"Generation Like" the Corporation-run Generation

The following is a response to a question inspired by the documentary “Generation Like” which we watched today in class. Amazing documentary, btw.

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How powerful is the connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games?

           

So in the documentary they talk about the world of social media being just like the Hunger Games. A huge arena that is controlled by a bunch of people who act behind a curtain, where young teens are thrown in to fight in order to rise above each other. There’s also a large part of the comparison that is part of the whole idea that in order to survive in the Hunger Games you have to get people to like you. Which came in quite strongly, since the whole documentary talks about Facebook “likes” and likes in pretty much any social network are the key to success. In the Hunger Games this whole idea forces Katniss to act like a person who is the complete opposite of who she really is, in order to adjust to the tastes of the purposely disgusting people of the Capitol. The whole point of this comparison, though, is to put forth the idea that the internet is a horrible battleground. One where the youth of today is destroying themselves. But the internet is a disguised battleground. One where you don’t realize you’re being manipulated. One that isn’t hated by the majority of the population, but loved instead. One that’s seen as a field of opportunities and a chance to express oneself fully. The only problem is, that this field is controlled by people behind the curtains. People who monitor our every move and that are able to push us into where they want us to be. All with just a few clicks. The internet is one huge chessboard and we’re the pawns. Or if you prefer, the internet is one huge arena, and we’re the tributes.

To Be (Condemned) Human

The song “Ser Humano” from the now disbanded Mexican band Natalia y la Forquetina seems to have a deeper meaning than the simple lazy rock song it sounds like. The song’s title can translate to either “Human Being” or “To Be Human” and its lyrics carry a rather significant message about humanity, but when paired with its music video it could be interpreted in a rather depressing way that can show the rather pathetic state humanity is currently in. Even though the video can seem very simple at first sight, a deeper analysis of the images combined with the lyrics of the song, suggests that the song might carry a much more deep meaning than one might think.

Let’s start off with what’s not so obvious in the obvious. The video basically consists of the band performing in front of a huge crowd in a darkly lit space and the crowd consists only of inflated dolls that look like the members of the band. We’ll deal with the dolls later, for now let’s focus on the band itself. It’s quite normal for this band to do actions that seem abnormal and artificial, but in this case doing that portrays them as something that goes beyond just a band. In this video the band does nothing more than what a band does: play music. Not only that, but they seem to be devoid of much emotion while they do it and they just play on without showing much emotion in their faces, and most of the shots are too fast for the audience to be able to tell precisely what their facial expression actually is, since the lighting makes it hard to see anything. This automatically causes a detachment from the members of the band and shows them as something close to a bunch of robots just playing music and shaking their heads on an enlightened stage. This image is strengthened right at the beginning where the singer trots into the stage with a rather null expression on her face; and later on her hair covers her eyes most of the time, so it is too difficult to see what her expressions are.

The audience in the video is the point where anybody watching the video can see that it is indeed an unusual video. The crowd which would be a regular concert crowd where any contemporary music-enthusiast would feel identified if it were not for the fact that they are all just a huge mass of plastic, inflatable dolls with a ridiculed look and performing actions that are stereotypical ofrock-band fans, such as fainting when they see their idols. The chorus of the song says “I can’t complain, I’m a human being. I can’t complain, I’m condemned.” These lyrics, as well as the general themes that are mentioned throughout the whole song seem to express that humanity is a species that is fated to behave in the way that the plastic dolls in the video behave.

Moreover, in the video the inflated dolls admire the band, which could symbolize something bigger than what it is, such as perhaps the entire world of media and entertainment, which so many of us are attached to nowadays, or even so, anybody that we admire. In this sense it’s logical for the band to portray themselves as machines that simply carry out their work. This way they might be trying to portray how even the idols that we admire so much are also just “condemned humans” that, as the lyrics go, “dream the daily routine.” This conveys not only the “insignificant masses” as the condemned humans, but even the big and successful characters of our time as part of this condemnation.

The lyrics also seem to strongly support this idea. The lyrics talk about a “small place where there is only green, blue, coffee, pain” which can quite easily be a reference to the Earth, since green and blue are indeed the colors that are normally used to represent the planet. The part that makes it problematic is where it says coffee and pain. Coffee is a drink that is used to “keep people going,” to prevent them from falling asleep during their boring and tiring jobs that don’t entertain them enough to keep them awake throughout the whole day. So in a sense, coffee in this song is referring to the artificial products that have been made to make our lives progress as if nothing bad is happening. Then the “pain” breaks reality in and shows how we are simply suffering from our lives. Combined with the images of the video, where we are shown just how pathetic we look when we are “having fun at a concert,” the music video manages to convey a rather depressing view on the current state of humanity.

The band is probably trying to portray this in order to try to try to get their view on the world out and perhaps see some improvement in the “condemned humanity.”

FOA Reflection - Ads and Mind Control

My Further Oral Activity was about how anti-advertisements reveal to us the fact that macro-companies are constantly attempting to control our subconscious mind in order to keep us spending. The whole idea was that through the analysis of anti-advertisements that are intended to turn people against the macro-companies and keeping them from buying their products people would be able to realize the fact I already stated: that big companies are controlling our minds and making us spend more money.

