Anthony White Blog #3

For this blog, I will discuss the the four dimensions of natural culture in the Cross-Culture Diversity article. These dimensions are individualism/ collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity/ femininity.

I would like to bring up the "Kitchen Nightmares" example shown in class. The example shows all four decisions very well. For individualism/ collectivism, the two owners showed a unique type of strong individualism between to two of them and the rest of their staff. There is also a case to be made that the two of them could be considered in a collective sense because it was only the two of them doing the work.

Uncertainty avoidance was the most interesting to figure out because there was almost a defined certainty. For example, if a member of the staff questioned or spoke up about an issue with the two owners, they were shut down immediately. I suppose one could say there was a "certain avoidance" between the owners and the staff. The more "experienced" staff knew their issues would be certainly avoided" be the owners. Thus, nothing would get resolved.

The power distance between the owners and the staff, too me, was the most obvious of the four dimensions. There was a feeling of a "war" that was imminent because the power distance was so great. It was not in any of the staff members' right to speak their mind if they had an issue.

As tradition says, masculinity/ femininity is essentially man/ woman traits. In this case, it seemed about a 50/50 balance between the owners. An argument could be made that the balance, sometimes, swings in the polar opposite direction to what tradition says. The female owner showed a more masculine side, where the male owner showed a more feminine side at times. Personally, these traits come down to personality, and who shows masculinity/ femininity through their personality.

blog 3

   Jabari Watson 

    This weeks reading opened up my eyes to a few cultural differences that divide our society. Racism and discrimination is still very apparent in our society but it is just hidden more by politeness, smiles, and manners. In one of the articles written by Patricia S. Parker she discuss the racial discrimination and settlements that have happened in the coca-cola industry. The coca-cola company paid their African American workers 26,000 less then their white counter parts. This is wrong on very many levels but this is not the extent of what was going on in the industry. The company then went on to create a hostile company that left many of their African American employees with stress related health issues such as depression. In this article Patricia also touched on the racial issues that went on at the Texaco company. Executives were calling their black employees “black jelly beans… glued at the bottom of the bag.” Statements like this in this article left me shocked and somewhat outraged at first. One I sat back decompressed and really thought about life and what my parents have always had to teach me and my siblings I wasn’t really that surprised by these actions. I first thought why the money was such a high pay out and I immediately thought hush money. The reason certain individuals are paid off so highly is because big time companies like these don’t want the masses knowing about their discriminative hateful side. When it comes to companies they don’t care about people they just want the public eye to see them in positive light. After reading this week’s articles and in particular this article I was left with quite a few different emotions. But the one question that came to mind and that is still on my mind is. Does not knowing enough about another culture make one fear and discriminate against that culture or is just pure hatred and ignorance that fuels this discrimination.

Ryan Davidson Post #3

The topic from class and the reading that I chose for this blog is Simulacra. The definition of Simulacra is an image or representation of something or an unsatisfactory imitation or substitute. In the realm of communications it is a representation or imitation of something inaccurate. In todays media climate there are many instances of President Trump claiming that the "Liberal media" meaning news sources Such as CNN and MSNBC are fake news. Say that they are not accurate representations of his administration. The inverse of that is also an example of Simulacra in that the way President Trump tweets is seen as an unsatisfactory representation of what the President should be like. In my life the most application Simulacra is how Fraternities are represented int he media. They only ever enter into the main stream media is when a singular chapter of a Fraternity does something wrong or  negative and demonize greek life as a whole. Even though there are thousands of chapters throughout the country that do not engage in the wrong doing. As well as positively contributing to the community. Such as my Fraternity raising over $50,000 towards cancer research while I have been in college

Jabari Watson blog post 2

   This week’s readings taught me quite a few new dynamics in families and in cultures. One of the concepts I would like to discuss is family bullies. For a large part of my life I thought family bullying is just what was normal. I had a older brother and sister so being picked was something I was accustomed to early on in life. Ever where I looked though the youngest always got picked on. From cousins arguing for name calling to friend’s older siblings making fun and teasing them.  In the section ‘Bully Cousin” a man named Tony talks about his experience with his older cousin Danny that use to wrestle him and call him a sissy. This shocked me not because of Tony getting bullied, but because of how similar this sounds to every kid in my family that grew up with someone older then them.

    In Tony’ s instance he had a small family that he would be with regularly His mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and cousin Danny. When it comes to my family and my up bringing everyone was always right by each other in age. Though I was ten years younger than my sister and five younger then my brother the cousins around me filled in the age gap. My sister was older then every one I was around by a large margin. When I was really young (about four) my cousin Shawn  (age 32), Ny’Keisha (age 31), and Nicole(age 34) were the ones that grew up with one another and they would always bully My brother Greg(age 25), cousin Courtland(age 24), and his sister Kynzie (age 22) . Shortly after that generation comes me (age 20), my cousin Ryan (age 19), his brother  Noah (age 17),  along with our cousin Dylan (age 18), and Dominique (age 19). All throughout my family I saw family bullying but never really associated it with bullying I just saw it as something families do.

    This makes me look at the concepts of family and family bullying and ask the question. Does family bullying occur more frequently  in large families then small families and does family bullying ruin or bring together a family. One thing that glues all the generations together is looking back on those stories of us all getting terrorized together. But sense Tony went through it all alone does that make it more scaring and traumatizing for a child.

