Blog 20: Final Version of Major Research Essay

David Rodriguez
Dr. Luke Vasileiou
ENG 103
31 May 2011
The Siege of New York
You can read the words “Welcome to New York – The Empire State” as you commute every day into the City. From then on fourth you are surrounded by an endless sea of buildings made up of bricks, steel, and concrete. Let us not also forget the streets with pot holes so large you almost feel as though if you were ever to fall into one you’d vanish completely off the face of the earth. This is a city which has seen the roughest of times and the most momentous of triumphs, and has been depicted throughout Movies, Television, and Music, the place millions of people call home including myself.
The 90s was a time when New York City was economically sound, had a richer job market, and money was in full circulation. It was the right ingredients to perpetuate the idea of the “American Dream.” During that time a new wave of immigrants migrated to New York. This migration of new immigrants increased the population to almost double the size even among the largest of cities. Now to determine and track the growth of New York City’s population Census Bureau was brought in to survey the population. Approximately 7.3 million people lived New York City during the 90’s from surveys recorded over a 10 year period. These surveys and inquiries provided better insight into the division among the boroughs of these immigrants. Once recorded & accounted for the city would then have to devise a plan to provide and care for its new residents. This led to the renovation of housing, newer businesses, development of more educational institutions, and the implementation of newer laws to establish order within this diverse society.
New York City has always been a cultural melting pot. It is home to some of the largest Asian, African American, Italian, Hispanic, and Jewish (etc.) immigrant populations. All of whom wanted to come to America for a better life for their families as well as themselves. Since the economy was prosperous throughout the 90’s, immigrants almost immediately upon arrival sought out to create their own businesses and become entrepreneurs. This was the “American Dream” for them to be able to own their own business within this market and make a name for themselves was the pinnacle of their efforts. Even if they were illegally living here it was worth the risk just to be able to have a chance at a prosperous life.
In the United States on November 29, 1990 a new act and policy was introduced it was titled the “Immigration Act of 1990.” This act was a catalyst for the increased number of legal immigrants allowed into the United States each year. By providing a randomly assigned visa through a lottery styled program, the United States gave an opportunity to countries of which were not often granted visas. With the law in effect it would admit approximately seven hundred thousand new immigrants annually. However even though this act would simplify entering the US for some it did not stop the determination of others, some of which would pay top dollar to have their loved ones or even themselves smuggled into the U.S. With New York City being this enormous melting pot at the time smuggling rings designed to provide passage in New York became the focal point of news articles and media coverage. An article publish on December 11, 1998 by Steven A. Holmes of The New York Times depicts how young men from Fujian Province would pay this smuggling ring as much as $47,000 for passage from China. This Ring, as well as others before it, was sophisticated with its trafficking of these Chinese immigrants into United States, though bound for New York City in the end. It just goes to show the determination and lengths immigrants are willing to take just to arrive into a land of greater opportunity.
With immigration on the rise and the population changing and or increasing so did other aspects around New York City during the 90’s. The progression of higher rents, crime, salary’s and other attributes associated with tension were some of these changes which began to also build up. During the early 90’s the rent average was in between $400-500 dollars a month for location throughout 4 of the 5 boroughs Manhattan being the exception with rent estimated around $900+ a month. As time went on the rent for these location increased by double. I recall living in Brooklyn during the early 90’s and my family paying around $460 for a 4 bedroom apartment this was the average going rate at the time. Around 1991 we moved into Queens to a rent of $660. Depending on the area of town you lived at the time it could fluctuate up or down a few hundred dollars. As far of crime goes, with Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani around the crime rate in New York dropped. Giuliani took pride in the city and wanted to improve the city over all for future generation to be able to enjoy. In a report from Mayor Giuliani’s Archives he states since 1993 the overall crime in NYC had fallen by nearly 44 percent. This was a clear cut analysis at the time. The crime in New York seemed as though it was almost nonexistent. All these attributes were from incidents that escalated this change over time from both local and global events.
Operation Desert Storm, a common name however it was incorrect. This war by its true name was The Persian Gulf War which extended from August 2, 1990 to February 28, 1991. It was a war waged on Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. The United Nations in conjunction with President Gorge H.W. Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia. The date at which the Iraqi Troops began to be expelled from Kuwait was on January 17, 1991 with a heavy air to surface and surface to ground series of missile launches. February 23, 1991 a strategic ground assault brought an end to this war. This could have been seen by some as an early prediction of future events to come from the Middle East.
Not long after the Gulf War; on February 26, 1993 a Ryder van armed with 2,000lbs of explosives was driven below the North Tower of the World Trade Center located in Manhattan. The bomb was intended to level the North Tower into the South Tower with the expectation of killing thousands of people. This attempt however failed with only causing 7 casualties and merely injuring a thousand people. It was later reported on several new channels that this attack was planned by a group of Islamic radicals. At the time the Muslim community was growing here in New York City and was thought to be a peaceful group. Residents in the city were shocked. They never expected a bombing attempt such as this to ever have occurred. So for the Muslim and the bombing attempt to be associated together it was beyond comprehension.
What this bombing did was wake up not only New Yorkers but the rest of the world as well. This once thought to be peaceful group of religious faithful believers was no longer viewed as such. As the weeks went on the stereotypes started to become evident. Muslims, whose only relation to the bombing attempt was the same religion, were unjustly targeted by the public. In an article published on August 2, 1997 in The New York Times it gave us a glimpse into what innocent Muslims are facing each day. During an interview a women who had given her name simply as Sarah yelled sarcastically at a mosque “Blow up New York! Blow up New York! Are they teaching you to make bombs?” Remarks such as these and much worse were being told to these innocent Muslims. For just the actions of a group of radicals it would condemn all Muslims as a whole.
Since the events of the World Trade Center bombing and the Gulf War; Muslims have been portrayed throughout movies, television, and even video games as religious extremists, more so the “Other” in this case meaning those whom are against us. The constant conveying of this message is essentially placing a poor understanding on this religion and its followers. In 1998 a controversial film titled The Siege was released to the disgust of the Muslim community, however to the average New Yorker it was a sort of surreal feeling, Years had passed since the events of 1993 and most people either forgot about it or were too involved in their own personal affairs to even have time to remember it.
The Siege was based on New York City during 1998 and portrays a state of terrorism which was unimaginable at the time. The film depicts New York as being a very heavy culturally diverse state. The image of the city was that of a city which never slept, having constant movement round-the-clock and extremely congested. Every minute every turn you were surrounded by lights, traffic, people, and buildings. It provided a glimpse as to how populated the city was at the time. This led to the understanding that any terrorist act of any kind would have an enormous and detrimental impact on the city. The movie begins with news segments of terrorism in the Middle East. Bombings throughout Saudi Arabia on United States bases killing soldiers and innocent civilians. The report then goes on to say these bombings are the acts of radicals. Following the footage a clip of President Bill Clinton states “We take care of our own.” As the story progresses we are carried over the New York City skyline. Below endless rows of people, lights, and traffic all showing us exactly how busy the city is. A Muslim man singing on a roof top (in the middle of this enormous city) signifying that even though he was in a distant land he stayed true to his religion. Minutes later a call to a police precinct is made, there was a bomb on a city bus with people onboard. This is when we are first introduced to our main character in the film Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) as he races off in hopes to save innocent lives. Now this series of terrorist attacks is in response to the abduction of a Muslim leader by the United States. Anthony Hubbard remains on the phone in constant communication with the anti-terrorism task force, which is in the process of making way their way the bomb on the bus. When they approach the bus and use surveillance equipment the bomb detonates and releases blue paint everywhere as if almost a joke. At this point there is a sign of relief but remains a more profound level of concern. Who would be doing this and why? Another similar call was placed later on in the film however this time it would be the real deal. A bus carrying innocent bystanders was being held hostage. Anthony Hubbard was able to talk the terrorists on the bus to release the children. Next he asked for the elderly to be released. The bus doors open up after a long drawn out pause. An elderly couple begins to make their way off the bus, at that very instant the bus erupts into a ball of fire. No one would survive the blast.
A state of fear and panic was conveyed throughout the film, However at the time in the city even though there were previous terrorist attempts, one of which the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the people were not as fearful and weren’t living with a panicked state of mind. Always having to look over their shoulder and cringe at every vehicles back fire. The presence of law enforcement was not as massive and robust as the film depicts. As the bombings persisted, throughout the film, the military was brought in by order of the president and the use of a policy known as Martial Law was instituted on the borough of Brooklyn. This use of Martial Law was to be able to detain a certain profile of man as declared by Major General William Devereaux during a press conference. The profile they were after in the film was that of Muslim relation. In reality at the time New York was not on a man hunt of Muslims the biggest concern had to have been the allegation which arose about our president at the time Bill Clinton.
The portrayal of Muslims within this film was extremely negative. The media was broadcasting its propaganda throughout a different array of outlets. A scene in the film of Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) flying overhead into the city while a radio station had a caller phoning in with the statement of “This is the kind of shit these towel heads do in their own countries and now they’re bringing it here” a statement which shows major concern, fear, and judgment. Granted there is tension and will always be tension among different ethnic groups but at the time 1998 New York City was not on a “Witch Hunt” of the Muslim community.
The message this movie presents is almost a foreshadowing of events that could happen in New York City at a not so far distant future. A widespread panic and a lack of knowledge of other cultures driven by mediated propaganda led to the quick isolation and persecution of innocent Muslims. When detaining Muslims in the film they used concentration style camps to hold the captive innocent alongside the guilty. In reality no concentration camps of any kind were created to withhold any Muslim. Though there still remains a stereotype on Muslims based on previous events in history none were being detained and herded in like cattle into metal fenced enclosures. In reality it may just be easier to point the finger at a whole group rather than on a single individual or single group of individuals.
The questions of could this truly happen in New York City, and would we be in so much fear that we would persecute Muslims or any other ethnic group arises after viewing this film. The views expressed of Muslims, the depiction of the city with its massive builds to its crowds of people which cover it like ants on a hill, are all possibilities yet we would not be able to truly know until placed into such tragic incidents. I feel this movie was truly ahead of its time for 1998, it does make us think about how we would punish an ethnic group as a whole rather than punish those who are the sources behind a terrorist attacks.


















