October Blog Post

The Key of Advocacy

Personally, I believe one of the most key concepts learned and dissected this month was the idea of advocacy. Advocacy serves as a means of recognition and acknowledgment for a specific cause. However, the avenues of advocacy spread deep. The waves of advocacy is represented through: reflexivity, the acknowledgment of the roles played; dialogue, respecting what a person has to say; critical literacy, digesting what is beyond an image, tale, gesture, etc.; listening, central line of communication; speaking up, standing up for a cause and saying something; alliance building, baning with others to stand behind a cause (“Chapter 12”). Though there are distinct avenues, the waves of advocacy tend to work together.

I have recently learned about how crucial advocacy can be to a culture as a whole. This semester has been my first opportunity to take an American Sign Language, ASL, course. Throughout this course, ASL history serves as a primary section of the curriculum. Embedded in the ASL history, is a long line of oppression and mistreatment. It was not until recently that the deaf culture was able to have their needs heard and accounted for. It was through a main combination of advocacy through dialogue, advocacy through listening, and advocacy through speaking up, that the oppression was recognized. Through this dynamic trio and the assistance of many other things and people, the mistreatment of deaf people has begun being brought to light.

The concept of advocacy is key to many things, for many reasons. Advocacy allows for people and things to be heard and stood up for. The avenues of advocacy are important to know of by all, so when the time is comes, everyone will have the tools to advocate.

Works Cited

“Chapter 12: Communication as a Means of Social Action.” Communication: A Critical/Cultural fgffIntroduction, by John T. Warren and Deanna L. Fassett, Second ed., Sage, 2015, pp. 245–249.

October Blog Post

For my October blog post, I have decided to write about Bateson’s Frame. This frame is in short, the context of a relationship, it sets the norms for the relationship. This concept was particularly interesting to me due to the fact that I have never thought of a set of norms to be associated with a relationship. I have always known that society is made up of norms that we follow everyday, but I never went deep enough to recognize norms within relationships.

An example of exercising Bateson’s Frame would be seen as a “playful thing” resulting in a good or familiar response and now that is a norm of the relationship. But if the “playful thing” resulted in a negative response, then it would not be a norm of the relationship and would not be something that was sort of expected throughout the relationship.

This can be applied to any relationship and situation pretty much ever, but one specific example that comes to mind is one seen in one of the Keeping Up With the Kardashians episodes. In this specific episode the family was not only on a family vacation but they were meeting Kim’s new boyfriend Chris for the first time. Of course on any family vacation one family member is going to get annoyed with another family member and things will turn into an argument. Well, when Kim and her brother Rob got into a little fight, they started calling each other names such as whore, slut, dick, etc. and basically throwing things in eachothers faces that would be completely not okay for any fight but a sibling fight. Siblings always fight differently than any other relationship dynamic, but I feel as if name calling is not as genuine and meaningful in a sibling fight. When Chris saw they way that Rob was talking to Kim, Chris went off on Rob and entered into this rage.

There are two different types of relational norms shown here, the one between Kim and Rob, and the one between Rob and Chris. When Rob and Kim fight, it is expected that name calling with these specific names will be shot out and not be taken literal, this is a norm of the relationship. However, when Chris went off on Rob and then Rob got mad at Chris, this was not a norm of their specific relationship. This was not in the window of things that are okay for their specific relationship.

