Weekly Response #11

Yu-Jen(Chris),Tsai

ADP3

Discussion 005

I spent most time of my life in Taiwan and didn’t really have that much too worry about until I reach high school and the years after I came studied abroad. First time ever I leave my high school in Taiwan, my friends in Taiwan, my family, my home and all the people I had known or met for the past sixteen years. Although it had always been my wish to go abroad ever since junior high school, to actually put it into practice is a completely different issue than just talking about it. I remember my dad came to the states with me a week earlier and stayed at the Inn near the high school until the orientation started and also getting some commodities for the winter weather. I remember clearly, as the date got closer to the orientation date, I gradually began having second thoughts about my decision every time I though of how far it was going to be from home, how I was supposed to keep my grades well enough and getting all the college applications, which I had no clue how it was done, done during the first year since I started as a Junior, and many other worries that fretted me then. I remember could not fell asleep the night before the move-in day; I think my father noticed there was something on my mind and so for the first time my dad talked about how is it going to be on your own and also kept telling that it is not a coward move to come back home if I were not able to get used to the new lifestyle in the United States; instead, it is a wise decision to make.

The move-in date finally came and so my dad drove me to the dormitory, my bad mood hit me again and so I complained about the condition of my dorm room. My dad suddenly got mad at me telling me that I came to the States to study, not for a vacation; I hold in all my emotions instantly and began unpacking my stuff. When it was my dad to leave and catch the flight to the other side of the planet, my dad didn’t say anything, he just hugged me real tight and got on the car. I got back to my room and while arranging my books and folders, there was a letter my father left me in the academic folder; I had no idea when I slide it in without me noticing. On the note, he wrote down pretty much everything he had spoken to me about the night before. As I finished reading it, I felt my eyes filled with tears at the same time I felt like I had to try my best to get used to everything that would be coming to me in the future. And so here I am. I graduated from a high school that I was totally unfamiliar with and got into college. I’d say that’s one tough decision for a person to make.

The Montanan collapse example that Diamond brought up resulted from a series of reasons that are brought up in his book. Diamond stated that Montana use to be a pristine location in the United States; however, due to many common reasons that bring a society to collapse, right now, the place has lost billions of dollars. First of all, the human impact on the environment is no doubt the main cause of all pollutions and climate changes in the area. Take climate change for instance, the agriculture in Montana relies mainly on the water from the melting snow after winter season; and so the land becoming dry is bad news for the residents for the area. Then it leads to a broader problem, which is the forest management in that particular location. To resolve all those issues, first the town’s people need to get rid of the main pollution that is the mine waste. By practicing the basics steps, gradually the situation would turn itself around ultimately.

weekly response 11

Throughout my own life, I have come across many decisions that have had to be made that were very difficult for a child or even young adult to have to make on their own. When it comes to all these difficult decisions I think the one thing that they have in common is how we as individuals deal with them. It’s always a concern that the decisions we make may in fact be positive for us at the current time, but may in fact be negative in the long run or to others as well. Will what’s good for me really be good for other people? Will the decisions I make affect other people at all? This is always what made making decisions difficult for me. I often think and then act quickly upon it not really taking into account how it will affect me in the long run, or how it affects others around me. Sometimes however, I make decisions based on what is the best for the common good and not for myself. It’s always a question in my mind after a decision has already been made whether or not if I had chosen a different route, would the end result have been drastically different? There really is no way in knowing unless we were to go back in time and remake decisions from our past. I often think that there are more then one way to approach any situation, and therefore it’s honestly a crapshoot in whether or not a different reaction would have occurred if another decision had initially been made.
Diamond discusses that the decisions that have been made may have lead to the downfall of past societies. One question that I have is what is the correlation between the human population and the issue of the climate changing drastically? Diamond states that most of the climate change is due to natural forces that are beyond our control. Climate change, for sure has a big influence on the decline of many societies seeing as how many societies depended on the climate for growth of crops and the raising of livestock. Diamond discusses that climate also affects the population due to the fact that people often reproduce in times that were “better”. Lack of “disaster relief” has also caused the downfall of many societies from the past Diamond says. Natural disasters are often caused by climate change, and therefore being unable to cope with such change leaves people of a society unable to continue living as they did previously. I think that in order for societies to strive, and remain strong and preserved, as well as prosper is very necessary to communicate by discussing ideas on how to deal with certain situations if they were to occur. Although we cannot directly stop climate changes from happening, being aware of how to deal with natures natural ways is the only thing that we can do. It is important for societies to become aware of the very things that can harm them the most, and in recognizing these aspects, we only improve the ways in dealing with them later.