Works Cited

Atkinson, Rick. “Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War"
Mariner Books, 19 October 1994. Print.

Housingnyc.com. “Is Net Operating Income Rising in Rental Housing?"
Housingnyc.com, 24 February 1997. Web. 9 May 2011.
http://www.housingnyc.com/downloads/research/pdf_reports/tcie.pdf

Nytimes.com. “In Park Slope, Stereotyping Breaks Out"
New York Times, 02 August 1997. Web. 9 May 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/02/nyregion/in-park-slope-stereotyping-breaks-out.html?pagewanted=2

Nytimes.com. “Ring Is Cracked in Smuggling of Illegal Chinese Immigrants"
Steven A. Holmes, 11 December 1998. Web. 9 May 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/11/nyregion/ring-is-cracked-in-smuggling-of-illegal-chinese-immigrants.html

Sklar, Helen. “Immigration Act of 1990 Today, 2010-2011 ed."
Clark Boardman Callaghan, 4 August 2010. Print.

Blog 19: Reflection on Archives Essay

The archives project allowed me to gain insight into Roger Starr’s policy of Plan Shrinkage by providing with the personal interview and the news paper articles. As I progressed with my research I understood that the perception of society at the time and his own beliefs where different. Starr was labeled a racist by the residents of the slums, but he was more so just trying to keep the city afloat during a tough economical time. The introduction of the archives project was efficient and effective. I tend to value more a report or a personal interview having this in front of me lead to a better more clearer understanding behind his policy. The archives and the major research essay differed in levels of difficulty. With the archives the information and research was already provided the hardest aspect here really was just coming up with an idea as to how it should begin. The major research essay as with any independent research essay posed various difficulties. For starters: finding accurate sources that are not running off in their own opinionated tangents. Next: tracking down dates, times, and other graphical charts that pertain to certain events, populations, salaries, and other expenses which occurred at the time. Last up: I’d have to say was once obtaining all the information needed, having to then find a way to link all the information in a smooth transition. So between the two projects the archives was for sure the easier of the two but the major allowed me to generate a more opinionated thought and have more control as far as the content which to include.

Blog 18: Report on major research paper

As I did the research for the paper, I used outlets such as the library, news paper articles, the internet, and personal experiences to help provide information about New York City over an 8-year period. While doing the research I feel as though I was not able to obtain more insight on the economical stand point of the city. Though I was able to find out minimal details on cost of rent, I would have rather included the average cost of commuting per day. Another problem I came across was the lack of information pertaining to the city at that time in general. Between 1990 and 1998 a few incidents and political changes had occurred though I would’ve rather included more. With writing this paper and based on the topics in class, I minimized my introduction using downshifting and integrated the use of more descriptive details. I still have to improve on sentence variety as well as restructuring of my conclusion.

Blog 17: Minority Report, Oedipus, and free will

David Rodriguez
Dr. Luke Vasileiou
ENG 103
18 May 2011
Free Will is an illusion. A concept; which we fail to produce enough substantial evidence to provide a plausible reason. There are plenty of innovative theories and infinite possibilities; however nothing to provide a contradiction that our lives are not, nor have not been already scripted for us. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” Shakespeare captured it best, by laying claim that we are similar to performers playing just another role within our society. We play a role do to the model, influence, and environment of our world around us.
So having this influence would also control our “Free Will.” Granted we have a choice that we can make and for it a cause and effect would occur. In the film “Minority Report” a little food for thought is given as Chef John Anderton (Tom Cruise) rolls a ball across a table, seconds before it drops to the ground Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell) catches it in his hand. John “Why did you catch it?” Danny “Cause it was going fall” John “But it didn’t fall because you caught it” this conversation between them provided us with the idea that John knew ahead of time that Danny would react in this way and catch the ball. Now even though Danny had the choice whether or not to catch the ball in the first place, John had already set it up to gain this reaction within Danny. So “Free Will” here would not be found.
It is safe to assume that our reaction, even though thought to be our very own, is in fact just the effect to someone’s cause. Another interesting event in the film was how they went about arresting people minutes before the crime was even committed by the suspect. This was all based on understanding the cause and preventing the effect. With the Precogs prediction they could see the cause of a crime about to happen and stop the effect minutes before it would become the reality. In the film the question is brought up “How do you arrest someone before they make the choice to commit the crime?” this would make a good argument; however if we take a look at the husband that violently kills his wife and her lovers in the precogs vision we can see that he has already gone about building up his rage. Even though the police arrived in time to stop him from committing the crime the anger and rage within him would have lead him up to this event.
In comparison the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus is told by the Delphic Oracle that he would one day kill his father and would then mate with his mother. This Oedipus was destined to do. Hearing that he was destined to do this created a level of paranoia. The words of the Oracle began the series of events to unfold. They were the “cause” which was enough to have led Oedipus to pursue a path which was already predetermined. Taking a closer look at both works you can see how the actions or words from another can affect the path which one takes. Even though we believe that we have “Free Will” and are able to control it, our emotions, thoughts, doubts, and understanding can dramatically change us, our actions, our reason. The influence given since birth ultimately affects our “Free Will” so we are never as free as we believe ourselves to be, though we can think it.

