Privacy

Privacy in today’s United States has surpassed the level of a topic or a theoretical idea. As information technology and people’s dependence on virtual platform networking keep growing, privacy has turned into a highly marketable business and become an inseparable part of the US economy. When the word privacy first appeared in literature in 1534 according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it would have been difficult to imagine such single-dimensional idea would grow into a capital influence to society. In common context, privacy denotes a state of seclusion by choice. Today after four and a half centuries, the definition of privacy has not changed a great deal. However the domain of privacy has been vastly expanded due to the new risks, challenges and technological advancement people are faced with.

The idea of privacy has a strong association with security, according to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Humans reside and function in communities yet individuals constantly maintain certain distance from one another to achieve a stable level of comfort and safety. As a result, certain personal information, for instance physical address, earning profiles and medical records, is universally classified as private in modern civilized societies. Unauthorized disclosure of this sensitive information inconveniently shortens or even eliminates interpersonal distance by providing a full exposure of people. Not willing to risk the possibility of invasion to personal comfort zone and security, people today emphasize more and more and privacy.

A beautiful aspect of the United States is its respect for people and individuality. In such spirit, the promotion of privacy is a realization of this American value. Not only does privacy maintains distance between individuals, it also reserves people from public examination. Not having to justify every decision and action, people can arguably be more true and honest to themselves. In other word, under the protection of privacy, people are able to freely develop into the characters and personalities they wish. In addition, the more and more frequent use of “private/personal opinion” or “private/personal voice” when people make a comment is also worth discussing. By classifying a message being private, the commentator consciously disassociates from “the majority’s point of view” and declares the personal value as he/she speaks, which in fact magnifies individuality.

In addition, privacy functions as a signifier of status symbol in a hierarchical society. In the US, privacy denotes a sense of exclusiveness. For example, a party classified private demands participants belong to certain social groups. The expression of private house and private vehicle implies the possession of wealth and a high standard of living. In other words, access to privacy requires meeting certain preconditions, whether it is specific social affiliation or income levels. It is interesting to observe the group of people in our society demanding the highest level of privacy: Hollywood celebrities. As public figures, these stars and artists obviously belong to the highest income group in the country, which enables them to afford tank-like vehicles and personal castles to avoid unnecessary camera exposure outside of work. However, their action to achieve higher and higher level of privacy appears to be counterintuitive for exposure is their very means to generate even greater income.

Since it helps us maintain personal security and define ourselves as unique individuals, it appears to be completely justifiable to put heavy emphasis on privacy. However, a dilemma is created when our certain practices contradict with our intent to value privacy. The popularity of online networking and communication encourage people to be more and more accessible to each other. Also in our society, legal and governmental actions oftentimes override individual privacy, for instance the PATRIOT act and income tax laws. Must accessibility be strictly against privacy? Would it be possible to achieve a harmonious balance between the two? A fair conclusion is difficult to be drawn for we are in a time where privacy is a well-oiled machine in the economy.

Works Cited
“Privacy.” Oxford English Dictionary. March 2008. https://vpn.lib.ucdavis.edu/cgi/entry/,DanaInfo=dictionary.oed.com+50188914?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=privacy&first=1&max_to_show=10
“Privacy.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. March 14th, 2002. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/privacy/

What I Think about Blogging

How time flies. I simply cannot believe we are already approaching the end of summer session 1. These six weeks we spent together in UWP 101 have been a unique exploration of writing like nothing I have experienced before, an exploration I have enjoyed every minute of. Since we were asked to develop this post as a class reflection, I would like to share my thoughts on the learning process and educational value of this course.

I had mixed feelings when I first learned students would maintain personal blogs instead of writing conventional essays in this class. On the one hand, I felt excited for I believe universities should exist as a cradle for innovative ideas and practices. On the other hand, I was skeptical how we could work to incorporate a casual communication medium such as blogs into a formal writing experience. Judging from the quality of our works at this point, my initial worries are proven to be unnecessary. It is incredible to witness blogs working seamlessly with an upper division writing class.

One of the reasons I conclude behind our class success is the openness or public accessibility attached to the idea of blogs. Writing is a means of communication that involves more than one person. As we have been explicitly emphasizing since day one, our posts will be viewable by not only our classmates but also the general public. The consciousness of being observed or judged certainly motivates many of us to experiment and perfect our writing from ideas to techniques. In addition, unlike a traditional English class, we only have one hard weekly deadline but several soft due dates for our works during the week. This practice best ensures the quality of writing by effectively eliminating unnecessary procrastination yet allowing room for the true night owls to choose their most efficient work hours.

