Aug 6 Lampert pp. 296-304 (Chapter 29)
Did you ever think we would get to the end? Thanks for staying with the books, even when the reading got dense (as in the Rader book). Just a few reminders. I will be posting the Semester Project side bar tomorrow. You will have until Sunday at midnight to reply to it.
What I am looking for in it, and I will re-explain this when you open that sidebar, are the insider thoughts, ideas, problems, issues, frustrations, successes, contacts, etc.--that you faced while thinking about your project. I am hoping for anywhere from 2-4 paragraphs. Just giving us inner glimpses of what went on for you. It might be about low self-esteem, not knowing what to do; about worrying until you had a topic; worrying about technologies used; etc. I just want some behind the scenes gossip, if you will. And here's why. I want people to read what you were really thinking through the semester idea. I want people to hear your doubts and successes--your fears and shames. That's the most important thing for me as a teacher as I am reminded of what people really go through as they plan something. I sense we will all learn about ourselves again by doing this. It's a reflective wrap-up exercise. And by no means does your project have to be finished. I figured these would all be works-in -progress--Hopefully something you might actually use. Not just something made for another dumb class.
I chose these two books because I wanted to read them. And honestly, I feel like I have a better grasp of histories of arts and all of the factors that are involved with them. I hope you were able to enjoy them as well.
Chapter 29
ReplyDeleteBhopal is considered to be one of the worst industrial disasters in the world. If you are unfamiliar with it, google it. We often talk about companies as community and corporate members. Keep in mind, that tax dollars that pay for teacher salaries come from taxing local economies and companies. Are you aware of any industries or companies in your school districts or communities that are good community and corporate neighbors?
Learning about the Bhopal disaster was surprising to me and the fact I have not heard about it. It is so sad. I am shocked about the time that passed for them to respond and the $ covered for each victim. $500 per person for care is really not alot of $ for a chemical leak which could cause lifetime sickness . Does the value of producing that chemical outway the risk of people's lives? Did they know of the risk and how well are they inspecting these plants? I raise these questions in response to why there was a leak. Just like the oil spill with BP in the gulf of Mexico, there was alot of media covering that and the outcome was stopping production and implimenting a strick policy of inspections on the rigs. What is the outcome of this event? ( Besides the # of people who were effected by it, either through direct contact or financialy through their stock in the company) Both incidents are similar except, I think Bhopal is worse since it killed so many people.
DeleteI am not ware of any industries of around my community, but this does make me think of looking into it!
DeleteWe are on base and therefore funded by the government, which is a bit different then other school districts. Our schools on base are very old and considered historic. They have minimally been fixed despite the hallways and cafeteria going against code of the amount of students to its size. We have been asking Congress to help rebuild our school by interviewing students and showing areas of the school that are badly falling apart. The catch is is asking for money worth it, or will they close our schools down and just have our students assimilate with the other school systems in the San Anotnio area. Its a pretty scary precaution. I would love for our school to be rebuilt since our families are split between deployments, they deserve it.
DeleteRealizing that I was referring to an interview from the Yes man on the event, I am humbled to learn of their effectiveness. Therefore, I am now even more disappointed in the Dow company and want more information on how they did react to this disaster.
DeleteLike Melanie ,I was unaware of the disaster. I hope that in the last 30 years measures have been taken to ensure safety.
DeleteAnd here is the shocking part
1984 was the disaster
In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by Indian law. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before the judgement was passed.
I am funded through the Convention and Visitor's Bureau with Hotel Occupancy Tax. We rely on tourism to keep our museums open--industry partners are vital to us.
DeleteI was also not aware of this. It is sad that so little was paid out for the loss of so many.
DeleteI am not sure about any companies or anyone helping with funding for my school. I know that our school reaches out to the community for our students to go and seek work opportunities or volunteer hours and such for them to see what it is like in many big corporations. As far as them supporting financially I do not believe that they help in any way that I know of.
I didn't know about Bhopal either. I had always heard about Chernobyl, but Bhopal was way worse. Why don't we know these things?
DeleteThere are a couple of companies in Lubbock that are good to the community. I used to sit on the advisory board for Lubbock ISD's Partners In Education committee. We were a bunch of community organizations and businesses that banded together to help schools. City Bank and Parks Printing were very active with fundraising, gathering supplies, getting low income schools what they needed. The PIE Advisory Board no longer exists so I don't know what they are doing now.
