raise awareness of the African children suffering in a worldwide famine. Today nearly 100,000 Canadian teens participate in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine by going without solid food and only consuming water and juice for 30 consecutive hours. During the time while the teens are fasting they engage in a variety of games and activities from sports to movie marathons and even guest speakers. It is in this 30 hour period that teens learn to function, interact and manage themselves despite hunger and begin to focus on the importance of friendship, teamwork and kingship. With nothing but empty stomachs teens grow and adapt and have no choice but to cooperate with each and every one in an enlightening journey. It is a groundbreaking activist project because it puts values and awareness in children at a young age to emphasize with the billions in the world who starve every day. It shows kids how fortunate they are to have such privileged lives and that life isn’t about what you take form it, it’s about what you give. After all, not all of us can enjoy a “well-done” steak.

Works Cited
- Shah, Anup. “Poverty Facts and Stats.” Global Issues, Updated: 22 Mar. 2009. Accessed: 23 Nov. 2009.

-Ritchie, Flyn. "30 Hour Famine." Canadianchristianity.com. 02/28/2009. World Vision, Web. 24 Nov 2009.

Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality

The Internet. I don’t even know what that word means. All I know is that ever since I was thirteen years old I’ve never had a day without it. Every day over a billion users around the world are online working, typing, reading, sending, subscribing, hacking, exploiting, gossiping, stalking, revealing and even committing crimes on the internet. The medium that is like no other, and many have defined as being completely neutral. It’s been called a safe-grounds, no man’s land, a utopia where any minority, any gender, any race could have a new identity, a new existence that could be incorporated into a variety of genres throughout the internet universe. What has become of interest is the question of how public or private the internet is? Millions of us who research, blog and use the resources put a lot of faith into the internet but there is still an ongoing battle between private and public interests. In some countries private is very dominant. One of the most well known being ‘The Great Firewall of China’, which gives the Chinese government authority to monitor and control their nations internet meaning any internet information entering or leaving China has to pass through government controlled gateways.

This is a matter of balancing the influence and effect of private sectors versus public sectors. The internet is now the ideal form of communication practically all throughout the world and as of lately has had influence on practically every national and international issue. Whether it is the interest of the public or private sectors and websites it seems that for the most part as of recently the public has won and has brought forth information and grounds that could not have been exposed unless on the internet. I know I don’t the whole truth of the internet and how free and open it is but I can say that for the most part I have put a lot of trust into the freedom internet over the past few years. After all someone groundbreaking truths have been revealed on the internet that could not have been revealed on any other medium.

When the film Zeitgeist was released it struck millions of people all around the world as a YouTube sensation and was one of the most notable films since Michael Moore’s infamous Fahrenheit 9/11. In its release in 2007, this was a very significant moment in the world of the internet. Since the attack of 9/11, the investigation as to what had exactly occurred during the suicide bombings was not thoroughly searched and millions of Americans had a naive idea as to what terrorist group was responsible. With religious beliefs and faith in Christianity came a lot of ignorance and prejudice towards other beliefs but Zeitgeist brought forth the facts that Christianity as a whole has many historic roots with other religions. It then came to terms with the United States economic system and unveiled what corruption played in the United States’ economic past. The reason why Peter Joseph became such a success for this film was that he boldly stated factual statements about the world through three very dangerous topics of discussion and did so through the safety of the internet, it was very audacious and such a work could have only been brought forward with the public access of the internet. Sites and social networking such as Google, Yahoo and YouTube are all internet capitalists but what is different between these internet capitalists and the media capitalists is that the information of the public is their lifeblood. A notable professor of semiotics Gunther Kress once stated. "Participation in public life and the power which that distributes depend on access to and mastery of the forms of writing". (Kress 46). The internet is a new medium that millions of us never foresaw, the connection to over a billion people all over the world open up new realms of information, communication and discovery but just like everything the internet does come with imperfections. Despite the new freedom of the internet people still have discretion and regards to people and social groups when posting or blogging and the internet has securities that vary all over the world. There will always be an ongoing battle between private and public territories on the World Wide Web but the freedom of speech will always exist.