Blog 16: Report on your selected movie

The Siege is a film based in New York City pertaining to the abuse of power the US military demonstrates. Within the film an Islamic religious leader is abducted by the US military and is interrogated and treated inhumanly. This causes an outcry from the Islamic community and New York City becomes the target of upcoming series of escalating terrorist attacks. There are a series of bombings that occur in the film and throughout the city. There is a scene where a city bus full of people becomes a bus full of hostages. At first the authorities in the film thought it was just another hostage style situation not thinking it would even escalate to the level it did. I recall the character Elise Kraft a CIA operative having a conversation with Anthony Hubbard, the head of the FBI’s Counter-Terrorism Task Force Anthony: ”What are they waiting for” Elise: “they are waiting for the news cameras” just as she made that statement the news helicopters flew overhead and the bus exploded. As the bombings would pursue, the US government responded by instating the use of Martial Law, and enlisting the aid of US soldiers under the leadership of Gen. Devereaux, into the streets of New York City. The film relates to NYC in the sense of possibility that this could in fact one day happen. It also depicts the fear and misguided thought process our public may have. The film captures NYC in it most busy of times, people commuting throughout the city, traffic. You can gain a glimpse into the life of a New Yorker.

Blog 15: Minority Report response

Our society in its current state is too well guarded. The sense of security we have is not an acceptable trade off for the invasion of ones own privacy. The “Patriot Act” (which was signed into law on October 26, 2001), gave all law enforcement agencies the right and ability to trace and listen in to telephone calls, personal emails, and even private records such as medical and financial. This added policy invades our personal thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to the point that we now may feel the need to suppress these very same concepts, ideas, and reasons for fear of maybe wrongful persecution. This elevated state of security creates a level of paranoia. Who is this person listening to our conversations, how much do they really know about us? I feel that our society need not be so heavily guarded and monitored. To monitor societies ever email, phone call, and private record is almost the equivalent to observing and monitoring a prisoner in a detention center and or correctional institution. Granted society needs rules and restrictions to help perpetuate order, this does not and should not have to include as well the invasion upon our own private matters. The film “Minority Report” told a story of a society whose crime was monitored by “Precogs” these such oracle like beings could see into the future minutes or hours or days before a crime of murder could have occurred. The outcome from their predictions was enough to arrest an individual minutes before he/she could or would’ve committed a murder. This was done giving the individual no chance of defending himself or herself or even making a choice. Now this could be compared to our society now, with knowing and listening in to our communications or searching private medical records could we not also be convicted ahead of time without making a choice or being able to defend ourselves. We live in a society where assumption is everything. At time just this very same assumption can be the downfall of an innocent. Same was also seen in the “Minority Report” when Tom Cruise’s character was wrongfully arrested based on the assumption that the “Precogs” knew without a doubt that his actions where pre-written and determined.

Archives Project Essay

David Rodriguez
Dr. Luke Vasileiou
ENG 103
9 May 2011
Planned Shrinkage
Minorities, immigrants, and crime all on the rise led to the development of new policies to institute relief to slum plagued areas in New York City during the 1970’s. However this method of relief caused an outcry from the communities which were closely affected by its design and goal. This policy though thought at the time to be a way to move people out of these slums to a more vacant area really was a way for the city to turn its back on its public more so these slum filled communities.
It was the 1970’s in New York City the birthplace of a new public policy called “Planned Shrinkage”. This proposal was introduced by Roger Starr as a way to restructure decaying urban societies throughout New York City. Neighborhoods suffering from this urban decay included the South Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem; distinct neighborhoods of which was home to minorities at the time and was considered having the highest crime and poverty levels. In an interview with Robert Fitch on September 9, 1993 Roger Starr speaks about the reasons behind the “Planned Shrinkage” of the 1970’s and makes the statement “The problem is to fill the housing with tenants who are not destructive and who will pay their rent, and who we want to keep there forever because they are good tenants” with this statement you can assess that he had a problem with these high crime and poverty parts of town and the people that resided in them.
Slum clearance or “Planned Shrinkage” as Rodger Starr would have put it was the withdrawing of essential city services. These services such as police patrols, garbage removal, street repairs, and fire services were all removed from these neighborhoods suffering from urban decay, crime, and poverty. By the mid-1970s in the Bronx approximately 120,000 fires occurred per year. 40 percent of the housing in the area was destroyed. As the fires kept increasing the response time of the firefighters depleted less and less. They simply could not keep up with all the fires that were going on at the time. With cutbacks on such services many residents felt the city was doing nothing to help them. This caused many living in these poor neighborhoods to move and begin looking for new places to live. Going back to the report between Starr and Fitch, Starr talks about a conversation over at Randalls Island that he recalled having with Robert Moses and telling him “Bob, you don’t really think that you can treat people nowadays as though they were parcels in the package room.” When “Planned Shrinkage” became a reality in the 1970s it did just that. Areas affected by these cutbacks to public services began to see a decline within its population.
In an article from the Daily News dated March 1, 1976, the headline read as “Starr under fire for plan to shrink slum services” there is a given percentage of the decrease of the population and the areas most affected by it. The city was losing 1% of its population per year, (which since the introduction of the policy to the date that article in 1976 was published) there were approximately 400,000 people lost. These statistic show that cuts in services to these arson, crime and housing abandonment parts of town during that time is evidence that people where really forced to get up and leave. There were no other options but to do so. Now with these people relocated and most of the buildings vacant from fires it created extensive vacant land which held a higher redevelopment value, more so in the South Bronx. So what “Planned Shrinkage” did was not only cut off public services, it helped also clear the land to be available for redevelopment and economic growth. To this day if we take a look at Brooklyn and see how rapid the growth the change of the population we can assess that maybe in fact a plan similar to “Planned Shrinkage” is in effect just worded differently so we are not as aware.
Rodger Starr’s personal philosophy about human nature and its relationship to populations and housing could be seen as a negative one. In the report held between Starr and Fitch, Starr states that the theory that all people are alike set forth by the “Brook Amendment” was devastating. Starr believed that not all people were fundamentally good and decent. He believed you needed to worry about the character and quality of the people. He felt that people were assumed to be the ideal of the American wholesome family and knew this was in fact not the case. I agreed with his belief that not everyone is alike but I did not agree with his method of execution to deal with these populations.
The population at the time consisted of immigrants from all over. As time progressed these groups of immigrants both legal and illegal grew. South Bronx, Brownsville, and Harlem where home to these immigrants consisting of different minority groups such as Hispanic, Israelis, Chinese, African American and so on. Now taking a look at more article from the Daily News there were many people at the time who labeled Starr as a racist or genocidal lunatic, some even calling for his resignation. From what Starr says in an interview with Fitch he makes the comment of “I didn’t know that Nigerians were going to come over here and take over the sidewalks” the fact he says “come over here and take over” can lead to the understanding of him being seen as racists but I did not think it was in fact racist. The action of his policy thought to be racist was in fact more so a way of economic reforms it just so happened that these groups of people were living in these areas.
Housing had become a part of the problem. Edward Brooke during this time introduced a new amendment titled “Brook Amendment” which to Starr was the one thing that could have destroyed a federal program. With this amendment in place housing authorities all over the country had to take tenants who couldn’t pay the average going rental rate. So the maintenance of these public housing deteriorated very rapidly do to this amendment allowing anyone to just move in. Starr felt a major problem with the government process of taking in and filling these public housings with tenants whom were extremely destructive and you could not get rid of. With these tenants now living across from the “good” tenants it would just have led to more good rent paying tenants to pack up and move away.
So Starr by many was labeled a racist, a genocidal lunatic, and his idea of “Planned Shrinkage” was thought of as a way to just uproot and remove immigrant families and individuals from their homes. What I found is his approach though was not positive for these immigrants he was not targeting them out of malice but more so was aiming for a bigger picture of improving the city. I feel it wouldn’t have mattered really what race these groups would have been what mattered was if these neighborhoods where poverty stricken, crime infested parts of town. “Planned Shrinkage” was mainly designed to try to save the city and rebuild its economy what led me to this was in the report between Fitch and Starr, Roger says “In fiscal terms the city was in bad shape because it had borrowed all its money.” So what I get from it is there is no money to pay for extra services and cut backs needed to be made. The first place to go would be the slums. Move the people living in these slums to another location and get them out of sight out of mind really. Then rebuild whatever has been left behind in hopes to repair a city that was down in the dumps. Roger Starr’s concept behind this plan was to ultimately improve certain geographical areas but through his efforts he crossed lines of decency and treated the people living in these places as insignificant individuals as though herding them around to distant locations like cattle.