Most importantly however, I especially appreciate the courage we possess as a class to challenge the “formality” promoted by many conventional writing courses. I understand some instructors’ hesitation to employ a new writing platform such as blogs. Highly personalized, blogging in many ways resembles keeping a personal journal. Because of the potential subjectivity, blog posts may not be deemed as convincing as a traditional essay that follows the PIE (points, information and explanation) formula. In the pursuit of writing persuasiveness, however, we oftentimes neglect a basic fact: many students simply do not have a mature or strong idea of the topic when first given a writing assignment. Blog writing in this sense provides us with a public yet highly privatized space to safely formulate our opinions no matter how fragmented they are. In the process of continuous blogging and discussing as a class, students are now able to adjust, refine and affirm their original ideas. And all of these efforts will eventually lead to writing an intellectually sophisticated essay, which is the universal goal of all English classes.

Innovation poses risks, and that was a bullet we had to bite when introducing blogs as the writing medium for this course. I am pleased that our class turned out to be a success, and our blogs shall remain an exciting memory of our college education (if they are not to be deleted at the end of the class).

Produced by Photographers, Owned by Media

When I first laid eyes on Truman’s picture of a paintball game, a strong sense of familiarity struck me. The photo reminds me of a game I recently played called Army of Two. A first person shooter, Army of Two emphasizes seamless cooperation of two soldiers in order to survive war. Similarly, Truman’s picture exudes vivid intensity of a battle, demonstrating the importance of teamwork in modern day sports. However, what truly strikes me about the picture is explained in the writer’s description. The depiction of this close range combat scene was taken by a friend of the writer’s at the risk of being shot by stray paintballs.

To me, the photographer’s effort in preserving a loyal image of a fierce combat in spite of personal safety is very admirable. This level of determination to obtain a truthful picture of the game is also displayed by many war photographers who are dodging bullets on a daily basis just to capture the cruelty of battles through their lenses. Thanks to them, we are able to gain a taste of war even thousands of miles away from the hot zone. Despite their respectable efforts and sacrifices, however, I question if we can truly see war pictures as the most honest representation of war itself? In the same spirit, I have doubts if we can rely on pictorial presentations to learn the truth of any event?

Photography does not appear to be much different from writing. A picture is a photographer’s observation and interpretation of an event not only through the lens of the camera but also from the judgment based on the person’s values. For instance, let’s revisit Truman’s picture. If the photographer were to leave the teammate on the left out of the picture, the message could have turned from “teamwork” to “evasive action,” or even just a bland narrative of “Truman firing a paintball gun.” In other words, the essence of an event could be drastically different depending on the photographer’s presentation. Moreover, even if photographers could form the most objective perspective to illustrate an occurrence, it would be hardly possible for a single person to investigate all facets of the happening to come to a fair conclusion. Given the power of nearly manipulating visual influence and the subjectivity in the nature of photography, I feel skeptical about pictorial demonstration of any event.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture does not speak for itself. Today the true power of reporting lies in the hands of the employers and distributors of photographic works, namely the media. Even though neutrality is a required quality in news reports, different networks inevitably hold their own agendas and biases in news production since they are managed by different interest groups. Interestingly and disturbingly, a same photographic representation of an event could be interpreted and presented dramatically different by two opposing players in the media arena. Shown above is a news report on the Tibetan Riot that happened in March 2008. The photographic comparison made by a Chinese website shows how a credible news network like CNN would tailor pictures toward their points of view in reporting. Today we have more and more sophisticated photographic technology to preserve space and time in lifelike pictures; however the seeing-is-believing spirit can no longer be held true because photos have grown to be a new means of manipulation, which seems to be paradoxical and troubling at times.

While remaining appreciative to photographers’ continuous hard work and sacrifices in presenting different realities surrounding us, we have a need to be extra cautious and question what we are presented with by the media. In this day and age of media manipulation, the only way we can break free comes from gaining perspectives from as many sources as possible and examining the messages with our critical mind.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words. Really?

Except for the times when I am playing video games, I am not a visual person. Hence when I learned one of our weekly writing assignments being a digital image analysis, my heart immediately sunk. Completely clueless about digital photography, I borrowed a friend’s camera and started brainstorming for picture ideas. In the thinking process, a Kip Fulbeck style makeup-free people portrayal project and a UC Davis in advertisement versus in reality photo comparison came to mind, which were later deemed too ambitious. Sticking with practicality, I eventually took the least risk and snapped the picture above.