Works Cited

- Kress, G 1998, 'Language as social practice', Communication and Culture: An Inroduction, University of New South Wales Press, Kensington

-Elgin, Bruce, and Bruce Einhorn. "BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek.com. 2006. McGraw Hill, Web. 23 Nov 2009. .

-Eugene, Ian. "The World We Know Today." ianeugene-ddp.blogspot.com. 05/11/2007. Blogspot, Web. 23 Nov 2009. .

Media Hegemonies

Media Hegemonies/Mapping Who Owns What


It’s both surprising and shocking to know that the bulk of our media and everyday news is owned by major companies. Rogers to this date owns businesses in several different branches of medium its biggest being television and telephone. However, Rogers is also the rightful owner of other mediums that millions of us had never even heard or known about. Commonly we only associate Rogers as being a television, internet and phone service provider but the bizarre truth is that Rogers has ownership in dozens of other forms of media all throughout the country.

Rogers is a huge media capitalist owning radio stations, television stations, magazines and publications all over the nation. Practically any medium in Canada is dominated by Rogers whether it’s the telephone, the television, magazines or radio, even internet. Before discovering this in our Mass Communications, I was a naive eighteen year old who had total faith in our media and had the impression that our everyday news and broadcast were the only safe grounds that private sectors did have control of.

Picture this, in a given day you wake up to the clock radio of CHFI-FM, a radio station Rogers owns, you go on the internet and check some emails, the wireless internet that Rogers owns. You get a text message on your friend’s cell phone regarding school on the Rogers Wireless network. Then you flip through the pages of McLean’s magazine, all of these mediums are owned by Rogers. What does this insinuate? Well it means that what many of us thought were safe grounds for the media aren’t anymore. We know longer have such sanctuary in newspapers, publications or television where journalists and editors try to be as objective as possible; the corporation is now the news. This billion dollar corporation Rogers, that I used isn’t just the only corporation that has ties into a variety of media sectors there’s also : New York Times, Time Warner and even Disney. These media capitalists have practically authority over any given source of information that gives off a very pessimistic outlook on the accuracy and truth of what we read in an everyday paper, watch on a news station or listen to on a car radio. A.J Liebling a very well known and highly regarded media critic gave his own expression of how he viewed the media in his work. When giving his opinion on communications and journalism he expressed this. “Communication means simply getting any idea across and has no intrinsic relation to truth. It is neutral. It can be a peddler’s tool, or the weapon of a political knave, or the medium of a new religion.”(Reeves 4). Liebling’s view on communication and the media was very ahead of its time and gave a clear implication that communication and truth did not correspond with one another. His ideas were groundbreaking and still to this day we regard him as one of the most notable faces in media for his interesting reflections and critical thinking.

I’ve come to terms that this is part of the reason why we are doing this course work for Mass Communications in blogs and not news or magazine articles. Cause it is a part of the Internet that the public still has faith in. When we put a blog post up it is completely non doctored or manipulated by corporations, or people and is a small component of a vast pool of media that still exists as a component that an individual does “by the people for the people”.

Works Cited


-"Who Owns What." Columbia Journalism Review. 2008. Columbia Jouralism Review, Web. 22 Nov 2009

- Reeves, Richard. What The People Know. 2nd ed. United States : Harvard College, 1998. (4). Print.

Dane Cook Sucks!

Kanye West Style

Fake News

Among the millions of articles, news stories and facts, written in newspapers, magazines and online every day, there are many that are a product of propaganda and are corporately funded, in the United-States and Canada, many networks and radio stations are owned by companies, Disney owning ABC news and Rogers owning various radio networks.

Even Chuck Klosterman admits in his novel Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs:

“Are media outlets controlled by massive, conservative corporations? Well, of course they are. Massive conservative corporations control everything.”

