Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Does social media improve communication
Does social media improve communication
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Does social media improve communication
We all fake cultural literacy, but that isn’t anything new. In an article published by the New York Times, Karl Taro Greenfeld argues that due to all the new forms of communication and media we have all begun to fake cultural literacy. His article was aptly titled “Faking Cultural Literacy”, a bold statement coming from a person whose job is to not do so and providing a source of information. People have been faking cultural literacy ever since people began to gossip and share opinions. The idea that only just after the recent social media boom that we started slacking off on learning the details of stories is absurd. For as long as people have talked to each other about common events we have always tried to find out other people’s opinions and roll with that as our views. Greenfeld has not made a groundbreaking observation that we have suddenly stopped being educated on current events. He has simply noticed a …show more content…
But what he fails to see is that humanity has always been infamously lazy. He even stated that when he was in school that he used Cliff Notes to write a paper on “A Tale of Two Cities” while never actually reading the book (Greenfeld.) Humans might be the smartest species on the planet, but that is because our brains consume a lot of energy. Naturally, we don’t want to try to over think a problem if we don’t have to. If someone has figured out a solution to a problem it would be immediately beneficial for us to copy them instead of reinventing the wheel, but this also is the case with social interactions. Instead of hearing about a current issue and deciding to research it, do critical thinking, and formulate an opinion it is much easier to just ask someone what they think and why and just have that be our own opinion and reasons. We haven’t just started faking cultural literacy, we have always been doing so. It is just easier to do today than it was 100 years
In the article, “Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs,” American author and cultural critic Mark Dery creates a definition for culture jamming while popularizing the term. He explains how culture jamming disguises itself in mechanisms that are used for social control. In the section, “Empire of Signs,” Dery focuses on a mechanism from a 1975 segment called “Media Burn,” which involved the collision of two American cultural symbols, the television and the automobile, to alleviate the frustration of television. The segment was extremely shocking to viewers due to it smashing and burning an idolized object in American society (Dery). Dery continues by defining other forms of culture jamming techniques, such as sniping and subverting, media hoaxing, adjusters, audio agitprop
In today’s society, Cultural diversity in the United States of America can be seen in all aspects of life, such as in the media, workplace, household, and schools. Cultural diversity is defined as the characteristic of diverse cultures, as contradicting to monoculture, as in a homogenization of cultures, affiliated to cultural decay. In this present stage America, most individuals inaccurately use phrases such as “American culture,” or “Western culture,” as if such common and standardized cultures exist. People, in general, neglect to acknowledge the presence of cultural diversity, and cultural differences within the American society.
Cultural racism is the social production and reproduction of values and standards which privilege one group 's cultural heritage and identity over those of another. Cultural racism includes viewing conformity to the dominant culture as normal and desirable. This bias results in the people from non-dominant cultures and their customs and practices being viewed as unimportant, inferior, or simply invisible("Forms of Racism." - Monash University. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.) Pop culture is a breeding ground for cultural racism, because Today’s popular Black culture, in mainstream media, is a corporate invention: a corporate scheme from narrow minded white executives. They
Graff begins by talking about the educational system, and why it flawed in many ways, but in particular, one: Todays schools overlook the intellectual potential of street smart students, and how shaping lessons to work more readily with how people actually learn, we could develop into something capable of competing with the world. In schools, students are forced to recite and remember dull and subject heavy works in order to prepare them for the future, and for higher education. “We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic. We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, fashion, sports, TV, or video games.” (Graff, 198-199) In everyday life, students are able to learn and teach themselves something new everyday. It is those students, the “young person who is impressively “street smart” but does poorly in school” (Graff, 198), that we are sweeping away from education and forcing to seek life in places that are generally less successful than those who attend a college or university.
In the first part of this book, Carnegie describes one of the most useful strategies, “Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.” “Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would have be under similar circumstances,” as President Abraham Lincoln said to Ms. Lincoln and others when they spoke horrors of the southern citizens after General Meade refused to attack in the Battle of Gettysburg. Even when Lincoln was enraged because General Meade denied to attack, he reserved his comments. Instead he wrote a letter addressed to the general but, never mailed it. Like F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in the novel, The Great Gatsby, “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone… just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you've had.” It is important not to complain because what one person has, another may desire. There are people that complain because they did not get the latest trending phone, while a young kid in Mexico is thrilled for finding a can that he can imagine is a soccer ball. Good or bad, people should be pleased with what they have and make the best of it
In Rushkoff’s film, The Merchants of Cool, he rhetorically questions if “teenagers even have a culture to call distinctly their own.” In the late 1990’s when the documentary was made, the implication was that they do not. However, with the internet’s advancements and the accessibility of communication with massive amounts of people, teenagers today can form authentic cultures that are not contaminated by the corporate media.