Overall, I feel that even though my presentation didn’t go too badly, it was not the best it could have been. I felt that, even though my speech flowed logically I didn’t stick to the plan that I had in mind. I forgot to use the statistics that I had planned to use properly and ended up reducing them to just a simple “fun fact” at the end of an analysis instead of being a part of my arguments and analysis. I also got some feedback from my classmates and they told me that I was speaking way too fast in the beginning, which I was actually planning on doing since while I was rehearsing it seemed that I was going to go over the time limit. If I had rehearsed it with an audience I think I might have been able to control that better since when I’m on my own I can’t really articulate what I’m saying too well. If I had known what it would feel to perform live in the first place maybe I would have been able to balance it out, because as a matter of fact I think that in the end I actually finished about two or three minutes below the time limit, so I could have used some better organization of time throughout my speech. All of this might actually have an impact in my use of language and organization criteria. Next time it might be a good idea to rehearse my speech much more and maybe even stick to a pre-written script, just to make sure that my organization is flawless and that my natural speech organization “imperfections” do not haunt me while I’m presenting.

The advertisement that I feel I did the best on was the first one about Christmas. I felt that my argument came out quite strongly for it while I was still able to analyze the language in the ad. My only issue with it is that I think I forgot to explicitly say that they used the second person in the ad to bring the audience into the “plot” of the ad and thus make it more personal for them. Asides from that, I’m quite satisfied with what I said regarding that ad.

The second advertisement I felt brought me down a bit. The advertisement did not really perfectly fit in with the entire concept of my presentation and I had to go to the point where I extrapolated the meaning of the ad to relate it to how that aims to keep you away from the myriad of advertisements there are in all those apps. However, nothing regarding advertisements in iOS applications was actually mentioned in this ad, so I might have gone to the point where I said something that was not truly meant to be said at all. I also spoke about how the word “addictive” was a weasel word in that ad, which actually felt contradictory to say, because since it is an anti-ad it should break the conventions of a normal ad and stray away from using such tactics, but that was not the case and I felt that that might have caused the ad to come across as weak and thus it took away impact from my presentation. I think at this point I also used the slang word “legit” when talking about all the Apple products that are mentioned in the ad, which might end u lowering my marks in the Use of Language criterion.

The final ad was perhaps the weakest of them all. In the end one of my classmates questioned me to the point where he asked whether my thoughts on it were accurate or not, so I’m guessing the things that I said might have not been as convincing. Most of the points I said regarding the ad had a good foundation, but I failed to deliver them in a clear and concise manner, which must have caused some confusion for my classmates. Asides from that, I don’t really feel that I missed much when analyzing that ad, now that I think about it. Maybe the fact that I never related the message of the ad to the title of the article it was in.

Overall, I would not say that my FOA went really bad; but I will say that it was not the best that it could be. Next time I will have to practice more and be sure to structure my language in a more effective way so that my Organization and Language criteria can be as high as possible. For this case, I feel that my criteria A and B were quite strong, but could also use some improvement; especially from the fact that these criteria could have suffered from my poor Language and Organization. As an overall improvement for my next FOA, I should spend more time practicing what I will say so that I make sure the message is conveyed in a clear and concise manner.

Anti-smoking ad: Portrait of our culture?

The ad's main objective is to encourage parents to speak to their kids about not smoking. In doing so, the ad could also be allowing kids to become aware of the damage that they do to their parents and any other adults who they may love. Another possible secondary objective of the ad could be to make companies aware of the damage they cause to families and thus place them under even more social pressure than they already have from all the media. The calm image that covers most of the ad avoids a visual overload of information that could make the ad unattractive to the eyes and the emphasis on the words "Help me" and "kids" triggers a caring response in the people reading the ad, and accompanied by the also emphasized word "cigarettes" the ad gives the viewer a quick overview of what the problem is and hooks the audience so that they close in and read the more specific information at the bottom. Since the ad is in English and it shows an image of a father and a child fishing together (a stereotypical father-child activity in western culture) the ad is most likely to be from a western English-speaking country.

The ad makes emphasis on the value of the family, by using an image that can easily be associated with a family activity and by constantly saying "your kids" at the bottom, triggering the thought of one's own children. The ad takes a rather unusual approach to the problem of smoking: instead of talking about all the negative effects of smoking, it assumes that one already knows them (thus revealing that the ad is most likely from a developed society, where media has usually already widespread what the problem with smoking is). The fact that the ad targets the value of the family suggests that in the place where this ad was placed people hold that in a high regard, people care about their families. If this was not the case then the advertisers would not have chosen to emphasize in this value. The ad not only makes reference to the family, but also attempts to make family bonds stronger, since speaking to one's children about not smoking and thus impacting their lives is a good way to strengthen them. The image and the whole "atmosphere" of the ad is very calm and serene, which means that the people targeted by the ad are likely to be the kind that value these characteristics. For this reason, children and teenagers are an unlikely primary audience of the ad since at that age it is not as common to value calm and serenity in such high regard. Also regarding the values highlighted in the ad, as I mentioned before the ad is part of the entire anti-smoking movement, which shows that the people of that place are publicly against smoking.