This draws the conclusion of what I have said before, in the case of networks and papers that are owned by corporations or are dominated by political ideology are “one sided and one sided alone”. Many stories have been written with intensions purely on interesting as many as possible with such things as pictures and interesting headlines but just as an advertisement you spot at a bus stop their intention is focused on manipulating the reader to one side. Buying that particular product or buying a news story. Readers of news papers or websites must use their discretion and reasoning to establish the facts that come out of an article that are on an objective level and the ones that come with strings attached.

Works Cited

-Klosterman, Chuck. Sex Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs. 2nd ed. New York City, USA: SCRIBNER, 2003. Print.

Theory/Praxis

Ideology in a nutshell means the study of the nature and origin of ideas which is basically the study of knowledge and its foundation. A lot of ideology came from philosophers and the root definition to the term ‘Philosophy’ meant the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.

A lot of the systems and principles of education, politics and law were founded by histories oldest philosophers who came to subjective conclusions of things but none the less provided well thought of ideas and beliefs under the influence of religion and their environment. These were philosophers such as Aristotle who developed the first University and created the first encyclopaedia. He was a pioneer in the Ancient Greek times and started what we know of today as structured and divided knowledge, things such as courses or degree programs. Another philosopher who was well known for establishing the idea that Greek Mythology was not an effective belief system had many flaws was Socrates who had many followers and posed such big questions of existence and truth. Both ancient philosophers however started their foundation of knowledge and conclusions through subjective ideas and thoughts which came from their peers but mainly from their perspective on the world and its existence.

Media in many ways is like this, any given day when I wake up to when go to bed I am affected by not just one ‘Mass Media’ but many mediums. My music, the newspaper, magazine articles, advertisements, online research, every given medium is subject to another. These mediums draw their knowledge and understanding from other mediums and so on and so forth. Any given medium is subjective but we also need to realize that like knowledge we hear or receive from others, media is the same basis of different sides and information collaborating together in an endless sea of discovery and knowledge.

Works Cited

-"Dictionary.com. " Dictionary.reference.com. 12 Oct. 2009. Random House Dictionary, Web. 13 Oct 2009. .

Decoding/ Deconstructing Advertising

Advertisement has a huge play in our society and has a major influence on consumerism and what we by sometimes even subconsciously. Its intention is to draw us into a product or brand name with such tactics as appeal of the senses, sex appeal, humour or witty slogans, but there comes a time when advertisements push the envelope and go too far. This add from Nike, shows its logo on a beaten down wall and its slogan ‘Just Do it’ written below it and to the left we can see a young child urinating.

This add which had the intention of being comical comes off as both condescending and exploitative. This is obvious that this photo was taken in an impoverished place and quite possibly a third world country judging by the condition of the wall and the clothing the kid is wearing. The humour in the idea that the kid takes the slogan “Just do it” so literal to the extent of urinating on a wall is overshadowed by the discrimination against millions of people that this advertisement displays.

One dark side to media that many of us know of is the stereotypes that many advertisements, articles or stories can insinuate this add being one of them. It is condescending and offensive to many people who were raised in such communities and implies a false and hurtful message.

In the novel Ways of Seeing, John Berger gives a very strong fully worded depiction on adds and their methods of how to draw in consumers:

“Publicity principally addressed to the working class tends to promise a personal transformation through the function of the particular product it is selling (Cinderella); middle-class publicity promises a transformation of relationships through an ensemble of products (The Enchanted Palace).”

This advertisement is a perfect example of how kids such as our class have to become more media literate and have better discretion on the media world.

Works Cited

Berger, John. "Ways of Seeing". 3rd ed. Toronto,Ontario: Penguin Books Ltd,, 2008. Print.

The Ecology of Media

When the much anticipated Smartphone came out it was a form of technology that no one was accustomed to and had a lot of marketing and resourceful potential it practically came out and grabbed people by the collar. Soon the average user could check their emails, use their phone as a basic pc and do such things as get map directions and research facts straight from their phone. It was efficiency and usefulness at its best that made communication a little easier for the common human and everyone’s reach a little longer. This newly discovered technology meant a lot of marketing potential and a vastness of new applications and features that would mean a whole new meaning of the word ‘phone’. Eventually people came to the realization that the modern phone is now practically used for everything aside making calls to people. Many youths between the ages of 14-28 are using their phones for texting, email, news, games, music, video recording, cameras (some having as much as 8 Mp!), social networking and even blogs. With so many other uses aside from calling your parents or friends it makes you wonder, what the modern definition of a phone is?

