Weekly response 6

ADP III Discussion 005

 

When Lasn uses the word “unhealthy” to describe tendencies of “American” culture I think he means exactly that. One definition for the word unhealthy states, “(of a person’s attitude or behavior) not sensible or well balanced; abnormal and harmful: an unhealthy obsession with fast cars. I do think Lasn means that we are obsessed with material things to the point where the objects are almost controlling how we live as Americans. The main obsession that I believe Americans have is with technology. So many people are constantly using computers, TV’s, I-pods, buying new cars & the latest gadgets. It is scary because we don’t need all of these things in order to live happy successful lives.  We have lost touch with the environment and the natural world.  Many people were oblivious to the environmental problems until it was publicly addressed and action was then taken. From the discussion last week and in this text I was drawn to the issue of not having as much face time with other people, even within specific families. It is important for individuals to have live conversations and be connected without having to use a form of technology to do so. I feel like that is a bigger issue now than it was 10 years ago, but since then has progressively gotten worse. People are now watching television while eating dinner rather than discussing how their days were with a family member or a friend. Statistically that has caused people to eat more, and essentially gain weight which leads to a more unhealthy lifestyle.

 

Work Cited

 

Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America. New York: Eagle Brook, 1999. Print

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/unhealthy

 

Weekly Response #6

Yu-Jen(Chris),Tsai
ADP3
Discussion 005

Weekly Response #6

In the autumn chapter in Culture Jam, Kalle Lasn discussed mostly about the prevailing capitalism created by the society and how it has been affecting us globally. The author talked about how our global situation either environmental or economical and even psychological is going downstream. He believes that out of all communication mediums, media plays a huge part of the consumerism. While Mr. Lasn is describing his experience of proposing his television commercial idea, the “Mystical Forests” commercial, which reveals the truth the advertising company tried covering up with their commercial called “Forest Forever” on what was really happening to the forest in Britain. However, the corporation wasn’t even close to accepting the proposal; “In today’s media environment, advertisers rule––the sponsor is king (Lanse 35)” Lasn stated in the last passage in the Media Virus chapter. Even though some part of what Kalle tried to explain to me seem reasonable and makes me aware of our behavior as consumers. However, I don’t think that it is completely up to the sponsors’ choice to decide whether an ad should go on air or not, especially information that concerns the safety of our planet earth like the “forest issue”; message like it shall never be overlooked since it has always been our responsibility to look after our eco system. Humans have been severely consuming resources provided from our land ever since the industrial revolution. Humans have the right and obligation to fully understand and grasp issues occurring in the eco world.
Another point the author brought up that I would like to touch on would be the “product placement” situation that has gotten a lot worse compared to ten years ago, when the author wrote this book. This shows that some problems never got solved despite the fact that people knew it all along. It’s just like watching television or eating junk food, people know that they’re bad for their health, but they still keep on doing it anyhow. For instance, I once bought a pair of New Balance sneakers at a high price simply because the main character in one of my favorite movies wore the sneaker throughout the entire movie. So what does this mean? “What this means is that we’re now ripe for manipulation. We can be buzzed by logos without noticing.” (Lasn 38) the author stated; this reminded me of professor Trumpey’s very first lecture while he showed us the Mercedes logo and a picture of poison ivy for us to identify; from that particular test, we can see how drastically the media has manipulated the minds in our generation. It is crucial for us to focus on the environmental facets by discovering them by ourselves instead of incessantly retrieving messages sent by the media without even filtering them.


Work Cited

Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam. New York, Page.35 third paragraph & Page.38


Trumpey, Joseph. Art Design Perspective 3: Technology and the Environment. Stamps Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI. First Lecture.

Weekly Response 6

Levester Williams

ADP III

Reed-Esslinger-Payet, GSI

Lasn Takes on Consumerism…

Lasn critiques capitalist consumerism and analyzes its effect to instill a vivid image of its degradation on our culture. He states that a cult of consumerism has been integrated into our lives. The transition of Americans from citizens to consumers is relevant since we either blindly follow the rules set by the media or acquiesce but maintain our role as blind consumers (Lasn 63). Moreover, we are “governed [by] a corporate state” (Lasn 69), which “embraces the value of More” (Lasn 11). We, as cult members, are being programmed to fulfill the roles that corporations demand us to be. For example, I possess more than ten pairs of sneakers. Even though I still wear my worn-out shoes, I purchase new shoes since it has been embedded in my mind that more can never be enough. I momentarily feel content after the purchase, yet it always fades away into a dull void that is resolved by buying more sneakers. This plea for more derives from the cult “promising a kind of boundless contentment”(Lasn 54). However, this idealism of plenitude is detrimental to our growth as a nation since our ecosystem and our personal lives are impinged by it. Ecological economists claim that the world cannot expand more without having an ecological apocalypse (Lasn 86). For example, the world cannot sustain when First World countries and some developing countries are operating at a First World level, creating a plethora of ecological problems as seen in China (Diamond 376). Within ten years, this obsession with consumer capitalism seems not to have receded, yet people are becoming more concerned about their consumption—not only due to the current recession, but to conserve our environment and save energy.

