Blog Entry 12: The Meatrix Summaries

  In the first video of the Meatrix Leo is approached by Moopheus. And Leo is be asked by Moopheus if he wants to know the truth about the Meatrix, so he is giving the option of taking the red or blue pill. The red pill is for the truth and blue is to stay in ignorance, but Leo decides to take the red so he can know the truth about the Meatrix. Once Leo takes the red pill Moopheus shows Leo the truth and birth of farming factory and how cruel they treat the animals with all the drugs they give them and more locals farms are being destroyed so that makes more factory farms born.

  In the second video The Meatrix: Revolting Moopheus is giving Leo and walk on the farm factory of how things are done. Moopheus Shows Leo how humans that are working in the farm factory pump the cows with a hormone called RBGH  to make the animals grow faster. And the calves are seperated from the mothers at birth and they get fed milk replacer that is made in parts of cows blood which can cause mad cow disease. And as Leo is gaining all this knowledge about the Meatrix Moopheus is taken away by the humans.

    In the Final video of The Meatrix II 1/2 When Leo goes to rescue Moopheus, Leo overheard the human in charge explaining to Moopheus about that even workers who get hurt in the farm factory can be expendable. And that the process is going so fast that manure is in the meat and not being taken cared of which causes e coli. And before Moopheus doom Leo came to the rescue and save Moopheus and continued there mission about spreading the truth about farm factory.

Blog entry 11

        After reading the passage,  Of Alice in wonderland and Neo from the Matrix are given the opportunity to find out the truth. Both end up taking that chance and one goes to a wonderland and the other goes inside the Matrix.  Alice goes to a wonderlandI which is full of imaginary creatures and things that don’t usually happen are happening there. In the Matrix, Neo is given the opportunity to either take the blue pill, which will make him go back to his regular life that he had going on before anything started happening to him. Neo also was given another choice of taking the red pill, which will make him go inside the Matrix and find out pretty much everything that he has wanted to know.    

      

        In both stories, both characters are taken to a different place out of the ordinary and are presented with what they wanted to find out. In Neo’s case, he was presented with a choice of either taking a red or taking a blue pill. If he were to take the blue pill, Neo’s life would have gotten back to normal like it was before anything started happening to him or even meeting these new people. But, if he was to take the red pill, Neo would have been able to go in the Matrix and find out what he wanted to know.

        I believe that people do want to know the truth that’s why we see both Alice and Neo go after what they have been searching. In the Matrix, Neo is given a choice between the red pill and the blue pill. Neo obviously takes the red pill and is taken inside the matrix which is what he has been searching for in order to find out the truth. I think most of us would take the red pill because there are questions that we want answered. We all have something that we have wondered for years and if given the chance like Alice and Neo did, I think we would take the path to the truth if it’s going to help us to find our answers that we are searching for. To conclude, I agree with both stories and would have done the same as both Alice and Neo.

blog 10

  In the article "Imitation of Film: Here's Smoking at you, kid by Nicholas Balakar. Talks about children from the ages of 10 to 14 are much more likely to take up smoking if they have seen actors smoke in the movies, and he also states from a research he read that thirty eight percent of children who start smoking do so in imitation of movies they have seen. He interviewed Dr. James D. Sergent, the lead author on the study and a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. And he states that his studies show that kids begin to view R-rated movies at about fourth or fifth grade and R-rated movies contain twice as much smoking so children who had the greatest exposure to smoking in movies were more than two and half times as likely to start smoking as those who had the lowest exposure. I agree and disagree with Dr. James statement.

           The reason one side of me agrees with Dr. James is that I was once young and from personal experience, I know how influential movies can be for children. For example when i was young I went through different phases when it comes to movies or T.V shows, I remember when I was young I use to watch "Power Rangers" and I would always imitate the Green ranger which was my favorite ranger. I never use to like the color green but after i got hooked to the show green was my favorite color. 

        Another example into why I can agree with Dr. James is that as I got older but still young. I was very into martial arts movies because of actors like Bruce Lee, Jean Claude Van Damme to Steven Seagal. Watching their movies inspired me to join a martial art school for years, and these are two examples of things that have influenced me in movies.

      Although I do agree with Dr. James but it is only to a certain extent. Because even though I did get influence by movies my mom did approved of my decision making when I was young. I am pretty sure my mom would not approve of me smoking or anything that can bring me harm especially if I am young.

     Dr. James makes a good point but in the end it is up to the parent or the legal guardian to monitor what their children are doing.

blog 9 the truman show

My life compared to Truman's and would I trade it? Something I would not do.

   Some people would look at Truman's and his life like the best place in the world. No violence, everybody loves each other, but it was never real everything was an act and you never got to see peoples' true colors, how they feel or if they truly care. Life was never about what Truman wanted or what he wanted to hear, it was all about what he needed. So although my life compared to Truman's is more violent, people do not love as much as in Truman's world, I am getting the true feelings from the people. And although, at times it can be harsh, sad and hard to deal with I know it is real. That is why I would never trade my life for the one Truman has. I rather deal with hard life that is a reality than to live a lie.

