Monday, November 14, 2016
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Default Attitudinal Responses
Although I've always been a compassionate and understanding being, my reactions are not by default reflective of those traits. The only reason they are for the most part now is because I have critically analyzed myself and what I value, and as long as I understand a topic or situation, I know how to react in a way that stays true to who I have become as a person (for the most part).
I honestly think it wasn't until my first year of college that I realized that I was inherently sexist and although it was unfathomable to me that I could be, I was even somewhat racist.
I'm white. I grew up in St. George. I grew up with racist and sexist family members.
The sexism stemmed from the traditional gender roles within my family. The ironic thing about this is that all of the women in my family have been strong feminist role models within my life, yet they don't consider themselves feminists and unlike me have not recognized their inherited sexism towards women.
Once I started to recognize this default response I did a lot of crying, self analyzing, apologizing and forgiving. What was frustrating about this is that I immediately gained a default response of anger towards men about the injustices, especially when it came to the men in my life who I loved but were this way. So I had to work through a lot with all of that, and I am still doing so, and I think I will continue to be doing so for the rest of my life.
My father raised me to not be racist, but the rest of my family were and still are racist. I do recognize that I have a bias towards whites, because I understand them, and it's easy to navigate interactions with them. When I recognized this attitude within myself I had to make a lot of behavior changes, and condition myself to respond to people and situations that overcome that attitudinal response within myself. For the most part this has become second nature to me, but i'll always be working on it.
These are not the only default attitudinal responses I have, but they are the hardest ones I had to evolve from, and certainly ones I still have to be very present-minded about today in order to be true to myself and what I stand for.
Friday, November 4, 2016
OTM #3: The System Is Rigged
For my final On The Media post, I listened to the episode The System Is Rigged. I chose this episode because although it's not a surprise to me that Trump's allegations are incorrect, it was a surprise to me to learn how the election is actually rigged. And that's the specific segment that I'm going to discuss in my post.
In this segment Bob Garfield brings on David Daley author of, "Ratfucked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy" to talk about gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering isn't a new concept, what's new about it is today's technology and the data it provides. Daley explains how this makes the drawing of the lines even more arbitrary. One district in Pennsylvania actually looks like Goofy kicking Donald Duck in his rear end (I don't see it), Daley says about this, "And they are really funny, however, these district lines are the building blocks of democracy, and when they get as perverted and twisted as this it leads to deeply undemocratic outcomes."
His point is that these lines are supposed to mirror popular opinion and public will, but they don't, and it's beyond control of the voters.
I read an article from the Washington Post about this (here), which provides visuals that help explain how this is done. But I also found it interesting because their suggested solution was to have an independent company draw the lines rather than the parties, which I think would just get bought out by the parties anyway. Or to have a computer draw the lines. This made me think back to a previous episode of on the media discussing how algorithims are essentially still programmed by humans, therefore the bias would still remain.
I think these solutions are all better than what is currently happening, however I still think we can do better. Very few of my peers voted or were even excited that they could vote. This should not be the case. Too many feel that their vote doesn't matter, and this is due to both voter myths as well as popular vote not holding the weight that it should in our democracy. I know it's not just me that finds it offensive that we need an electoral college to represent us common (aka dumb) folk. We've just got to find a way to balance the smaller and larger states as well as better represent our populations opinions. People deserve to have their voices heard, to be able to celebrate for contributing to their government, and to actually be represented by their government.
In this segment Bob Garfield brings on David Daley author of, "Ratfucked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy" to talk about gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering isn't a new concept, what's new about it is today's technology and the data it provides. Daley explains how this makes the drawing of the lines even more arbitrary. One district in Pennsylvania actually looks like Goofy kicking Donald Duck in his rear end (I don't see it), Daley says about this, "And they are really funny, however, these district lines are the building blocks of democracy, and when they get as perverted and twisted as this it leads to deeply undemocratic outcomes."
His point is that these lines are supposed to mirror popular opinion and public will, but they don't, and it's beyond control of the voters.
I read an article from the Washington Post about this (here), which provides visuals that help explain how this is done. But I also found it interesting because their suggested solution was to have an independent company draw the lines rather than the parties, which I think would just get bought out by the parties anyway. Or to have a computer draw the lines. This made me think back to a previous episode of on the media discussing how algorithims are essentially still programmed by humans, therefore the bias would still remain.
I think these solutions are all better than what is currently happening, however I still think we can do better. Very few of my peers voted or were even excited that they could vote. This should not be the case. Too many feel that their vote doesn't matter, and this is due to both voter myths as well as popular vote not holding the weight that it should in our democracy. I know it's not just me that finds it offensive that we need an electoral college to represent us common (aka dumb) folk. We've just got to find a way to balance the smaller and larger states as well as better represent our populations opinions. People deserve to have their voices heard, to be able to celebrate for contributing to their government, and to actually be represented by their government.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Well Informed 2.0: Syria & Immigration
This topic is nightmarish for so many reasons.