Would you agree that this picture depicts nothing more than a driveway to a regular garage in a typical house in Davis, or just anywhere? A car parked in the driveway could be an indicator of two possible facts: someone is home and the garage is filled, perhaps by another car. The beige color scheme on the wall exudes a warm aura, hinting the property could be a family home. A pathway to a garden on the right reflects that some residents in the house have a passion for plants. At a glance, this house fits into every stereotype about a boring, lifeless residence in the suburb; this house is where I live in Davis.

As a resident in the property, I attest our house is anything but boring. I share the space with three student runners on the UC Davis Cross Country Team. Living with athletes is an interesting experience. Instead of seeing their three minute glory on the course, I have an opportunity to go behind the scenes and witness the enormous effort they have to put forth in order to render the best performance. Seeing their insistence and persistence on striving for 0.01 second faster everyday is truly an inspiration to me. In addition to inspirational people, this house is also well equipped with different appliances that appeal to the general college crowd, which easily makes the coolest house on the street. In the living room we have our home theatre with surround sound. A Wii and a Playstation 3 are wired to the system on which we enjoy occasional movie watching and video gaming. The garage is the band room and meeting area, in which a drum set, fishing gear, a DJ station, roller skates and camping equipments can be found. All residents in the house live in harmony for not only do we share chores and living costs but also fun.

That being said, showing off is not my intent. They say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I say, don’t judge a book by its cover. Earlier when we saw the first picture, how many of us would consider the people and equipment behind the bland walls and make an argument of the hip appeal of the house? Technological advancement and mass media today have given us an overwhelming flow of information that we simply do not have enough time to digest word by word. Gradually, we have grown to become more and more dependent on pictorial material for a more direct feed of information. While enjoying the convenience of graphical demonstration, we can easily forget the limitation of photographs: they are illustrations from a single perspective. It is completely justifiable to analyze what message a picture is trying to convey. However, it seems to be even more critical to question what it does not cover. Go beyond the photo, investigate the story from different angles and come to an educated collusion. That perhaps is the most valuable skill we can exchange for the premium we pay for college.

Can We Be Indifferent?

I was reading Carol’s post on discrimination and stereotypes in astonishment. In my interpretation, she equates stereotyping to a major avenue to social acceptance. In addition, she also questions the idea of censoring racially derogatory language because it does nothing but “makes [discrimination] invisible.” Personally I found the analysis in this post not completely compatible with my experience. Therefore, I feel compelled to offer a few of my thoughts on the same issues in response to Carol’s post.

At the beginning of her post, the writer analyzes a video clip from Eddy’s blog and concludes that “we all discriminate and stereotype at some point in our lives.” I am in agreement. Discrimination and stereotypes often appear as generalized or falsified assumptions against a certain social group that the public lacks knowledge of. Very well illustrated in the video, children are individuals who possess limited knowledge and life experience hence tend to offer definitive, inaccurate responses to photo portrayals based on unfiltered outside influences. Nevertheless, society as a whole mostly consists of sophisticated, mature adults with well established values. Different from children, adults tend to evaluate their actions and judgments based on continuous learning and experience accumulation. As a result, I fail to come to the writer’s assumption that people choose to “continue [their] ignorance even though [they] are given the choice to become more accepting.”

Additionally, in her example the writer acknowledges her active stereotyping and considers the reason being her family upbringing, which I found interesting. People inevitably shape their first impressions about society from their first school: home. Nevertheless I believe people’s worldviews and ideologies are constantly deconstructed and reconstructed as their knowledge and experiences grow. Therefore, I have doubts about the writer’s rationale behind her decision of continuing to stereotype given that she is in constant exposure to new, well researched ideas and knowledge in higher education. Moreover, I am personally disturbed by the writer’s explanation of her action as a way to be “normal” and “socially accepted.” It would be tragic if our society had come to a point where people must acquire social acceptance at the expense of other ethnic groups. Fortunately, we are not such a community. As college students, we have a responsibility to examine today’s racial reality in America more carefully and critically. With injustice and prejudice still haunting different communities, we must remind ourselves that ignorance is not a luxury America can afford.

Lastly, the writer expresses her concerns about censorship on language against minorities, questioning if such action would make discrimination invisible. I would argue in favor of such censorship. The promotion of politically correct language should not be seen as a constraint to the freedom of speech; instead, it is an effective means to raise cultural awareness and respect. I completely believe in Carol’s good intent for an understanding world where people could be civilly open to each other about their dislikes or even hate. However history has vividly illustrated the danger of such degree of “freedom.” The Nazi orchestrated the Holocaust because of the hate for Jews. On-going genocide appears to be an everyday scene in Darfur, Sudan today because of openly pronounced hatred between ethnic groups. And America also had her share in racial hate crisis in the Japanese Internment Camp era during the Second World War. I believe in open dialogue. However as we learned from these historical lessons, openly sharing our hate, especially unfounded hate, does not seem to be the magic recipe to create understanding and love. To examine the stages of genocide, we can easily conclude that racial and cultural awareness in language is the key to the prevention of escalating hate between ethnic groups.