The ad not only empowers parents who wish to speak to their children about not smoking, but pretty much empowers any adult that might feel motivated to do this. The ad places the children and the entire family as a whole in a very high regard. Smoking companies would be the ones being marginalized in this situation, since they are the root of the problem that is being addressed. As a matter of fact, the entire group of people who smoke are being marginalized in this ad since the ad is encouraging families to stay away from that "vibe." This just shows how much that society is against smoking and how they reject people that are related to it.

Cellphones in School, the True Way to Educate.

The following is a persuasive piece meant to be used as an exercise for learning the elements of rhetoric

What's the most useful, accessible and compact useful piece of technology there is? No matter who you are, you should have easily been able to answer that question (at least as long as you've read the title), and if you've been to a school in the last, say, 10 years, then you probably know that they are forbidden during class hours for student use. This ban was set up in order to prevent students from getting distracted and in order to preserve the order of the class, since the loud ringtones of cellphones could quite easily cause a lot of laughter inside a classroom and thus deviate the class's attention from their studies. However, this kind of policy is by far outdated. This ban comes from a time where cellphones were simply used as a means of communication between other phones. At that point, cellphones were nothing more than a nuisance for the teacher. Nowadays, however, the story's quite different. 

Cellphones have evolved to the point that they are almost quite literally a computer in your pocket. Most schools already allow the use of computers and laptops in class, so why not allow phones? It IS a much easier  solution to the educational needs of your classroom. There is an endless myriad of educational apps available for free download and in fact, statistics say that 73% of teachers have already begun to use the cellphone as a means of education. And if you're still thinking that this will be too distracting for students then remember that studies show that, on average, 99% of students will be off-task while using their computers. If you're going to allow laptops, then its kind of a hypocrisy to just ban the cellphone. Obviously there need to be limits, but just as how it happens when students chatter in class, a teacher should always be aware and take the necessary measures to, simply, "shush" those who disturb the class with their cellphones.

Cellphones can also contribute to overall education in more indirect manners. Let me start with a story (note that the story has been distorted in order to protect the people who are actually in it, who btw are part of my family). Yula was a young 15-year old teenager with hunger for the pleasures of life but an extremely strict father. Following a tragic accident, Yula's father perished. Even though he was mourned, two months later Yula got pregnant and had to deal with the heavy burden of caring for a baby and such a young age. The story just goes to show that the more you keep something away from people the more they will want it. The grass is always greener on the other side, right? Eventually, school students will get to college and then go off to work. If students are deprived of the use of the cellphone then they will crave for it even more when they leave school. It's better to learn about the problems that misusing a phone in class first hand while you're still in school and your parents can support you, rather than having to learn those the bad way when you're struggling to understand how the heck to be independent. Let's admit it, life is full of painful lessons anyway, but getting those during the time where you still live with your family is probably better for you anyways. 

Asides from the education, allowing cellphones would contribute to making schools a happy place, since students would be more content with less (useless) restrictions. These are only a few of the reasons why the ban on cell phones must be removed from schools that still have it. Interested in more reasons? Feel like joining our campaign to free cellphones? Got any say about this? Then we invite you to come and show us your thoughts at our website. Let's make schools a happier, more enjoyable place for the students!

Paper 1 practice: ACTS Analysis style

The following is an analysis of an extract of the autobiography The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole (1857)

The text above is an excerpt from the autobiography The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole. This particular text shows all the elements of a memoir. It is anecdotal, is told in first person narrative, and has dialogue within the text. It aims to reminisce on past experiences and the dreadfulness of a deadly yellow fever plague. The text also serves as a warning aimed at the younger generation that may have not experienced such a calamity yet. Since it is written in an engaging manner and uses emotional language, it is easy for most people to engage with the topic; making the audience quite broad, as there is no need to be interested in the topic of history or medicine to actively engage with the text. The audience would be anyone who is willing to read the autobiography.

In the text, Seacole talks about the casualties she saw while nursing people at her home. She writes about her own personal experience and about how she was no longer affected by the gruesome and morbid scenes that she continuously saw in her daily life and about the scenes of grief that followed deaths actually made her suffer. However, she contrasts by talking about the experiences of others, talking about how different people would react in the face of death; about how the bravest men would “die trembling like children” while others who have barely suffered in their lifetimes would “die as heroes.” Through all of this she addresses the theme of death, which is a common happening in any deadly plague (such as the yellow fever), giving some examples of how people confront it and thus aiding the purpose of her warning. She also writes about a particular man that she had come to love as a son for a short period of time before he died, thus addressing the themes of motherly love and heavy loss. Through this anecdote, she is able to write on a much more intimate level with the audience and portray much stronger feelings of loss.

The text is written in a gloomy and bleak style, and effectively portrays the grim aspect of a deadly plague and her experiences with the yellow fever in a serious and emotional manner, helping her reminisce about her past as well as warn future generations of these threats. Even though the text has emotional anecdotes they are always related back to the over-arching theme of death by the plague, which keeps the atmosphere gloomy throughout the whole text. Right off the first sentence she uses words that evoke negative emotions (“suffering and gloom”), thus setting the mood right from the onset. The text, despite giving the impression of being quite cold because of the way Seacole explains she is used to seeing death and how it does not affect her much, is written in an emotional way that allows the tone to be friendly and welcoming and making it easy to engage with the text.

