Final Post! Media Oppression

Media has long been a target for criticism. Given that it's main agenda is to earn profit, it's hardly able to take in account the other factors such as equality in gender, race, and social status. As a result, directly or indirectly, they oppress a lot of individuals and groups. Thus the rise of critics such as the feminist movements. One of their arguments struck me a lot because I myself am very guilty of this. The muted group theory speaks about how certain groups are not able to express themselves in a democratic and public sphere. I drive myself to school and everywhere else and what I hate most are slow drivers. Here in this country, or at least this region, traffic is crazy; and having slow drivers make me go crazy as well. Heavy traffic and slow drivers make life exponentially difficult. So basically, I subscribe to one of the muted group's points that women are silenced through Ridicule. Whenever there's a slow driver in a road where there are hardly any cars, I always say "grabe babaeng driver, hassle." I'm right more often than not, and I must say I believe in this method of muting through ridicule because nothing is more real than what is actual. Girl driving = slow/hassle on the road. However, this prejudice does not give them any room for improvement. I have boxed them in such a way that they cannot grow even if they try. My attitude must be changed at once, and I realized this through this class that shattered the glass of the reality of oppression through ridicule.

Habermas on the RH Bill and the Church

Jurgen Habermas' Public and Private spheres can be interpreted in deciding whether the church should protest against the RH Bill. I completely understand and agree with the church's stand on its battle against infidelity and objectification of women through contraceptives. However, we should also see that the RH Bill does not only concern the Catholics' safety and morality, it involves everyone inside the whole Philippine peninsula. The church and its private concerns should not enforce itself on issues such as the RH Bill which is public. Not everyone in the Philippines is Catholic, and implementing laws based on a private concern is not the way to run a country. If the Church is really against the RH Bill, then they should just boycott it. The RH Bill is there to those who need it. The services it provides is available but not forced to everyone. If they think that their moral structures are strong enough, then they should be able to avoid contraceptives as they please, but this belief should not be implemented to everyone, especially the non-catholics.

Feedback

One of the effects of media that really struck me came from the video documentary that we watched. It's an issue of media but at the same time it is an issue with regard to our understanding of ourselves. In the documentary, they called it "feedback" (if I remember correctly). I would say this is some sort of an epidemic as it is rampant in our societies today. It distorts the line between media and reality. In "feedback" media takes an aspect in our society and focuses on it. Let's use parties and clubbing as examples to make a more vivid illustration. As we all know, our lives aren't solely based on partying and drinking and dancing etc. During our regular days, we focus on school, friends, family etc. However, media takes the aspect in our lives that we all long for; and we use my example of partying to prove this. When media portrays the party scene, it tries to capture what happens in parties... with a little twist and some exaggerations. However, when these little twists and exaggerations are shown on tv, it actually becomes a good idea and people party the same way as they saw on tv. Partying like how they see it on tv now becomes the reality and media comes in to try to capture it; and again, try to put a little twist and some exaggerations. This is a vicious cycle that we must be aware of.

Org Culture Theory in Ateneo (once again, just my free observation)

people change depending on which organization they join. Some become more aggressive especially when they join fraternities and gangs; where they feel like they're unbeatable because of their group's strength. Others get affected with their work attitude like for example when they have tons of papers and reports to do, they sacrifice most of their leisure time to finish the work, especially when their job's on the line. Moreover, in cases like being a freshman in college for example in ateneo, those students who did not come from ateneo high school start to feel like they're in some place high above the sky. it's like they reached a certain place where no one else could. they get all excited with the UAAP because the they now belong to the school who won the championships recently; they buy Ateneo shirts and wear ateneo jackets as if it would make them look badass outside school. these physical symbols give non-members the idea that these students belong to the organization named Ateneo, and how they act, if they act pa-cool, angas, jejemon-like, conio etc., will dictate stereotypes to higher degrees. such representations must be handled properly by everyone who is part of the organization because the implications for screwing up can lead to the downfall of the whole org.

Stucturation is important

I know how annoying things get when people use their "power" over us. Like in school, there are guards watching out for students with no ID's, professors safeguarding classroom conduct, ministers making sure there are no PDAs around campus. It feels great when you get away with it, but it feels like crap when you get caught. Rules get in to your nerve from time to time thinking that these rules are preventing you from exploring your capabilities and potential. However, we can also look at it this way. These rules and regulations from different places and institutions are the one who actually push you to find and hone your skills and potentials. For one, rules apply to everyone, if one's restricted, so will be the rest. One perfect application for this is the basic rule that no one can physically abuse anyone for whatever reason. This sucks if you feel like punching someone out of anger or if you just feel like it. But it feels awesome if someone wants to punch you and he can't cause of the rules. Basically, these rules protect us from each other's wild potentials, and direct our potentials and skills to a direction that can help our society and ourselves. If you think about it, people are safe and sane because of the existence of these rules. We do not have to worry about getting killed in school for example, so we can focus on our studies to get good grades and socialize with people. Having these kinds of structures do not benefit everyone, but true enough, it can still benefit most.