Sometimes I would question myself the value of a college education. Is it a diploma I can use to prove my intellectual competency? Is it the key to a financially stable life? Perhaps. But more importantly, I value the tools I have gained and the critical thinking skills I have developed in higher education because they are my light in examining the reality surrounding us, a seemingly fair, but highly racialized reality. In such reality, I fail to imagine equality being achieved by indifference and blind conformity. Nonetheless, with necessary skills and tools, one has a choice to break the silence and challenge injustices for the good of others. This is how the value of my college education is realized.

Laptops

I have mixed feelings about college. On one hand, I look forward to attending classes for continuous exposure to new knowledge excites me. However, I do not appreciate the fact that college education is like a shadow of students. Unlike a regular job where people can leave everything behind and head home after an eight hour shift, schooling entails endless work that requires students put forth an effort on and off campus. For this very reason, I would describe my feelings for my laptop is a fine representation of my attitude towards college.

My laptop is one in the Toshiba Satellite line of products. From the outside in its open position, the computer consists of a seventeen inch screen in the vertical dimension and a standard keyboard with a touch pad horizontally. In a metallic blue shell along with a fingerprint reader, the unit appears to be bulky and heavy, which exudes a sense of sturdiness. Under the hood, this laptop has some fairly powerful key components such as a Duo Core processor and two gigabytes of memory, all of which ensures the possibility of multitasking. Lastly, the enabled wireless connectivity allows the owner, me, to stay mobile with the Internet.

My laptop is my endeared friend and dreaded enemy. I enjoy the occasional movie and TV watching on its high definition screen for I don’t own a fancy television. In addition, I appreciate the convenience from its mobile internet connectivity. However this is also where things go sour with the computer. I classify my laptop as my workstation on which I process and store nearly all the school related documents. Therefore the laptop’s mobility creates an opportunity to blur the line between study time and personal time. Although the convenience of mobility goes both ways, I discover my personal time is more often invaded. College is an intellectually rigorous experience. To do well, students commit more time and effort than the lectures they sit through at school. Thanks to laptop’s mobility, I often find myself staring at spreadsheets even at 1 am when it is supposedly people’s bedtime. I don’t consider this a healthy convenience.

America is easily one of the most hardworking societies in the world. Our consumer culture constantly pushes us to be financially accomplished. To obtain this goal, everybody must commit themselves to harsh work standards and ethic: work anytime and anywhere you can and it’ll pay off tomorrow. Laptops are a representative byproduct of this belief for it allows people to literally carry work with them. Nonetheless while enjoying the convenience of mobile computers, have we ever examined and questioned ourselves? How much laptop time have we consumed at the expense of foregoing interpersonal communication and interaction or simply personal health? I wouldn’t argue the fact that laptop computers are a clever invention. However, while taking advantage of modern technology, we must reserve space and time for activities that make us normal, healthy humans. I wonder what it would be like to have a UC Davis No-Laptop Day.

A Word on Political Correctness

Last quarter I was assisting the Cross-Cultural Center’s (CCC) Search Committee with the hiring effort for a new assistant director. In the final stage, we interviewed five candidates who were outstanding individuals and proved to possess necessary skills for the position. A lady with a law degree from Boalt School of Law and years of experience in community work was our favorite in the bunch. So close to receiving an offer, she made a comment during an informal lunch conversation that flipped our positive impression with her 180 degrees. “It is just lame that education is not the State’s first priority,” she said. She was eventually voted not suitable for the position by the committee.

Many may question the rationale of our decision, but I still consider we made the right choice. For those who are not familiar with the CCC, it is a university unit and a safe space for students of all identities to learn and experience diversity and student leadership. Political correctness (PC) is one of the many virtues valued and embraced by the CCC staff. Regarding the scenario above, I believe most of us would agree this lady didn’t mean harm in her comment. However in my opinion, expressing one’s disappointment with a reference to people with disabilities was very disrespectful. In fact it appeared to be even more dreadful when such comment was made in a casual setting, which could be deemed as an accurate reflection of one’s mindset and values. At UC Davis where we practice the Principles of Community, we should not allow room for exclusive and discriminatory language.

Language political correctness nowadays is a popular movement especially in politics and academia. I understand how this phenomenon could be vexing for it forces people to be prudent and neutral in verbal communication, which is not necessarily a speaking habit that everybody is accustomed to. In yesterday’s class, some classmates even questioned if significant difference existed between PC and non-PC language. I would argue there is.

