Social Media Pre-Conference Post

Think of the norms of society as a moving sidewalk. When I intentionally go along with what society wants from me, I walk or run along the human conveyor belt. When I do not act either with or against the norms of society, I am simply standing still on the sidewalk, and still moving along with the norms of society. Change only comes with a purposeful challenging of the norm. I must be marching against the norm, the moving sidewalk. Similarly, social media must purposefully be used for social change, for challenging the norm if change is going to happen in the first place. Whether this includes posting blogs and articles on my facebook and twitter to raise the awareness of my friends to issues I find important OR if it's making multiple PSAs on women's rights with youth from around the world, people's minds can be questioned and opened with an interactive world. I believe the most important social change occurs when youth interact with each other using social media because it is the youth who are specifically interested and captivated by the possibilities of social media. When I was involved with the 3rd Intl Youth Media Summit the summer of 2006 in Serbia, the youth from around the world stayed connected, organized joint campaigns around the world and interacted through facebook and blogs.

Module 1 - Phase 3

1. What proved the most challenging part of our July Phase 2 DOTCOM experience for you?

I find it is often very easy to reflect on an experience and blame others for problems that arose. In DOTCOM I could blame visas and air lines, censorship and governments, mentalities and setbacks. Yet if I reflect on my place in DOTCOM, I see how my expectations (before the program even started) came from ignorance, misunderstandings, and pure oblivion to the realities of lives, cultures, and history. It continues to be a challenge for me to deal with, on one hand, the construction of the program in my mind and, on the other, its reality, and from that I have gained invaluable lessons. It was challenging for me to witness differences and tension and have absolutely NO CLUE how to deal and react to them. It was disheartening to learn, after the conclusion of our Vermont stay, that most of our films had been pulled from YouTube. It was even harder when we edited out a primary voice in our film in order to keep it online... On a different note, I am not one to readily ask to be educated in something that I am utterly ignorant to because I think, to a certain degree, it is one's own responsibility to read up on the subject before asking questions. Unfortunately, I did not do any reading until August and, only then, was I able to pose questions and have conversations of the reality of governments, public unrest, youth arrests, and Nagorno-Karabakh. It was challenging to deal with my frustration and ignorance of why films had been censored, pictures could not be taken, and conversations could not be held. However, it is precisely these challenges that clearly emphasizes the importance of the program.

2. What proved the most rewarding part of our July Phase 2 DOTCOM experience for you?

The most rewarding part was sitting in a chair in the Big Picture theater viewing our ten films and as each film was showed, looking over to the group that made it, seeing their beaming smiles and pride for the culmination of weeks of hard work, sweat, tears, laughter, ice cream, and bonding between the members of each group. I am so grateful to have met everyone involved in the program.

3. What proved the most fun part of our July Phase 2 DOTCOM experience for you?

The most fun part, for me, was laughing with anyone and everyone in the program on topics ranging from public bathrooms, to wikipedia pages, to playing instruments, to attempting to pronounce Azerbaijani and Armenian words. If nothing else can, laughter is something that will always bring people together...

4. What are you most excited about, looking forward to our online Phase 3 DOTCOM experience coming up this fall?

I hope to develop the relationships we have between each other even further, perhaps tackle some issues that are playing out in each of our lives, and come to reason with and discuss challenges we all came across. I hope to make more films :) and lay out ideas for making films when we travel to the South Caucasus in March!

& It's most-definitely difficult for me to pick my absolute favorite photo from all of July. But this is definitely one of the top ones. All of us were laughing and it took over 10 minutes to set up the pyramid only to have it momentarily hold itself before we all quickly came crashing down on top of each other... Also Samir's face is priceless and Niko seems to really be enjoying not having to be part of the actual pyramid...

Reflection 1

1. In DC, we learned, basically, that youth are the only ones who should operate social networking tools and be responsible for civic outreach and mobilization using media ... because, apparently, the state department seems to be deeply lacking in that regard. I learned that even if NPR is funded by tax-payers dollars it is still not a government news program, hmmm... I learned that saying that the government does regulate the majority of news is untrue in our free US of A (of course, right?) ...Based on a conversation I had with Dr. Rob on the NPR visit and the ombudsman's issues... I agree that one should present news with complete transparency with regard to one's point of view.

2. I learned several Armenian words and I am still working on my Azerbaijani. I really learned about how many similarities we all have. I learned about Armenian and Azerbaijani schooling and the subjects different students like and dislike. I learned about the countries and lives of youth living there. I can't wait to visit Yerevan and Baku in March :)... I learned a little about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and about the different views and opinions.

3. The jump rope game was especially difficult and even though we failed at it I think we could have made it all through if given another 20 minutes or so. Several of the conversations I have had with different DOTCOMers from all three countries have been difficult not navigate through but, even though we have opposing views on a certain issue, we can stil lwork together and, most importantly, have fun!

4. What has been exciting and rewarding about the DOTCOM program so far?

- LENIN THE RUBBER CHICKEN!!!

- the team-building games

- challenging conversations and topics

- being able to look forward to new and exciting things each day

DOTCOM REEL ACTION film themes

Peace/War/Conflict

Different peoples go to war for the wrong reasons. So much hate and dispassion is rooted in differences as well as in hated similarities. I find myself attempting to be a pacifist but sometimes I wonder why violence is not justified when a war is being waged by police and law enforcement in predominantly areas populated by people of color. The root of war and conflict is a deeply rooted fear of the "other". Very rarely is this fear admitted but violence is the easiest (and dumbest) solution to that fear. It feeds the fear instead of analyzing fear and moving to overcome it. I find it very interesting how countries can easily manipulate the people into believing someone about the "other." People are forced to choose sides. Personally, if I were drafted and served in combat. I would no less be able to murder an Afghan man than a US American soldier standing next to me. Wars can be waged against nations, genders, races, ethnicities, religions, natural resources, anything and everything basically.