October Blog Post

For my October blog post I wanted to talk about advocacy. This semester in particular my definition of what an advocate is and what they do has changed. I have always considered an advocate as someone who stands up for a group of people when they are being talked about in a negative manner. While this is a type of advocacy, it is not the entirety of the definition and all that goes into what being an advocate means. Now I have learned that there are lot of different types of advocacy and they all have different ways of showing it. The dictionary definition of advocacy is "public support of or recommendation of a particular cause or policy", while this may be the literal definition there are lots of different ways to show support and be an advocate. 
One of those ways is through reflexivity, this is done through checking your privilege and how it affects your everyday life. Checking ones privilege is an important part, this shows that even though you don't know firsthand the struggles that people go through but you are trying to learn by setting your own privilege aside. A second ways is through dialogue and conversing with people that have been through what you are advocating for. Talking about the cause and why someone might be a part of it is a great way to be an educated advocate. A third way is through critical inquiry and literacy which is when people that are part of a group teach information about themselves and what they are about. Having something be taught to you is a good way to start building an understanding between two different groups. A fourth way is through listening, any form of listening is advocacy and can be one of the strongest. Feeling heard and understood is important to groups that are struggling and can be a turning point for a lot of movements. A fifth way is through speaking up which is my original thought of what being an advocate is, you have to say something if something isn't right. The last way is through alliance building and working with a wide variety of groups, this is an important part of advocacy because it strengthens the cause by adding more people to it. 
All of this makes me think of all the advocacy going on in our legislature and government. There are so many groups that are fighting to have equal rights and they need people to be advocates for them. I thought I was until recently - and now I am reshaping what it means for myself to be an advocate for those who can't. Reshaping it makes me think of empathy and how it can get confused with advocacy and I found a great article explaining the difference between the two and why choosing to be an advocate is important. 

https://alistapart.com/article/from-empathy-to-advocacy

October blog

            For my October blog, I found the topic of Public Pedagogy very interesting. In the documentary we watched in class, Mickey Mouse Monopoly, critiqued how Disney movies are commercializing children culture. Some of the topics they covered were gender representation and representations of the “other”. The Walt Disney Company is a powerful force and creating a childhood culture. It is a national empire. Disney owns many TV and radio stations, music studios, internet sites, media production companies, sports teams, theme parks, etc. Disney controls the images and messages, limited worldview, and dominated by corporate interests. The influence Disney has on the popular culture is huge. The critics in the documentary see Disney as dangerous kind of education. However, in our eyes, we see Disney as a source of entertainment, gives us memories of our childhood, and is an important part of American culture in our identity. Children are raised by Disney in many generations. Dr. Henry Giroux, suggests Disney is playing a role in public pedagogy, and has made a spectacle of innocence. Disney has monopolized how it represents itself, by policing its images and representations. Dr. Giroux also stated how publishers are afraid of using Disney images because they don’t want to be sued. 

            The documentary went into how gender is represented in Disney films. The female in Disney films typically needs to be rescued by a male, gets into trouble easily, lack the ability to save themselves, and can be strong or powerful. Examples of this are Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is represented as showing his behavior as abusive. He screams at her, locks her in a room, throws her father out, and rips her family away from her. Belle responds by socializing him and excuses his behavior as if he did not know any better. She reinterprets his personality as tender and vulnerable and falls in love with him. Critics say this is giving a dangerous message to children on to “overlook the abuse and violence”. This really blew my mind because I did not even recognize this until after seeing this documentary but now I can totally see and understand how that is depicted in the film. What the Disney films are showing in gender, specifically about females, is that females bodies are highly sexualized. According to Dr. Gail Dines, one of the critics, she stated that the way females are portrayed in these films construct a notion of what femininity is. For example, in the Snow white, it is showing a somewhat ridiculous feminine sensibility about how she is enjoying cooking and cleaning. Another example is in the Little Mermaid, where Ariel is a more powerful female but gives up her voice to get the prince and all she has left for him or to get him is her body. In Aladdin, it sends the message to young girls that you can use your body to manipulate people, specifically men, to get what you want. 

            The documentary showed a couple young children saying they haven’t seen any black people or characters in a Disney film. The film Tarzan shows a racist message. The film takes place in Africa, but there are no black characters. The only thing children in Africa could relate to would be the gorillas, and they only see the white man. Some critics argues this is sending a message of white superiority to black people. Another example was the hyenas in the Lion King. The hyenas are the “bad guys” in the film, and voiced from black people. This gave the message to kids that blacks are hyenas, which could lead them to think black people are bad. 