I don’t know exactly when “power words” based on socially disadvantaged people’s accounts started to be adopted for and introduced to our communication, all of which is just to add dramatic effects to conversations. To examine these “power words”, such as “something is so gay/lame/retarded,” with our critical thinking skills, we can easily see that the users position themselves as verbal oppressors and are perpetuating ideas/values that have been long abandoned in the stream of history. One beautiful aspect of the United States is its emphasis on equality across people and respect for individuals, and the use of “power words” undoubtedly undermines this fundamental value of our country.

Political correctness may cause temporary inconvenience in our verbal communication because we now need to choose our vocabulary more carefully. Nonetheless I personally think it is well worth the “trouble” for it is one of the few places in society we can literally practice equality, at no cost. Say what we mean and mean what we say. That’s the whole point about communication after all, isn’t it?

Thoughts Stemming From An Econ Experiment

In the study of labor economics, we have a fascinating experiment designed and conducted by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan in 2003. To test for labor market discrimination, the two economists collected hiring ads in newspapers that required different levels of skills in Chicago and Boston. According to the requirements in these ads, Bertrand and Mullainathan randomly generated some 2500 resumes in different batches representing people of different skill levels.

Within each skill level, however, these fictional people’s qualifications were highly similar except for one thing: the sounding of their names. The economists investigated the name frequency data calculated from birth certificates of persons born in Massachusetts from 1974 to 1979. They selected the most recurring, typical white sounding names for males (Brad, Brendon, Geoffrey, etc) and females (Allison, Anne, Carrie, etc) as well as those for African American men (Darnell, Hakim, Jermaine, etc) and women (Aisha, Ebony, Keisha, etc). Then they again randomly assigned these names to resumes in the different batches and sent them to the hiring companies

The outcome of the experiment was shocking. Within each resume batch, those with white sounding names received a general 50% higher callback rates compared to their counterparts. In addition, through data analysis after the experiment, Bertrand and Mullainathan discovered that being white mathematically equals eight additional years of work experience considering experience an indicator of callback rates.

What the Bertrand and Mullainathan experiment demonstrates is the White privilege in one of its many aspects. Earlier in our class we were engaged in an active conversation regarding the nonexistence of White heritage celebration, which was an enlightening experience. I do understand how some of my Caucasian friends and classmates feel frustrated for not having a generally specified timeframe on the calendar to express their pride and identity like many other ethnic groups. Let’s explore why.

If we examine closely, these groups that do enjoy an ethnic week are the ones who have been historically oppressed and underrepresented. People in these ethnic groups, as I am one of them, do understand many of the racist practices in American history are now nothing more than a record in our official textbook. We also would like to put aside our ethnic identities and think more of individual people than races. We can’t. While I believe that people in the ivory tower have completely abandoned the practice of racism, society as a whole constantly fails us by functioning the opposite way. We all have heard or witnessed injustice. African and Latino/Latina Americans on average are pulled over more often for unfounded reasons. Black people experience more tailing by security at stores. And Chinese American scientists are red-flagged and considered potential spies because of their cultural heritage. Shocking as these stories are, many of us experience them in our everyday life, which is frustration we can explain to nobody. Because of the lack of social and political representatives in the United States, ethnic weeks are our valuable venue to commemorate the struggles we have endured and gain ourselves social visibility. We need a time and space to show that we are also civilized, cultured and proud members of this country.

Why don’t we also have a White heritage week as well since they are even the majority of the national population? In fact we do. Besides the one ethnic week, the other 51 weeks on the calendar are White heritage weeks. From the moment we enter first grade, all we observe and practice is the mainstream White culture and standards. White Americans live and breathe their intangible White privilege deeply rooted from this country’s history. What are some examples of this privilege? Consider the ethnicity of all the US presidents and the fact that more than 35% of the UC student population being white versus less than 5% being black, just to name a few. With this White privilege based on unjust historical resources accumulation and reallocation, the message sent out by an official White heritage week could be potentially hurtful to people in underrepresented groups.

I look forward to a world where everyone truly sees everyone as equal individuals. In that world, ethnic identity may probably be a non-existing issue. But our world is not quite there yet. So here we are going on celebrating our ethnic roots and struggles in our designated weeks on the calendar.




Works Cited
Bertrand, Marianne and Sendhil Mullainathan. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination." National Bureau of Ecomoic Reserach. July, 2003.

Why Tell Me Why

This is week two since my car was hit by a Yolo Bus, but the incident is far from being resolved. Foreseeing this being a long-lasting battle, I can’t help wondering reasons for many things that are made mandatory in our life.