Google Yes Men to see other actions they have taken.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of how the Yes Men respond to important current events is interesting, but a bit confusing. It seems they confuse the public of what is actually going on, or do they? Are they being ridiculous inorder to get a response from people? When I think of pranks, I think of that silly show on MTV during the early 2000s, Punk'd, where smart, but imature men would play tricks on people and they recorded their reactions. I am picturing a classier version with more intellectuals. Survivalball is hilarious! The commercial and the women's voice for the ball seems so serious which makes it that more funny. Looking into the other pranks, I am actualy changing my perspective about the Yes-Men.
DeleteI agree Blair. I am a bit confused as well if they are helping or making it worse for the people to understand with what they are doing. Are they using facts or making up stuff and telling the public? Is this any worse than the news? They give out false information as well so can we lump them into the same category?
DeleteI've been fascinated by the Yes Men since their first documentary came out several years ago. I think their ability to pull these things off is pretty remarkable. I am a huge believer in comedy and its ability to do something meaningful. It is interesting to hear Andrea's confusion with the outcome of their efforts. I personally don't think they should be lumped with others who feed the public misinformation. Their use of comedy and absurdity is meant to expose the absurdity and injustice of certain institutions/people.
DeletePost marker.
DeleteThe Yes Men's actions revealed how the stock market "punish[ed] Dow for being socially and environmentally responsible" (p. 298). Even though it was a hoax; the Yes MEn are suggesting that unregulated free-market capitalism is solely about money and nothing else. That there are severe limitations of corporate social responsibility. What happens to us when the bottom line is money and not people or the earth?
ReplyDeleteWhat happens to us is exactly what happened to the Bhopal instance. Or what about the BP oil spill a few years back? The people and environment goes unnoticed aside from the small organizations that try to speak out against it but rarely get put on the media. What the Yes Men did was pretty courageous just by telling the truth about this company did it completely turn it upside down. Where would the US and corporations be if we saw this all of the time? Pretty scary to think how it could affect our country. Would we all be peaceful with each other or start pointing more fingers
DeleteThat is precisely what free market capitalism is--money and trade and that is ok if we are creating a society which outside of the economic concepts is trained to be socially responsible. Then, there is a balance. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. So often-we are not creating a society which remembers "there but for the grace of god go I".
DeleteMoney isn't that what drives the majority of this nation? That's what our values and morals have been lost to.. money. Everyone is so money hungry they forget about what is important... people, family, love, our children, the lives of tomorrow, our future here on the earth... its scary to think of what my child will grow up in and what it will be like for him in the future... is it all about making a quick buck or about more??????
DeleteI agree with you Andrea about the idea of being swept up by society in trying to make a buck. I think the church, depending on which on, does a good job about putting that into perspective. Either by the words of the Bible and how we sacrifice our time for each other to invest in each others development are the real values.
DeleteI think that so much of what drive society today is the monetary bottom line. I also think that this worldview causes so many of the injustices in the world. Sarah – I too thought about the BP spill when considering this question. Just look at any of the horrible things that happen in our country. There is a good change that making money has something to do with it.
DeletePost marker.
DeleteGoogle Adbusters if you are not familiar with them. Kate Lyman did similar things with ads from magazines--where students would talk back to ads.
ReplyDeleteI get free limited cable with my wireless. I am just amazed at all of the bad ads. And when I think about it, it's all ads. Just like MTV was 24 hour ads for music, etc. Any thoughts of how to critique advertising in schools or in art?
We did a lesson where I looked through magazines, found video clips, and showed them to the class. The history of advertising goes way back to the slave trade and using it to find run away slaves. I taught them about all of the histories behind old advertising and how it has evolved.
DeleteWe looked at ads and discussed them in groups- are they effective? Did they capture your attention? Lately I have actually been seeing and attracted to a lot of good ads. They promote information with really good imagery and minimal words that have left us guessing what it means. There are very good tobacco commercials lately that are brutal and to the point of how bad it can get if you continue smoking. When I lived in europe ads were very similar to this. A lot of them were used to scare or shock you with the truth. I wish we saw more of these.
