The Flame!

A Flame is a computer Virus or it is to insult someone over the Internet, I also believe the Internet is the flame, it can be used for either good or evil according to the user.  The values of the user trickle back to the morals and values they were taught that fuel the flame.  The Internet is a learning tool that can be used to increase knowledge, I use it all the time to check and recheck facts.  I use it to learn things I do not already know or to expand my knowledge of things I already know.  It can also be used for evil, people use it to expand their knowledge of hatred and to increase their social network of those with the same interests of hate and prejudice.  Where others use it to connect with friends as I do on Facebook and Pinterest, those with evil in their soul use it to flame their common interest of hate.  They can then search for specs on bomb making and terrorism; soon after the Internet has contributed to death, with 6 degrees of separation affecting us all.  Internet is the flame of knowledge, children are the fuel learning at a faster pace and learning more taxing things at an earlier age, I watch my five year old run our computer faster and better than I can and she has only been on it for a year.  My fourteen year old can write a paper better and use Google Docs, which I just learned about on Thanksgiving this year.  I am stuck in the world of "Word."  Good things, my brother invented a video game for children with depression, when they play it raises the serotonin levels so they don't have to take anti-depressants.  Wonderful advancements, flaming creativity in an otherwise empty space.  People socialize with others they would loose contact with due to distance or just no longer really having things in common thanks to the Internet.  The bad they loose touch with their real world neighbors, wasting so much time, doing as some would see as nothing but waiting for status updates.  They have also lost the intimacy of eye to eye communication and are more likely to say things they otherwise would not, initiating flame wars.  Nothing but senseless insulting posts back and forth provoking each other with personal attacks.  The choice is ours, I choose knowledge, expansion, and creativity, wasting time intermittently on Pinterest and Facebook seeing what my friends are doing, but I love my neighbors.  I will not close myself off from society and become less friendly or hateful, I leave that to those with evil in their soul, but just because you can doesn't mean you should.  I have no time for that, I thirst for knowledge and friendship.  Remembering only on the Internet can a lonely person be popular!

Right or Privilege

The first person to call back is the side of the story we hear, is it necessarily fact or truth.  Is it non bias or is it the liberal garbage that seems to be spewing from the media now a days.  The hype that Chuck Klosterman  told us in his essay about there being no agenda per network is seeming nonsense.  The ABC Political Director, Mark Haplerin has admitted media has liberal bias, and that ABC itself is Liberal.  He acknowledges Wall Street Journal and New York Times and that journalist in their nature are liberal, so to watch an ABC news clip and think there is no agenda just because Chuck Klosterman a seeming apolitical leaning left rambler says' so, "Please". I do have a mind and opinion of my own even though I am supposed to be suppressing it if it does not correlate with the almighty Chuck!
Diane Sawyer the woman who dreams of Bill Clinton eating Pizza with her (lib).   The story she was plugging was a bigger story and a subliminal story.  The overcharged hospital visit, with Rebecca Jarvis responsible for over 60% of bankruptcies.  Atlanta mom Tracy Rudd's story was an example of what Chuck Klosterman spoke of, the first to call back.  These people submitted their stories online and ABC reviewed them, handpicked several that fit their profile and made phone calls.  The first to call back made the nightly news.  This topic is something big in the media right now.  The Affordable Healthcare act if and when this fails, since Obama and his administration has miserably handled the set up and initiation of this system will be a set up for something larger.  The Affordable Heathcare act is not affordable to whom it was set out to be affordable to, college kids and young adults will pay the most and we now have more uninsured Americans than we did to start with.  If this fails it will lead us into what Obama wanted in the first place Universal Health Care, Socialism!  Dropping stories like this leads people to believe our system is in shambles and we need rescued, if something like this was in place she would of never had a bill like this, because there would of been no overcharging, the government would of been in charge and decided what could of or couldn't of been charged.  When in actuality she needs to also take responsibility and not take the cheapest policy available, you need to be aware of your policy and if you have 50% coverage, what would of happened if she had cancer, she could of not afforded those bills either.  This is a blame game and both sides to be assuming  responsibilities.
In Universal Healthcare it would of been taken out of the hospitals hands forgetting your taxes would go up (48%), we do need one price fits all.  Medicaid should not get one price, insurance gets another, and non insured another.  We are all people it should be a one size fits all service, Dr.'s take an oath.  If we have more stability in pricing they would have less unpaid and less write offs insurance should not of gotten away with paying 4750.00 and 13000.00 written off.
We need to start with affordable healthcare in a state run system not Federal, and remember the US has the best heathcare for a reason, after all we don't go to Canada for healthcare and we don't go to Asia, Europe, Norway, or Australia.  But these countries also have free education, so our government has to remember you open one door you must open the other, and that question still lingers is Higher education a right or a privilege?  But what oh what would happen to all our education debt, would it be exonerated if Higher education became a right and it was free and Government paid for?
The fluff in the news program for me was the passing of Gay marriage in the state of Illinois!  Were they really that desperate for space that they needed to throw this in. Yeah, yeah, yeah it is happening great!  I think everyone has a right to love whom they wish and have legal rights to a commitment ceremony.  If one partner becomes sick their partner should be able to make decisions, if they have a child they should have equal rights; but the church and state still need to remain separate.  The legalization of Gay marriage is spreading and the acceptance of Gay marriage is coming, just let it happen at every one's pace.  It is like interracial marriage eventually 98% of the world came around and accepted it, it just takes time, open minds and evolving generations.
But remember we own our Rights, we control them, privileges are given or asked for and can be taken away.  Do you want the Government in charge of your privileges?