At the beginning of the week, I was still waiting for the police officer to respond to the email I sent him last Thursday. Having to prepare for a tough math midterm at the same time, I was hopping back and forth between the textbook and my laptop the entire day. Eventually when the sun disappeared from the horizon, I knew all the time I spent waiting and not being able to focus had once again gone in vein.

The next morning, I again called the station and inquired about the accident. The lady on the phone was still unable to find anything relevant on their system. She was kind enough to suggest that I contact my own insurance company first even without any information. So I did. After going through a complicated automated phone service system, I received a claim number for my case.

On Wednesday as I was still patiently waiting for the police officer’s reply, I received a phone call from my own insurance adjustor. Basically I was informed that I had to pursue this case mostly by myself with their minimal assistance because I was not the party at fault. “There’s not much we can do for you, Mr. Huang,” I was told.

The police officer’s response never came. I picked up the phone and contacted Yolo Bus myself.

“Yolo Bus!” A grumpy voice answered.

“Who may I speak with if my car was hit by one of your buses?” I asked.

“Hold on!”

After waiting for ten minutes on the phone, I was connected to a person who didn’t even state his position. I explained the my situation, and the person offered nothing but instant denial of any accident happening on their record in the past three weeks. I asked if I could show him the police report, which I didn’t actually have. He had me wait for another 5 minutes and transferred me to another lady.

This time around the lady seemed to know the circumstances better. She said she would mail me a claim form to start the process, though I would have loved to know what the actual process would be and how long it would take. And of course this had to be on the 4th of July weekend when the postal service is not in service.

I don’t understand why I never had an answer when I only simply requested a fair policy report on the accident as a dutiful taxpayer. I don’t understand how the bus driver got away without leaving any identification for me. I don’t understand why I couldn’t receive any service from my own insurance while I am mandated to pay them faithfully if I want to drive a car. What are the reasons? With a million questions, my journey of pursuing the insurance claim continues.

Consume or Be Consumed?

It is around the time people starting to receive their six hundred dollar stimulus checks from last year’s tax return. What are the checks stimulating, you ask? Purchases, or otherwise known as consumption, which is considered the driving force behind a capitalist economy. With the skyrocketed oil price, we are experiencing a noticeable economic recession. To lighten up the market atmosphere, despite a gigantic deficit in the national budget, the government decides to print more currency and issue everybody some extra cash to buy something nice. As anyone with basic knowledge of economics would know, excess supply decreases the price/value of a good, and currency is no exception. Overflowing of money supply undermines the purchase power of the very financial instrument, which could eventually exacerbate the recession. This is a classic textbook nightmare in economics, and we are a fortunate generation to witness it happening.

Consumption nowadays equals the economic action to satisfy personal desires. The desires to fulfill our needs are inarguably legitimate, which may very well be the propelling force behind scientific advancement for the fundamental betterment of our lives. However, when desires turn into wants and greed, the rationale becomes questionable. We have reasonably sized TV’s, but some of us crave larger screens, so then we have disproportionate displays in our living areas. We have movie theatres, but some of us would like to own that cinema at home, so then we have home theatre systems and Netflix. We have friends and family reunions, but some of us want to enjoy communication at the comfort in our homes, so then we have the Internet and cell phones. These consumptions of technology have provided us with unprecedented convenience, yet our actual human community has never been so disconnected.

A paradox presents before us. Technological development undoubtedly contributes to the fundamental wellbeing of humans. However, the advancement appears to be narrow and propelled by consumption based on greed. What Rachel said in class really strikes me. “Today what manufacturers advertise in their product is no more durability but flashiness,” she stated. We have more and more sophisticated device and appliances at our disposal, but how are they going to help us when famine or epidemic hits? Are we working a forty plus hour workweek toward something we need or rather something we want? And at the end of the day, are we consuming or being consumed away by our own greed? So I ponder.

On Media Shaping History

“All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in the novel are accurate.” --- On the first page of The Da Vinci Code

“A vivid picture of Afghanistan thirty years ago.” --- The Wall Street Journal’s review for The Kite Runner

“War has changed. It’s no longer about nations, ideologies or ethnicity. War and its consumption of life has become a well-oiled machine [in the economy].” Opening Monologue, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

History, as a branch of social science, sometimes cannot be strictly seen or scrutinized as other sciences. In the process of documenting and teaching history, historians often inevitably blend in their personal inputs and biases, which offer different incision points to dissect and analyze a single historic moment or event. Who was the victim and who was the aggressor in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of World War II? Who was just and who was unjust in the Cold War between the US and the USSR? The answers to these questions are only true in relative terms, which serves as a motivation for people to further research and refine their arguments.