Lasn generalizes our relationship with our possessions by assuming all people have a relationship with their products that identify us. For cars example, he explicates our relationship with cars as a complimentary asset to ourselves: “…they reinvent us” (Lasn 81). Yet, not all people buy cars to complement their self-image. Some may buy cars only to have transportation. These people may only look at the quality of the car, price of the car, warranty, and gas mileage as a referral to buy it. The type of car brought is to accommodate their roles in society, and the corporation may be minute factor in its purchase. For example, I may only buy a Macbook Pro due to its capabilities to create high quality designs and not due to its ability to reinvent my self-image. However, within these ten years, products are being created to match the diverse personalities of people by becoming equipped with more functions or having a variety of custom-made elements. For examples, Ipods are introducing numerous applications to satiate the personality of people.

Works Cited

Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.

Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America. New York: Eagle Brook, 1999. Print.

world changing response 7

We are all aware that torture is a method used in order to manipulate people in question into giving more information then they are willing to give normally. We are also aware that the process of torture is unethical. It is argued that while it is a productive way in retrieving desired information from people as a form of punishment, its also been said to only promote false information, seeing as how people will say anything to escape pain and torture. If we as Americans know that it’s wrong to torture in order to get information, why are we still using it as a mechanism today? I believe that its also wrong to put individuals at risk for developing major psychological problems later on in life as a result of receiving torture as punishment, no matter what the circumstances are. People make mistakes, and where I do agree that these people should be punished, messing around with an individuals psyche is very dangerous and can only lead to worse behavior in the future, not to mention make it even more difficult for that particular individual to recuperate from any trauma they may have already undergone. It is stated that while physical damage can occur, the emotion damage is always much worse. How come in a world and time like the one we are currently living in different approaches have not been stressed as being the main way to get information that we are looking for?

weekly responce 6

When Lasn states that “the consumerist, capitalist, materialist tendencies of "American" culture are unhealthy”, I believe he is referring to the fact that we as American are letting the idea of consumerism and being obsessed with material objects determine, and influence the way we live our lives. I think that when he refers to this aspect of our lives as being unhealthy, he means that by letting such outside forces influence us on such a major level, we are giving in, and changing the way we live, by worrying about all the wrong things. We lose a certain sense of connection between us as individuals and the natural world, as well as the “family” setting in which we are supposed to be more connected to. I think he also means that with all this nonsense taking over, and consuming much of our time and thoughts, we loose the ability to recognize what truly is important, and often lose track of the real world. I think that the point that was made about the modern family still holds relevance to today. I believe that although this text was written almost 10 years ago, the issue of still being less connected to the family still remains as issue. Maybe even more so in fact seeing as how in today’s day in age more people are doing more things, and are spending less time together as a family, due to the various different time schedules in the household. I also see that now-a-days less importance is stressed on the idea of a sit down meal with the family, but that definitely corresponds to the idea of everyone being way to consumed with other priorities. In my own life I have noticed certain things that would agree with Lasns’ text as well. I too feel that within my own surroundings I can notice the new obsession with materialistic objects. Over the past ten years, my friends and I have become increasingly aware of the many new things that we “must” have due to advertisements and placements within movies and tv shows that we watch. Although I find it annoying to be constantly needing to buy the nex new thing in order to keep up with the times, its something’s that has almost become a staple in out culture today.

WR prompt #6: Lasn’s take on CONSUMERISM…

Lasn seems to be talking about many different sub issues to an overarching dilemma: That the consumerist, capitalist, materialist tendencies of "American" culture are unhealthy.

What do you think he means by unhealthy?

Given that he wrote this in 1999, choose at least one point/example of his that you think is relevant to 2009 and explain why. Then choose at least one point/ example which is not accurate/ too generalized/ or irrelevant to 2009 society and of course explain why.

Include examples/ observations from your own lives concerning his theme and indicate whether or not you've been able to observe a change in the past 10 years or not.

World Changing Response #4

As humans, water is such a vital part of our lives.  Adults are approximately 60% water (“Water in the Body”).  We use it everyday, usually without thought or consideration to how much energy it takes to heat our showers, or to filter, or the consumption angle of it.  In World Changing, it explains some different ways to think about water.

            One solution described in the book is called “reHOUSE/BATH”, “the best conceivable level of home water efficiency (Steffen 188).  French designers invented this construction that is made up of basically a bucket of water and a tub that drains into tubes which reuse the water for plants.  The plants grow to eventually create a shield of cover for the bather.  Although few people would probably actually want to use this, it brings about awareness of using water and the consequences of that and how we can reduce, reuse, and recycle it.

 

"Water in the Body." ChemCraft, Inc.. Web. 27 Oct 2009. .

 

Steffen, Alex. World Changing: A User's Guide For the 21^st

 Century. New York, NY: Abrams, 2008. Print.