Blog 7: Annotated Bibliography of Media Midterm Paper

David Rodriguez Jr.
Louis A. Lucca
HUC 130
5 May 2011

Violent acts, murders, criminal behaviors and the criminal mind, all have been attributed and associated to some type of media. One of the most controversial of them has been the television. For years this addictive phenomenon has been influencing our society; to the point of creating a sort of dependency and or addiction. Whether it is just a local news broadcast or part of a must see TV Monday night lineup, we remain hooked. With the popularity of this source of media and its growing development it has been providing us with maximum exposure to it round the clock in homes, jobs, cars, even now on mobile devices. So with this availability society would naturally become influenced as well. News broadcasts, TV sitcoms, even cartoons can influence us and dramatically change our perspective, thoughts, and emotions. With this immense exposure to such an outlet; this may be the major contributing factor as to why we have higher reports violence within our society.
The 1940’s World War II was the major focal point of the United States, yet at around the same time the Television was beginning to emerge. By the end of the war the Television had become a commercialized product. At first only five thousand units designed with five inch black & white screens and were located in American homes, by 1951 that number had jumped up to an alarming seventeen million units. (Goodwin) America had become engaged. Before then radio broadcasting was the number one source of entertainment. Families would crowd around the radio to listen to these shows throughout the week. However with the increase of televisions popularity and the demand for more television programing, radio had met its new competitor (refer Fig.1 pg.11). A great portion of today’s Television broadcast stations such as NBC and CBS, all started on radio as forms of popular radio broadcasts, which were then adapted for this newer source of media. (Wikimedia) Four years later in 1955, America began to see the development of standard colored television sets. These colored sets however were considered as a premium feature and at that time most of American household could only afford the black & white versions. This really would not make much of a difference since at that point most of the television broadcasts were still in black & white and rarely seen in color till around the 1960’s. (Goodwin)
Television had been in development for a long period of time. The timeline stretched as far back as 1927 to Philo Farnsworth. Farnsworth was the first inventor to transmit a television image made up of 60 horizontal lines. Ironically enough the image transmitted was a dollar sign. His invention of the dissector tube became the basis of all current electronic televisions. After several years of testing it was in the year 1940 which the first television broadcast of The Queens’s Messenger was relayed to WRGB in Schenectady, New York. (Albany) This established the first television network. This became a time of significance with network television on the rise the FCC had to begin issuing licenses to broadcast stations. Now not everyone across the United Stated had received the same programing; however it was in the works. By May 21 1940 Bell Telephone Laboratories began testing the option of coaxial cable from New York to Philadelphia sending signals back and forth. (Wiki: 1940) This again would be another big move in the growth of this phenomenon. The demand for television and more programing is what lead to a greater expansion.
A variety of shows had been introduced in the 1940’s. Shows such as the Ed Wynn Show, the Goldberg’s, the Howdy Doody Show, the Jack Benny Show, the Lone Ranger, and Toast of The Town had emerged. These new shows were the beginnings of a new influence which would affect society for years to come. Variety and comedy talk shows were some of the biggest in not only ratings but also in influence. Imagine yourself a child sitting your living room it is 1949 you turn on your television set and switch it to ABC there in front of you see a man in a blue shirt with a black mask on a white horse galloping along with trumpets blazing his theme song, Yes! It’s the Lone Ranger. You continue watching him closely as he pulls out his gun and fire’s it off. For that very moment or those next thirty minutes he is your hero and you even want to grow up and be just like him. Now move onward to adulthood and you’re now tuned into a variety style of talk show entitled Toast of The Town with host Ed Sullivan. The show not only would host musical acts but also allowed us to gain a glimpse into the lives of stars. This may have been where our society’s infatuation with celebrities first began.
Today we can still see this style with show’s like Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Jay Leno and so on, all these shows host celebrities and give us a visual of those stars we idolize most. Now with this influence and exposure we could also see how it may have led to violence within our society. Let’s take a child who may see a role model in one of these celebrities growing up whether this celebrity is good or bad, to that child this star may be in fact their hero and they would go to extreme measures to reenact this role model. A child may view a person with a gun on television and say to themselves “Well if they use a gun then so will I” once this idea is implanted into their minds it’s only a matter of time before a violent crime or incident occurs. When we hear of it in the news or read about in article it’s always the same reason “Child was reenacting his/her role model.” Now we can argue that parents need to raise the child not the television or say well parents need to set morals and rules as well as guide their children but let us face reality, television is everywhere and they simply are not. They aren’t alone however; adults are also tossed into the equation. The average adult consumes around 28 hours of television according to research done by A.C. Nielson Co. By the time that adult hits 65 years of age they’ll have be exposed to roughly 9yrs of television this many not seem like an enormous amount but let’s take a closer look at what society is watching today.
Going back to the research done by Nielson Company it states that the numbers of murders seen on television by time the average child finishes elementary school is approximately 8,000, the number of violent acts seen by 18 years of age is 200,000 and the percentage of American’s who believe television violence helps precipitate real life mayhem 79%. The amount of exposure a child has to violence on television may be what is in fact influencing them throughout their lives to perpetuate violence. Some of society has grown up watching public broadcasting programs such as Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers or a replicated modern day version while other may be growing up with violent cartoons or television shows which appeal to a younger audience demographic. This is not the only exposure we have, shows and cartoons are just a portion of the problem the other would have to be the News media; with the News society receives a culture shock which causes different emotions and reactions.
Fear & terror are two big factors which can lead to violence and are conveyed through News broadcasts on television. Looking at recent events that happened not long ago we can see how the News media used this fear and terror to sort of monopolize ratings. However this also led to violence within our very own society. The events of 9/11 were a catalyst for violence within America and the reports were televised with tremendous coverage sparking up a public frenzy. I recall watching reports of American Muslims being beating, shot at, and threaten even though they didn’t have anything to do with the events of that day. Still though the American public was in enraged and the News media fueled this rage even more. Every hour on the hour coverage on the story, followed by video sequence of the planes hitting the towers. The images lived with you throughout the day and would remain with you for the rest of your life. So with this mind television helped push this message of fear and terror which then sparked up violence and you did not even have to have been exposed to it for so many years to feel its affects. Men and Women saw this tragic event and signed up almost immediately for the military, they wanted revenge so now you have even more violence. It was like a trickled down effect everything that was said by the media triggered someone within society. The same way that these people felt passionate and enraged over this event is the same way a child may view his or her programs.
There is certainly a psychological presence that can be assessed between the relationship of television violence and society, and a countless number of studies have been done to help shed light on this very topic. The American Psychological Association did studies on a child’s exposure to media violence throughout a 15-year period. This study was based on 329 youths and was published in an issue of Developmental Psychology, one of the American Psychological Association (APA) journals. According to this studies regardless of a child’s initial aggression levels, intellectual capabilities, social status, or even a parents parenting styles the violence on television would just strengthen this aggressive behavior in a young adult. (APA) So it can be determined that throughout a child’s developmental stage; being exposed to such images and or programing could in fact create a more aggressive behavior. Further studies have shown that such shows as Starsky and Hutch, The Six Million Dollar Man, and even cartoons would hold some identifying characteristic that these children would associate themselves to. According to these studies the results were that men, who were high TV-violence viewers as children were more than likely to have been convicted of a crime or pushed, grabbed or shoved their spouse. Women who were high TV-violence viewers as children were likely to have thrown something at their spouse, shoving, punching, choking the person, and committed criminal act of some type. (APA) With all these images of television violence being presented to children it would only make sense that they would grow up to feel as if this was the correct way to act out in society or be to their loved ones in private. The perception that television programing presents us is a very intimate and personal one. "It is more plausible that exposure to TV violence increases aggression than that aggression increases TV-violence viewing," said Psychologist Dr. L. Rowell Huesmann, Ph.D. (APA)
Not only has television programing created and perpetuated violence, but it has also made society numb to it. Being exposed to violent acts, reports, and shows has made this violence sort of casual or predictable. On March 13, 1964 a murder of a woman by the name of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese occurred. What made this murder so significant was the fact that there were 38 witnesses that heard the screams of Ms. Genovese while she was being attacked and did nothing to help her. The witnesses watched and heard her screams for approximately half an hour. Later the actions of these witnesses would be labeled as the “Bystander effect” or the “Genovese Syndrome” labels which were used to define groups of people whom did not offer any type of means of assistance to a victim in an emergency. This effect may be attributed to violent programing and or news reports seen on television. Programing dictates how society should act or react to certain events. With such constant exposure to violence and it becoming more and more common among society, people may have just simply become apathetic to it.
The events of Ms. Genovese’s death that night could have been viewed by those witnesses as if almost just watching another show on TV or a news report it was not at all shocking. As if this was a common occurrence to hear the screams of a woman throughout the night. This was not the only reason that would cause them to ignore her pleads for help; people just did not want to get involved if it meant a risk of their own personal safety. With television being a tool for the media to dictate society’s views, moods, thoughts, and beliefs, who’s to say that in that time period they didn’t do the same. With this constant presentation of violence or violent acts being given to society round the clock; it could have implanted the idea that this is what happens, so just keep your nose out of what is not your business and you’ll be just fine.
In 2000, a Historian by the name of Joseph De May dug up information about the Genovese murder. With this new information he then critiqued the original article of the New York Times. Joseph believed that there has been 2 attacks and not 3, they were not continuous having 10min. intervals between them while the killer moved his car into a parking place further away. He claims there weren’t 38 witnesses to the attack but rather just 3 who saw the first or second attack. The area of the attack would have made it impossible for anyone to have seen or heard everything in its entirety. (On The Media) This critique and information after careful evaluation would make more sense than what was originally reported. However being that society’s perception of the television media is so high, people simply believe what they hear or see on television rather think and develop a reason onto themselves for the events that occurred. They depend on others to make the first move. It is similar to when you know something isn’t right but wait until someone else stands up first and says “Hey this isn’t right.” To this day we can still see very similar behavior among people in society. I can recall watching reports on several local News stations about a man here in New York that saw a woman getting mugged, he rushed in to save her from this mugger and end up needing saving himself. The mugger wielded a knife and stabbed him a few times leaving him to his death. What was worse were the hours that followed as the hero lied in the middle of the sidewalk bleeding to death people just walked right by him as if he was invisible. Not one of them called for help or assisted him. While watching their reactions you get the sense that to them this was just another day in the big apple.
Television has created a world within our society. The enormous importance society has given to this media outlet throughout the years has given it the power to convey whatever message those in control of it wish to give. The presentation of these messages has been proven to affect our outlooks, moods, beliefs, behaviors, even the development of our personalities. Since it is believed that we contain a certain level of aggressive behavior since birth providing such violent programing could in fact further this aggressive behavior. Even though we grow up and learn new things along the way, we still are learning and adapting to what is being illustrated in front of us. Similar to a child, we may in fact honestly never grow away from that childhood curiosity. Men and Women both being adults still copy one another’s actions. Both watch TV; imitate trends, styles, lives, and even jobs. So with this in our minds the images of violence we see on a day to day basis could in fact be mimicked at a later time or date in our lives.

