Post 10: Campaign Ads: NRSC

Where you support Obama or not, this video is so ridiculous that it could make the most stubborn Democrat chuckle.

It is an attack ad directed at Obama concerning the campaign promises he made and has kept. In this universe, Obama single handedly eliminated our debts, created trillions of jobs, absolutely free health care, and we all ride and depend upon rainbow powered unicorns, as Hillary Clinton ushers in the scores of chanting and singing choirs of angels and cherubs to give America its blessing.

It all comes crashing down about one minute in, when the stark reality of the foolishness crashes in upon itself. The organization claims that Obama has done none of what he promised; staggering debt, unemployment, and vouchered healthcare. The upliftng music is brought to a jarring halt as the sound of a gavel slams down, and is replaced by a dark moody back tone. As the attack wraps up, it tosses in information as to how to contact people who you can support to fight back at the president. The video effectively bashes the Obama administration, despite the surreal premise. The bits of script and footage are used to make the targets look foolish, even during the 'utopia' section of the video, and the sober end gives the subject matter a stark contrast that leaves the viewer thinking about learning more from the people who created ad.

Post 9: Campaign Ad: Perot

This is a campaign ad that Ross Perot used during his attempt for the presidency in 1992. Ross Perot had a real chance at crushing the 2 party norm that continues to this day, as he commanded a large portion of the popular vote. If he had not bowed out of the race early, he might have be able to change the face of politics in America.

As it is, the two party standard continues to this day. The dominance of the Republicans and Democrats are a security to most voters, but an upset of others. On one hand, its a good thing there are only two parties because clear lines are drawn on many issues and voters can vote for the issues they support the most. On the other, there is a clear lack of choice; it's either yes or no.

This ad in particular focuses on Perot's position on the economics. It has a somber atmosphere, and rather than pandering to the people it focuses on giving as many people as possible the information they are trying to spread (the economy is bad, trickle down isn't working) and infusing a serious mood into the viewer with the sound and scenery.

Post for Week 8: Memorials

  This week we discussed memorials, aside from the presidential campaign. Memorials are a big part of letting people remember and move on from large scale tragedies, such as war, terrorist attacks, plagues, etc. They are important landmarks for a nation or culture, whether you support them or not. They are also sometimes of the topic of jokes in various forms.

   This is a clip from popular animation, Family Guy, where the characters visit Washington DC and pass by the various memorials. The first memorials they pass are the Washington Memorial, to which they create a fictitious Obama Memorial that is the same as the white memorial, but far larger, a joke on men's genitalia. The second involves the Vietnam Memorial, where a Vietnamese is mocking the veterans who are paying their respects.
  Of course, not everyone might appreciate the jokes the show uses towards the vets or the memorials, but most are willing to let it slide due to the nihilistic style the show represents. Yet it does two distinct things to benefit these landmarks. The first is that it is interesting to watch clips like these because to a degree, it actually helps the memorials stand out. You might have heard of the memorials before going to Washington and seeing them in person, but many more people have not. I remember that before we read Maya Lin's recollections about designing the Vietnam memorial, I had never even heard of the landmark before. Then I remembered; wait a minute, yes I have, in that one Family Guy episode. The second is that making fun of something is a way that helps people move on from the experience. People were concerned with making light of JFK, when he was assassinated. Then it was Vietnam. Recently, 9/11 and the Afghan/Iraq war. Yet it is important to put issues like these in the past for people, so that they can move on in their lives, which is exactly what the purpose of memorials are for.

Post for Week 5, 9/19/2012: Propaganda

  This week we watched a movie called Triumph of Will, a film of Nazi Germany propaganda during WW2. It was very interesting to watch, providing a stark contrast to how we Americans viewed Germans post WW2. The movie showed marching parades, smiling soldiers, and rousing speeches directed towards national pride and involvement.

  It got me thinking about what kinds of propaganda Americans are exposed to. And do they even realize it? Its hard to imagine but some people will argue that propaganda on the level of Triumph of Will doesn't exist in American society.

  I invite those people to go watch the following movie and try and tell me afterwards that propaganda doesn't exist.

  Its the next Chris Helmsworth movie, a remake of a 1984 war story by the same name, Red Dawn. Helmsworth, known more popularly as his role of Thor from the Marvel movies,  plays an ex soldier who organizes a resistance against an invading army from North Korea that uses new technologies to shut down America's defenses. The movie employs a "healthy" amount of explosives and small arms to sow chaos against the Asian oppressors.

  This movie is the very definition of war propaganda. It targets freedom as the basis of American culture and security, and the fear of having it taken away. The resistance is reminescent of American Revolution, using guerilla tactics and warfare to take on the larger force.

  Yet the truth of the matter is the premise of the movie relies heavily upon the imaginations of the viewers to work. The technology used in the movie sounds like a large scale EMP bomb, for which the N. Koreans planned for ahead of time. The American military, which uses technology in many of their armaments, would not be crippled by EMP considering the contingencies in place, and the vast amount and ability of the nation to arm itself independently. The logisitics also don't make sense, considering that the movie originally was designed with China in mind, but was switch to N. Korea post production.