Blog Entry 8

   After analyzing the class readings and watching "The Truman Show" I think social media can be very influential. For example, everybody that was watching the show had an idea that Truman was living the perfect life: the American dream, office job, big house with white fence, your typical cliché. People were glued to their televisions watching as much of the show as they could, they were attracted to everything that the show was advertising. The way show was portraying Truman's life made people want that type of life and the show became part of their lives. Although the people felt like being part of the show because it was presented as if it was real, in reality it was only a script and Truman was only a puppet subject and his world was a lie.

   In the article "I know the truth" by Jeffrey Kluger, author talks about how the media can influence peoples' opinion and alter perceptions. One of the examples was media informing the public that Muslims were planning to build a Mosque right next to the fallen towers of 9/11. But as the article reveals, this was not the correct information. Going deeper into the story and gathering more facts truth is that what they were trying to build was a Muslim center for the people with offices, gym and after school programs. The media portrays Muslims like as if they were all terrorist when it is only certain individuals that feel hatred towards America. But because of the information that media relates to people is how the public thinks. Not always information released is correct, but there are few people who bother to check the facts.

   Media is unavoidable, it is everywhere: TV, internet, buses, trains, billboards and even our smart phones. At times the media fools us into believing that we need things and valuing things that are not really important in our lives. For example if you do not have the latest phone people would look at you as if there was something wrong with you, when in reality just ask yourself do you really need a smart phone with the internet. The media changes our perception on how we look at things. A lot of things that we decide to purchase are not necessary things that we need but things that we were convinced we need.

   A lot of people I know view Muslims very differently after 9/11.

In the airports when people see a Middle Eastern person they get automatically more alerted, even I was caught up in the media frenzy at the beginning because of the media portrayal of them after the 9/11. 

In the end it is media that makes people behave and think the way they do. Not a lot of people are willing or able to research the facts for themselves and decide what is the truth. Sometimes we are too lazy to look for the truth, or we simply do not want to know the truth because we know it might be inconvenient. So we just take the easy path and believe whatever we are told to believe.

blog 7

In terms of writing skills I have learned couple of things how to become a better writer. The three important things I have learned so far in this class: first, was the break down of a summary that is only supported by the major details not the minor and there is no opinion. Second, was the breakdown of a thesis, which starts with a topic, then comes the claim, and the last part is the argument. The final third is the breakdown of an essay that starts with an opening statement / thesis / main idea, then the body which can include major or minor details and lastly the conclusion which is the restatement of the main idea.

Before I started this class I did not know how to write a thesis. Throughout the course of this class I have learned the components of a thesis, and one of the assignments was to write a thesis, which I did. This proves that I learned how to write a thesis, because if I did not learn I would not be able to complete my assignment.

So far everything that I have learned about basic writing is clear, I just need more practice to improve the flow of the words in my writing.

Overall, I do feel more confident when it comes to the understanding of my basic writing skills. Before I started the class I did not feel as confident about my writing skills as I do now.

Although, I feel more confident in my writing skills I know that I have to work on my grammar, spelling, and my vocabulary. But with more practice on everything I learned 

blog entry 6

    Jeffrey Kluger explains how people receive information matters because that alters their perception. People often tend to base their opinion only on rumors. And once presented with contradicting facts they are still not willing to change their opinion.

    Jeffrey Kluger gives an example about the ongoing dispute over the  mosque at Ground Zero in downtown Manhattan, which is not really a mosque, and it will not be build on Ground Zero, but few blocks down. The problem is that delivery of the information to the public decides how people perceive things and once presented to them people often tend to base their opinion whether it is a rumor or not, even when people do take the time to learn the facts, the efforts often does no good.


    In the study by R.Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet, research was conducted involving 750 people who reported being familiar with and believing at least one of the gossips about the proposed Islamic cultural center. What they found most troubling was that even if people do take time to learn new facts they are still not willing to change their opinion. People simply do not like to be told that they are wrong. Studies show that when presented with data that contradicts false beliefs, people tend to cling to their biased beliefs even more.

In the end it is all up to us to decided what we do with the information presented to us, but it is also up to us that if we are hearing another side of the story we should look into it more before we make our final decision.

Blog 5

1. Significant Idea: People’s belief system can be easily manipulated with insinuating pictures or inflammatory quotes.

2. Claim: Delivery of the information to the public decides how people perceive things.

3. Reasons: Once there is perception of things it is really hard to change peoples’ opinion. Even if people do take time to learn new facts they are still not willing to change their opinion. People simply do not like to be told that they are wrong. Studies show that when presented with data that contradicts false beliefs, people tend to cling to their biased beliefs even more.

4. Combined Thesis: How people receive information matters because that alters their perception. People often tend to base their opinion only on rumors. And once presented with contradicting facts they are still not willing to change their opinion.

By writing a thesis statement I learned how to bring my point across in a way that it is clear and understandable. Organizing my writing around a thesis statement will make me a better writer because, I will be able to present the most important parts to the reader and deliver a clear message.