cool & hot medium

The media provides many underlying messages to the consumer. McLuhan's theory about each medium having its own internal logic and how it affects the overall experience and message of the world can be very much accepted by today's standards.

For example, the Dove body wash commercials have a brunette, Caucasian, thin, light skinned, 25-30 year old woman washing herself in the shower. She has a big smile on her face and the camera zooms up and down her milky, smooth skin. After her shower she steps out and she is instantly bombarded with a handsome, young, muscular male embracing her and touching her on the bed. Plus, there is a narrator stating the ingredients of the body wash and how you should not be afraid to be touched and how much the male will enjoy the silky skin. There are many messages: buy this product and be thin, young, and beautiful; shower with this body wash and you will have hunky men all over you; buy this product because the skin you have now is just not good enough for today's standards. There is a lot of ambiguity and many details which are emphasized and other details which are ignored. A great example of emphasizing details are those birth control aids, either commercial or in print. All the positives are highlighted, there is a young woman smiling, with her friends ready to go out for the evening and all the harmful side effects are quickly blurted out at the end of the commercial, barely even heard. As well as print adds the happy woman using the specific birth control is zoomed in while the tiny print at the bottom states all the risks and the precautions of the prescription.

Advertisements and messages are being sent to millions of homes around the globe whether we want them to or not.

Face2Face

The first time I had heard of a cyber space relationship was from my basketball teammate Kris who had a boyfriend who she met online. This was during the time Instant Messaging and Screen names were very popular. She told me he was going to move from Utah to California to be with her. I was very shocked and surprised because I could not imagine moving states for someone i have never met in person. Their relationship moved from the computer to the telephone and eventually he came to visit her once and a while and I had the opportunity to meet him. He was a very nice, older guy, he was 18 while we were 15 and 16.

I did not approve of the relationship honestly, she was very lucky he was not some 60 year old pervert who had psychological issues.

Looking back on my own friendships and the process in which I create friends I do not make friends online, I trust people if we hang out together and learn about one another face to face. I am not saying all people who are online have hidden agendas or that face to face friendships always work out, but for me making good, trustworthy, friends is about doing activities together, spending time with the family, and being their for one another in person and not being infront of a screen is how I create friendships.

I wouldn't say to never make a friend using AIM or Facebook or Myspace, because it does happen and i think its great for others, but for me I do not feel i truly get to know the person without spending time with them and doing activities together such as movies or hearing their sarcasm through face to face interaction.

Chapter 7: Hidden Agenda

A hidden agenda is a concept which stuck out to me while reading chapter 7. A hidden agenda is a personal goal that lies below th surfae and that can get in the way of group performance. The book says this is most important to avoid disruptive individual roles such as a hidden agenda. I found interesting is that it also states hidden agendas can be helpful to a group goal.

Being in a group is at times most difficult. You have different personalities, different schedules, and different skills all mixed into one. It can either be toxic to a goal or a blessing. Hopefully everyone's agenda is positive for the group because if it is not, there could be a lot of issues. Usually if each person has a common goal like an A on the project, hidden agendas are not always an issue. Sometimes i think classmates hidden agenda's are to do the least amount of work possible and be out of reach until the day before a presentation or the due date.

Personally, I do not feel like i have a hidden agenda while i am in a group, maybe to just not mess up during a presentation or to be well prepared in case someone doesnt show, or the power point doesnt work, I tend to look out for myself more because I can control what i bring to the group or the team but i cant control what others do or do not bring as well.

Long Duck Dong

First I will list the factors of determining whether this specific male is romantic relationship material:

• If he is loud and obnoxious at a party
• shorter than me
• overly pronounced nose
• going to school
• employed
• drives a vehicle
• makes me laugh
• has to feel easy, comfortable to talk to
  
• understand my humor
• has to be proactive, i like someone to challenge me.

And these are only the top ten. Don't judge me because I have a thing about noses! I like a nice nose. I was thinking, if i was a guy judging me the way I judge and look at beauty, i would be hesitant to date myself!