Anthony White Blog #2

The concept that I would like to talk about from the readings was from the "Family Bullies" reading.
In the section titled "Sister Bully", Victoria describes her sister, Lily, as someone who she still wanted to connect with. I will tie this to the Connection vs Separation relationship concept as discussed in class. To me, it seems Victoria valued her relationship with Lily, even though Lily was very much so a bully to her.

This brings to mind the concept of "Family" into the discussion as well. In any other case of bullying (a nerdy kid and a jock for example) the one being bullied, more than likely, would want nothing to do with their bully at all. In the case of Victoria and Lily, the construction of them being "Family" possibly is the reason why Victoria still wants to connect with Lily. This makes the thought of "What does family truly mean to someone?" It could mean many things to many different people.

In this case, for Victoria, the meaning of family is very important. It's so important that she is willing to consistently interact with her sister, even after all the trouble she has caused the family. There is a level of forgiveness in families that may be natural or it could be a part of the construct that's etched in our minds. It's like saying "They are my family and I need to forgive them". This also doesn't only apply to bulling, but also family member dealing with personal issues (drugs, alcohol, etc). There is this immediate act to forgive family because, well, they are family, and that's what families do, right?

Ryan Davidson Blog post #2

The concept from class and the readings that stood out to me the most is the concept of Co-Construction. This concept stood out becuase it seemed like it was the most prevalent in everyday life. Co-Construction in terms of communication means that we use and create media as media creates and uses us. We as individuals consume and create media through watching the news and using social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr etc... At the same time the media we are getting involved with shapes us and uses us. For example people who use social media tailor they're posts to show certain aspects of lifestyles that is shaped by what people think is cool or what they want people to see. Or how when you like or search certain things then facebook tailors adds to show you things you may like.  Another example is how different news stations have their own stories on the same new subject so depending on what station you watch it will give you story or facts you believe in. An example from my life of Co-Construction is when I was in a Fraternity. There are twitter and instagram accounts called Total Frat Move and Old Row that post pictures and videos of greek life things such as parties, events, and regular day things that people in greek life would like. Eventually things changed from watching other people on the those accounts to my friends and I being featured on those accounts multiple times. This is the exact definition of Co-construction. Another example of this is music. A lot of times in music artists inspire other artists with is the consumption and then creation of media.

Anthony White Blog #1

Anthony White 

Blog Post #1

Dr. Christina Ivey

Communication and Culture 

The statement used repeatedly by Made Hicks, “Being a female solider…” was ingrained in my mind the most from her piece. She gives very specific and detailed examples of the female solider experience. This, for me, is especially different to what I expected from the military. One sentence within these confines where Hicks says “Being a female solider is being called a cunt in basic training and a dumb slut when you are promoted to noncommissioned officer.” 

The reason why this is so striking to me is because of the derogatory language toward a Hicks. Personally, I have the upmost respect for women because of how I was raised. Honestly, this shouldn’t be tolerated, even in a military setting. Our military should be a good example for future women to join because they, along with men, are always needed. Of course, we already know that the military is known for being “tough”, but their tactics for training women could be better.

This goes beyond the military setting as well. As discussed in class, the derogatory language and sexualization of women in music videos needs to change. It’s upsetting to see this as the “Norm” for most of our culture, but in reality, it’s truly a devastating thought. There isn’t enough force to challenge the music industry to change. Many of the youth today are so naive when it comes to these situations, and it helps makes them not respectful towards women.       

blog post #1

Jabari Watson 

Comm 160 

June 7, 2018 

“Difference must be not merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic.” This, to me, was the most important line in the reading. It most effectively delivers the author’s message of using what makes women, and people in general, different to our advantage, not letting it keep us from advancing. The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, written by a black, lesbian feminist, offers an outsider’s perspective on a conference at New York University’s Institute for the Humanities. Even though she was invited to speak on a panel, it happened to be ‘the only panel… where the input of Black feminists and lesbians is represented’. In addition, she points out that the only two black women at the conference had literally been found within the hour. The author goes on to call on white feminists to learn on becoming what is known as intersectional feminists, while they’ve learned so much in the past few years they should be learning how to incorporate black women, gay women, transsexual women, all women into all of the change they hope for, because change can’t be made for women without all women behind the movement. The ‘evasion of responsibility’ that’s present while confronting issues of inequality is what is responsible for the lack of representation of minority women in academia, art, and more. The differences, that make groups minorities, need to be considered as the strengths that are looked at now as weaknesses.

Along with the title, the author says, “They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enamel us to bring about genuine change.” This is what I overall

 “They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.” This is what I learned from the article, was that those in power will  not promote change that they can’t stand behind or don’t understand. Differences must be seen, respected, and encouraged, to bring about the change that women, minorities, and people in general need to see.

Ryan Davidson: Blog post #1

The concept from the textbook, outside readings, and class that I chose is the concept of polysemy or polysemous words. Polysemous means that a word has different meanings. An example of this is the term sweep. It can mean to literally sweep or when a sports team wins a series without losing a game. Or the word farming can mean to literally be cultivating fields or mass producing something. This concept ties into the signification process becuase polysemous words can be the denotation and the connotation can be the same or they can be different. Such as dust can mean literal dust particles or the act of dusting things. So it could be misunderstood when talking. Throughout the readings and concepts from class I had a hard time finding something that stood out to me until this concept because throughout the past few years in college my group of friends and I have created a sort of slang within in english. Making words in the english language polysemous to us. This can applied to all types of slangs within different languages and cultures. An example of this is slight difference between Mandarin as the official language of China but many people speak Cantonese in the southern parts of China or the differences between Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Mexico. Many of the words are the same but used differently.