Works Cited
Albany: History of Schenectady.
Albany.com, 2003-2011. Web. 21 April. 2011.
http://www.albany.com/schenectady/history.cfm
Albany’s main site which lists the history of the city and states that it is the birth place of the first television broadcast network.

Berkowitz, Edward D. Mass appeal: the formative age of the movies, radio, and tv. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.
In this book: Information on the stars on both radio and television during the 1930s. The culture and trends between the 1930s to the late 1940s.

CSUN: “Television & Health” http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html
California State University, Northridge © 2007 web. 7 April 2011
Site contains information from Nielson Research on the average American household television usage.

Goodwin, Sue. American Cultural History. Lone Star College-
Kingwood Library, 1999. Web. 7 April. 2011. http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html
Number of television units across America and at when it increased. A few mentions of popular radio broadcasts at that time which would later move onto becoming television shows.

Nobleman, Marc Tyler. The television, Minn.: Capstone Press, 2005. Print.
In this book it follows televisions popularity throughout the years, and current day.
On The Media: “The Witnesses That Didn’t”
WNYC Radio, 27 March 2009. Web. 21 April. 2011.
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2009/03/27/05
Article of an interview between Brooke Gladstone and Joseph De May on the Kitty Genovese murder.

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. “Television in the United States"
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 7 April. 2011.
This site has a few good articles on the adaptation of radio to television and the birth and growth of major Television broadcasting networks.

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. “1940 in television"
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 21 April. 2011.
A list of events which took place in 1940. Great links to the numerous companies that developed or were involved in the development of broadcast networks.

Special Activity: MOMI

So I was on a tour at the Museum of the Moving Image yesterday and picked up a few fun facts. The building was once a part of Paramount studios. It is now home to different props, wardrobes, and collectables from movies and television shows within our history up to current day. You can also gain a glimpse of the progression of cameras and gain a visual how these such cameras also changed going from a small box setup to a more advanced 3 color film strip setup. As I continued to walk about the building my tour guide sort of rushed the group I was with so to truly appreciate the content I will have to go back a second time. What I did get from this is a better sense of how film developed throughout time. Also saw a demonstration of how music in a movie can help illustrate a scene. I was a bit disappointed that the tour guide did not touch more on the special effects within movies. For me the best part of the whole tour was the section of the of these special effects even though we did not get a chance to really touch basis on this section it was still nice to be able to see these effects close up.

The tour guide discussed still shot animation. The double-sided figure of the bird and the cage and the concept of how “Rest” was used with this image to provide the illusion on what we had seen. Another one was how a scientific question of “If a horse runs at full speed around a track; is there a point at which all four legs come off the ground at the same time?” This notion led to the development of film animation.