In the era of media influence, however, scholars are not the only ones offering their accounts in interpreting history. Players in the multimedia arena nowadays also make an immense effort in the attempt of shaping history. The three quotes at the beginning of the post come from two bestselling novels and a popular video game. The emphases in these statements are the authenticity in the historical evidence they present and the depth in their analyses, both of which add credibility to their arguments. Similar to their competitors, elements on other media platforms such as movies and television are also on full throttle in the production and reproduction of history, for example the National Treasure series and the History Channel.

Some scholars dread the multimedia’s attempt in portraying history, considering this move “the principal means in the postmodern world for scrambling historical time (Bennett, Grossberg, Morris, 159).” I wouldn’t necessarily be that pessimistic. No matter we choose to embrace it or not, media influence is penetrating our intellectual and leisure life. As college students, we are trained to be critical thinkers if not anything. In the explosion of information, we are fortunate enough to possess necessary skills to examine and filter the messages we receive. It is true that popular media do not always offer an accurate account in explaining history. However with a critical mind we carry in academic research, we may be able to appreciate unique perspectives in understanding historic events from their portraits. For example, in the video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the story universe is set in the near future in the Middle East where constant battles fought by private military companies have become the backbone of the world’s economy. The striking resemblance of the story to certain reality interests me as an economics major.

Life is a Helper

I have never been a good narrator, and I doubt I will ever be. When the professor announced that this week’s writing style focus would be narratives, I thought to myself, “great, Rick the lousy storyteller is back in town again, everyone.” Just as I was struggling with filtering for anything interesting in my life, a series of unbelievable events happened to me during this short week that would prove to be good narrative material. Yes, no doubt life is a helper.

On Monday as I was biking home from school, feeling excited for the creativity dripping off my writing class, I discovered my car parked in front of the house was wrecked. The left front fender was severely damaged and the front bumper came half off. My mind immediately went blank, then a second later, a voice in the back of my head said, “oh boy, what a great way to start summer school.” Lucky me, a note was left on the windshield by a police officer, saying “Your car was hit by a Yolo County bus. You need to call xxxxxxxx.”

On Tuesday morning, I called the number provided by the police officer. Apparently it was the number of the county sheriff’s office. The person on the phone informed me that I should instead contact the Yolo County Human Resources Department to start the insurance claim process. Ok, I guessed HR was the insurance expert in the government, so I went on and gave them a call without thinking too much. The person answering the phone from the county HR was in shock and asked who directed me to call their number. And once again, I was referred to contact the county department of transportation.

On Wednesday, as the endless phone call transfers continued, I discovered my bike was not working properly. I took it to the Bike Barn and borrowed some tools to fix the supposedly minor problem. The problem wasn’t minor after all. Some mysterious sealing ring to protect the bearing was broken on the wheel and it would lead to a fifty dollar replacement of the entire wheel. I couldn’t afford it, and so I dragged my bike all the way from school to home.

On Thursday, I decided that I was sick of the phone calls and I wanted information of the car accident to file a claim with my own insurance company. I went to the city police station and spoke with the person at the front desk. After she made some phone calls and worked on the computer, she told me nothing regarding the accident was on file. She suggested that I email the police officer that handled the accident for more information.

On Friday, I am still waiting for the police officer to write me back and tell me what exactly happened to my car. And as I am writing this post, my laptop is making some very funny noise that makes me believe I should be expecting a computer system breakdown very soon.

Yup, life is a helper. Just as I thought I had nothing to narrate, who would have thought my week would be filled with stories?

Note: None of events is dramatization. Ok, maybe I was paranoid about the computer.

Ideology vs. Ideal

I guess I am growing addicted to video demonstration. After all, they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” let alone a video clip. My thanks go to multimedia presentation technology.

This clip selected is an excerpt from my favorite video game of all times: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The universe of the game is set in the Cold War era after the Second World War. In this scene, the protagonist, a CIA operative code named Snake is about to have a final faceoff with his former mentor the Boss, who appears to have defected from the US to the Soviet Union. Before their tragic battle, Boss explains to Snake the reason of her defection and describes her ideology to her beloved apprentice, which also serves as a convenient visual introduction to my entry.

Earlier as I was reading Calvin’s post regarding ideology and identity, I couldn’t help admiring his vision for ideology on an individual basis. Calvin believes that people are unique individuals for they hold different ideologies that cannot be forced upon them by authorities or any outside influence. In other words, we are who we are because of our different beliefs and the freedom to form and hold on to them. That would be a world I would love to dwell in. Perhaps I am a pessimist. Reality presents itself a bit differently to me than to Calvin.

