Leave Miley Alone.

Some people may think I'm crazy for this post I'm about to make, but I am starting to feel bad for poor Miley, along with all the other struggling artist that started as a youngin and has now lost their way. Miley is not the first young person to shock the world with their promiscuous choices. Shes just the first to be so open about it. It think the most shocking thing about what shes doing is that her actions are not caused by some sort of mental break down (yet), but instead she is doing these things because she just doesn't care what the world is going to say about her. In her song she clearly states that "She can't stop". I think she is simply trying to live up to that. I do not agree with her tactics at all and think what she is doing is a little much, but am I going to stop liking her music or call her stupid? No, because she is giving society what it wants. She creating controversy and adding topics for the people to talk about. Would it be such a big deal if she wasn't a former Disney star? Probably not, she is just being very public with her transformation. She wants to the world to know shes not Hannah Montana and I think this is the only way she thinks she can do that. This may come from her lost childhood, which I believe is the reason most people raised in the public eye crash and burn. That is exactly the problem though is that Miley Cyrus is being raised in the public eye. Everyone and anyone can see and hear what she is saying. If anyone saw her tweet from yesterday where she called paparazzi a choice word. She again proves she doesn't care what the public thinks and is trying to evoke some type of debate or outrage in the public. My point is that many other young people are trying to find themselves and make some choice decisions on this journey. I have seen countless women at the bars "twerk" on others and also seen adults use inappropriate words on twitter. The difference is their lives are not being posted all over the internet. So I guess next time your going to bash a young star who has lost their way or still trying to find it...just remember the things you have done on your journey and maybe judgement shouldn't be passed. I do hope someone comes into her life and influences her in a positive way so that she can see that she doesn't have to parade her self around. I'm not saying I'm a supporter of Miley in any way. I'm just saying we should take it easy on her while she goes through this transformation that is so important during these years. Also I was just informed of the apology letter Miley wrote which is quite good and proves that she is educated and still involved with the world. It is possible she didn't write the letter, but I like to believe the best in people. Here is a link to the apology letter.
Miley Says Sorry.

VMA Performance

It has been made very clear from previous class discussions that most, if not all of us, are aware of Miley Cyrus's scandalous performance at the VMA's. To many, it has been viewed as a very inappropriate and degrading performance. Only a select few have voiced that they just see it as another way of expressing herself. The viewers’ opinions have been stated loud and clear, but the way they approached or addressed the situation have varied. Take blog writer, Rihanna, for example. She wrote a blog as if she were talking directly to Miley. Instead of making harsh accusations and scolding her for her wrong-doings, she sympathized and even tried to encourage her. No, she did not support any of the actions Miley had done, but she expressed her opinion in a very refreshing, “mother-like” way. I couldn’t agree more with this blog writer. Sometimes all the hatred in the world can lead people to feel worthless and the constant personal attacks only make matters worse. This blogger took the situation into her own hands and expressed her opinions in a respectful and appropriate manner. She didn’t support any of Miley’s outrageous behaviors; she simply put into perspective how her actions not only affect her image, but the young viewers watching her as well. She sees something much deep than a shameful performance. She sees a broken, pressured, lost girl who just needs some guidance. I appreciate the way this blog was written and give much of my respect to her approach of the situation..Now if only Miley would read it and take it to heart.

Here is the link to the blog:

http://iamrihanna.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/dear-miley/

Lets appreciate twitter for what it really is

After todays class I began to think...How many times has anyone heard people complain about someone's twitter? ....

"He/She tweets the dumbest stuff"

"I like them less and less after reading their tweets"

I cant tell you how many times I've heard friends or peers say things resembling that. But what is twitter really? A place to vent about our exgirlfriend or our biology professor we cant stand?...No, its a connection tool to the world. Its a place for people to share experiences, moments and feelings throughout one internet community. Twitter was even technically made as a tool for sharing experiences. Twitter had its first big moment of popularity at the 2007 South by Southwest music festival. Twitter usage increased from 20 thousand to 60 thousand tweets a day in just a short matter of time. "Hundreds of conference go-ers kept tabs on each other via constant twitters, panelists and speakers mentioned the service and bloggers in attendance touted." according to Steven Levy of Newsweek.