I think there is so much more that should and could be done for the refugees. This is me speaking as an under-experienced and over-privileged millenial, but I just can't understand why power, nationality, race, or religion holds a higher importance over aiding these displaced human lives.
Social media has been a very powerful tool in the Syrian war. Alaa Basatneh, the #ChicagoGirl, used social media to coordinate and run the revolution in Syria from her bedroom in Chicago. UNICEF started the campaign #ChildrenOfSyria to help raise aid, funding, and awareness for the refugee crisis.
This crisis has been going on for 5 years. Some children have only known this war in their lives. If this was happening to any of us, I think we would expect far more help than what the refugees are receiving from us.
I am afraid of terrorism touching down in the U.S. just as much as anyone else, but it's that exact fear that makes it even more important in my mind to save those who are the actual and first victims of it.
Monday, October 10, 2016
Well Informed 2.0: Radicalization & Religion
Interestingly enough, I came across a post on Facebook the other day where two previously devout Mormons came out to explain why they had left the Mormon religion. They explained that they had left the church almost 2 years prior, but had kept quiet about it to most in order to maintain healthy relationships and respect the beliefs of others. Their reason for coming out now was to offer their perspective on why they left, and why it's important to accept the decision of anyone else who does.
Here is a link to their blogpost titled Why We Left the LDS Church. They truly did their research, and offered an excellent, mostly-objective explanation.
I bring this post up because it started a public discussion about the Mormon religion in a way I've never seen before. These discussions are usually believers and non-believers pitted directly against one another. Although this was brought on by a now non-believer, they presented to both sides. Reading through the comments I saw that the post gave the minority opinion a much needed voice. I also saw many active members offer their respects. And it wouldn't be a social media post if it didn't have the unnecessary comments from the people whose heads the post went over. Regardless, it was a step in the right direction.
As we discussed this in class today, I kept thinking about ethics. There are so many different types of ethics, yet not one is held true over another. In fact, one could and arguably should use different ethics in different situations. At the base of ethics are morals. Everyone's morals are personal and you cannot impose your own upon another.
So I wonder how is this any different from different religions and one's own faith? It's really not. No one religion is going to work for every person just as no one system of ethics works for every situation. I think that's a rational conclusion to make no matter what your own convictions may be.
Here is a link to their blogpost titled Why We Left the LDS Church. They truly did their research, and offered an excellent, mostly-objective explanation.
I bring this post up because it started a public discussion about the Mormon religion in a way I've never seen before. These discussions are usually believers and non-believers pitted directly against one another. Although this was brought on by a now non-believer, they presented to both sides. Reading through the comments I saw that the post gave the minority opinion a much needed voice. I also saw many active members offer their respects. And it wouldn't be a social media post if it didn't have the unnecessary comments from the people whose heads the post went over. Regardless, it was a step in the right direction.
As we discussed this in class today, I kept thinking about ethics. There are so many different types of ethics, yet not one is held true over another. In fact, one could and arguably should use different ethics in different situations. At the base of ethics are morals. Everyone's morals are personal and you cannot impose your own upon another.
So I wonder how is this any different from different religions and one's own faith? It's really not. No one religion is going to work for every person just as no one system of ethics works for every situation. I think that's a rational conclusion to make no matter what your own convictions may be.
Monday, September 19, 2016
OTM #2: Damned If You Do
So I wanted to point out a very important segment from the latest episode Damned If You Do: How To Write About Native Americans. This was a discussion between the host Bob Garfield and journalist Aura Bogado.
In this segment they're talking about how in the coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline, it is critical for journalists to make sure the important part of the story isn't overlooked. Bogado points out right as the segment begins that Amy Goodman's story, which brought on the national attention, missed the mark with its focus. As we're provided with the opportunity to hear the stories of the Native American's whose futures are at stake, we must take it.
Although there has been a lot of amazing coverage of the people involved, Bogado worried that it was too juxtaposed with the past, and would lead to people feeling that we don't have to deal with it today. She said: "It makes it easier to say things like, 'well they've always been so screwed over' and 'it's just happening again' as if its fate. And I don't think that that's reflective of what's actually happening".
I know for myself that I get that feeling with almost all current issues. It's important to remember, however, that we still hold the power in this country and the only thing holding us back from it... is ourselves. The common belief that "what I do doesn't matter", when it absolutely does. If we just change how we tell these stories, just as Bogado suggests, we could potentially save these tribal nations' future from further assimilation and annihilation. And if we could do that, couldn't we take that farther and save our own earth from the same fate?
