the problem with entertainment news

In our English class, we had a few different readings this week, one came from warner this piece was titled political culture jamming, in this piece the issue of entertainment news was covered. Entertainment news can be a big problem in our culture if there are undedicated and not know what to believe then they can be easily misled by the political media that we have. Many people currently have problems with dissociating their way of thought from a political party. If an individual believes in one policy that a party supports they sometimes think that they must follow that party in everything they believe in. this can lead to a strong ostracizing of Americans. Some of the news that we have is clearly true, but some such as the comical satire that is often seen on the daily show or on the show that features Stephen Colbert or even bill Maher can tend to be more shows that try for a laugh instead of shows that are meant to inform the public. This can be a serious problem, because getting news from trust worthy organizations becomes harder when someone doesn’t know what is real news, and exactly how much the “news” that is reported by popular T.V shows can be biased. I do not see myself identifying with people who tend to get their news from comical news broadcasts, and I don’t tend to enjoy the comical news broadcasts that dominate primetime because they tend to be very pointed towards a very liberal audience. Trevor Noah is also another comedian who points his comedy at the conservative right ring and trump. I find his annoying because when people take up and really run with a political party they tend to ostracize an entire side of the topic by oversimplifying the topic and applying their own thought pattern whether it fits the topic and the conversation at hand. To have a healthy and rational political discussion it is required that people at least agree on the premise of what they are arguing about and therefore comedy news will never work. Comedy is taking something that seems striking or un predicted and benign it against what people consider to be normal. This will involve oversimplifying the issue and not fully representing the other side which doesn’t allow an open dialoged to happen, this can be both dangerous to completely ignore people and unhealthy for the culture because without open communication from both sides of an issue no progress can be made.

Sarah Bostic

     What does a picture of a dog and inmate interaction and the broadcast of a news parody have in common? To start, both are types of media. Even more importantly, both draw out the emotion of the audience.  

     After reading “Political Culture Jamming” by Warner, I began to think more in depth about how emotionally manipulative media can be. I have always known that the news is biased. The information is skewed primarily because most the population interprets information differently. However, I have never stopped to consider just how influential other forms of media were in forming our opinions. To stay in-the-know, people watch the news. What I didn’t take into account was the amount other media we are exposed to on a regular basis. Millennials are constantly checking Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and watching television shows—many of which feature comedic political memes or segments. The underlying emotional component of the media, whether it be ingrained in the humor, despair, or appeal of the information, is what makes the information enticing and cause the reader to trust the source despite the actual information presented. The article “Political Culture Jamming” mentions that The Daily Show uses a news parody to point out the flaws in the current political system. By adding the disclaimer that “after all, it is just a joke,” (Warner 152) the speaker can get away with otherwise offensive material. By asking questions in a Socratic irony fashion, Stewart is able to remain neutral yet point out the absurdities of the other argument. This tactic in storytelling brings in another perspective from the media and challenges the audience to consider a different opinion on the matter. However, audiences should be weary of this form of rhetoric because it relies more on emotion than fact. As Warner so perfectly phrased it, “Stewart’s self-effacing humor fosters both a sense of trust with those interviewed on the show and a sense of camaraderie with the audience” (152). It is a great tactic, but it has its faults because he information may be skewed.

     As for the photo essay “Puppies behind bars,” I was immediately aware of the pathos used in the formation of the piece. The information was not hidden behind humor. Rather, it was displayed full-screen in the form of an emotion-grabbing image. Nevertheless, there was a reason for this. My first thought was “How sweet!” My second thought was “Why did they choose images over a written article about inmates owning dogs?” The answer to that question is clear. First, a cute picture of a puppy draws attention to the article. Second, a photo essay clearly shows the loving relationship between the dog and the owner. By drawing on the emotions of the audience through pictures, the creator of the gallery can more easily share how positive the interactions are and not have to mention any of the negatives. The author shifted the audience’s  perspective on the topic by incorporating heart into their platform.

Sami A.

     The "Political Culture Jamming" article brings up a great point about the role of an open rational conversation on the foundations of democracy itself. Yet despite the importance of discussion and critical thinking amongst a democratic-republic nation, the political elites end up filtering the "noise" of conversation to promote their political agenda. This hinders the very foundation of our democracy as it can lead to basing political beliefs on loyalty to a particular party as opposed to using critical thinking and analysis to recognize the faults and benefits of proposed policy. Politicians use emotional and repetitive techniques to "brand" their policies so that citizens don't have to take the time to compare and contrast the problems associated with said policies. This very problem can explain the success of some satirical shows such as Last Week Tonight, The Daily Show, or even The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. All of these shows exhibit some form of "political culture jamming" where they turn around the intended message of a news story (such as a politician's new policy proposal) on its head by mimicking a news medium/show. I found it interesting that I related to some people that use these comedic shows as one of their sources of news. These shows found a way to implement their comedy and use it to voice their opinion and point out contradictions in stories. They even exaggerate the person or organization making the contradiction for comedy sake and making a point of how ridiculous it sounds. In my opinion, these shows do a great job of pointing out flaws of certain topics and give the opportunity for people watching to question the legitimacy of a policy or statement.