The text is written from the first person point of view, and gives the reader a much closer and engaging look into Seacole’s experience with the plague. Since it is a memoir, she gives her own perspective of the events, accompanied by the hindsight wisdom of experience that is characteristic of a memoir. She attempts to hook the reader by using emotional words and anecdotes that people can relate to. In the third  paragraph she uses repetition with the word trying and short sentences when she says “It was trying to see his poor hands trembling…trying to see how piteously the poor worn heart long to see once more...” which gives the text a quick, natural pace at that point that can easily engage readers. She also refrains from directly saying the names of the characters in her memoir in order to protect their remembrance. The text is structured with an introduction that aims to give some background information on her situation and the epidemic. Seacole then writes about the bravery in facing death in the second paragraph, which allows her to transition to the third and final paragraphs, which discuss her relationship with a man she nursed. The entire diction of the text reflects the time in which the text was written in, such as using the word “trying” instead of “daunting” which is a more commonly used word nowadays, or using the phrase “He sent for…” which is not quite commonly used anymore either.

Written Task 1 #1: Memoirs of a Dying Language

Rationale

In a world where globalization becomes more evident with each passing day, the disappearing of cultures that are overtaken by the bigger, more influential ones is a common issue, and along with that the disappearance of their languages. This is a serious issue, because language constitutes a very significant part of a people’s culture and once it is lost a crucial part of their culture and knowledge is lost forever. The Tlingit, a Native American tribe in Alaska, are one of the communities facing this issue currently, since their language is being overtaken by English.

I chose to write a memoir from the perspective of a hypothetical renowned Tlingit theater director who is living in modern-day New York and has been there for 20 years. The man has a strong passion for his ethnicity and his work in the world of theater has often been about cultural diversity and its importance. In the memoir he shares his experience growing up as a child and how his parents would sometimes discourage him from learning Tlingit in order to avoid discrimination. He also talks about how he decided to further learn the language on his own from the diaspora arisen from living in the city. Since he is a renowned director a memoir would be an appropriate way for him to communicate his thoughts, since this is a medium that involves a fair amount of creativity and people will want to read it because they know who he is, which makes it more relevant.

Memoir of a Dying Language

I remember my parents kept it a secret for a while. According to their stories I had heard them speak in Tlingit when I was a baby, but once they realized that I had begun speaking they decided to stop and only used English. When I was eight I remember imagining that I was some sort of chosen hero from a distant land, because I had these memories in my head of strange words. Words I had never heard anybody pronounce before and that left my friends baffled when they saw I could articulate such a different set of phonemes. I was really feeling like someday my fate would be revealed to me by some holographic crystal and that I would save the Earth as a fully-fledged superhero from a cool distant planet. Of course, that only lasted until I overheard my parents speaking in Tlingit one night while they thought I was asleep. Overcome by my naïve sense of adventure I walked forth into the kitchen and, completely oblivious to the horror faces my parents made, I asked: “Mom, dad, is there something that you’re keeping a secret from me?”

That was when I found out about it. I was disappointed that I wasn’t from some alien race that would be able to fly, but what I discovered that night shaped the course of my life forever. After they exchanged looks, my mom turned to me and said: “Son, there are so many things that we would like to tell you about, but we have never done so, because we do not want you to go through what we went.” At this point my eight-year-old mind is too drawn into the action to try to understand the depth of what my mother was saying. “Why don’t you sit down son?” Said my dad. “We have a few things we would like to tell you.”

That night, my parents taught me three things. Firstly, that we were direct descendants of the Tlingit tribe, but that the days of what I would imagine an Indian tribe doing were over. Secondly, that in order to be happy one must forget the Tlingit heritage and try to be like the other kids. And lastly, that yinaanáx means family and that that is what we are. My childish mind was dumbfounded by these teachings, to the point that when my mom told me to go to sleep right afterwards I did not have the mind to tell her I wanted to know more and I simply complied. The next day they did not let me ask the question, and somehow managed to get me to school without me knowing anything else. When I got to school and told my friends about what I had learned, one of them said that their dad had forbidden him to hang around Indian kids because they were dirty. At that moment he apologized and, along with his two best friends, he simply walked away. Now I understood what mom had told me about society. It would take a while before I understood why I should love my heritage.

From that point on my parents weren’t too shy about talking in Tlingit, but they would never speak to me in it. I was to learn proper English and how to fit in with the rest, so that one day I could go on and do great things. In my teenage years I was already able to grasp a few more words and my pronunciation was getting better with each day. Or at least that’s what it seemed like, since I didn’t have anyone to tell me whether it was alright or not. Sometimes my mom would help me, but that was a rare occasion. And by now I could understand why. It became evident once I began to socialize with more people that my Tlingit heritage was the bane of my life. And yet the desire to learn this language never disappeared. I wanted to understand where I was coming from, I wanted to feel unique for who I actually was and not what “society” wanted me to be like. Whenever I said a word in Tlingit it felt like I was entering a completely different universe. One that was filled with unlimited knowledge that had somehow been denied to me for so long.