The Millennials common Denominator

The Gen X was defined by the movie of Star Wars so Klosterman notes. Now to what will the Millennial generation be defined?   This generation is being labeled in many ways but what has supposedly shaped them like Star Wars did for boys in Gen X? I have searched for days and spoke to many of people and no one can give me an answer, so are they the lost Generation? Do they have no common element other than access to the Internet?
This leads me to believe Social Media has had the biggest impact on the Millennial generation. This generation is narcissistic; they love thy self, with the selfies, the updates on their status, the posts of what they are eating or where they are at.  They don't live to work like other generations, they work to live, to support their habits, sorry hobbies or interests. This generation the Millennials' are healthier, they eat less fast food (McDonald's) than other generations, and they care about the community more.  This generation believe respect goes both ways not just respect your elders.
These ideals are brought forth from changing family structures, Gen-Y is the wanted generation with reliable birth control, parenthood became a choice.  It was no longer unplanned.  These children were chosen, they were very special from day one.  Hardships not imposed these children were the future, they were valuable, talented, and worthy of being from the day they were planned.  Parenting strategies changed from Authoritarian to Authoritative, children had an opinion in their raising and discipline.  With corporal punishment on the outs there was talking and timeouts, spanking is something this generation knows few and far between.  Making this generation feeling worthy and warranted of time and energy.  After all they were rewarded for everything. They were told everything was a good job, and given trophies even if they lost. This is probably why this generation needs a pat on the back more than any other generation prior.
Millennial's had access to Internet earlier than any other generation prior molding and shaping their minds.  The invention of My Space connecting people, then Facebook, Twitter and YouTube the social networks changed it all.  This Generation is closer to their friends and keep in contact with friends they don't see everyday better than any other generation; but they are lacking connection to their next door neighbors. This generation is more likely to post things very personal that other generation would value private, and more likely to fight publicly posting negative nasty comments that would of never before been acceptable. Taking away face to face contact people have a swelling of pride and ego, forgetting once posted it is there for all your friends to see.  This is the first generation to be searched on Google prior to being hired, once anything is sent on the information highway it is there forever, sometimes they forget that.  Social Media changed their awareness, their friendships, and gave them power to change society. This generation is always connected, they enlist supporters, and they make change better and faster than anyone else. Social media has connected this generation, and allowed them to praise themselves, talk about themselves,  post pictures and movies of themselves and their accomplishments, and tell us more than we ever want to know!  What would we ever do without social media?  I'll post it on Facebook then post a video on YouTube of what I would do!

Archetype art thy Steroetype

Since the beginning of time we have been type cast.  It is a universal symbolic pattern it is not original to Real World.  It is an ancient Greek saying the Root word archein meaning "original or old"; and typos, which means "pattern, model or type". The combined meaning is an "original pattern" of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are derived, copied, molded or emulated.

True to their universal nature, archetype characters and stories appear again and again across many diverse cultures, not just TV shows as Klosterman notes.  For they are the people we associate with daily, we can stereotype basically everyone we meet, whether we should or shouldn't.