            Being able to understand how it some people can see Disney as influencing children in a negative way is important because there are some negative messages portrayed in these films, however, I do think some of these points are going in too deep and not many people will really see those messages. Although this documentary is somewhat dated, I do think Disney has gotten better at how they portray gender and stereotypes in their films. For example, the movie Frozen show 2 strong women who save themselves without the need with a male or relying entirely on a male. Also, the movie Princess and the Frog, is the first Disney movie to have an African American princess, which is a great thing and should be happening more often. Being aware of some of the messages that can have negative aspects in Disney films is good, but at the same time it is also up to the parents to ensure they teach their kids the right message and not rely on a movie to do that for them.

October Blog

For my October blog post I wanted to talk about interpersonal relationships in culture. I am currently taking a Career and Life Planning class, and it is helping me understand what I would like to do as a career in the future and what I would not enjoy doing. As each week goes by in this class, I am realizing that I want to be social in whatever job I choose to take on. Whether I work in sales, public relations, or anything else along these lines, being able to form interpersonal relationships is going to be a huge part of my career. Not only is good communication important in a career though, is it important in everyday life to form and maintain relationships.

The idea of listening in chapter 10 caught my attention the most. The book points out that “Public communication, like any other form of communication, cannot work if it entails speaking at someone; instead, it involves engaging audience members as people who are knowledgeable and competent, as relational partners of a sort. This section reminded me of an episode of the BIg Band Theory. In this episode, Leonard is trying to have a conversation with Sheldon about a problem he is having in his life hoping to get advice. Meanwhile, Sheldon is too busy thinking about Stephen Hawking that he won’t pay any attention to what Leonard is saying. This became extremely frustrating for Leonard because he needs advice, and he tried to get his friend’s attention many times unsuccessfully. Instead of causing more frustration and confusion on his friend, if Sheldon had just been a good listener and helped him with his problems they could have become closer friends. Leonard also would’ve felt more inclined to confide in Sheldon in the future.

October Blog

What has abruptly come to my attention this month was the transgender topic. Whether you support these individuals or not, it is extremely foolish to not recognize how brave each individual is who is transgender or going through the process currently. I understand that there are many people who are alive today that would never accept a transgender person in their lives. When I mean accept, I mean actually give them a chance to just talk with you like a normal person. Human Rights and everything of that nature is eventually going to gain more and more attention because transgender people do want equality as well just like any other people in America.

My personal experience is that I never even knew that transgender people existed until I was almost in high school! I think that it is a very touchy subject for some individuals because when most of us grow up our parents don't teach us about transgender peoples and gender-neutral language etc... This makes sense why certain individuals don't enjoy talking, yet alone, debating this topic because for some of us we don’t know how to feel about the situation. With that being said some of us accept it entirely and have no problem with it whatsoever. Everyone has different opinions to an extent, and I think that for certain people it’s too hard to accept this into their own lives because of their core values they’ve had their entire lives. It’s easier to not support something you feel weird about than forcing someone to believe what they believe. That can go for anyone and everyone and that’s what makes it so hard and even impossible for some. At the end of the day if you want to change your beliefs badly enough to be a better person, you have to want it badly enough. Before you want to change anything about yourself that you don’t like, you have to try and address what you need to change and why you want to change what you currently believe.

I’ve watched some videos from the far left and far right and their views on the transgender subject. I noticed that from the far right many politicians decided to avoid and/or direct the question elsewhere because most of the time the subject was informal. That’s the first problem with politics as a whole is that there aren’t many politicians out there that are entirely truthful on a consistent basis. If we want to focus on things and get somewhere with them faster we need to first understand that if we truthfully tell views the most popular view will win. At the same time, the majority of people aren’t completely aware of their views regarding transgender peoples and even avoid it to be sure that confrontation doesn’t occur.