Duck's theory makes perfect sense to me. I know exactly what he is referring to. I constantly admire or wrongly hate someone because of my preinteraction. I do a lot of my judging from a distance which i began to read is probably not the best way to judge someone. At a party for example it is easy to observe the attractive guy across the room first before going over and talkin to him. But i miss out on the congnitive cues and even the interaction cues because I am only being a spectator, or maybe a creeper even!

This gives me a lot to think about and the way I perceive my romantic relationships.

Rigid Role Relations

The pattern which would be most difficult to change would be the rigid complementarity because once one is resentful toward another in a relationship it is the most difficult to erase years or months of an unhappy pattern. The rigid complementarity is also the most damaging to a relationship, because of the silent hurting, and the unsatisfied individuals are living within a lie. I also would classify the rigid complementarity pattern as the most devastating to the self-esteem because if one partner is tired of always being incontrol or if the other one is tired of always giving in, no one is happy. Not one person is living the way they wish, they are living an unfulfilling life to some extent. Hurt self-esteem can come from an unsatisfying lifestyle, that they do not deserve more or better. If an individual decides to be a part of a relationship that is not giving back to what they put in or vise versa, can cause self-esteem issues.

Competitive symmetry is when two individuals want control or want to be in charge. I think it is a good thing to have two very active, assertive individuals together, a lot gets said, and a lot gets done. A lot of my friendships are competitive symmetry and it works out great because we understand each other's own desire of when or how to be in control.

Submissive symmetry is one pattern i do not understand. How can not one person have something to say? Being overly submissive should not be allowed, I find it hard to get to know someone if they do not even know what they want, or what they value on their own. If an individual only complies to others and not their own desires then I am not growing or learning anything from a submissive relationship at all.

Premises

To say I fully believe with the rationality premise, the perfectibility premise, and the mutability premise, I would have to say no. The book states trial by jury and democracy are examples of the way we embrace the rationality premise. An example of the perfectibility premise is good vs. evil. Humans are born into sin but we have the opportunity to do good. The mutability premise can be seen in education. Education is an example of mutability because it stimulates our minds and bodies. Another example could be sports, and dance or yoga because these also stimulate humans physically and psychological. One more example of mutability premise would be conversation, daily conversation helps psychologically and physically because you feel great after a wonderful conversation.

If I were to create different premises, I might write about emotionality premises, power premises, and human interaction premise. Emotionality premise would focus on the way humans react and experience emotions. Many individuals have issues with controlling emotions and understanding what they mean and being emotional is being human as rationality is. Power premise would focus on the humans desire for power and control. What humans do for such power and what it means to them. And the human interaction premise would be the human need for other humans. Touch, conversation, and love would be studied.

I rather believe in these premises than the rationality, perfectibility or mutability premise.
These premises make humans seem so robotic and predictable, but I do not believe in that at all.

Creatures of Culture

I do agree that we are placed and surrounded by our own specific culture from the moment we are born. Each individual has their own elements and factors which create a family, no family or family life is identical to another. It is a blessing and a curse that we have our own cultural backgrounds and that it varies infinitely.

Some positive aspects of such a variety of cultures is that every person has their own story to tell. They have their own lessons that they have learned and experienced different things from one person to another and that is a great positive. If everyone had the same experiences, habits, values, and cultural backgrounds life would not be life, what would there be left to see or do?

Negative factors of being a "creature" of our own culture is that its a hard mold to break, a tough wall to break down. These habits and customs are our comfort blankets, its what we know since birth. It is not easy being placed in a different environment especially when it is very knew and different. It is less likely that an individual will voluntarily place themselves in such an unfamiliar situation. For me personally I would rather stay to what feels comfortable and what I know not what I don't know on a regular basis.

Being able to learn and experience other cultural backgrounds and be embraced within the diversity society posses can bring a great understanding to the outside walls of the unknown.

Let us keep such creatures but be not afraid to mingle