“With every new innovation, cultural prophets bickered over whether we were facing a technological apocalypse or a utopia” (Thompson 9). This quote states that with every significant break-through with technology, people contemplate whether it will have a positive or negative effect on mankind. Technology allows for external memory sources, connections to databases, and it allow easy communication between people. Thompson then directly counters Carr’s hypothesis and states that “[c]ertainly, if we are intellectually lazy or prone to cheating and shortcuts, or if we simply don’t pay much attention to how our tools affect the way we work, then yes - we become… over reliant” (Thompson 18). In his opinion, “[s]o yes, when we’re augmenting ourselves, we can be smarter… But our digital tools can also leave us smarter even when we’re not actively using them” (Thompson
Culture Appropriation is the idea of taking one’s culture and adjusting it to another culture, and has brought about many debates for years. One specific ongoing debate is if writers have the right to write about other cultures without being classified as culturally appropriating their culture. Five articles have argued their standpoint and what they believe is the correct way to interpret culture appropriation: “Who Gets to Write What” by Kaitlyn Greenidge, “Dangerous Ideas” by Kenzie Allen, “Commentary: Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible” by K. Tempest Bradford, “In Defense of Cultural Appropriation” by Kenan Malik, and “You can’t steal a culture: In defense of Culture Appropriation” by John McWhorter. While all the participants
As we look backon past cultures it reveals so much about the world, and the same will happen when we lookback on our culture today. We will be able to see how important certain things are to oursociety, and how it reflects who we are.In our fast-paced society, the news is constantly changing, and what is news today,could be irrelevant tomorrow. Popular culture includes the most current and ongoing aspects ofour lives. However, with the union of media into the technical world, people are brought closerand closer to the ever-present media. We are able to get the latest news at our finger tips. Thestories that were important years ago, don’t have the same level of importance today.However, I don’t think this means that we don’t appreciate culture. Not only does popularculture teach us about ourselves it also helps us learn about society. We are able to see howpopular culture reveals information about our culture, and what society believes is important. Itgives us truths about our own culture, time, era, and society and it can even offer reassuranceon life’s challenges, and help us figure out who we are. Like I mentioned before, the cultures ofthe past have helped shape our society and tells us about what it is like to live in this world, thesame as the popular culture of today also helps shapes us. Popular culture reveals our beliefs,values, and decisions. It can also have an impact on younger
He exclaims that “we need to learn to live with the noise and tolerate the noise even when the noise is stupid, even when the noise is offensive, even when the noise is at times dangerous. Because no matter how noble the intent, it’s a demand for conformity that encourages people on all sides of a debate to police each other instead of argue and convince each other” ( Lovett 30). This statement is so true in today’s society. It basically says that the public needs to learn how to block out those trying to hold them down, acknowledge those who are opposing but don’t let them convince you, instead figure out how to correct their point accordingly. Almost every argument or debate that someone or a group of people have nowadays end up with the losing figure trying to attack the person or group directly instead of the point of the argument. It is so ignorant not to recognize your mistakes and it makes arguments and debates
This research study focuses at negotiating the shifting identities of immigrants and their traumas in postcolonial literature with reference to Lahiri’s fiction. The suffering of every immigrant in achieving a shelter and identity in a foreign land often leads to loss of identity. The qualms, agitation and nervousness of immigrants often increase the issues of identity, and immigrants often feel alienated in the midst of exotic land, they even start to think about achieving new identities. Stuart Hall (1987) a famous cultural theorist discusses the issues of cultural identity and migration as he says “Migration is a one way trip. There is no “home” to go back to”. Change in the place and ambience totally change the circumstances in the lives of immigrants in Lahiri’s fiction, they often try to cling to their own cultural identity and costumes. But the cultural effect is often so strong that it deeply affects the identity of immigrants and they ultimately try to change their identities. Immigrants make an absurd attempt to get mingled in the culture of foreign country. Hall discusses “Cultural identities are those which are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference” (235).
The purpose of cultural awareness is to help others understand your background. People who lack the ability to understand other cultures are part of
The portrayal of different cultures is a vast spectrum, from cultural appropriation to multiculturalism. Using a culture for profits or misinterpreting a culture without knowing the significance of that culture is an easy way to end up culturally appropriating. This is simply distasteful and abuse of a different culture. We must check ourselves in order to not commit this act and to remain respectful of different cultures. On the other end of the spectrum, multiculturalism is the proper way of bringing cultures together and helps to unify
Western countries have been suspected of using their position and power to cultivate cultures around the world through the use of media. These cultures are inspired by western cultures and are a powerful way to gain and maintain dominance especially in third world countries. This essay is aimed at arguing a case against global cultural imperialism. Key areas taken into cognizance in this work are, firstly the definition of key terms used in this essay. Secondly, this essay focusses on the demerits of global cultural imperialism though media use namely, erosion of the youth’s indigenous cultures, the use of media to portray western cultures as superior relative to other cultures, contamination of indigenous cultures through the unruly content found in western media productions, western cultures and living standards as shown though the media promotes brain drain in less developed countries, western produced products promoted on global media present unfair competition to local products and how global cultural imperialism is being used to spread western propaganda hence misleading the youth. Lastly this essay concludes with a conclusion.