After I graduated from High SchoolI had the opportunity to go live in the Big Apple, and that was when I realized that the bane of my life could easily become the most powerful boon: inspiration. I decided to go into the world of theater not just because I liked it, but also because it was a medium through which I could express in any way I wanted; including Tlingit. In this place, which is probably the most culturally diverse that there is, people praised me for these random nonsense that suddenly showed up in the middle of a monologue and when people asked me to be in their plays they would often want me to use Tlingit in it. I also discovered that I was not the only one who went through this story. Asian Americans, other Indians, Latin Americans, all of who grew up in the USA had to try to forget their heritage so that they could fit in. The same sad story repeated way too many times.

This was what gave me the inspiration to do what I do. In every culture, no matter how small or discriminated, there is a huge amount of knowledge that is hidden, and often the language is the easiest way to access it. With the internet, I have managed to become a fluent Tlingit speaker, embracing my culture more than ever before. And this is my life now, encouraging people to embrace their own cultures, whatever the cost may be. Because if a culture is lost, then it is gone forever. And that, is a loss to all of mankind.

The next stage of language: Textspeak?

The following are two different theories that explain how textspeak has shaped language in a new way.

David Crystal:

• Because telephones used to have a word limit per text message, people came up with ways to abbreviate what they were saying.
• People who text use consonants in unconventional ways, recognizing that they have a greater communicative value than most vowels, so they are likely to leave out more vowels than consonants. (E.g.: "b" to say be, "msg" to say message)
• Punctuation is often ignored and instead punctuation marks are used for other purposes, such as expressing emotions (E.g.: :D, :(, @__@, etc)
• Capital letters are ignored at the beginning of sentences and are instead used to express emotion and to emphasize on messages.
• Abbreviations and acronyms can be very vague and so they can sometimes en up communicating the wrong message (E.g.: an "lol" right after an affectionate message)
• There is more than one way to abbreviate things, which adds to the ambiguity (E.g.: TTYL, TTUL, TTUL8TR, T2UL, TTYL8TR, etc; which all mean "talk to you later").
• There is no universal convention to the way words are abbreviated in texts.
• Textspeak is unlikely to have an effect on a language as a whole.

John McWhorter

• Texspeak is more similar to speaking than it is to writing. People text how they speak, not how they write. This is why they tend to leave out things like capital letters and punctuation marks because you don't think about those when you speak.
• Pragmatic particles have appeared. These are words that don't really mean what they technically mean, but are more used to mark emotion and empathy. (E.g.: "lol gmail is being so slow" reply: "lol ikr") In the example the lol's aren't actually being used to say "laughing out loud" or "lots of love."
• "Information markers" have also appeared. For example the word "slash" being used to change the topic to make up for the fact that one can't use physical actions in a texting conversation.
• Texting has nothing to do with young people's language deficiency. This "language deficiency" has existed since ancient times.
• Bilingualism is good for the brain. So is "bidialectalism," and this applies to writing as well, and since textspeak can be considered as a different dialect, it is beneficial for the mind because that "balancing act" between common speech and textspeak is the same as speaking two different dialects.
• Language changes in extremely fast ways, to the point that a 20 year-old now would not be able to fully understand the text messages of 15 year-olds.
• Language will always be evolving.

Both theories agree that textspeak is not detrimental to language.

Crystal says that textspeak is unlikely to have an effect on language as a whole, while McWhorter says that language is always changing according to the conditions.

They both offer different views regarding how textspeak has changed the language. They both show different examples, but Crystal's are probably more outdated.

The Bluntness Hurts...

(The following is a letter that is meant to reply to an article regarding the topic of cultural appropriation. It's intended use is for educational purposes and I apologize if any feelings are hurt in the process. Please feel free to reply.)


This was the article chosen: http://thisisnotjapan.tumblr.com/post/67341539294/it-doesnt-make-sense-to-me-we-have-people-come-over.  It's not actually an article, but it's still closely related to the topic.


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To the administrators of thisisnotjapan,

I just recently read this, and with all honesty I have to say that it hurt like a kick in the stomach. The last few years of my life I've been into anime and the Japanese language has been something that has always come along with it, so sometimes between friends we would sometimes use random Japanese words. Since I've never actually had the opportunity to make friends with a Japanese person, I had never actually thought about how the use of the language like that could have been offensive. It's so stuck in my head that for a moment I was about to write "sorry" in Japanese. 

It's true that we often use the language the language because we think it's cool, or simply different and we want to identify ourselves with it, but it's not like we ever meant it in a bad way. You probably get this a lot, but we have absolutely nothing against your culture, and if anything we admire Japanese culture and kinda wish that we were more immersed in it. Said in that way, it sounds like we hate our own culture. But that's not the case. In this globalized world we live in it's become way too easy to get to know things about other cultures, and when something looks or sounds interesting we sometimes decide to try to incorporate it into our daily lives, that's just the truth of it. 

