benjco8

[benjco8]

Is [Cultural] Imperialism Incorrect?

The chapter repeatedly used the term “cultural imperialism” to describe how Western media is beginning to permeate the world. Imperialism, however, implies a forceful process whereby the victims are unable to resist the onslaught, either through lack of resources or know-how.

While there are many good arguments as to why classical Imperialism is wrong, Cultural Imperialism I think is a different matter. Culture is something somebody can choose to accept or not. In the author’s example of forsaking his French-Canadian culture for pop-American, it’s interesting to note a few things. To begin with, the American culture obviously offered opportunities that the family thought worth-while – hence the move to New England. Secondly, the culture obviously was more attractive to the author – he chose American over French-Canadian. He had a choice – he lived in the French-Canadian neighborhood and it would be very easy to maintain his culture; however, he chose America.

The destruction of classic cultures, I think, is regrettable in that the history and traditions in each culture provide amazing insight into the history of humanity. However, if the natives of these cultures are forsaking their own cultures for the West, there obviously is some advantage to accepting the Western Culture.

Some say that this Western Influence is unwanted – but who are these people resisting the West? There are, of course, the traditional conservatives that want to maintain their cultures at all cost. However, if there is a widespread apostasy from these non-Western cultures, it would appear that the majority of these peoples prefer the West to their own culture. If these, the people completely immersed in the culture and experience all of its benefits, are forsaking it for the West, who are we to say they are wrong?

Academic society is strongly influenced by an idea that developed in the early 19th century known as “The Noble Savage”, a thought promoted by many philosophers such as Henry David Thoreau. (The term “savage” is probably incorrect but is a word of its time). This view romanticizes a life without progress, technology, and large populations, condemning them as immoral, and promoting a return to traditional living. However, in a documentary about the Amazon (Into the Amazon, by Hazardous Journeys), Doug Philips interviews different natives living in their natural environment and culture. Far from fearing the advancement of technology and the Western Culture into their lives, they welcome it, describing the difficult lives they live – even more difficult than “hard lives” in Western Culture.

The choice is theirs – they can adopt Western Culture through media, or continue in their traditional ways. Who are we to condemn their choice?

[benjco8]

Hmm... Interesting use of the word "work" when talking about working for a goal. I would argue that the type of effort put into a video game is not beneficial in other modes of "work": no physical discomfort is required, no "unlikable" tasks must be accomplished (or the player wouldn't be playing the game), and there is no "thinking outside the box"; you are limited by the game's capability.

At least one, and many times all three characteristics are present in most "real-world" work scenarios. The sense of accomplishment from beating the game is obtained by spending hours and hours of time with no real-life pay-off. It is an artificial world, artificial accomplishments, resulting in artificial players. I've seen gamers, and I've seen non-gamers; rarely have I seen the gamer succeed.

There is the argument that robot controllers can gain experience through gaming. While this is true, consider that millions of people play games, the number of opportunities to work in a drone-controlling environment are very small - much more than just gaming capability is required, including military-level fitness, knowledge of mechanics, technical skills, and combat capability... to my knowledge, there are no games that adequately prepare job applicants for this.

Games - artificial worlds creating artificial accomplishments and giving us an artificial high opinion of our capabilities. And the world accuses Americans of being partyers and not serious enough... I wonder why...

Throughout the news and other media, there seems to be much emphasis on what is wrong with video games, what problems it is bringing to society, or what problems it reflects in our society. However, the flipside of this argument is interesting because video games do, in fact, have their fair...

[benjco8]

You are right - the media does have far too much influence over us. Before we can deal with society as a whole, we have to deal with it on a personal level. The question I think is not, "Is society being affected too much by the media", but rather, "Am I allowing myself to be too influenced by the media?" Society is comprised of individuals; instead of focusing on the symptoms of a sick society, let's deal with the heart of the problem - the gullible individual. This is a personal choice; only when we deal with this on a personal level can we deal with it on a cultural level.

Thanks for the thoughts!

Ben

Video for Ben C. and Adam.

Pictures from Google Images

Music by Lorne Balfe, performed by the London Philharmonic

[benjco8]

Video for Ben C. and Adam.

Pictures from Google Images

Music by Lorne Balfe, performed by the London Philharmonic

[benjco8]

"Big Brother" or "Oh Brother"?

Here in the United States of America, we revel in our freedoms and our voice in the government. We all see the internet censoring in China and condemn it as wrong. We all would point at the totalitarian rule that the Chinese government holds and declare “That will never be us!”

And yet… why not? The current Chinese government exists because of fear; in the early 20th century, China was in a state of poverty and invasion. The dictatorial communists offered safety and prosperity – and the Chinese populace were willing to sacrifice privacy and freedom.

That is key – are we so worried about our security and safety that we are willing to sacrifice our privacy? When the government taps phone lines or views private information, it is all in the name of national security. I am completely in support of protecting our country – it’s one of our government’s jobs. However, we fought for independence for rights, such as Amendment IV in the Bill of Rights: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

I highly doubt that our government got a warrant for every phone tapped, every email read, or every internet history reviewed. Their control of the internet is well on the way to a conspiracy-theory-magnitude.

And yet… it shouldn’t be. People should be aware that the internet is an open forum, emphasis on the word “open”. Private information such as finances, location, age, gender, etc., should only be put on the web if the uploader is aware of the fact that anybody (yes, ANYBODY) could view it. Passwords can be hacked – nothing is guaranteed to be “safe”.

This doesn’t mean that we live in a state of paranoia – just caution. I do my banking online; it’s the most convenient way to do it. I do not, however, expound on the details of my personal life online; if somebody I know needs to know, I tell them in person.

Instead of pointing fingers and trying to transfer blame, let’s start in our own backyard. Have you ever had your Facebook hacked? How about email? Don’t keep items online that you don’t want everybody to see. Responsible use of the internet is the best way to curb the abuse of our online information.

[benjco8]

What is time?

Is it simply a measurement of the progression of reality?

The commonality of these posts within the first hour of my blog's creation is very likely to be unrivaled throughout the remainder of the semester. However, since I find myself with an excess of this item "time", I shall utilize it in a more or less entertaining way (to myself at least, though truth be told I hope readers do as well) rather than simply reclining in my chair and pondering life as I know it.

...

I look forward to a time when I have something more or less stimulating to the mind to write about, though currently I lack such a topic on which I may monologue. I shall now desist from my current writing spree, and instead await my professor's instruction - with great anticipation!

[benjco8]

This is for Soc 373 in case anybody is wondering...

Not that anybody would be, but I feel the urge to write a very extensive, and perhaps linguistically challenging post right now due to the immense boredom that I am currently experiencing in the classroom... I am looking for the rest of you out there in Soc 373 for WSU-V land... where are you?...

[benjco8]

Greetings and Felicitations!

This here would be my very first Tumblr post... if anybody has read this far into the message you are either extremely bored, a very diligent student, or simply humored by this rather ridiculous message... whatever the case, this communication is not complete and there is no further use for you to pursue this course of action any longer.

...

I say, if you aren't still here? Well, you quite obviously have nothing better to be doing right now, and for that fact I am most sorry - to have to stoop to such a low occupation as tumblr-opening-message-reading must, indeed, be a hard burden to bear. Alas, my friend, I wish you better, brighter days ahead of  you.

This is Ben Coder (there, one requirement for this post filled), wishing you a happy semester, wonderful day, and felicitous remainder of the hour.