Understanding Culture and Society Post 8

Okay, So I was really sick this week with a fever and asthma attacks and there wasn't any chance of me going in to college. Which annoys me because I was doing so well with these blog posts by going to every class, taking notes and then knowing what to write about. But now I have to look up the notes only and then ramble on about them, hoping I get it right. and without further ado, I bring you my next ramble which is about 'Moral Panic'.
When I first read the line 'moral panic' for some reason my head went straight to the over the top ebola panic that was across the world. But then I read a bit more and I then assumed it was talking about how media reacts to some form of Youth Behaviour and I thought about the implementation of twitter/facebook to reality shows for example.
But now I think the idea behind it is how youth always have something new that spreads out and gets lot's of coverage. Punks, Rockers, Mods, Emo's ,(like myself... that was a joke because of my fringe), hipsters, etc.
Then Moral Outrage can lead to group solidarity. Moral Outrage is like when people go overboard to show everybody how wrong this new thing, that they don't bother to understand, is.
Boy was dared to kill a girl by his facebook friends? Facebook is clearly the problem.
Emo's wear black and are antisocial? Must be an evil satanic cult.
Party Goes Viral? There is a threat here, somehow...
My closing statement is that people judge what they cannot bother to understand. And the media feeds on this because it adds new stories and attention through these misunderstandings. We don't consider that fact that we are hurting people by judging them without reason. And that is why people are idiots.

Understanding Culture and Society Post 7

Today's class was only a short few days after the ISIS attacks on Paris. So this week's class was very ISIS themed. We went through a few slides on Cultural Identity and Alienation. As in how people are persecuted and alienated just from growing up in a certain society. The Muslim society are a prime example of this. There are still fights going on in the whole 'Black vs White' situation, especially since after Ferguson, However ever since 9/11, the entire Muslin Religion and Community are seen as 'terrorists', simply because of the fact that most the hijackers of the planes were Muslim. If I was judged based on what past Catholic's have done, I would be f*****.
And now there is a group just as bad as al-qaeda, and they are know as ISIS or ISIL or IS (Islamic State). But it's very important to distinguish the difference and separate IS and Muslim's.
Muslim's are just another religion and community and are even in fear of the extremest group ISIS that occupy some of Iraq and Syria. There are also christian's that are in those countries that are under protection, but they still leave the country in fear of what Isis could do to them.
It was after going through a few of the slides that we watched a full hour documentary on the Islamic State. I try my best not to pay to much attention to attacks because to me it's pointless getting scared and riled up and then doing nothing about it, which is exactly what most of us do. But I have to admit, watching that documentary took the complete wind out of me. It's definitely hard looking at extremists look at a religion in a way that you could only be satisfied when everyone else is dead.

Understanding Culture and Society Part 6

I missed this week's class because I had to film, so the following blog will be based on my perception on the notes of Cultural Identity. Identity is how we see ourselves as being unique or different from other societies. Identity always starts out with self identification and then stems out like a web.
Class - Culture - Family...
Ethnicity - Sub Culture - Religion... etc.
It has been research that people start to actually think about 'who they are' between the ages of 12 - 18. For myself I properly started to think about who I was as a person roughly around the age of 15/16. At a point where I wasn't happy and I fully decided to change who was by putting on a persona based on reactions and likenesses that other people were happy with. In the end it worked out for the better and I had so many new friends and I was happier than ever. At this point in any movie this is the part where I'd be told to 'not be someone you're not'. However after a while of putting on the mask of identity that I had, I finally became that identity and I feel more like myself than ever. So I would totally agree with Schmitt et al.
There are ways to test out your identity, such as testing it out online, where no one can be embarrassed due to the disconnection from personal contact. But conversing online can actually gain you more friends from who you are as a person. The internet is a big place. You're bound to find someone that likes you for you and you're new identity. That alone can boost your confidence and aid you in finding yourself. There is a wide community to join and explore in many parts of the internet.

Understanding Culture and Society Post 5

This week we talked all about Cultural Appropriation as well as other topics like arguements of Hybridity, 

Diaspora, Cosmopolitanism and Translocalism, and finally Homage. This week I actually forgot to bring my 

notebook with my because I had a busy weekend travelling and I forgot that I would need it. So I’m gonna try my best to remember as much as I can as well as look on notes from moodle.

In basic terms, Cultural Appropriation is like making sure you don’t offend other cultures by using them to have 

an image or make money. First example our Lecturer put up on the board is Miley Cyrus and posing herself using black culture. She also made comments about how even though she was born white, she had always felt as if she 

was black. Which in her head, allows her to represent black culture. It doesn’t. Now, personally I think Irish 

people have a thing where it is, in a way, part of our culture to ‘slag’ and make jokes about others and ourselves. 

So we wouldn’t really care about or be offended by all this. But I, like Miley Cyrus in a way, feel like although I was born Irish, I don’t feel like I belong in this culture. I try to stay away from the accent of my hometown and I don’t like to make jokes about other people. 

Then someone mentioned Marshal Mathers, Eminem, and how he is ripping on black culture. However there is a 

line. He grew up in a lower standing from Detroit. A place where black culture is everywhere. He also isn’t 

actually borrowing from black culture, he is using the society that he grw up in. However, he is not completely 

exemplified because there were Music Videos like ‘My Band’ for example where he dressed up as a mexican and 

played in a Mariachi band, which he earned a lot of money from. We also talked about plenty of other people such as Katy Perry and Victoria Secret models which completely ripped from cultures like Black, Japanese, Asian, 

Native American, etc. We also discussed all the other topics I mentioned but I once again have gone way over the 

limit so I’m going to say more next week.