WR Prompt 11: Comparing Disaster Zones

Think about an issue in your personal life/history that required a critical decision. What about that particular situation made the decision a hard one to make? How did your solution differ from another potential reaction and how different would the results have been had you chosen that other reaction?

* * *

Diamond discusses the issues of contemporary Montanan society and posits that it is a helpful example when reflecting on the pre-Collapse period of past societies faced with similar challenges. Do you agree that Montana's issues (choose at least 1 below to discuss) resemble the challenges that led to the downfall of past societies? How are they, or their surrounding circumstances, similar or different? Finally, what in your opinion are the crucial things a society must consider, admit, discuss, and ultimately take action on in order to overcome it's problems? For example, could Montanans just continue to turn a blind eye to the toxic waste from its mines or allow unsustainable logging/ agricultural practices and still survive?

1) Increasing population, 2)immigration, 3) increasing scarsity & decreasing quality of water, 4) locally & seasonally poor air quality, 5) toxic wastes, 6)increased risk of wildfires (or other human activity-induced natural disasters), 7)forest deterioration, 8) loss of soil or its nutrients, 9) loss of biodiversity/ damage from introduced pest species, 10) the effects of climate change.

Be sure to discuss Diamond's concepts of the 8 kinds of Ecocide as well as specific examples from Ch. 1 and the other chapter you choose.

Week #10

Yu-Jen(Chris),Tsai
ADP3
Discussion Section 005

Break Up and Make Up
A1:
-New jobs creates a uprise for the economy
-Standards of living becoming higher
-Unethical practices of corporations
-Charity donation made by huge corporations
-Entertainment
-Accessibility of products
-Technology growing rapidly
-New solutions
-Productivity
-Competitions between companies
B1:
-Country conflicts
-Natural resource consumption
-Price increase
-Killing small businesses
-Materialism
-Prejudice
-Unethical
-Monopolizing
-Non-objectified
-Fads


A2:
-Variety of jobs allow people to go for what they are interested individually
-People(consumers) need to understand the definition of “need” and “want” while purchasing products
-Corporations having too much control over the competition
-Corporations still need to figure out a way to give something to the society despite the fact that they are also killing little businesses.
-Media entertainment(televisions, radios, commercials)
-Stores from different mediums ranging from the internet to local retail stores
-Goal of new technology has always been mass production
-Solutions as new cure for diseases
-In order to schieve the mass production goal, improvement on the productivity is crucial
-Stimulates the companies’ efficiency and productivity
B2:
--The products corporations create need to be environmental friendly enough to keep the natural resource pumping
-Corporations crank up the price to gain maximum profit; however, the results depends on the accessibility, productivity and all sorts of element
-Local stores are still consider as essential connections in the corporate field
-Media brainwashing consumers
-Usually happens when political subjects are brought up
-Resulted from the imbalanced power distribution
-Also due to the increasing authority of corporations
-Designs need to be view in a more objectified way
-Meaningless trends happening constantly; although people know they are just tactics played on their minds by the corporations

wk promt #10

kristin adamczyk


A1
1. Staying “informed” or being aware of trends, ideas, and current issues.
2. Staying connected to people outside your direct group of peers.
3. A growing business provides new jobs and a general economy boost for the area.
4. Keeps technology fast, products are readily available in a time-based world. Convenience.
5. Corporations are able to make their own decisions on business morals and ethics.
6. Established communities that gather and work together.
7. Media isn’t as corrupt as the Government (in society’s eyes)
8. Media diversity, provides an outlet for the society to be heard. Something for everyone to agree with. Options
9. “quality media” people vote with their eyes. People decide a lot of what they consume.
10. Can be used to influence positive change.

