The Culture of American Advertising

Recently in our class, we were assigned to read an article entitled "Masters of Desires: The Culture Of American Advertising" by Jack Solomon. In the beginning of this article, Solomon writes about a French aristocrat by the name of Alexis de Tocqueville. Tocqueville arrived to New York City to observe the society of America. Tocqueville discovered that even though America promises equality, there is still a competition to be more successful than everybody else. This paradox still continues to this day. This occurs quite often when it comes to articles. A common technique in ad's are selling something as if only a successful individual is able to obtain it. For example, advertisements Rolls-Royce attempts to appeal to the people who are financially successful rather than the general population. This is just one of several techniques used in advertisements.

I really enjoyed reading this article. It accurately shows the ways that a company does to draw the attention of the viewers. I believe people are smarter now than before and don't often fall for these type of advertisements. Although a majority of the population can see through the advertisement, there are still people that fall for consumerism. A regular person really doesn't need a luxurious Cadillac in order to go from point A to point B, but advertisements attempt to make us believe that we do need a luxurious vehicle.  

"Is the American Dream Over?"

In the article we read titled "Is the American Dream Over?" by Cal Thomas, Thomas discusses the reality of why the American dream isn't as prevalent now as it once was. He blames the economy and the wars occurring overseas for ruining the opportunity for citizens in the U.S to attain the American dream. He believes that all of these problems going on is due to a useless government. Thomas claims that the government is causing people to be lazy with all the financial assistance that it gives to the people. He then goes on to write what he believes is the proper steps to live the American dream.

Throughout the article, there were things that Thomas said and other things that I did not agree with. In a sense, I do believe that people are looking for the easy way the get money with help from the government. I think the assistance that is offered is necessary for the people who truly do need it, but there are people that don't need it and they are finding ways to get the financial assistance because it's practically free money. I disagree with his list of steps to achieve the American dream. The American dream is something everybody should have the opportunity to chase after, but his list includes several things such as a college education that not everybody can get. Unlike Thomas, I believe there are no solid steps to achieve the American dream. There are opportunities that people can get to live the American dream that isn't on the list Thomas created. Steve Jobs would be a solid example of this. He dropped out of college and he became an extremely wealthy man. To live the American dream, you must discover the opportunities and go after them.

2B or Not 2B Response

Summary: In the article 2B or Not 2B by David Crystal, the article begins with a sample of an article by John Humphrys. In that article, Humphry’s states that people who text are ruining the language. He also says that texting is for illiterate people. Throughout the rest of this article, Crystal argues that texting is a good thing. He presents many facts throughout his article defending his statement. One thing he mentions is that children who being to text at younger ages tend to be better at spelling than other kids who don’t text. He argues that people have always found ways to shorten words and older generations shouldn’t criticize the younger generations for how they text. Another argument he presents is that texters are fully aware that their way of texting isn’t the correct form of spelling. As the article is coming to a conclusion, Crystal assures the readers that texting isn’t going to lead to a new generation of adults who are unable to properly spell, it’s just a language going through an evolution.

Response: In 2B or Not 2B by David Crystal, it is argued that texting isn’t causing people to be bad spellers. In the article, Crystal says, “In texting what we are seeing, in a small way, is language in evolution.” Crystal is trying to say that these new ways of spelling that we are creating is something that is supposed to change. For example, most of the terms used in the 1950s are no longer used now. I’m sure the older generations during that time didn’t like the slang and terms used back then because it was created by the younger generations. I strongly agree with what Crystal has to say in this article. We, as people, are always changing in how we act and what we do. Language is just one of the things that is always changing. It’s kind of an amazing thing that somebody can make up a word or shorten it and spread it to the point that somebody across the country, or even the world, begins to use it too. Eventually, these terms we use now will no longer be used and we’ll have new words in the future. It’s an evolution that cannot be prevented

Blog #3

In "Two Years Are Better Than Four," by Liz Addison, Addison is giving her opinion on how she feels that community college is still something very valuable to our society.  She wrote this article as a response to Rick Perlstein, who believes that the college experience doesn't matter anymore. She used her experience in community college as evidence that community college is still important. Addison argues that college is where students discover themselves and who they want to be and what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Addison mentions that Perlstein attended a university for privileged students and he doesn't really know the life that the common community college students go through. Addison ends the article stating that community college is a gem to our society.