In this segment they're talking about how in the coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline, it is critical for journalists to make sure the important part of the story isn't overlooked. Bogado points out right as the segment begins that Amy Goodman's story, which brought on the national attention, missed the mark with its focus. As we're provided with the opportunity to hear the stories of the Native American's whose futures are at stake, we must take it.
Although there has been a lot of amazing coverage of the people involved, Bogado worried that it was too juxtaposed with the past, and would lead to people feeling that we don't have to deal with it today. She said: "It makes it easier to say things like, 'well they've always been so screwed over' and 'it's just happening again' as if its fate. And I don't think that that's reflective of what's actually happening".
I know for myself that I get that feeling with almost all current issues. It's important to remember, however, that we still hold the power in this country and the only thing holding us back from it... is ourselves. The common belief that "what I do doesn't matter", when it absolutely does. If we just change how we tell these stories, just as Bogado suggests, we could potentially save these tribal nations' future from further assimilation and annihilation. And if we could do that, couldn't we take that farther and save our own earth from the same fate?
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Well Informed 2.0: Racism and Law Enforcement
Across different social media platforms we saw the hashtag #blacklivesmatter arise. Soon after came two more hashtags that meant to discredit the first hashtag and create a divide against it. Those hashtags were #alllivesmatter and #bluelivesmatter. The irony of this is that the first hashtag means that black lives matter just the same as all other lives. So these redundant hashtags were pretty much arguing against what they were arguing. It just didn't make sense. What also didn't make sense was the blue lives. Because a profession is not comparable to a race in any way. But these hashtags all have a lot of backing and following despite all of this. It's been incredible to watch yet again our nation split apart instead of coming together over the tragedies that spurred these hashtags in the first place.
Social media has been such a powerful medium in spreading awareness about systematic racism in law enforcement across the country. But for some reason social media has not been successful at all for hosting civil public discourse. There are huge divides for every issue, and it seems unacceptable to be involved and not align yourself with a specific hashtag. And again, remember that they all mean the same thing. I know that the opposing parties believe the same thing too. They just seem to be the people who don't or can't believe that racism and segregation still exists in America, or the people who fear for their friends and families in the police force.
The big question is how do we bring all of these parties together as they should be? I struggle over this question for every major issue, myself. How do we get humans to love and support other humans? It seems so absurd these days, to remember that we are all the same no matter how different we are.
A student mentioned getting cops involved in the community outside of their law enforcement duties, I think that would be incredibly successful in eliminating the us against them mentality from both sides. I also know that cops are trained to kill in the U.S., and maybe if we changed their training they would have other resources at hand in the moment rather than pulling a trigger. What's also missing throughout a lot of these occurrences are ethics and accountability on both sides.
What we can do as a public, would be to make sure the information we view on social media platforms is credible, not react in the heat of the moment, and do more to help the problem rather than only spreading the fire with our fingertips.
Social media has been such a powerful medium in spreading awareness about systematic racism in law enforcement across the country. But for some reason social media has not been successful at all for hosting civil public discourse. There are huge divides for every issue, and it seems unacceptable to be involved and not align yourself with a specific hashtag. And again, remember that they all mean the same thing. I know that the opposing parties believe the same thing too. They just seem to be the people who don't or can't believe that racism and segregation still exists in America, or the people who fear for their friends and families in the police force.
The big question is how do we bring all of these parties together as they should be? I struggle over this question for every major issue, myself. How do we get humans to love and support other humans? It seems so absurd these days, to remember that we are all the same no matter how different we are.
A student mentioned getting cops involved in the community outside of their law enforcement duties, I think that would be incredibly successful in eliminating the us against them mentality from both sides. I also know that cops are trained to kill in the U.S., and maybe if we changed their training they would have other resources at hand in the moment rather than pulling a trigger. What's also missing throughout a lot of these occurrences are ethics and accountability on both sides.
What we can do as a public, would be to make sure the information we view on social media platforms is credible, not react in the heat of the moment, and do more to help the problem rather than only spreading the fire with our fingertips.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
OTM #1: Never Again, Again
For this first assignment I went back and listened to an episode from June that discussed the aftermath of the Orlando shootings. More specifically this segment discussed the politics that arose from this event.
"Soon after the news from Orlando broke, the massacre was almost entirely about politics," stated Bob Garfield. "A vehicle for numerous agendas, with the media acting as a prism refracting the event into competing narratives vying for attention." This is important because this has become almost a routine following these types of tragedies in the U.S. Although I did see multiple media outlets shift their entire focus to the victims, the major discussion did circle around the politics involved: gun control, LGBT rights, and terrorism.
I draw attention to this specifically because I find this "routine" to be ironic. The Orlando Shooting was a hate crime. And can't we source hate crimes back to the exact kinds of politics that immediately gain voice in the wake of these events? This heated discussion of politics in the wake of fear and tragedy successfully pits a lot of people against each other. Although the politics are about finding solutions, I think as a nation we have been going about it all wrong.