B1
1. Having “tunnel-vision” and only being aware of what the corporation wants you to be aware of.
2. Too much power results in too much control.
3. Corporations can overpower small businesses and eventually variety in product is lost.
4. Price increase based on demand.
5. Rapid consumption of natural resources
6. Neglect to environment/ animal ethics
7. A disconnect between city and suburb resulting in inner city crime, or crime that trickles down into the near by cities.
8. Dumbing down effect on society.
9. Media decides what you consume, this is your culture, this is where you get your morals. Is this really what you want your kids to see? Very animalistic. (Sex, Violence, Greed)
10. Can be too powerful to overthrow if influencing negatively.


A2
1. Fitting in, or standing out.
2. Business and being profitable is all about networking. Humans have a desire to be around other humans.
3. We are in an economic crisis, is it really because of the way we allow the media to influence our consumption?
4. We like the here and now, we don’t like to wait. We are picky and unique and want options.
5. Hopefully make good decisions that would better the world around them. Easy to get caught up in personal desires and selfishness.
6. Support groups
7. We have the right to say what we want. We have the right to pursue the truth.
8. We all have a little something different to say, unique ideas, variety in ideas.
9. I can decide to turn the TV off if you are not keeping my attention.
10. Make a difference, give a little of yourself.

B2
1. I like to know the truth, I don’t like being lied to. I feel I don’t have an accurate idea of the intentions of my government and the media.
2. A power over us: control our thoughts if they could.
3. The lose of local prosperity
4. Monopoly
5. We will run our Earth dry because of a greed and no appreciation for future generations.
6. Our planet dies around us.
7. The world around us isn’t safe anymore.
8. We stop progressing to discover new ideas and stop advancing as a race. We become easy to please and have simplified minds, like animals.
9. We stop appreciating each individual life.
10. We are no longer a Democracy.


http://www.projectcensored.org/censorship/corporate-media-ownership/

http://medialiteracy.suite101.com/article.cfm/media_consolidation_ownership

lans

weekly response 10

Levester Williams
ADP III
Reed Esslinger-Payet, GSI


Break Up or Make Up

A1
1. One can find the best price.
2. One can find the location of the products.
3. Corporations provide jobs.
4. Corporations stimulate the cash flow in our country.
5. Corporations provide funds for research for certain materials or medical devices or diseases that pertain to them.
6. Corporations introduce products that elevate our standard of living.
7. Corporations can educate people on certain subject that pertain to their products. For example, Kellogg’s cereal boxes have great health information.
8. Corporations are able to demystify cost, so the 4 billion that has an income of less than $2 a day can afford to buy necessities.
9. Corporations can prevent unethical practices of animals.
10. Corporations can adopt eco-friendly methods to make their products.
11. Corporations can provide significant funds to charity/scholarships.
12. Corporations established efficient productivity of manufactured goods.
13. Corporations can become establish firm bonds with other countries through their trades.
14. Corporations can establish social networking among communities.

B1.
1. Corporations may cause internal conflict within countries with the export of materials.
2. Corporations have power to censor any positive messages that may oppose them.
3. Corporations have much protection from their misdeeds.
4. Corporations are hardly punished from unethical practices.
5. Corporations caused gentrification that forced lower class citizens to move away from their homes. (mainly affecting minorities).
6. Corporations provide negative images to the viewer.
7. Corporations manipulate everyday action with a plethora of advertisements.
8. Corporations are not being forced to be fully liable for misconducts.
9. Corporations can cause conflict among countries.
10. Corporations may infest a city with crime due to urbanization and disparities between suburban and urban life.
11. Corporations may extirpate the natural resources from the environments.
12. Corporations have power to decide several governmental elections for the benefit of them and not for society.
13. Corporations have more power than an individual.
14. Corporations can outcompete small businesses.
15. Corporations raise prices of products to maximize their benefits.