Blog 13: Draft of Archives Project Essay

David Rodriguez
Dr. Luke Vasileiou
ENG 103
2 May 2011
Planned Shrinkage
It was the 1970’s in New York City the birthplace of a new public policy called “Planned Shrinkage”. This proposal was introduced by Roger Starr as a way to restructure decaying urban societies throughout New York City. Neighborhoods suffering from this urban decay included the South Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem; distinct neighborhoods of which was home to minorities at the time and was considered having the highest crime and poverty levels. In an interview with Robert Fitch on September 9, 1993 Roger Starr speaks about the reasons behind the “Planned Shrinkage” of the 1970’s and makes the statement “The problem is to fill the housing with tenants who are not destructive and who will pay their rent, and who we want to keep there forever because they are good tenants” with this statement you can assess that he had a problem with these high crime and poverty parts of town and the people that resided in them.
Slum clearance or “Planned Shrinkage” as Rodger Starr would have put it was the withdrawing of essential city services. These services such as police patrols, garbage removal, street repairs, and fire services were all removed from these neighborhoods suffering from urban decay, crime, and poverty. By the mid-1970s in the Bronx approximately 120,000 fires occurred per year. 40 percent of the housing in the area was destroyed. As the fires kept increasing the response time of the firefighters depleted less and less. They simply could not keep up with all the fires that were going on at the time. With cutbacks on such services many residents felt the city was doing nothing to help them. This caused many living in these poor neighborhoods to move and begin looking for new places to live. Going back to a report between Starr and Fitch, Starr talks about a conversation over at Randalls Island where he recalled having with Robert Moses and telling him “Bob, you don’t really think that you can treat people nowadays as though they were parcels in the package room.” When “Planned Shrinkage” became a reality in the 1970s it did just that. Areas affected by these cutbacks to public services began to see a decline within its population.

(Page 2 work in progress.)

Rodger Starr’s personal philosophy about human nature and its relationship to populations and housing could be seen as a negative one. In the report held between Starr and Fitch, Starr states that the theory that all people are alike set forth by the “Brook Amendment” was devastating. Starr believed that not all people were fundamentally good and decent. He believed you needed to worry about the character and quality of the people. He felt that people were assumed to be the ideal of the American wholesome family and knew this was in fact not the case. I agreed with his belief that not everyone is alike but I did not agree with his method of execution to deal with these populations.

(The population - Work in progress.)

Housing had become a part of the problem. Edward Brooke during this time introduced a new amendment titled “Brook Amendment” which to Starr was the one thing that could have destroyed a federal program. With this amendment in place housing authorities all over the country had to take tenants who couldn’t pay the average going rental rate. So the maintenance of these public housing deteriorated very rapidly do to this amendment allowing anyone to just move in. Starr felt a major problem with the government process of taking in and filling these public housings with tenants whom were extremely destructive and you could not get rid of. With these tenants now living across from the “good” tenants it would just have led to more good rent paying tenants to pack up and move away.

Blog 12: Gattaca response

The concept that human’s which would have been genetically engineered ending in the result of them being classified as the “Other” has been represented numerous times within our history. We can see evidence of this during Hitler’s rein of terror as he found Jewish people to different; this difference would make them into the “Other”. His belief was so strong he decided to exterminate all the Jewish men, women, and children. Another point in time could be when black slaves where taking and thought to be inferior by slave owners. White slave owners saw these black slaves as their own property and nothing more. To them the slaves had no rights and were not equal to them making these black slaves into the “Other”. During the times of exploration by Christopher Columbus and the Conquistadors, Indian’s that were native to the land were thought as savages and weren’t accepted as equal beings. With Christianity being such an important part of these explorer’s they felt the need to bestow their religion on this savage society to turn these “Others” into just another. Gattaca demonstrates a world based on perfection or at least trying to achieve perfection. The society was developed under a genetic principal. Those humans genetically born where presumed as perfect specimens whereas those born as how god intended where labeled as invalid. Similar to our history with slaves or Indians the views of the invalid humans were negative ones. As an invalid in Gattaca you were limited to what you could do within this society. Vincent the main role in the movie is labeled as invalid and is told all his life that because he is invalid he isn’t capable of as much. He could never believe this though he wanted more for himself and to him it just didn’t make any sense as to why people would stop him from progressing. He was the “Other” in this story the outcast the black sheep. Even though with the odds stacked against him by what people told him all his life he felt like it was wrong and inaccurate. Currently in our society we can see this still being depicted. Whether is it against someone’s sexual, preference, their race and ethnicity, and the level of education they posses. The end result is the role of the “Other” remains and will always remain society.

Blog 11: The Concept of the Other

The “Other” as defined by me would be a person who is closed minded, judgmental, hypocrite, and full of themselves. I’ve never been a fan of ego’s and demanding figures or leaders. To me this person or character has no role in society but to be the example of exactly what not to be. A closed minded attitude hinders any relationship that person and I could ever have. I prefer to have a sort of two way street in terms of communication. To have a road block do to a person’s lack to understand difference of opinion would truly just aggravate me. Judgmental, hypocritical, and egocentric are other attributes which I would closely associate to the “Other”. These attributes are ones that’s I’ve encountered in people within my life throughout different experiences. From what I have felt and have come to understand a person holding such attributes would not make a good candidate to be around myself. The reason for this is mainly that our personalities would clash and lead to arguments that could never arrive at a common ground. So I tend to avoid it as soon as I see one of these characteristic come fourth in a person.

Blog 10: Reflection

The overall connection and relationship of illusion and the perception of reality among all the content is what caught my attention most. Within each of the stories ignorance of a reality and living an illusion held a strong presence whether looking at Neo from the “Matrix”, the prisoners within the “Allegory of the Cave” and “Oedipus” we can see evidence of this cognitive concept. In the “Matrix” Neo is living in a world, which in fact only exists inside a machine. Trapped in this world for so many years unaware of a reality could be compared to Prisoners in the “Allegory of the Cave” whom were also prisoners to an illusion and yet again could be seen in “Oedipus” who was lied to about his lineage and lived in an illusion. All three characters were secluded and blinded from the truth; all had the idea that what in front of them was in fact real. I found these concepts to be appealing in the sense that it allowed me to sort of “think outside the box.” Within my very own writings I’ve been a prisoner to certain structures and limited my very own imagination do to these structures. I was unaware of this till I came across such a creative concept. Similar to these characters I feel as if I have awoken from an illusion.

I myself as a writer try to find and develop better ways of reaching my audience. I know a weakness of mine has been creating a great way of grabbing the attention of the reader. I can easily grab the attention of a passerby or in a group of people via verbal communication however when it comes to my writing even when I read it over I feel its just does not live up to my expectation and or represent my thoughts to their full meaning. With the blogs I feel as if it has allowed me to express ideas a bit more clear however I still feel it hasn’t been my best work nor have I shown it. I guess another weakness is I truly am my “own worst critic.”

Blog 8: Ignorance, Bliss, and Knowledge in Oedipus the King and The Matrix.

Within the two texts, the concepts of ignorance, bliss/happiness and knowledge are shared equally throughout the storylines. We can see this is evident between the main characters Neo and Oedipus. Both characters depend on an Oracle to help provide insight and knowledge with upcoming future events, both live in a state of ignorance, and up to the point of which the prophesy is developed to be true they were full of bliss/happiness. With the “Matrix” we see the character of Neo who was trapped in a world of lies and illusion to some level his lack of knowledge kept him within boundaries of his ignorance. However he takes it upon himself to learn more about the reality even though this reality is beyond his comprehension of anything which he has ever seen or has believed as presented by Morpheus. Oedipus was too trapped in a world of illusion and ignorance. This world was manipulated since his birth by a lie having to do with his lineage. He believed he was a son to a King and Queen from across the land. To Oedipus those were without a doubt his real parents. That is until he went seeking the truth from a prophet named Teiresias who then caused Oedipus to begin questioning his life. If we were to compare the two stories the prophet Teiresias could assume the role of Morpheus and vice versa both held important knowledge to allow the main characters to continue on in their journey seeking out the truth. Ignorance was show with both characters in opposing ways, with Neo he did not believe he had such power within him, his very doubt he showed a level of ignorance, Oedipus thought of himself as an intellectual he believed in himself to almost becoming that of an egocentric maniac this superior complex was where his ignorance lived. With the use of oracles as representatives for knowledge and wisdom and situations which challenged the bliss and or happiness or the levels of ignorance both characters demonstrated we can see how within these two texts can correspond to one another.

