Blog 10: FeAr

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

-Frank Herbert, Dune

Do not fret, although we live in a world where fear is growing and pain is growing, that does not mean that all is lost. 

            In class, we talked about fear and how it relates to power and how people with power are the ones’ in control and cast a fear on people, not only that, but people with not as much power fear for not being able to climb the social and economic ladder that the ‘American Dream’ has promised every American.  Now part of the reason there is more fear now is due to economic woes, world issues, and people in power who forgot who is really affected by their power.

 In class, I gave the example of everyone who does not have the power as ‘dust’ and the people who have the power as ‘flowers’.  The flower’s feed off the dust and the dirt to fuel their ambitions and their ego’s (especially), although once in while some of the dust/dirt do grow to be ‘flowers’ due to special circumstance, like for example Justin Bieber for having a special talent, or certain people for having special gifts and talents.  Look at all the specs of dust, it is all the lower class, working class, middle class people, not only in America, but in this world.  Think, most of us will rarely make it to flower status, but some of us may get seeds planted in us in other ways, life will never be perfect for any of us, but just because others have power and we don’t doesn’t mean we can’t find happiness in other routes within our lives and within ourselves.  Will you give into the fear?  Will you give-up and fret upon the cards dealt to you?  Can you be content with the life you have now or the life you could choose and build for you and your family generations in the future?

Blog 9: MeDiA

           Media has been a growing importance in everyones’ lives these past 14 years.  Just think computers were bricks and we still had VHS and Cassette tapes.  Then in the 2000’s we evolved our technology and replaced T.V.’s and computers with state of the art slim, sexy, monitors.  VHS turned into DVD’s and revolutionized the art of never having to rewind again and music we went from square  cassette tapes to circular shiny disks with a cool emblem on top of our favorite bands.  We have grown exponentially technologically within the past 14yrs.

            Now growing up my first video game system was a small Atari joystick and the ratings for those games were “E” for everyone to play.  At most the violence I would see looked like little spit shooters taking down space ships in Space Invaders.  For most of our childhoods this was revolutionary and amazing to play.  When I turned 8 I got a Nintendo 64 and the violent game I had was Super Mario 64, which was just jumping on gumbaa’s and koopa’s to beat levels, but later going to movie/video game rental stores their were T, M, and A games that kids could rent, but my parents were opposed to those, but I also had no idea what the games were about.  My parents were the decision makers when it came to the games I played, the movies I watched and the books I read.  Now, coming from them it was a way to protect me from ideas and things that would have probably tainted my mind, but who really knows what would have happened if they let me play those A or M rated games when I was young.  Now days parents buy games based on the kid liking them not on whether or not the content is good or bad for them.  I worked at Gamestop for over a year and I saw parents buy their kids Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and Grand Theft Auto and I had to ask them if they were okay with their 12 year old son or younger to be able to play this game and most of them were like zombies and said yes.  I think it’s irresponsible and immature to allow kids play M rated games, especially since the parents have no idea what’s in it and how their children act due to it.  I have had parents get mad at me for listing what is all in the game, but in all honesty these parents need to know what their children are playing and watching.  Have we become so consumed by the hype of the media that we have replaced our own thoughts and morals in sake of spending hrs/days of playing a game that gives someone the control to c ommit crimes they might otherwise cannot in the real world?  Should censorship be stricter when it comes to children under the age of 17 being able to buy M rated games?  Do parents really know what their children talk about with their friends at school?  Just some food for thought.   

Blog 8: SoCiOpOlY

Although I had already experiences Sociopoly with my family, seeing the other rules to the game interested me very much and how the rules worked were annoying to play with!  I see how truly nice it is being privileged and white, but we sadly live in a society and frankly a world where race and privilege go hand and hand.  Sociopoly taught me that this world is ever changing not only with the rules, but also how each person diversely unique is treated in society based on race.  We live in an imperfect, unfair, biased world, and we keep getting farther and farther away from ourselves and what we personally dream about due to these imperfections.  I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunities I have had and every day I grieve for those less fortunate then me.  The Sociopoly game may be a tad skewed in the sense that life is not like monopoly and your buying houses/properties all the time, but what it does show is how everyone starts out with a set number of incomes, or prestige based on their family or their family’s history.  In the end we all need to drink soup to survive.  No matter the race, privilege, or family we all need to eat sleep and survive, so yes this world might be unfair, unjust, etc., but we should all be extremely grateful we are alive and better off then some people in this world who truly have it worse than us.