Personally I love twitter. Having three older siblings, one living in Atlanta and two living in Kentucky its somewhat of a fun new way to keep us all connected and share whats going on in each others lives in 140 characters or less. Being an aspiring writer myself, I think its a great way to share a joke or a line of dialogue I have for whatever I'm working on.  Twitter is also more then just connecting on an emotional level. Its an outlet for creative artists on all levels. Ever heard of the author Justin Halpern? He took his twitter handle @shitmydadsays and turned it into two award winning books and a lot bigger pay checks at the end of the week. What about Rob Delaney? He took what was a mediocre comedy and writing career and turned it into a TV pilot, a book deal and headlining comedy clubs across the country.

So when you have your newest song recorded, newest BLOG posted, newest painting or drawing made or simply just a joke you think will make someones day better, turn to twitter....or the old horse that we're too afraid to put out of its misery...aka facebook and put it out there for the world to see. Lets quit complaining about Twitter and use it for what it really is.

-Andrew Storey

This Isn't Anne Frank's Diary... It's Twitter

Anne Frank wrote down all of her feelings, stories, and day-to- day adventures all in a book.  No restrictions on how much she could write per page or people bashing her ideas. She didn't have any followers, at the time or anyone that really knew she existed.  When her pencil broke or the day light ran out she had to stop writing and pick it up in the morning.  Just think if she had a smart phone with a twitter app when she was running and hiding from the Nazis.

   Twitter is treated like a personal diary for the individual that runs the account.  Twitter is one of the best venting tools in the world today, but no one likes the attention starved people that tweet every second of the day about the dumbest things. Honestly Twitter is quite amazing really, it's something so simple and people have made it into one of the biggest ego boost games ever made.  I mean honestly, why do we really tweet?  Do people really care if I am going for a run or if I just took a shower?  If Anne Frank had a twitter she would be blowing the twitter line up every few seconds with high intense stories of getting shot at, hiding in houses from death, and her family dying.  All the while we would think she's an attention whore and wants everyone to know about her exciting life while we sit on the couch eating take out Chinese food reading her tweets.  Then because she is so popular she will get the official blue check mark next to her name.  Her ego would blow up and then she would start raking in the followers and the amount of tweets per day would boost as well.  She would start to unfollow people because since she's famous she can't be following too many low profile tweeters.  With an ego that big you can't just hide your life away so she would probably start tweeting her location when she is," hitting up the local pond with her girls." Then she would be caught and killed and then we would never have the book, Diary of Anne Frank.   I wouldn't blame her for how she would act, it's a big job to manage such a high profile Twitter account and at such a young age would be even harder.  So let's be honest, maybe it was a good thing all she had was some paper and a pencil and not 4G Internet with an IPhone.


- Preston H

Miley Cyrus

In our reading last night, I read that a rhetorical argument is a message sent through a text that challenges a behavior about what is appropriate or inappropriate, or good or bad. Hours after reading about that, I watched the Video Music Awards. My jaw literally dropped when Miley Cyrus performed her hit, “We Can’t Stop”. All I could think about was how inappropriate she was being.

I’ve seen the music video, and it’s crazy. Who eats bread and money sandwiches, dances with giant teddy bears on their backs and makes skulls out of French fries?

Her performance at the VMA’s was not much different. She came out in a tiny teddy bear costume, twerked with black girls and stuck out her tongue every five seconds. At the end of her song, she ripped off what little she had on and was standing in a little nude number (much like the naked girls in Robin Thicke’s music video.) Unfortunately, she was given a foam finger and she used it to stroke her privates every ten seconds.