Race/Ethnic

It's really frustrating how the overall view white folks have within the United States is that people of color largely deserve to be treated badly, to be suspected of dealing drugs or carrying guns, to be suspected of being a rapist, to be called names, and to attempt to escape their race or ethnicity. White privilege is something that goes unnamed and unseen. When we speak of Barack Obama as having "transcended race" in the election, we think of him as being an intelligent, strong black man (the "exception"). Yet, transcending his race means that their is something fundamentally wrong with being black in the first place. On a different note, crack cocaine prison sentences are nearly three times as long as powder cocaine sentences. One needs powder cocaine to make crack, powder cocaine is drastically more expensive so the dealer is making far more money from illegal substances, and crack is found predominantly in areas of color. How can that legislation not be seen as racially driven? I think film is a fantastic medium to express racial tensions through symbolism.

Gender

Gender is a social construction, it acts as a dichotomy of feminine and masculine that forces men and women into specific roles that are considered the norm. It is a construction of the patriarchy and, personally, anything created or manipulated by the patriarchy is something that I want absolutely nothing to do with. When couples have their son watch Bob the Builder and scold him for wanting to play with dolls or for wearing dresses, they are placing gender stereotypes on that boy. Why should boys not play with dolls? Don't men have to learn how to care for their children as well? I wonder if the near 50% divorce rate today in the U.S. is based on strict gender roles that have become impossible to conform to while having a family. The rise of raunch culture in the past decade has created a rape culture in the U.S. where one in three women are sexually abused. Without films that teach how the patriarchy manipulates all of us (men and women), we are all lost in a world of contradicting gender expressions.

My 90(ish)-second Video Elevator Pitch!!!

Hey everyone! sorry that this is kinda late. please comment! thanks!

MODULE 7

What was the most fun/exciting part of the DOTCOM PHASE 1 project for you? 

I really enjoyed the dialogues with Josh, Arzu, and Onnik. I appreciated that they took the time to answer our questions and I enjoyed reading and keeping up with the different questions and responses posed by other DOTCOMers. 

I also liked the analysis behind the different types of persuasion in media. I think marketing and persuasion isn't often thought about when the mass media bombards our lives, but having a constant reminder in the back of your head that the company is ultimately trying to find any way possible to sell you a product (no matter how much of a bigot they will make themselves out the be). 

What was the most challenging part of the DOTCOM PHASE 1 project for you?

The most challenging part would have to be the analysis of the videos as pertaining to the neocortex, limbic, and reptilian brain. I found that my analysis behind each of them would blur the lines between them.

What is one specific suggestion you have for the DOTCOM PHASE 1 project, when we do this project again?

One suggestion would be to have more "special guests" from different fields so that we have a broader view of the reality facing social/community activists as well as how they combat issues that we will be facing when we begin to "socially conscious" create films. 

Module #5

This ad appeals to the Reptilian brain with the highly sexualized content, appealing to the minds of male teenagers. It appeals to the Limbic brain with the rap music and altering atmosphere from a classroom to a dance club. It appeals to the Neocortex when one asks themselves how the hell this can get on television in the first place (it was fortunately banned after several weeks)...when one analyzes the connection between the exploitation of women and fast-food chains (pop culture).

1. Humor - The concept of "flat buns", making the connection between women's bodies and hamburgers, is obviously supposed to get the viewer laughing. Similarily, I would argue, the white rappers "rapping" about flat buns is a racist and sarcastic portrayal of black rappers and invites a humorous response. I would say that the target audience of Carl's Jr. is white America because, clearly, they do not include people of color in their ads and assume that whites will find the white rappers hilarious (being that they are making fun of rap and black culture). ... I'm not even going to get into the assumption by the media that white America will inherently accept the racism in pop-culture, because, oftentimes a negative reaction is referred to as "well, you have no sense of humor." ... well, here is one white person who isn't f*ing laughing.

2. Repetition - In the commercial they repeat "flat buns" over and over in the rap. There is a connection made between any burger and a woman's body.

3. Diversion - What is Carl's Jr. really saying? "Hamburgers and fast-food are not unhealthy... actually, contrary to that belief, skinny people eat them ALL the time ... and, with this ad, we are actually making the connection between an ideal skinny female body and eating fast-food.... because, well, since this new burger is made with "flat buns" it's almost like you're indulging in a sexual fantasy while you eat this burger. And, that claim that this burger is over 1000 calories is just well, insignificant because you're still reminded of this commercial while you're eating it and this commercial doesn't show obese people so this hamburger won't make you obese!"

4. "Beautiful" People - And, I mean come on people, women should all attempt to become the perfect image in a man's mind. ... because, well, women are just objects and deserve to be exploited! ... Honestly, how far can this metaphor between meat on burgers and women as meat for men go? Literally, a burger is a piece of meat between two buns...use your imagination. Also, I'm kind of bothered by this concept of using "beautiful" people in the commercial because the definition of beautiful in America has so many sexist and racist undertones.

5. The Race Card - Being that there is not a single person of color in this video, I would venture to say that by only using white folks in this video, Carl's Jr. is using the funny-card to let this ad slide. I mean, if there were black rappers rapping about flat buns, it would be so blatantly racist there would be a huge uproar over this ad. However, since white rappers are making themselves look stupid, it's okay! Also, the marginalization of black rap culture is accepted by white America, because, well, black rappers are all criminals and sex-fanatics. That's not a stereotype, that's the truth! ... mhmm, righttt.

In the end, Carl's Jr. should seriously dismantle its entire marketing strategy. I haven't been able to find a commercial or ad by them that fails to overtly perpetuate the marginalization of women or people of color. ... just another problem in the big media.