    I believe that the reading on the Periodic Table focused on the importance of how the structure of images can influence how the reader might better understand the image, or even the patterns associated with the image (the Periodic Table in this case). However, the current Periodic Table itself is not perfect (in structure) and yet we still use it. There have been many proposals to implement a new model/image of the Periodic Table, yet we stick with the same one due to habit and simplicity. I found myself scratching my head looking at Janet's helicoidal model as opposed to the more simpler blocks that are in rows and columns. Also, I felt that the criticisms regarding the Periodic Table were flimsy at best, because the Periodic Table does a pretty good job at indicating element trends and the symmetry argument seems nit picky.

Chelsea DiValerio

In the article “Political Culture Jamming,” we learn that culture jammers are media activists who rebel against the hegemony of the messages promoting global capitalism.  Politicians target consumers and rely on brand loyalty.  The author writes, “Citizens, like consumers, are busy people, and cultivating trust in the ‘Republican’ or ‘Democratic’ brand works to save the citizen/consumer time, in the form of information costs, while providing the politician or party a solid base of support” (Warner 147).  Culture jammers use a tactic called rhetorical sabotage to oppose capitalist institutions.  The epitome of culture jamming is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The show uses a news casting set to bring humor to different news and media, and it allows the viewers to form their own opinions about different topics.

We also read the article “The Periodic Table” by Elkins.  He discusses how the periodic table has become the standard even though it has many drawbacks.  For example, it could contain much more information about each element.  He also explains how chemists and physicists use the same information form the table, but use it so differently.  To the physicist, the periodic table is just an approximation.  Even before scientists understood chemistry and physics, affinity tables were created using logic and acids to categorize substances. Since then, many tables and diagrams have been created to help understand the sciences, but nothing has been proven to be the fixed truth.

“Ways of Seeing: The Contemporary Photo Essay” discusses how photography has stayed relevant in the ever-changing landscape of media.  Photographers have to capture the perfect photo in order to tell their story.  However, the speed of their publication results in viewers not getting the full story behind them.  Consequently, photos have been added to articles so readers can understand the context and still get the impact of the photos.  Photographers are also becoming more creative in the ways that they capture the readers’ attention.  For example, they use still life, documentary, portraiture, writing, and drawing.  Some photographers even have their subjects contribute their own art to the photos.

The article, “Puppies Behind Bars,” explains a program in prisons designed to have inmates train puppies who will go to veterans.  The inmates teach the dogs 80 commands over the course of the program, and they help the dogs stay focus on their tasks.  It gives inmates a responsibility for something other than themselves.  It teaches them patience and a strong work ethic. The author of this piece of media utilized black and white phots and short explanations under each picture.

Blog Post 4

Warner’s “Political Culture Jamming” talks about the different way politicians and political parties have attempted to drown out rebellious messages in order to have viewers favor their ideas.  Politicians have been using techniques of commercial marketers in hopes of persuading citizens.  “Culture Jammers are a loose collection of media activists who are rebelling against the hegemony of the messages promoting global capitalism” (Warner 4).  Rather than using factual information, rational argumentation, legal language, and traditional tactics, culture jamming turns to commercial techniques of image and emotion through act of “rhetorical sabotage.”  Politicians and their political consultants have also embraced the idea of branding in the political area.

Elkins’ “The Periodic Table” reflects on the periodic table and how it does not represent some fixed truth about the way things are.  It serves many purposes, but is also full of drawbacks.  The periodic table is only an approximation.  There is so much room for potential information to be added.  I think Elkins is trying to connect the periodic table to writing.  Our writings are not fixed, or set and stone; there is always room for improvement.  The drawbacks can be simple mistakes we’ve made or that there is information missing.  When writing, there is always room for more information to be added; whether it be more details or more sources to describe the point of the argument.

Phil Blicker’s “Ways of Seeing the Contemporary Photo Essay” reflects on how photographers make work that effectively stands out and connects with the audience.  Photographers were working to tell stories through powerful, innovative, and resourceful ways.  There are many ways of seeing to grab attention.  It has been influential in maintaining photography’s relevance in a shifting environment, media landscape, and culture ruled by images.  Incorporating photos into writing can keep readers interested and persuaded.  There are different types of media that include still life, documentary, portraits, and drawings that can encourage subjects to contribute to the arrivistic process and tell their own stories.