I'm not going to say that everyone who tries to incorporate other cultures into their lives are the same, but at least I tend to always strive to reference other cultures or languages in the appropriate way. Even though right now I do not have the opportunity to do so, I would like to learn Japanese in the future, so I think that using a few random words in my normal speech might actually help me get used to the language so that when I actually learn it it becomes easier. I am aware that even though the Japanese phonemes might be similar to Spanish there are certain aspects regarding the pitch of the voice that make it more complicated than it seems. 

I won't go into too many details because I'd probably make a lot of mistakes; but as I said before, I always strive to truly understand the significance of things in other cultures before I incorporate them in my daily life, so that I make sure that I'm not misusing anything. So to close up I'd like to leave you with a question: Do you think that if we try to fully understand another culture and then "appropriate" it (while respecting it), then it would still be considered a "negative" cultural appropriation?

Sincerely,

Carlos Páez

Those things about Life and Music

DISCLAIMER: (The following is a fictional interview between a made-up foreign interviewer and the vocalist of the Venezuelan band Desorden Público (Translates to Public Disorder) Horacio Blanco (the h is silent btw, just saying). Anything written in here has got absolutely nothing to do with the artist’s actual thoughts and is done only for the sake of my education. Apologies for the possibly high inaccuracy of the content.)

Desorden Público

          

     

I'm walking on the streets of Caracas, capital of Venezuela. I can’t stop looking over my shoulder and the sound of the motorcycles flashing through the streets is definitely much more terrifying in real life. I am yet to see anything bad, but all the stories and statistics are hard to shake of one’s consciousness. I arrive at my designated café, take one more look over my shoulder and push the door open. The smell of Portuguese pastry is a refreshing feeling and it feels like I can finally calm down. Sitting on a table far back at the right, sitting next to a window from which you can see the Ávila Mountain I find my man, dressed in a simple red T-shirt and jeans, if it weren’t for his trademark spiky hair he would just be any other common guy. I get close and he gets up to greet me and while he shakes my hand says “Hello, it’s a pleasure!” in an accent that was better than I expected. I take a seat, we order a couple of croissants filled with ricotta and some orange juice. Once he’s asked me about my experience and I spoke trying to not speak too badly of this city I feared, we began our interview.

I: So Horacio, you have been the vocalist of Desorden Público since 1985. What was the drive to creating the band in the beginning?

Horacio Blanco (HB): We wanted to be as original as we could, which turned out into a ska band, a genre that’s pretty hard to come by nowadays. Within our music there is always a desire to “move” people. We have energetic music that makes people move their bodies, but also thoughtful lyrics that will make people move those neurons as well. We want to make people reflect about life so that they can live better lives and realize what are the problems that we all face, but we always try to give them something positive to think of as well; we don’t want people to get depressed (light laughs).

I: Yeah, many of your songs really do cheer people up, but not only because they’re cheery, but they are also quite inspirational. Are there a few that come to mind?

HB:  Well there’s the song El tren de la vida (The train of life) which is a very nice song to dance to. It talks about the “train” that we’re all in that takes us through life, you know, going through all the ups and downs and every bump we have to deal with. But as the chorus goes “El tren de la vida es una maravilla, el tren de la vida camina por los rieles de la alegría.” (the train of life is a marvel, the train of life walks on the rails of happiness) and music is always on the train. It just shows that life was made to be enjoyed more than anything, the circumstances are part of the track, so we just have to deal with it. 

I: Yes, that’s a very nice song. What about any songs that refer to social issues? I know you have a few…

HB: Yes, well in that same album there’s another song, Hipnosis (Hypnosis) that illustrates the human race as a bunch of “toys of the mind of the master.” The song makes reference to many social issues, but mainly that of giving your life just to get a bunch of things that you don’t need. In the song there is also a reference to Plato and Descartes, as we explain that “foreign ideas will not give you the key,” you know, you can’t rely on anyone to free you from your own demise. It is meant to make people reflect on their condition so that they can make their lives better. Another good one is the song Los Contrarios (the contraries) which deals with the issue of discrimination of ideas in a rather sarcastic way, since the song is sung from the perspective of a man who seems to be the most intolerant person in the world. It is meant to make people think about how other people’s ideas must be accepted and not just thrown away, you know? Well, I could say some others, but you have like a word limit you have to stick to right? (Laughs)

I: Hahaha, yes you’re right. Ok then let’s wrap it up with this last one. I know it’s a delicate one, but can you tell us a bit about your songs with political issues in them? If it’s not much of a problem…

HB: No, it’s absolutely fine, there’s no need to apologize. It is the reality after all. In our first album the song Políticos paralíticos (Paralytic Politicians) is a song that talks about all the things that the government does to us. All about how they steal from us and only care for us when the elections come around. It has strong language in it, you know, a couple of swear words, to just show how serious the issue is. We also put in a sort of speech in the song that is an exaggeration of how ridiculous politicians often sound when they speak, even with the bad grammar that some of them actually have sometimes. Even though the song was released in 1985 when we debuted, it is still an issue that, sadly, plagues various countries around the world. This one along with other songs like Política criminal (Criminal Politics) and Llora por un dólar (Cry for a dollar) all help put out that message that everyone must realize about the way the world works.