Blog 7: Annotated Bibliography

Works Cited
Berkowitz, Edward D. Mass appeal: the formative age of the movies, radio, and tv. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.
In this book: Information on the stars on both radio and television during the 1930s. The culture and trends between the 1930s to the late 1940s.

Goodwin, Sue. American Cultural History. Lone Star College-
Kingwood Library, 1999. Web. 7 April. 2011. http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html
Number of television units across America and at when it increased. A few mentions of popular radio broadcasts at that time which would later move onto becoming television shows.

Nobleman, Marc Tyler. The television, Minn.: Capstone Press, 2005. Print.
Television becoming popular and the Television of today.

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. “Television in the United States"
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 7 April. 2011.
This site has a few good articles on the adaptation of radio to television and the birth and growth of major Television broadcasting networks.

Thesis:
Television is an addictive phenomenon which can be found across the world in homes, jobs, cars and now even mobile phones.

Outline:
-Introduction to television -

-Television and its history -

-Town to receive first exposure to television -

-Demographics of these towns -

-Programs offered and evolution of radio broadcast into television -

- The different effects of such programing -

-The role models portrayed on television -

-Their influence on society -

-The view of the viewers -

-A jump into current modern day Television -

-Conclusion

Eassy: 1

Throughout Mythology similar titles such as Oracle, Neo, and Morpheus have been used to depicted different beings of wisdom and knowledge. In the movie “The Matrix” the adaptation and use of these names was evident. From the use of the Oracle’s interpretation and foreshadowing future events down to the words of Morpheus indicating a false world, these elements were all taken from Mythology. The ideas and concepts of these Mythological titles used within this storyline was as if almost to illustrate that “The Matrix” was a myth itself.
From the moment that we hear the character Neo is being taken to the Oracle we can begin to assume that the Oracle is one of higher power and wisdom. Even with no prior knowledge of Greek mythology. Since the Oracle had been around from the beginning as Morpheus stated to Neo it could lead us to the understanding that she had wisdom and knowledge of the world around her, in this case the world being “The Matrix” itself. So with now the idea that this Oracle must contain this knowledge we can begin to see how Greek Mythology is implemented into the storyline. There is a conversation in which the Oracle and Neo have where the Oracle tells Neo about his upcoming path and what he may or may not face. Essentially she gives the idea that no matter what everything has a purpose and was designed to do it that way, a sort of fate and or destiny.
The One, The Messiah, The Savior in this case though his name was Neo. The name Neo is in almost all mythology and maybe represented as a Messiah or a Savior of some type. In “The Matrix” Neo was a symbol of hope and a representation for salvation. Several adaptations can be found today within different religions all of which reflect back to a Messiah or Savior. As with most mythologies there were those who tried to stop or discredit these Messiah’s. In the case of this film it was the agents who wanted to stop “The One”. Neo was a threat to their very existence and source of life. Since the return of “The One” had been prophesized an uncertainty had arisen for the agents of the matrix. If Neo was indeed the one the salvation of mankind would be inevitable. Similar to “The Allegory of the cave” Neo would be the one who has escaped his shackles and turned to the light. The light would be the reality and truth of the world around him. With his new found knowledge and understand he could go back and awaken the prisoner from their misconception of the world around them.
Is this a dream? If it was indeed a dream then Morpheus would not be far behind. In Greek Mythology Morpheus is the god of dreams. In this film Morpheus character by far was the best adaptation of a dream god. In the film when Morpheus first meets Neo he presents the question “What is real?” Later on he refers to a blue and red pill representing option. The option would be to continue remaining in the dream/illusion or awaken to face the truth and reality. His character was determined to break Neo out of “The Matrix” so to awaken him from the illusion and bring him to the truth.
When taking a closer look at the film “The Matrix” and really going in depth with the characters you can begin to see why it is they used such names for these characters. Clearly Mythology played an important role in the inspiration of both the characters and storyline. Sine these characters have names which are shared with many religions and stories of mythology it made it simple for a general understanding. The Oracle, Neo, Morpheus all titled differently in mythologies and religions and in the end all are the same.

Blog 6: The idea of the prison house of language

Language the most powerful tool we utilize each day. Consider how many people you pass by each day and just say hello to. Now imagine that the passerby you’ve said hello to was having a bad day, and that your acknowledgement was enough to place a smile on their face. So what was the controlling variable that changed their mood was it your “hello” or was it the word “hello” itself. This is where the concept of “Prison-house of Language” comes in; language alone creates and expresses meaning. So if you thought that your “hello” was what did the trick, in reality it was the “hello” itself which was interpreted by the passerby as a good remark. Similar to a light switch being turned on, you can walk into a dark room, turn on the switch and instantly the room is bright and lit up, but to get this light into this dark room you’d need electricity, which is already there waiting all it needs is to be turned on. Language ultimately controls our perception in this way; the word hello is what caused the reaction of the passerby to have a smile on their face; the reason for it is the value the word itself has created for the individual. It is as though we live our lives narrated by words, we can hear the word “Sadness” and automatically are taking to a moment in our lives which may reflect a point of sadness, or hear a story of triumph and begin to feel heroic and or victorious. Language can dictate the way we feel, think, respond, and behave. Now to further analyze the concept, it could be assumed that we place such an importance on words within our languages and that certain words trigger distinct responses depending on the level of emotion we may have that corresponds to an underlined meaning. Similar to a child, who calls out to a parent, without a trigger, how would the parent know the child is in need of them?
Now, we should not be defining language as just words alone. Body Language is another form of communication. An individual’s physical action can tell us a lot about them. From a simple crossing of the arms, we can determine that the individual may not want to be approached. Opening of the arms would have the reversed meaning. A hand shake can determine the level of an individual’s comfort zone. A tightly given hand shake can show’s presence and confidence, whereas a loose one or a so called “dead fish” can label that individual as inferior. This form of communication does in fact act as a trigger, similar to words within a language. Breaking down “Prison-house of Language” Prison is a place of confinement with no way of escape, House of language is language as in a whole, so essentially it means to be confined within the perception of language. We all view and have different meanings for words and body language, the level of importance we give to them is dictated with the action or wording used. So do we narrate these languages or do the Languages narrate us? Ultimately it’d be like the question “What came first the chicken or the egg?”

Blog 5: The Allegory of the cave

The Allegory of the cave a metaphorical philosophy dealing with ones own perception of what is real. In this Socrates is sharing his philosophy using a form of symbolism to help create a better vision in the mind of Glaucon. Socrates tells of the cave and the prisoners shackled and chained at the bottom with only shadowy images of objects behind them cast on the wall, which could be interpreted as being closed off from the world around them. What you can’t see does not exist. As the dialogue perpetuates Socrates further begins to enlighten Glaucon and presents more food for thought. What if one of the prisoners gets away and turns to the light, could they accept the new reality in front off them? Also for that one that escapes could he then be able to return to lie that he once live and by doing so would the prisoners back at the bottom of the cave accept this reality he would speak of or would they cast him away and tell him it was just all a lie?