“Puppies behind Bars” reflects on a program that housebreaks puppies that will become guide dogs for the blind.  Puppies that are bred to become guide dogs go through rigorous tests at only seven weeks to determine if they have the capability to become a guide dog.  About half are released, and the others go through eighteen months of training to learn about obedience and how to live in a family environment.  These dogs go to the library, dentist, chapel, and offices within the prison where the inmates work each day.  For most inmates, the program was their first serious responsibility, where they had to train puppies three days a week.

Extra Credit

The reading from praxis for this section was fairly simple. The authors simply outlined how technology has affected the medium in which consumers prefer to consume news, information, stories, and other rhetoric. Multimedia is a fairly useful tool and more often than not, expected in modern reading culture. I myself consume a majority of my news and media from a mobile device. As a college student, I rarely if ever find that I have the time to really sit down and enjoy anything so reading newspapers, watching the evening news, or waiting for releases of transcripts is not part of my daily routine. I must consume my news in a way that is digestible whilst doing other things. This often entails shorter pieces released by outlets like Buzzfeed, or skimming the titles of Washington Post headlines that pop-up on my desktop. If I find that I have a few minutes or the work I am doing is not entirely consuming, I enjoy watching nightly programs that deliver news with a more humorous tone. Like mentioned in the Praxis readings I find I am part of the millennial group that turns to "...comedy shows like The Daily Show and other alternative media instead of traditional news outlets." Especially with the ever tumultuous political climate of today, I find it easier to digest news that is not delivered in serious tones that truly make me feel the weight of what is happening around me, often if not always, beyond my control. The benefits of multimedia presentation is not a new idea or unique to modern technology by any means, however. Hand drawn political cartoons in newspapers, pictured findings for scientific experiments, illustrated novels, all of these are examples of multimedia projects that happened before the newest technological revolution. In all these the aim is the same, make some point or another clearer to the intended audience without the use of many long paragraphs and complex sentences.

Multimedia is not the only way to present an idea. The presentation of the material itself is also quite important. Much like how consumers find news more enjoyable if presented in the form of a joke, font and typography can help to convey a point as more or less trustworthy and make a piece easier or more difficult to read and remember. I found that the videos, VSauce's "A Defense of Comic Sans" and Vox's "How Stranger Things Got its Retro Title Sequence" both made this point very effectively (through the use of a multimedia presentation). The point made in VSauce's video, if not somewhat muddled by the history of Comic Sans, is that typography can be used both appropriately and inappropriately to convey messages. Very rarely would one ever stumble across an academic paper written in Comic Sans, and this is because, consciously or unconsciously, we have been conditioned to believe that the more formal the font (something like Times New Roman or Helvetica) the more reliable the information and vice versa.

Claire Tidey Extra Credit

In the sources we looked at two videos and a portion of Praxis. The topic that was focused on this week was fonts. It was talked about the criticism and effectiveness of the different types. One video focused on the defending of Comic Sans, he talked about how it has come full circle in being loved and then hated and finally loved again. Comic Sans was used in the piracy section of paramount’s previews for many years. This font was also used on tombstones. It was started due to Mircosoft Dog, the font was used as his speech bubbles. This font was used in comic books originally because it looked like a kids hand writing. This font was also used in kinds books due to the fact that it was easier to read. This next video was about the font used for the Netflix series Stranger Things. This font was customized for the film but it was derived from other long lasting favorites such as The Smith’s album. The font was a blend of many different ideas that when combined gave us the unique look that was presented in the film. The Praxis reading was centered around the fonts used in social media. It discussed the many different fonts presented and the many different types of social media that used the same fonts.  All of these sources talked about the differences in the fonts used for different formats. There are many different fonts that all portray very different things. It is incredible what an art can be portrayed and how due to a font people can read the same word and have many different thoughts about that same word.  

Claire Tidey Extra Credit

In the sources we looked at two videos and a portion of Praxis. The topic that was focused on this week was fonts. It was talked about the criticism and effectiveness of the different types. One video focused on the defending of Comic Sans, he talked about how it has come full circle in being loved and then hated and finally loved again. Comic Sans was used in the piracy section of paramount’s previews for many years. This font was also used on tombstones. It was started due to Mircosoft Dog, the font was used as his speech bubbles. This font was used in comic books originally because it looked like a kids hand writing. This font was also used in kinds books due to the fact that it was easier to read. This next video was about the font used for the Netflix series Stranger Things. This font was customized for the film but it was derived from other long lasting favorites such as The Smith’s album. The font was a blend of many different ideas that when combined gave us the unique look that was presented in the film. The Praxis reading was centered around the fonts used in social media. It discussed the many different fonts presented and the many different types of social media that used the same fonts.  All of these sources talked about the differences in the fonts used for different formats. There are many different fonts that all portray very different things. It is incredible what an art can be portrayed and how due to a font people can read the same word and have many different thoughts about that same word.