I: Indeed… Well, I think we’re almost out of words (laughs). Any last messages you want to leave?

HB: Well just a shout-out to all our fans and all our supporters out there. Always remember to enjoy life and don’t forget to dance and sing and have fun. 


Links to the songs:

• El Tren de la Vida (the train of life): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AubryTCsSPc
• Tierra de Gigantes (Land of Giants): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgJPLDlYUdc
• Hipnosis (Hypnosis): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC5LnPuExJc
• Los Contrarios: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBhEH0jtkQg
• Políticos Paralíticos (Paralytic Polititians): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSOYeu3j8Ys
• Política Criminal (Criminal Politics): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cloV9I6tBQI
• Llora por un dólar (Cry for a dolar): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBG-UEA5hPg

There's more to it than just grammar

So last time in English Language and Literature class we did a debate which was based on a text by an Asian-American author called Amy Tan. The whole thing spoke about her mother's "broken" English and all of the repercussions that that brought along. There was one thing though, that really rang in my mind, because it actually happened to me when I took the PSAT in the last two years. She spoke about how she would get worse results in the grammar section of the SAT because of questions like Sunset is to nightfall as ______ is to _______ and then the options were things like red is to stoplight or yawn is to boring. What would happen was that the example would throw out incredible images of a burst of colors in the darkening sky with a rising moon and stars and everything, while the answers threw around disconcerting and boring images that seemed to have nothing to do. I know I get the same feeling, because even after she said later in the paragraph that the answer was as chills is to fever I still did not understand it you know. So, nightfall comes after sunset, yes it's true, but why on Earth would having chills mean you got a fever??? I mean it! I probably would have not been able to answer this one if it had come up to me, and if I did it would probably take me like a minute or so to get out of the picture of the beautiful sunset from my old apartment in Caracas and the stars beginning to pop-up in the other side of the sky. 

We often look at language as a logic process that has to follow specific rules in order to communicate; especially in English, which is used in many technical and academic situations where you must make it well organized. It's not that I'm criticizing the way English is very logical just because it's annoying for me, because when the language follows a logical pattern it's easier to just pass on ideas without the person reading it misunderstanding and that shows in the academic achievements of the English-speaking world, I mean, when you you look at the top 10 universities in the world they are all going to be English-speaking. Trust me, I did the research in Spanish and French and got the same result. 

However, the issue here is that language is actually much more than that. Through language we can evoke ideas that stimulate the human mind and create powerful images in our heads. These images don't even have to be of colors, but they can be images of smell or sound created in our heads. Through words we have the power to evoke very strong feelings, and we often do so unconsciously, and I believe that all this makes language become more human and also makes emotions go around more (which adds to the humanness).

Now, the point I'm trying to make with all this, is that often we tend to discriminate people because their language does not follow the same grammatical structure as ours and in our minds, even if subconsciously, we tend to judge them as people who are less intelligent. However, the truth is that language is all about making connections to real life things. Language is a logical, imperfect medium, with which we try to express some extremely abstract concepts that are around us. Language will never be able to clearly express things such as how warm the sun is, or what tone of brown my desk is, or how does love really feel or anything at all, for that matter. It is the job of the receiver, the listener to interpret those words and make connections to real life. So in this sense, using a proper grammatical structure isn't at all a requisite for language to work. I could say "chicken sandwich cold" and you could probably still see the image of a sandwich in your head, and maybe even taste the unappetizing cold chicken with lettuce and tomato in your mouth. It wouldn't really make a difference if I said that "the chicken sandwich is cold" instead, because either way you got the images I wanted you to get in your head, which means that my communication was good enough. In day to day life,we don't really need grammar unless it is to elaborate on a certain thing that's too complex, such as a story or when you're trying to explain a Math problem to someone. English words pastiche and work still English! Because even if that sentence could mean something else, when you place it into context you won't confuse the meaning (unless you want to be annoying and use the other meaning)

Person speak like Tarzan not stupid. Person grammar bad no intelligence level define. It's a good thing to keep in mind :)

Introduction: Language and Life

Wow, this is actually the first time I've ever seen this screen... which is funny, because both my parents have blogs, so one might guess that I'm familiar with this "world of blogging" but I honestly don't read any blogs and I've never had any interest in all that stuff. But now school has forced me to write one... You know, I actually seriously doubt that I'll regret learning how to write a blog though. With the way the world is going this is likely to be a very useful skill sometime in the near future. And I know when I said I was "forced" to write a blog it might sound like this will be for me like some sort of tedious piece of homework, but I actually enjoy reflecting quite a lot (although not really writing it down :\ ) and it's so much less stressful to write in a casual language, so I doubt that the stuff I'll write will ever sound like essays. Although I'll forewarn you that my writings tend to be long... but I'll try my best to keep in concise! However, I will make a vow to not erase any ideas that I've already written down, so yes, there might be some stupid stuff that I should've erased, but I won't.

Anyways, let's get started with this thing. How? Welllllllllll... you'd probably want to know who I am?

   Name: Carlos Alejandro Páez González
   Age: 17
  ...........

Ok, I can't do this... I'm just gonna carry on in prose if you don't mind.