She then danced and sang with Thicke for a duet of “Blurred Lines”. At one point, she bent over in front of him and grinded on him. Another time, Cyrus groped him and acted like she was kissing his neck. Towards the end of the song, she used her foam finger on Thicke’s privates. The performance left many people shocked and, for me, very disturbed. My timeline on all social media was filled with Miley comments for the next hour.

After going through and analyzing her performance, I can’t help but think this is exactly what Cyrus wanted. Twitter went crazy with over 300,000 tweets per minute during her performance. She was interviewed on the red carpet before the event saying her performance was going to be crazier than Britney and Madonna’s kiss. I guess she was right.

Here's a clip of the entire performance:Miley's Twerk Fest

Signs: A Pop Culture Invasion

SIGNS: A POP CULTURE INVASION

We know popular culture impacts us and how we live our daily lives, but just exactly how much? Some would go as far to say it affects EVERYTHING we do, and others would limit it to clothing and trends. I never thought I was heavily impacted by T.V., radio, social networking, movies, music, video games, and internet. After introducing myself to various Communication courses and the reading material provided, I began to think otherwise.
In this week's reading assignment, Sellnow starts to explain how we can understand popular culture. She states that "culture" is often defined with elitism and diversity in mind, such as the desire to "improve one's station in life" and the diversities of various demographics. However, these common descriptions are noted by Sellnow as "insufficient" in determining a definition for popular culture.
On the contrary, popular culture is comprised of hundreds of signs, or "everyday objects, actions, and events that influence people to believe and behave in certain ways". These signs tell us of what is to be thought of as "good" and "bad" or "appropriate" or "inappropriate".
Whether we realize it or not, I think we pick up on these signs and engrave them in our subconscious. Important issues like sex, marriage, illegal activities, drugs and alcohol are all very much influenced by the media and the culture surrounding it. Critics interpret the material presented by authors and artists and try to distinguish the subtle signs that the author himself might not have noticed.
Popular Culture is filled with an ever growing amount of signs that are used to express proper behaviors, ideologies, and etiquette. Whether we realize it or not, every time we are exposed to any form of popular culture we are influenced on how we should think and act. This reveals questions like: Is anything we do actually original? Can we leave the house without acting out of influence by a show we've seen or song we've heard? Do we even have any control over how we think? I suppose these are questions to be answered in another post!

-Stuart Cowen

Convenient Activism

Whilst going through the reading for Friday about activism and social media, I began thinking more and more about Malcolm Gladwell's piece "Small Change". The majority of what he wrote are all points I agreed with. First off, I am not highly active on social media. I have a Twitter account that I occasionally use to express entertaining thoughts throughout the day (I think they're entertaining). Anyway, when reading this article I came to the conclusion that social activism has lost its meaning as technology becomes more prevalent in our daily lives. The "Save Darfur" campaign on Facebook, for instance, has allowed users and proponents of this group to believe they are making a change by simply joining a group. Do most of these users know that these atrocities have been occurring in Darfur since the early 2000's? Or did they feel compelled to join this group because George Clooney and Radiohead supported the efforts in Darfur? Either way, I think Gladwell was spot-on when saying the days of activism such as the 1960 Woolworth's sit-in have unfortunately been forgotten and downplayed. Networks such as Facebook and Twitter have little to no organization, making them ineffective. Granted, "networks" can amass a following quickly, there are virtually no "priorities" in these networks; that's to say, as soon as people hit the "logout" icon on their accounts, they have completely forgotten about the "cause"they hold so dearly. Ultimately, social media is a great way of communicating and letting people know how you feel and what you are thinking. However, I personally do not think that it actually breeds a climate for change. Social media allows people to believe they are "proactive", when, in reality, they are not going to the lengths that Martin Luther King Jr. and the proprietors of the Civil Rights Movement went, as well as possessing the dedication for change. Unfortunately, priorities lie in retrieving a lost cell phone for a "Wall Streeter" as Gladwell stated at the end of "Small Change".