Blog 4:

It was the 1930’s and at the time radio was one of many forms of entertainment. People would look to this form of entertainment to provide news, music, even stories which were read out loud over the air waves. One of the most known stories was that of H. G. Wells – War of The Worlds. A story of science fiction dealing with an alien invasion destine upon earth. At the time this was merely just a story, no truth to it what so ever. However in the 1930’s an event took place which took this work of science fiction and turned it into a work of true non-fiction. On October 30, 1938 this fiction based story was told across the radio airwaves. Normally anyone would think this was just another story and nothing more to it, but there was a serious problem within this broadcast in particular. At the time Orson Welles was the narrator for the Colombia Broadcasting station. The dramatic story was broken down into two sixty minute segments, with news bulletins in between. An alien invasion was upon earth, this was the illusion they wanted to present to its listener’s. Now for the listener’s whom were tuned in from the very beginning they had already known that this was only just another work of fiction and that no truth should be placed on it, but what about the ones that tuned into the broadcast late? Well here is where it became interesting, the broadcast was in progress and for those people whom tuned in late this wasn’t just another work of fiction to them this was the news. It was real aliens were on earth and the battle for mankind was unfolding in their minds. This alien invasion began to cause a bit of wide spread panic, as Orson continue to tell the story people began to worry even more than before. A panic ensued into hysteria the new bulletins assured the people that this was indeed their reality. People believed it so much that there were stories about people taking their own lives, others going insane and some having heart attacks from all the hysteria. As the broadcast continued so began the phone calls, News broadcasting stations, police and government agency all received calls from listeners that felt this was indeed going on, they asked for support, how they should began to evacuate where was it safe to go. The pandemonium escalated, the illusion was so real to the listeners that they went to extreme lengths to protect themselves. Day’s after the events people were told that it wasn’t in fact a true alien invasion but that it was just a fictionally story. The mood amongst them changed significantly, it went from fear and wide spread panic to anger and wide spread outrage. To them a media source which they came to trust and allow in their homes on a more intimate level, betrayed and lied to them. This just goes to show that people need to treat the media like a grain of sand. Don’t believe all the media tells you cause in the end what you think may be real might in fact just be another work of fiction.

Source of information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio_drama%29

Blog 2

I found “The Allegory of the Cave” to be a well thought out descriptive dialogue. As the dialogue progressed you were told of prisoners being shackled in chains facing a wall with nothing more than shadowy images casted down from a bright fire behind them. After reading the dialogue you begin to see that there laid a greater purpose for this dialogue to be written in such a manner. There was an underlined message that one’s face valued reality and the true reality around them was two different things. Socrates said “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images” this piece of dialogue illustrates that people will only hold value to that of which they see with their own eyes. The images on the walls within the cave were the reality of those prisoners. There was nothing else to change this reality for them or show them otherwise. These people had been down in this dark cave for so long hidden away from the reality that was always around them that even if they were to be shown a different one they’d ignore it and hold on tight to their own. Socrates added “Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes” once freed and in the light away from the darkness the reality of the one who escaped changed. He no longer shared the same reality of those still back in the dark cave. However this also came with a cost “Let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death” this was to show that anyone with a different idea or reality would be put to death if they interrupted or tried to change the reality of everyone in that cave. The prisoners in this cave did not even wish to ever think about ascending after that. They just would rather continue living life in darkness than turning away towards the light.

Blog 3

Monsters
Ghosts
Alien Invasions
Santa Claus
The Devil
Generosity and compassion in people

As a child growing up with over creative and imaginative parents, I developed a few beliefs in the stories they told me. From my mother coming up with stories about monsters that would come to get my brother and I in the middle of the night, to stories my father would tell me about ghosts and haunted houses. For a long period of my childhood I had to sleep with my lights on. As time went on so did the stories, now I heard about alien invasions, religious tales of the rapture and how I’d wake up and find myself all alone one day, The devil. From what I’ve already stated you can tell I had an interesting childhood. It wasn’t till I about thirteen years of age that I began to question these tales of ghosts and monsters coming to get me. I recall one day I was acting up at home with my brother and my mother came into the room and told us if you don’t stop right now she was going to call the monsters to come get us. At this point never having seen a monster first hand I dared to say “Go ahead and call them I am waiting” oh I remember the look on my mothers face. The look itself let me know that I called her bluff and she was not expecting it at all. She tried to restate it again “I’m warning you” was what I heard, but at this point it was far too late for me to turn back. I stood strong with my words and didn’t back down I replied again “Call them I am waiting.” She left it alone and left the room laughing a bit. A few weeks later she pulled me a side and asked me how did I find out it was all made up by her, I told her it was do to the fact that out of all the years I heard these stories from her not once did I ever see a so called monster. So my mother had monsters, now my father use to talk to me about ghosts, spirits, and haunted houses, so for a time if at night I heard a sound I was beyond freaked out. Worse was when my grandmother or mother were in on a joke and would wait till I was in my room and the house was totally quiet. They would start making all type of sounds in the kitchen and then a few minutes later one of them would crawl up to the side of my bed and yell, “BOO”. If these things didn’t send me a shrink I don’t know what would. The time had come and I was placed into religion classes. Oh and guess what now I had something new to fear “The Devil”. I was taught that the devil is around us and tempts us to do wrong everyday and if I were bad I’d be going to “Hell”. So for a time I was on my best behavior. Something happened though as time went on I began to come up with my own ideas and I felt like well if he is around us where is he cause I’ve never seen him once. I asked questions to as many people as I could about this “Devil” character. No one gave me any real feed back so I just brushed this character off like others in the past such as Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and so on. Now since I was in my teens I had beliefs that everyone in the world had generosity compassion and understand. I believed that everyone had a good heart. Now my beliefs were shattered as soon as I stepped foot into New York City on my own. What I knew and believed at that point was so wrong. I found people to be so rude and lack compassion and understanding for one another.

Diagnostic (Blog 1)

        The battle of the self’s. My public self is more reserved and inquisitive. I don’t feel the need to have anyone around me or wish for anyone’s attention while I am showcasing my public self. I tend to hide certain key things such as my comical side, and also the fact that I enjoy classical music. To me these are personal and private. They are aspects I normally rather not share with anyone. In my private self you can find me to be the exact opposite once I am comfortable with those around me I shed the protective surface or layer that is my public self and become this very lively and creative person.  I can only truly be myself when I am in the company of friends and family.

        Taking a closer look at the two I’ll start with my public. My Public self is a protective layer for me as I stated before. However it does not just serve one purpose. I tend to use my public self to relate and blend with the world around me. Similar to a chameleon, with my public self I have a way to camouflage myself so I can almost match up to any group of people I encounter in my daily life. This does not mean I am not being my real self. It just means I am making an attempt to get to know who is around me before letting them get to know more about me.

        My Private self is much more lively and awake. I hold nothing back once I am comfortable with those around me. In my private self I love to joke around all the time and be spontaneous. I become a very loud and crave tons of attention. No longer am I reserved and held back. I say what I want, how I want and to who I want provided they are within my group of close friends and family. Generally you can find me creating music and listening to classical music. You wouldn’t see me doing this with my public self. These two things are very important to me and I avoid showing them to just anyone. I guess it is to avoid criticism in a way.

        I won’t lie it has been hard to juggle both persona’s. Some people I’ve encountered in my life could see right through the image or public self I presented them with. At other time no one would be the wiser. After a few years and meeting more and more people. I have sort of learned to give a bit more of my private self to my public image. For instant you never would’ve caught me writing these very same thoughts publically as I am doing now. You never would have found me on a social networking site. A few years ago you’d never even notice if I were to be walking or sitting right behind you. As time progressed I began to let my private self and thoughts become a more and more public. Do I still take caution with my words and how I say them and to whom? Yes, I even still keep something’s very private, it just leaves more to the mystery of getting to know me.

draft for blog 1

Just getting started on this whole blog thing. I always told myself that I'd never ever sign up for any type of social networking website. Well that is about to change and I am about to share any views, ideas or personal theories. So stay tuned for future updates.