So, asides from what I've already said, I was born and raised in the South-American country known as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. I was born in the capital city (Caracas), which is quite infamous nowadays, by the way... When I was twelve I moved to Margarita Island, which is still Venezuela. Then shortly after turning 15 I moved here to the United Arab Emirates. One thing you should know about me is that I am a theater freak. Ever since I discovered theater when I was 13 I haven't been able to help but loving it, and I've even done a few plays with a local professional theater company called Resuscitation Theater. Asides from that obsession I guess you could say I like playing videogames (even though I don't really get to play much nowadays T^T ) and watching animé. I've also got a thing for Maths and Physics, but I doubt I'll talk too much about that on a Language blog.

I would talk about my dreams for the future as the guiding questions our teacher gave us say, but I just don't really feel like sharing that with the internet right now... maybe I'll do it later on, but for now let's just say I'm stuck between studying engineering and theatrical arts. I mean, it certainly is a difficult choice: do I follow my passion or should I just take the safe road? Well, regardless of the way my studies go I'm 100% sure of one thing: I want to be happy! Because what's the point of life if you aren't, right?

So now let's talk about what the blog is actually about... (dun, dun, dun) Language!!!

So I guess that Language and I go a long way back... I certainly have no idea when it was that we first met, but I'm about 99% sure that the first word I ever said was in Spanish. Ever since then me and Language have come a long way... heck, I'm writing a blog on it! So, asides from Spanish, English has also been in my life for as long as I can remember. The system in my first school was completely upside-down, so instead of teaching us how to speak Spanish they would teach us English and just let us learn Spanish at home. And I must say that it all worked. Although I wouldn't really be able to speak English as well if it wasn't for the magnificent power of the TV and videogames. And on that note, I'm also nearly fluent in French nowadays and I owe a lot of that to videogames as well, so now you know what to do next time you want to learn a language! Asides from that, I've learned some Arabic at school and because of my interactions with many Arabs throughout my life in this country I sometimes use Arabic expressions when I'm talking, but not that often though... I also know some Japanese, but (you guessed it!) that's all from watching animé, so it's not like I even understand it or anything, but it's fun to brag about it (regardless of how pathetic it might've sounded... ok, maybe it isn't that fun...)

So now, to start us off with this let's talk a bit about what language is anyways. In essence, language is any form of human communication. Simple right? well, it isn't, really. This would mean that language is practically every single action you carry out because they all communicate something, even if you have to think hard to figure it out. Like for example, the simple action of walking could be considered as language because you are communicating that you are trying to get to a different place to the one you were before. Not just that, but the pace at which you are walking can communicate other things as well, so it is actually more detailed than it seems. So in this sense, wouldn't everything created by humans be considered language? I mean, this latpop I'm typing on right now communicates the human desire for trying to create a portable object that would grant the same commodities of a computer, and it also communicates all the effort that was put into improving the original idea of a laptop, and it can also communicate certain facts about the cooperation between the companies Toshiba and Skull Candy, since the speakers on it are made by Skull Candy. But ok, I think this might be getting a bit out of hand. I can't really reach the intended conclusion for this post if we keep saying that stuff like the pillow under my head is language. (At least for now) Let's take a step back and say that language is a sort of logical system which allows us to communicate complex ideas in a practical way and, at least for now, let's say that language is a voluntary process in which the person communicating is completely aware of what he/she is saying. For now just forget all that nonsense I said about language before and let's just say that language is what we speak/write.

So, now that we've (sort of) defined language, let's talk a bit about what it's related to: culture. We can all definitely say that language has a crucial role in defining what the culture of certain populations is like (by the way, I'm just going to go with whatever definition of culture is in your heads right now and leave the other paragraph-long discussion about its definition for some other time). I mean, when you think about Chinese culture then something that might come to mind are those symbols which they write with which you probably don't understand if you don't speak Chinese. When you think about Russians, you probably picture them speaking Russian and this probably applies to any country you can think of. Language definitely is a crucial part of anyone's culture, to the point that you would think of it as soon as you start thinking about a specific culture, and I've discovered that, specially when you're out of your home country, humans are very often trying to cling to a specific identity; which would be their culture. So in this sense we can say that language isn't necessarily a thing we use only to communicate, but it is also a part of ourselves and of human nature itself. After all, humans are social animals, and that means (basically) that we interact in more complex ways than most animals between themselves, and whenever a society exists there will always be a culture linked to it; even if that culture is that of behaving like emotionless machines. So this means that culture is a natural part of any human society, and thus so is language. There's no escaping it until the day when we evolve into beings that don't need to communicate to survive and achieve our goals... which I doubt will happen as during any of our lifetimes.

Alright! I think that has been enough ranting for a night. That must have been enough to convince whoever's reading this that language is a very deep topic that can be really interesting to analyze. And I think it's getting too long anyways... so goodbye for now!

Oh, and I was asked to leave a picture that represented me. Well, this might be a bit specific to the stuff I'm into, but if you're interested in understanding this image then google "slowpoke" and "Sho Minamimoto" and after a bit of reading you might understand the meaning. Just bear in mind that I'm not as annoying as you might come to think from that little research...