In my opinion, a fine line can be drawn between ideology and ideal. According to Lawrence Grossberg, ideology represents a collective system of absolute beliefs, ideas and attitude (Bennet, Grossberg and Morris, 177). Ideal, in a sense, would be a more personal approach to realize an ideology in my interpretation. Calvin gives a good example about the United States and the political parties in his entry, which I would like to borrow and elaborate on.

It is true that the Republican and the Democrat have very different practices of politics. However if we closely examine their core values, how different truly are they? Do they agree to practice capitalist or communist philosophy? Do they believe in democracy or totalitarianism? Do they support a free market or a centralized economy? All the aspects mentioned above are the essential philosophies in the foundation of a nation, which can be translated as ideology. On the other hand, whether the government should issue a tax cut (Republican) or whether the country should support gay marriage (Democrat) would be different methods to realize the similar core values. In other words, these are different ideals to approach the same goals.

As individuals we can certainly claim that we hold different ideologies and ideals. However, it seems nearly impossible for everybody to freely implement their own ideologies in a collective community setting: society. To survive as an accepted social member, people mold and adjust their ideologies to fit in with the larger, collective ideology by establishing and practicing different ideals. Should times of absolute defiance happen, immigration or even exile occurs.

Granted, it is a fairly dark picture I depict in the entry. However it is only based on my personal observation of the reality. Perhaps I am a pessimist. And that is my idealistic way to examine the world.

Rick's Identity

“I remember, I remember everything.”

That was a line from the Bourne Ultimatum, the concluding sequel to the action/thriller hit the Bourne Identity that was released in 2002. Jason Bourne, the protagonist in the series, is a well-trained, highly skilled spy who suffers from amnesia. With “only” his fighting skills and the ability to speak seven languages left in him, Bourne loses memories of who he is. Therefore throughout the timeline of the series Bourne is determined to uncover his identity by triggering occasional gunfights, hand-to-hand combats and explosive car chases. Shockingly the movie ends with Bourne recovering his identity and deciding to abandon it for a normal life.

Unlike Jason Bourne, my identity, or rather my different identities are not well documented and preserved on some super computer in the government archive. Instead, I am in constant search for my own identity, despite the fact that I don’t have amnesia, at least not that I can remember. Then what is identity? Sometimes identity can be explained as a role that one plays in a certain social setting. For example, in school, I am your light-hearted average college student; at work as a community intern at the Cross-Cultural Center on campus, I perform as a dedicated employee; and at home, I act as caring son to my parents. However more often, identity also intertwines with ethnicity, cultural perception and religions. Because of this complexity, my search for identity constantly involves questioning, critiquing and reaffirming.

One may ask, how can we critique and affirm who we are? Kevin Robins provides us with a very creative answer in the textbook. Instead of an innate quality, Robins considers identity a fiction with which people work and live (Bennet, Grossberg and Morris,175). I find Robins' explanation very close to my own definition. To me, identity is a statement, a declaration we make to ourselves in order to become who we desire to be. Following this statement, we behave and perform to create identification traits to convince people that we are that personality we create in our heads. Does this definition explain every aspect of identity? No. But this is the one definition I have a firm grasp on based on my current life experience and knowledge. And so my search for identity continues.

First Thoughts on UWP 101 and the Textbook

I haven’t had a writing class in quite some time. This morning I arrived early and was anxious waiting in the classroom, wondering what sort of workload would be laid before me in this upcoming six weeks. To my surprise, this class does not seem like a typical writing class where a student needs to read seven books and do three term projects. Instead, we are asked to create our own blogs and write four entries weekly, which provides great incentives for a technology addict like me to write and work my creativity.

In addition to the weekly writing assignments, a textbook named New Keywords was required for the class. Therefore I went straight to bookstore to purchase this mysterious work of words (literally) after our first meeting. The travel between Storer and the bookstore was nothing more than linear. I located the pile of the book, picked a less-tortured copy, went to the register and paid for it. The process was as smooth as it could be.

While having lunch, I had a chance to read the introduction of the book. I was totally amazed by the originality of the idea of making connections between vocabulary and cultures. A quote I came across working as an intern at the Cross-Cultural Center on campus coincides with the book’s intent: Say what you mean and mean what you say. The world and history evolve, so does people’s choice of words. In today’s multicultural society, we, as the educated bunch, do have a responsibility to understand the power of language and be aware of the cultural sensitivity of words. I am pleased and grateful that we select a textbook that speaks to my passion. I am eager for future class discussion to come.