This passed month has really made me think about gender equality and how important it is in a world like today. The subject needs to be addressed on a more consistent basis in order to form a more functional society. At the end of the day the fact is that everyone’s views have the capability of being noticed and right now we need to focus on gender equality associated with transgender peoples because it effects more people’s lives than most of us know.

October Blog Post

For my October blog post I am going to be talking about the models for persuasion. The three models of persuasion are pathos, logos, and ethos. Pathos is an appeal to emotions and a tool used to evoke emotion in people. One example of pathos would be saying “donate to this charity, it is for the puppies” because you know that the person you are talking to likes puppies. The second model of persuasion is logos. Logos is an appeal to logic and is all about if you trust who is speaking and what they are saying. One example of logos would be using facts and evidence to support yourself and show that you are a credible source and deserve to be listened to. The third and final model of persuasion is ethos. Ethos is based off of ethics and credibility. One example of ethos would be to say “dentists like this toothpaste the best and recommend it” because when people see your ad and see that the credible source of the “dentist” likes your product that is for teeth, it will appeal to them and draw their interest towards your product because they believe it is the best.

Each of these models of persuasion is effective in its own way and should be used at different times according to the situation at hand. It is important to know your audience and know their interests so that you can relate to them more and appeal to them and make them want to listen to you. For example, if you know that someone relies on their emotions and is a romantic, then it is probably best to go with pathos and appeal to their emotions and make them want to listen to you through emotion. On the other hand, if someone does not care about emotional appeal and only wants credible information with facts to support it, then logos would be the best one to use because you would have supporting information to go along with your statements. The main thing is to just know your audience and know what they are interested in and not interested in so that you can relate and appeal to them more and make them want to listen to you.

I felt that the three models of persuasion was important to talk about because they are very effective forms of communication that help us to get people to listen to what we are saying. Also, it helps us to practice getting to know our audience because in order for these models to be effective, we must pick the correct one to use based off of the audience we are speaking to.     

October Blog

Something that stood out to me this month is transgender culture.  Watching the clips from “I am Jazz” opened my eyes up to many things.  It is amazing that a young girl can be so confident in themselves after going through all that she did.  At an extremely young age, Jazz and her parents noticed that she was not supposed to be born a boy.  She had many feminine traits, and truly “felt” like a girl.  Completing the transgender procedures at that young of an age can definitely be risky and frightening, but her parents knew she was meant to be a girl.  Many people believe that transgender people are “fake” and that individuals only do it for attention.  Jazz’s story proves otherwise because she knew at a young age that she was not born the way she was supposed to be.  Clearly, this young girl was not seeking attention.  Many people who are also transgender are able to look up to Jazz because of how much pride she takes in her life.  She seemed extremely happy, which is rare for most children going through their identity phases.  The questions that the interviewers asked her were a bit strange, but she answered them comfortably.  For example, she was asked about sexual orientation and how difficult it is for her to talk to boys.  It was interesting when Jazz was texting a boy, and her mom made her tell the boy that she was transgender.  I believe that her parents are doing the right thing by having her explain her life to people because it promotes awareness.  Although it is sad that most boys would be uninterested in a girl like her, it is important to let them know instead of hiding it and being embarrassed by it.  Another part of the clip I thought was interesting was the discussion of transgender children and mermaids.  I had never thought of it this way, but I can understand why kids like Jazz like the idea of being a mermaid.  Mermaids have long, beautiful tails, and dressing up like one is a way for transgender kids to feel “normal” and forget that they are different from the typical child.  Because the talk of transgender individuals is a touchy, awkward subject, I believe more people need to be as open and confident as Jazz.  The only way to make others become aware and educated on transgender individuals is to normalize the topic and promote it in a positive light.  Unfortunately, not everyone is going to accept those in the transgender community.  Many people experience depression and other mental illnesses due to the fact that they are unable to express who they truly are.  Hopefully, one day, the transgender culture will be fully accepted and feel confident no matter what gender they are or are supposed to be.  Jazz is making a difference, and I hope others will, too.  I am fascinated by the concept, and I hope to learn even more about it.