In the article “Two Years Are Better Than Four,” by Liz Addison, she claims that the college experience is still alive and well. Addison states, “It is here that Mr. Perlstein will find his college years of self-discovery, and it is here he will find that college does still matter.” (212) Basically, Addison is saying that community college is where people discovery who they want to be. I agree with Addison that the college experience is still relevant. For a majority of the students, community college is where they have to get serious and decide what it is that they truly want to do for the rest of their lives.

Blog #2

          In this blog, I'll be summarizing and giving my opinion on the essay "Forgotten Children."

The essay is about father's who abandon their family. The author of this article discusses some of her

past relationships and how bad the guy's were. She's had a child from two of her past boyfriend's.

She has to struggle with getting child support from them every day. Both of the guy's left because

they couldn't deal with supporting a household. The author begged both of them to take

responsibility and help her take care of their child, but they just didn't want to help. The author has

dealt with poverty numerous times with her two children.She then goes on and discusses the

difficulty on living off of child support. She also talks about how difficult it can really be to attain

child support from the father if you don't have any of his information such as his social security

number or his driver's license number. If the father can be found, then they must prove that he is

really the child's father. Once it's paternity is proven, child support must be given. The author then

mentions how difficult it really is to raise a child as a single parent. If the father doesn't want to pay

child support, it comes to the point that the government can just take away from him. The can even

take things such as licenses. Even after the child is older than eighteen, the father must still pay off

what he owes. Father's just aren't paying child support because they feel like they just don't need to.

The author begins to close her article saying how if she knew how bad these guy's were, she would

have never gotten to know them. She will continue to work hard and raise her children to be the men

that their father's aren't.

          Even though I have both my parent's in my life, I can't tolerate somebody who abandons their

child and aren't willing to support them or be a part of their life. No matter what age they may be, if a

father abandons his child and the child's mother, he is a boy. I just really want to know what goes

through the mind of somebody who is not willing to stay and be there for their child. Those "men"

don't realize the long term effects of abandoning their child. It's sad to know that we live in an

imperfect world and we'll probably never see the day that all men, and women on some occasions,

own up to their actions and take care of their child.
       

Blog #1

I read an article from the This I Believe website titled Creating Our Own Happiness by Wayne 

Coyne. The article begins with Coyne at a stop light in his car during a cold and windy day. While 

waiting for the light to turn green, Coyne notices two people at a bus stop huddled together to keep 

warm. Coyne noticed that they were laughing. At first, he had sympathy for the two people because 

they had to be out in the cold, but once he saw that they were enjoying each others company, he sort 

of became jealous wishing he had somebody with him to have a moment just like the couple outside. 

He then realized that we all have the ability to choose happiness no matter what situation you may be 

in. Coyne then goes back and reminisces's upon his time working at Long John Silver's. It was an 

easy job, but he felt like he was going nowhere in life. During his time working there, the restaurant 

was robbed. Coyne didn't let this event bring him down. Coyne believes everybody is capable of 

being happy with the life they are living. 

I really enjoyed reading this article, It's a nice reminder that we all have the ability to choose 

happiness over sadness. Often times, we as people often forget how lucky we really are. Sometimes, 

we get sad and disappointed because we can't get that brand new phone that everybody is getting or 

we can't get a brand new car to drive. There are people living on the streets in the cold and still have 

a smile on their face because they're happy that they're alive. We can't live our lives living in sadness 

or anger. Nobody wants to be remembered as the grumpy person that they're friends and family 

knew. They say life is short, but I believe it's the longest thing all of us have to go through. We need 

to make sure that with this long life that we are living, we go through it with a smile on our face.