Learning about the Adbusters and watching the videos about their take on consumption and advertizements are very interesting. I agree with everything they say. People today are raised by watching TV. I am included, watching it from a young age until a few years ago. Ever since, I stopped being consumed by TV, I feel more alive and more of a positive person. I will have to say I was an addict for the crime solving shows. I did not realize how much it effected me until, I stopped watching it due to being too busy. I am spending more of my time reading and thinking or making art. When you sit infront of a TV and watch pointless shows, which are made to catch your attention and filled with so much drama, you are not using your mind. I can relate, it is like numbing.... I have gathered that I was going through a time with some depresssion and wanted to zone out. In the end, I am glad I am not a victum of being stuck to the TV. My life no longer resvolves around shows. I think when you are living your life watching Tv, you are not really living.
DeleteOn a different note about the effects of advertizing, I understand that people want to make money and to make the product sound desirable. Do we really need it? That is a question I ask myself all the time when I am buying something. However, sometimes, I feel like I really want it, so much that I almost need what ever it is. It is a weakness, but it is good to recongize what are the things we are weak about and gulable at. I hate being gulable, to me it feels naive.
I really enjoyed these 2 videos explaining their process and want to show it to my students, minus the sexual or nudity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl6B-FFHbQM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V413pjEj17Q
I agree... Ads used to be very truth telling and there were not as many... now there are more ads then there are the actual show you are watching... sad. It makes me think about the superbowl and how people watch just to see what the commercials will be this year.. although now you can watch them before the Superbowl even starts... I look at some and just think to myself "Wow, do we really need a commercial about this?" I guess some people do.. I don't know. I too have stopped watching so much TV.. I have my shows I like to watch but I usually watch them on Hulu or Netflix if possible or record them to skip past all the ads. I think most of it is ridiculous and I wish there was more out there that did scare people with the truth...
DeleteThis is kind of related, but we do a propaganda lesson, where we look at WWII propaganda. We talk about the message being sent, whether or not it's true, even the way the artwork is used to convey that message. I show some examples from both the Axis and the Allied sides. I don't use the super-racist ones, but I certainly show propaganda against the United States. I also use examples from modern propaganda campaigns. Then the kids make their own propaganda, and have to explain what it means. I get some pretty cool results.
DeleteThe video Melanie shared about pollution was very interesting. It reminded me of John Carpenter’s campy sci-fi movie They Live. The movie is about a drifter who finds a magical pair of sunglasses that, when worn, show the real messages behind advertisements and mass media. He looks at billboards, coke cans, magazines, etc. with the glasses on and sees secret messages like “OBEY” and “CONSUME”. Turns out it is the plot of alien invaders to control the human race. It is overall a silly movie but based on a pretty cool concept that relates to this topic. I recommend watching it if you guys like that sort of thing.
DeleteHere is a still from They Live: http://www.geek-art.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/They-Live-4.jpg
DeletePost marker.
DeleteSurviva Balls: What a concept. Other reactions to this chapter?
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine seeing a group of people dressed up in these things. I am shocked people took this so seriously, which goes to show how easily people are persuaded. When looking at the instructions on the Survivaballs, I like the image of the many taking the power from the deer. Ridiculously hilarious but genius. Sometimes you have to use humor to impact the public of what is going on.
DeleteI am shocked too Sarah, but also humbled by it. I think it is so funny, I kinda want one to wear to show those people who are those shows who have basements and shelters to prepare themselves for the zombies or the end of the world. Do you think they would buy one? LOL
DeleteHere is some fun technology designed to protect school children during natural disasters and its not insanely expensive--
Deleteback under the school desks
http://www.treehugger.com/eco-friendly-furniture/school-desk-designed-protect-students-earthquakes-and-other-disasters.html
I wonder the whole time while reading, how is this going to work? Someone could just knock you in the face and then what? You cant run in this? How in the world are you suppose to survive in one of these? Crazy crazy crazy! I wonder too Blair if those that think the world is going to end would buy one? My parents are some of those people, they have excess of food, water, guns, ammo, etc. I may have to ask my dad if he would buy one!
DeleteI had the same thought as Andrea. For all the protection it's supposed to provide, I didn't see a face mask to protect people from bad air...
DeletePost marker.
DeleteEd, question, I am a little confused as to the Final project you talk about in the intro. Are we suppose to answer all the questions on our personal blog that we made with our project titled Final Project or you are going to do that on here and we comment and write about it on here? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt should be here as a last blog response
DeleteHere's my blog link. Sorry again for the delay! http://lisathinksaboutstuff.blogspot.com/2014/08/tates-show.html
ReplyDeleteYes--I am posting the last sidebar now. Ed
ReplyDelete