Fake News

When I was a kid, I remember going to the grocery store with my mom and seeing the magazine rack near the check-out line. For whatever reason, there was always a new issue of a ridiculously fake magazine called “World News”. They were always printed in black and white, and had the most amazingly fake and outlandish front pages you can fathom (aliens, conspiracies, etc.). See, even at nine years old, I knew this was made up gibberish. Now, in 2017, fake news is a little harder to detect than back then. No one really knows what to believe anymore, because many stories can seem valid when they are in fact false. It also certainly does not help that certain politicians, (a.k.a. Donald J. Drumf), have been continually discrediting news sources that are reliable, and praising information stemming from unchecked sources.

Not all hope is lost, in my opinion, of the news and media today. There are ways to tell is a source is fake or reliable. As Wynne Davis from NPR states, one must:

·         “Pay Attention to the domain and URL”

·         “Read the ‘About Us’ section”

·         “Look at the quotes in a story”

·         “Look at who said them”

·         “Check the comments”

·         “Reverse image search”

www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/12/05/503581220/fake-or-real-how-to-self-check-the-news-and-get-the-facts

In my opinion, I do think that there and that certain journalists in the media are still making an effort to challenge our political leaders. To name one recent example, when Kellyanne Conway falsely inquired about the “Bowling Green Massacre” that never happened, many reporters were sure to convey to the public that this was not a real event. She meant to refer to terrorists who were convicted in Bowling Green, and misspoke. 

https://youtu.be/flyW41U7XPw

Regardless of what her intentions were, I think it is good that these statements are still being watched and people are still being held accountable, even if their intentions are good.

For your entertainment, here are some of the "Weekly World News" cover pages I was referring to:

I recommend googling images if you need a laugh.

You're welcome 

Gun Violence and Video Games

I'll never forget the first time I played Halo for the first time, back in 2009 as a high school freshman. I had never played a video game like it before and I'm pretty sure I lost after 12 seconds of playing. I never attempted it again.
I often wonder what the appeal is to games like this, or maybe I'm just bitter that I have no talent when it comes to Halo.

Then I think of all of the advertisements I've seen of other violent video games, where it is easy to see that the majority of these contain hyper-masculine men. They are usually dominating, extremely large and muscular, angry and loaded with ammunition. The object in these games is to kill quickly and in any way imaginable. Rewards are given for kills, and levels get increasingly intense.
And of course, women are often hypersexualized as well.

Looking at the nature of these kinds of games and what the incentives and goals these games tend to have, it does cause one to wonder if people are influenced to commit violent acts when they play these games. While not everyone who enjoys playing video games that contain violence (GUN violence for context) end up being violent people, there is evidence to show that these games HAVE influenced some people (in specific cases)  to commit voilence. I do not think all people will be affected the same if exposed to violent video games, but I do believe it can play a large part in an already unstable and harmful person being more influenced to commit a violent act. In other words, some people are more susceptible to it due to internal (mental illness, etc.) or external factors around them.

For example, in an article by Nick Bilton of the New York Times, it discusses how people who play these games can become "less emphatic" to violence. Players can become desythesized because it exposes so much that it seems normal in time. It also seems that many mass shooters had a connection with actively playing violent video games for a period of time before their attacks. For example, Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, was a big fan of violent games and played Call of Duty often. While violent video games did not solely convince him to go through with this horrible atrocity  it was a large factor in giving him the idea to do so.

I think there definitely is a concern for video games and the marketing of weapons. People need to be aware of what they are exposing themselves to while playing video games, and how they react to violence afterwards.


Looking At Link Between Violent Video Game and Lack of Empathy
https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/looking-at-link-between-violent-video-games-and-lack-of-empathy/?_r=0

https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2015/may/11/the-professor-who-thinks-video-games-will-be-the-downfall-of-men-zimbardo

(Not Very) Happy Violence

Ever seen an Indiana Jones movie? How about an Avengers movie? Pirates of the Caribbean? Nacho Libre? Any movie with some extent of action or fighting? Well, if the answer is no, you really need to get a Netflix account (especially for Nacho Libre). If it’s a yes, then you have likely been exposed to a concept known as “happy violence”. This term is used to describe scenes in the media that contain violence but in a glorified, somewhat justified or comedic way. There may be violence that ultimately leads to a happy ending in a show, which gives the impression of moderating said violence. It is often without any real consequence, and is sometimes glamorous (think; immense explosion in the background as an unfazed character played by Ryan Gosling wears sunglasses and walks in slow motion towards the camera). Happy violence has a habit of allowing those who view it to become desensitized and dazed by the amount of fighting and dismantling.

Let’s take a look at a few more specific examples:

(Links in the references at the bottom)

In these scenes, there are a series of heroes and villains, where one side is being rooted for and causes the viewer to hope the evil-do-er gets what's coming to him/her/it. It somehow allows the violence taking place to carry on with less gravity and provides more justification for their actions.  I always wonder how the city pays for reconstruction after Hulk destroys everything. They must pay a ton in taxes.

References:

The Avengers: All Hulk Smash Scenes 

https://youtu.be/tDt4HaHLp6k

Spider-Man : Peter Parker vs. Flash Thompson "School Fight" (2002)

https://youtu.be/xlQrg08AF1U

Yoda Fight Scenes
https://youtu.be/IRd9PGmAQUE

Best Fight Scenes of Avegers 2 Part 1
https://youtu.be/QkF-Rhl449U

Blog Post 2 - Who Owns the Media?

I’ll admit that I have watched many TV shows in my life and probably have more episodes memorized in my head than I should. I come from a small town, where watching shows were kind of a way of combatting chronic boredom. Now as an adult looking back, I am beginning to think that a lot of the “coincidences” and irony in shows and media were a little more calculated than I thought. 

After doing some research, I discovered a few of the main Television shows I watch/ed are run by bigger corporate influences. Here are some of them, along with which larger company owns them:

1. Time Warner, Inc. : Warner Brothers TV, Cartoon Network (literally had no idea), Boomerang, CNN, HBO, and Cinemax.

2. Comcast Corporation: NBC television network, the History Channel, PBS Kids Sprout

3. News Corp: National Geographic U.S., Fox News(not a fan but found it surprising) 

4. Viacom: Nickelodeon, Comedy Central

Seeing how connected some of these shows are, despite how different they are from one another, is very interesting.