With these new sides of technology that come with many modern phones: texting, news, 3 G networking and so on, it seems that the social component of a phone has changed as well. Calling is one of the most personal and social means of communicating with an individual but now it almost seems impractical. More communication is done through texting in one day then calling and everything else is done either through email or Facebook.

This observation of one’s everyday life of communicating with people truly reflects the idea that with more communication capabilities comes more miscommunication. I support the idea that a phone can be used for such uses as a camera, video camera and email but have we come to the point where such extensions of technology for something as simple as a phone have lead us to social isolation and lack of connection?

I feel that the Smartphone is good for some but worse for others because it can have a strong grasp on the habits and character of everyday people with so many usages and functions. As convenient and appealing these devices such as Blackberries and iphones may seem, it simply another medium that gives the idea that such a device is needed but is only another way to attract mass consumerism. Personally, I’ll stick with my old phone thank you very much.

Mass Media

After the lectures and discussions we’ve had in class I have come to terms that mass media has a different connotation to any given culture or group of people and therefore the word just like a language, always has a different meaning. In black and white on paper the definition of “mass media” is the means of communication that reach and influence large numbers of people, especially newspapers, popular magazines, radio and television.

Despite the fact that the denotation for the word “mass media” reflects it as mediums or means of communication that effect large numbers of people, the connotation of the word media is always different form culture to culture or person to person. As a youth the mass media would typically be the internet and everyday information that they would get from websites and newsfeeds. Where for someone who is middle-aged mass media for their age group is radio or newspapers.
In the novel Ways of Seeing by John Berger it has been made clear that in ancient history paintings were the dominating medium or ‘Mass Media ‘that had the greatest influence ont he way many viewed their government and environment:
‘No other kind of relic or text form the past can offer such a direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer than literature.’

The uniqueness of “mass media” is that even if one medium, for example the internet had the greatest influence on the adolescents it is affected that every other given medium. Every medium, whether it’s internet or a newspaper has an effect or influence on the other, like us as individuals, we are responsible for all our actions and inactions that have an effect on each other than in time effects each and every one of us. Even when I found the definition of “Mass Media” on a website there is no straight generic meaning of the words ‘Mass Media’ and could have different meaning in a dictionary, encyclopaedia or in the connotation of a ‘newspaper’. Therefore there is no exact mass media yet until every government in the world perhaps puts telescreens into every persons home.

Works Cited
-Lloyd Sauza, Francis "Definition of Mass Media." Definition of Mass Media. 9 Jul. 2008. EzineArticles.com. 12 Oct 2009 .
-Berger, John. "Ways of Seeing". 3rd ed. Toronto, Ontario: Penguin Books Ltd, 2008. Print.

Academic Blogging

When I first thought about the process of setting up a blog I began to think about the thought I had on the process of setting up a tent before I set one up. The idea of doing such a thing seemed very interesting to voice my own opinion, share an idea with the world and see what comes of it. The same idea applied to a tent, when it is put up it provided shelter, warmth security.....but come on! I didn't know anything about putting up a tent! As soon as I started thinking about the tedious process of setting up either one I was already discouraged and thinking of short cuts to take or to totally avoid doing such a task.

Maybe I could sleep under a big tree and hope it doesn’t rain? Maybe I could just use my Facebook status as a blog ? Maybe I'm native country? I could see if I could borrow one of their tepees! Hey! My old MySpace account is sill around from hishchool, I could use that!?

As soon as you start the process of either putting up a tent or setting up a blog you realize that it was nothing like you anticipated. After all setting up a tent's not exactly like putting up a pyramid, and setting up a blog took me all of about 3 minutes. After doing which your left with something that is very resourceful and leaves you with non-stop fulfilment both of which can only be used at full effectiveness when shared with other people.