group think

As relational beings, we cannot help but be in groups; it's very rare to see anyone who would rather be isolated from people for a long time. Staying in groups, however, influences us in a very big way - passively or actively. This is also the source of the cliques we see in school, malls, etc. For example, when we see jejemons, we tend to think of them as jologs or crass and the like because they belong to a different group from us. The jejemons have this mentality that to be "Cool" they have to text and say things differently like "e0w pf0uWxZzZzzz.....!!!!!". It's really not appealing to the eye, I know. But us ateneans, if we think about it, we group ourselves as well, a group that thinks that typing like that is low. We do our group thinking as well, and that we cannot justify our claims that they're "jologs" and we're not based on this kind of prejudice on a different group. Straighten up people of the elite (this includes me so no bad criticisms on this sentence, I'm guilty also)! :D

uncertainty reduction

in class we have discussed how to basically reduce awkward moments in our relationships. i think this helps a lot in managing our relationships more actively than just going with the flow. most people tend to just go with what they see in front of them, not knowing how to handle every relationship in every single point of contact. another important point regarding relationships also mentioned was the social exchange theory where people passively or actively seek rewards from relationships. no matter how religious any one can be and believe the prayer for generosity of st Ignatius "do no count the cost," at some point, you will count the cost. managing and maintaining relationships isn't an easy task, nor is it cheap. time and money are essential tools to handling and managing relationships for practical reasons.

Cognitive Dissonance in women :) (free observation)

ah yes, the infamous cognitive dissonance. i finally got the chance to talk about you. the very idea that keeps people in line, and a bit insane. I would not want to sound very misogynistic but I notice this more with girls than with boys. More often that not, men are not conformists. They have  their own thing and they prefer to keep to themselves. Women, however, choose to be more "in" than men. As what my girl friend told me, girls do not dress to impress guys, but to impress other girls. Well, true enough, men won't think about what girls are wearing as we have no idea about style or anything; but other girls will. Thus this becomes an avenue for subtle psychological cat fights. Girls who do not really dress flashy, start doing so  because of the influences of other girls around them. This is not particular only in clothing. Girls can be confusing when asked what they want, especially in relationships. This has been one of the main reasons why my girl friend and I have fights sometimes. although, I do not solely blame her if we have fights. it's just that, it's hard to decode what she wants/needs in time before the fight goes way out of hand. i guess this is where the guy's patience and understanding is really tested.

on ranting and kinesics

it's really annoying how emails and passwords screw up on times when you need them most. I'm submitting this blog late because i couldn't access both my gmail and blog yesterday due to security failures and what not. zzzz. you can just imagine how much ive been cursing google, making "tsk" sounds in annoyance, slapping my bed, and to the extreme -- punching the wall. now that I'm typing this blog about kinesics, I just realized what I've been doing last night involved this topic. Through rage and irritation, i was able to express and release my anger in different ways. first, because i was alone in my room trying to fix this problem, i had no one to talk to so instead of shouting crazily, i just kept making the "tsk" sound. second, as much as i really wanted to punch the people who manages google for doing a bad job at a bad time, i just slapped my bed as a form of release because, well, i have no choice. hahaha. the way i see kinesics, they are better ways of releasing emotions, may they be positively driven or not. the solidarity of release through kinesics makes one sane even in times of rage and anxiety.

aristotle's theory

Aristotle's Ars Rhetorica is the earliest document that we can refer to when talking about communication. In his article, he expounded his observations on how we communicate as human beings. Thus, we are given the model of the Speaker -> Message -> Audience. He, however, gave more emphasis on the speaker in doing the communication. According to Aristotle, the Speaker plays the major role in relaying his message, regardless of how the audience perceives it.
I agree with Aristotle even in the face of new schools of thought or modern views regarding communication. For me, it really is up to the speaker to make his message appealing. First of all, his topic must be relevant and interesting; this obviously is his job, not the audience's. Second, in order for his message or arguments be heard, he must be able to speak convincingly to his audience by sounding confident and with conviction; again, this is the job of the speaker, not the audience's. Lastly, the speaker's relationship with the audience will be much more meaningful if the speaker is able to make the non interested be interested rather than make the interested... well, not interested. Everything really is just about the speaker, and the audience is just there to listen and learn from the speaker.