A2.
1. Due to a multitude of corporations in one sector, people are allow to vote for what products is the best with their dollars and able to support a corporation.
2. Due to the widespread of corporations, people now have accessibility to many products where, as the south in the pre-Great Depression, did not have much accessibility.
3. Corporations can contribute to the elevation of the standard living by advancing their products.
4. With the starting of corporations, many jobs become available within the community; thus, it promotes its growth.
5. Corporations can provide funds to many outreach programs, charities, non-profit organization, and scholarship to enhance the lives of the citizens.
6. Corporations may play an educational role when they establish educational program or incorporate information on their products.
7. Corporations’ purpose may to maintain a social value instead of trying to maximize their products.
8. Corporations can become a role model to influence people to be more eco-friendly.
9. Corporations have influential power of creating bonds with other countries through trades; thus, country relations prosper.
10. Corporations are able to meet the demand of the customers with effective productivity.

B2.
1. With corporate leaders being some of the wealthiest people in the world, they have much influence in politics. This may lead them to influence the political leaders to take action. For example, I strongly speculate that the leaders of the oil companies wanted Pres. George Bush to go to the Middle East to control the oil.
2. With media being actually catered to the corporations, many messages are omitted that may oppose the company; thus, there is a limit of what people say on the air without the regards of vulgarity.
3. Due to their alliances with international organizations, corporations have much protection. Therefore, they may be able allowed not to be responsible for some of their unethical acts.
4. When corporations move into a city, they tend to inhabit lands that lower class citizen may live in. Thus, these citizens are moved to live closer together.
5. Since corporate literally runs the media, they can control the material; thus, negative images are having the affect on people’s self-image.
6. Corporations, due to the extraction of certain materials, are causing internal warfare in developing countries.
7. The establishment of a corporation in a community lead to more people moving in suburbs, yet creating a bigger disparities within lower class communities; thus, crime may burgeon.
8. Corporation may rid all resources from an environment; thus, this will disturb the ecological balance within the biota.
9. Corporations have substantial influence on election since they want a candidate that will support their company; thus, they may be the deciding winning vote.
10. I feel sometimes that the prices of products are overpriced. Corporations have the funds to demystify their cost to meet the needs of people.

Most corporations’ goal is to maximize their profit. With this capitalistic idea, they try to create a culture that comes from top-down (Lasn 189). Therefore, there is much limit from what the individual could demonstrate to the corporations. The citizen now is a cult member who has less to contribute to his own lifestyle beyond what is provided for him through corporation (Lasn 53) Our actions seem to support the corporation since we constantly indulge into their advertisement. I have personally been a victim to this since I don’t question any products and the company of it. I simply consume it without knowing it may be connected to some genocide in a developing country. We buy products from corporations not knowing the ultimate price for buying them since corporations will not inform us about the consequences.

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

World Changing #5

With the rise of the Internet, television and computer and video games, the wonderful world of literature is gradually taking a backseat with new generations. People yearn for a full sensory experience now, which is more available through new technologies. With that, however, the use and promotion of imagination and creative processes are lost.

In the highly populated Mexico City, a program has been established where books are being given out for free on the subway. It encourages reading in an area where computers and televisions are as accessible, which allows people to give literature a chance, with no cost to them. The contributing authors were paid approximately $300, and the opportunity to promote their work. “The program gets books into the hands of those Mexicans who can’t normally afford to buy them. And transit officials also hope that crime in the system might decrease if crooks are busy reading rather than picking the pockets of fellow riders” (Steffen 285-286). Essentially, the program provides education, promotion of literature in a time of higher technological entertainment, and safety for citizens.

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

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