The Magician

The Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, he used the concept of archetype in his theory of the human psyche.  He believed that the Universal mythic characters or archetypes reside in the collective unconscious. Jung defined twelve different archetypes;  1. The Innocent (Saint) 2. The Orphan/Regular Guy (Goal to belong) 3. The Hero (Warrior) 4. The Caregiver (Selfless) 5. The Explorer (Wanderer) 6. The Rebel (Misfit) 7. The Lover (Slut, Stud) 8. The Creator (Artist) 9. The Jester (Joker) 10. The Sage (Wise Old Man) 11. The Magician (Overachiever) and 12. The Ruler (Leader)

I never payed attention to these archetypes until this Essay; Chuck Klosterman spoke of The Real World type casting season to season.  This type casting makes me look at our circle of friends where you can easily notice we all fit in a type cast because we all have dimensions to our personality. 



The Wanderer



I don't believe we are acting befit a character on T.V., for these are universal archetypes.  They are not a concept owned by a production company, they are a universal pattern describing the primary dimension of a person's personality.

The archetype's have evolved over time, I do believe there are modern day archetypes but I disagree with Chuck they have to be as blunt and racially derived as he states.  We could add the drunk, their seems to be one of those. The black guy and the gay as Chuck points out; is the talent of casting in television as an attention seeker, more than type casting racial lines. They always want racial diversity and never let the lines blur, no matter how much most of society would like them too.  Race and homosexuality is not new to our generation, more socially acceptable, but not new so casting and production need new material.  Their character is that of the overt Rebel, I refuse to allow the indignation of a race card in the universal archetype, I hope society has come that far too.



The Ruler

One thing you can find is a Reality TV show befitting any archetype you wish to watch, you want a bitch, watch Real Housewives, you want The Lover watch the Bachelor or Bachelorette, The Ruler watch Hell's Kitchen, and the Explorer you could watch the Amazing Race.  There is a niche for everyone, I only have to look in my household an I can name several types, the Innocent, The Caregiver, The Sage, and an oprhan. 

Chuckie as I like to call him, since I read  him regularly.  I feel like we are friends, made a very strong point.  These characters are relatable because we see them everyday, from our co-workers, friends, to family members.  It is also sometimes like looking in the mirror, for we have all watched a show and gone, "that is so me", because I swear to this day Phil from Modern Family is based of my husbands character.  Every episode he does things that are soo my husband.  Love this quote, “I’m cool dad, that’s my thang. I’m hip, I surf the web, I text. LOL: laugh out loud, OMG: oh my god, WTF: why the face.
or “I was gonna tell Claire about the dog. I was just waiting until she was in the right mood. Actually, I did get one right mood a couple nights ago… but I cashed that in for something else.” Proving to me that archetypes are relatable stereotypes fitting to a one dimensional degree, but remembering we all have several dimensions; we just might show one at a time to people or in different situations.

Respectfully, Let it Go!

So let's put the card on the table, people act like there is only a stereotype for black people and that is nothing but a falsehood.  Last I saw I have never seen a black man living in a trailer park, or ever heard a black man called trailer trash.  I have never seen a black man called a Redneck or a Cracker, but we have all heard a white boy called a wannabe *igger.   You can not let socioeconomic class use racism and slavery as an excuse for failings.
Brad Paisley and LL Cool J tried to mend our racial tension with a song "Accidental Racist" that stirred up controversy, for reasons I do not fully understand.  It was not our generation that induced slavery so why are we still paying for their mistakes.  If those chips on the shoulder or anger persist generation to generation then that is cultural or socioeconomic.  I do not raise my children to look at skin color or to think any one skin color will treat them any better or worse than another, so why does this hatred and racial lines still exist? 
I think the lines still exist because some blacks still throw dirt in our face, remember what your people did to us 150 years ago, well take a look at your ancestors originating Country and see what you do to your own people still to this day.  Slavery is still in effect in Africa and I don't see the outrage, I see it displaced in this nation.  Where if anywhere we should stand together helping the  fellow man.
Our job is to teach our children you can achieve anything with hard work and determination.  Not we deserve because of what was done to us 150 years ago, or he don't like me because he got a rebel flag on his shirt; "But I see that red flag and I think you wish I wasn't here."  No it's just a Damn shirt!  There should be a drive to be educated, not a label of he's trying to be white.  We are not putting a label on "breaking the cycle" African Americans are.
The past is the past, it is our job as the future generations to move forward and teach history but not anger or hate because of it.  Slavery still exists in Africa not here in America so we need to move forward not backwards,  like the song states, "it aint like you and me can rewrite history."  If you think you can not achieve something because you were once slaves and the white man is still holding you back.  Then you have been educated to feel that way because no one is holding you back.  Only in America do you have the ability to have your own opinions, speak them as you wish, and become anything you desire.  Let bygones be bygones.
Even as your president Mr. Obama said. “Growing up, I made a few myself.  Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down.”  He acknowledges he was wrong,  his failings were his failings noone elses, and I am not a fan of his but he speaks about responsibilities across all nationalities.  Because success is success, failure is failure, and excuses are excuses no matter what your history is.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/19/obama-black-graduates-dont-use-racism-excuse/#ixzz2jndQqaY0
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Everywhere we look..