  This movie is propaganda thinly veiled to prepare the public for war with an Asian nation. Even the director made a statement that the purpose of the movie was to scare the public much in the way that the original movie scared movie viewers. "The tone is going to be very intense, very much keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we're in. As 'Red Dawn' scared the heck out of people in 1984, we feel that the world is kind of already filled with a lot of paranoia and unease, so why not scare the hell out of people again?" - Carl Ellsworth, screenwriter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_%282012_film%29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6T2Q4bBcUU

Post for Week 7, 10/3/2012: The 1st Presidental Debate

  The first presidential debate is over, and opens the discussion between the candidates on many key topics such as the national debt, jobs in America, and tax cuts.
  You know, all of the typical stuff politicians love to talk about.
  Both men began with strong opening speeches focusing on their strong points, but Romney quickly moved into the offensive concerning the tax cuts and the national debt, challenging the president on not making good on the promise to cut the deficit in half.
  President Obama responded mainly by trying to steer the focus of the debate towards plans he has made and is working on enacting with Congress, claiming that taxes need to be increased to generate revenue that will pay for the nations deficit, primarily drawing from the wealthier members of the nation who have benefited from deductions and benefits in the past.
  Romney scoffed the the presidents proposals, citing that the numbers do not add up and targeting the rich will not pay for the billions that are logged in the books. The president, agreeable all night, politely declined.
  It set the tone for the entire debate, as the president came off as being subdued that evening. He didn't seem to square his shoulders and his behavior was evasive towards certain topics. Romney, on the other hand, was aggressive and eloquent in his counterpoints, which I had never expected from him. I had never paid as much attention to the Republican candidate because of the jokes made on shows like the Colbert report, but I see now how much the GOP would wager on his chances as the next president.
  It will be interesting to see the next debate, that's for sure.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/04/us/politics/20120804-denver-presidential-debate-obama-romney.html?smid=fb-share

Post for Week 6, 9/26/2012: Nationalism

  This week, we saw a video taking an inside look at the normal lives of North Korean citizens through a documentary about girls who performed for the leader of their nation in an event called the Mass Games. It was reminescent to the events from the previous week concerning Hitler's propaganda for Nazi Germany. This video was highly interesting and invoked questions about my own country and culture, and what it does to promote the idea of nationalism.
 Searching the web for ideas, I came across these two pictures in an article on NPR.org:







  I won't go into the details of the article, but it does mention that there is ' a swell of nationalism in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.'
  What I find particularly interesting about these two pictures is the similarity in which both of these citizens decided to adorn themselves to show their pride in their nation. One man took a complex route, crafting an entire body suit in American colors and proudly waiving an American flag during a game. But his face is cover; is he really proud, or did he cover his face to hide embarrassment if anyone he knew found out? Why did he cover himself so completely? Now, take a look at the other gentleman; you can't see everything, but he is obviously shirtless and his tattoo is displayed prominently on his neck. It features a 100% American on the top, if you have trouble guessing why he go the tattoo in the first place. He comes across very individualistic, yet his image shows America as a barcode that marks him as one of many. How strange that for someone who appears independent and individualistic would choose an icon that merges him with not being separate. It is even possible to say that it is corporate in its nature.

Here is the article if you wish to read it:

Article: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/28/140869378/americas-love-affair-with-nationalism

Additional Post, 10/7/2012: Political Gamers

  As a gamer myself, I don't know what I would be like if I grew up without them; as a child I played Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., and Legend of Zelda religiously. I knew it might be a problem when I spent 13 non-stop hours playing Elder Scrolls and wondered where the time went.
  And of course, I also play World of Warcraft. I committed 9 hours a week to the guild for raiding and having fun with my real life friends online. It was fun and relatively carefree.
  But what's the point of this post? Surely games don't have anything to do with politics?
  Wrong.

A Republican attack post card opposing Colleen Lachowicz, a democrat.

  Recently, the Republican party organized a large smear campaign on Colleen Lachowicz, a democrat who is running for state Senate in Maine. But they didn't just attack her, they used her character on Warcraft, which is the basis for her online personality, to focus the attack. They created a website, a press release, and circulated post cards (pictured above). In each, pictures of the hopeful senator and her character are featured prominently.
  What I find interesting, and what Colleen's defenders are screaming, is how the Republican party can expect to find support for this campaign? The post card shows Colleen's face over and over and poorly crafted reproductions of forum posts and cuts of images of her character to represent a negative side to gaming. After all, that's what they are attacking, as seen in the sentence on the card that reads, 'We need a Senator who lives in OUR world, not Colleen's World'. Yet, playing video games is a part of modern American culture, and has been around for decades at this point. Nowadays, its hard to find people who don't play as compared to finding people who do. If you even recognize Angry Birds, Tetris, or Farmville, you should understand this.
  Seemingly, this has backfired for the GOP, because even common republicans are rushing to her defense. This next image uses a meme format called a Demotivator to illustrate the point that Republicans shouldn't judge people based upon how they decide to waste their own time on their off hours. It made me wonder if she choose to use a demotivator for the purpose of knocking on the smear campaign to begin with.




Article: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ingame/world-warcraft-playing-candidate-im-real-person-1C6303203