Intertextuality the ability interconnect or influence other aspects of our life by intersubjectivity or allusion from an original text.  This occurs everyday in our lives from a song in a commercial, to the song in the commercial and the singer, or a great song, the latest version of a car and a new movie coming out in the theater and the star in the movie.  Next thing you know, you want to see a movie, want a new car, or need a new CD! I found that example in a Volkswagen commercial with a child dressed as Darth Vader, can we say Halloween plug. I left wanting a car and wanting to watch Star Wars and go Trick or Treating. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0
The ability to combine several different areas into one selling point is genius for the companies at hand and really annoying for us at times.  The use of  subliminal messages we see ,or don't see, in advertising everyday influence our buying, the popular actress/singer selling makeup, to the infamous Calvin Klein ads.  Ann Taylor has the actress Kate Hudson and prior to that had Katie Holmes and Demi Moore advertising their clothing line.  An attraction to the consumer, actresses wearing and selling clothes that are affordable to the woman making them relatable, also helping their image and giving them exposure.
 They have always placed the most well known man of the time in the ads, selling the man and the underwear.  The last 007 movie that came out sold anything, Heineken, cars, Coca Zero, Sony, Omega.  Plus the plugs in the movie itself. Sorry but never saw James Bond drinking Coke Zero, and I missed the Martini the beer was so Cop not Secret Agent, no offence. 
But there can be good crossing popular culture into awareness using intertextuality in a positive way can help people, why we have Adam Levine and Jessica Simpson selling Pro Active, a Benzoyl Peroxide product repackaged as a Wow, but these people made it ok to suffer from it and to buy a product and make it better.  They made it, don't be embarrassed we all have or have had it. 
We just have to watch out and not be brainwashed into buying everything!

It's not shameless

It has relevance, it is not just superficial. When I thought of Pop Culture all I used to think of was trends, who was hot today, who was wearing what, what the hair cut will be for fall, what lipstick, what shoes will be popular this winter? Will Color blocking still be OK for fall. Why is Iowa last to have certain styles come our way. I never realized Popular Culture had super power! I don't mean super power to change bra styles, to make lingerie sexy, or to prove hey if we push up women's breasts they appear sexier! Duh, that is just physics.

 I am talking seeing what can help people, and making a difference in society. Noticing that there is a decline in self esteem in women and children and pointing it out blatantly and saying, "This needs to Change." Dove has done a wonderful job allowing women to accept and love themselves exactly as they are. My daughter looked at a Victoria Secret magazine, and found the women unnatural, she claimed "they need to eat mom," I was so proud that she did not compare herself, or felt no need to pick herself apart. She was proud of her athletic build; she is a Rower and goes "I'm ripped."

I was also amazed watching the Iowa vs. Ohio State Football game this weekend and seeing a penalty called for a Helmet to Helmet hit and the opponent being ejected from the game.  We are changing! http://btn.com/2013/10/19/ohio-state-cb-bradley-roby-ejected-for-targeting/ 

If we did not have Popular Culture and coverage of how dangerous these hits are for kids, they would continue to go on unnoticed, uncalled with a higher rate of mortality.
The same goes for smoking we as a nation are at an all time low, because of Popular Culture and awareness. The Cowboy may of changed the persona, but Culture changed how we as society see smoking. It is no longer cool, it is dirty, smelly and disgusting. Maybe that is an opinion, but it seems to be a popular opinion.
Popular Culture has an ethical and moral side which I was glad to see, they care about today and tomorrow. Popular Culture has a place in society, beyond fashion, and the Perez Hilton of gossip, Popular Culture found a purpose beyond Kim Kardashian's plunging neck line, and I love it!  I found it ironic it even has conservative and liberal opinions. But then again doesn't everything have a right and wrong side?