We can talk about gun control and terrorism (which leads to racism) until we are blue in the face, and we have, but has anything changed? No. In fact these type of events seem to be getting worse and becoming more frequent. We need to change the nature of our discussion, just as some media outlets did when they focused on the victims. It's all too easy for people to ignore the most important issues which is the human loss, and the hate that was responsible for it, and instead align themselves on a side of the resulting arguments.
"Soon after the news from Orlando broke, the massacre was almost entirely about politics," stated Bob Garfield. "A vehicle for numerous agendas, with the media acting as a prism refracting the event into competing narratives vying for attention." This is important because this has become almost a routine following these types of tragedies in the U.S. Although I did see multiple media outlets shift their entire focus to the victims, the major discussion did circle around the politics involved: gun control, LGBT rights, and terrorism.
I draw attention to this specifically because I find this "routine" to be ironic. The Orlando Shooting was a hate crime. And can't we source hate crimes back to the exact kinds of politics that immediately gain voice in the wake of these events? This heated discussion of politics in the wake of fear and tragedy successfully pits a lot of people against each other. Although the politics are about finding solutions, I think as a nation we have been going about it all wrong.
We can talk about gun control and terrorism (which leads to racism) until we are blue in the face, and we have, but has anything changed? No. In fact these type of events seem to be getting worse and becoming more frequent. We need to change the nature of our discussion, just as some media outlets did when they focused on the victims. It's all too easy for people to ignore the most important issues which is the human loss, and the hate that was responsible for it, and instead align themselves on a side of the resulting arguments.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Social Media Campaign
Mission
I work up at the Green Valley Spa & Resort. Our department, the Clubhouse, is where our guests and members can come to check in to use all of our facilities. We have four pools: an indoor lap pool, a dive pool, a kid pool, and an outdoor lap pool. We also have two hot tubs by the indoor pool. Our pools are by far our main attraction, especially in the hot summer, but we also have a variety of different amenities that makes our business so appealing to our guests. We have mini golf, giant chess, shuffleboard, pickleball, raquetball (indoor), basketball, tennis (indoor/outdoor), ping pong, volleyball, and a weightroom.
Our department already has facebook page, but it's hasn't been active in a while. My mission is to take it over, and help attract more members to help us through our slowest season- the winter.
Personas
1. Mark (34) Sarah (32) Ally (16) Austin (9) Ayden (4): This is a young family that lives locally in St. George. They have a summer membership up at the Green Valley Clubhouse that is about to expire in September. They had a lot of fun coming up all summer, but with school starting don't know that renewing their family pass would be there best option. However, the clubhouse could still be just as valuable to them throughout the winter. Matt and Sarah could still come up and use the weightroom, which offers a more private experience than any other gym. And while Sarah is alone all day with Ayden they could come up and enjoy the heated indoor pool. Then during the evenings and weekends the family could come enjoy our other activities as well. They have the option to bring their own equipment to anything aside from the mini golf, which can help them avoid extra charges. This makes for plenty of affordable family fun.
2. Jim (59) Mary (54): Jim and Mary are condo owners they live up north but come down a lot during the winter to enjoy the warmer weather. When they're not staying in the condo themselves they rent it out. The couple hadn't realize that they can purchase yearly memberships through the Green Valley Clubhouse that would allow them and their renters to enjoy the facilities. This would both enhance their own experience during vacationing as well as entice more renters to opt to stay in their condo during the time they're not there.
3. Matt (20): Matt lives locally in St. George. He and his friends love to play tennis, but they don't have a lot of great courts to play on. They can use Green Valley's tennis courts with or without a membership. They have the option to pay a daily fee to access the outdoor courts, or for an additional cost that can be divvied between players they can pay to have the lights on in the indoor court area and play in a comfortable temperature and long after the sun has set. He still has the option of the family membership if he wants to come up a lot, and this also reduces the costs of his friends access through guest fees.
Plan
My plan is to target these three personas by showing what we have to offer them this season through a variety of different posts and promotions on our facebook page. It will be easy to reach the locals through this site, but a specific challenge that I want to overcome is going to be reaching out to whom we call "the snowbirds" (my second persona) and other condo owners. They are our main customer base, and the ones we see the most throughout our slower time.
I work up at the Green Valley Spa & Resort. Our department, the Clubhouse, is where our guests and members can come to check in to use all of our facilities. We have four pools: an indoor lap pool, a dive pool, a kid pool, and an outdoor lap pool. We also have two hot tubs by the indoor pool. Our pools are by far our main attraction, especially in the hot summer, but we also have a variety of different amenities that makes our business so appealing to our guests. We have mini golf, giant chess, shuffleboard, pickleball, raquetball (indoor), basketball, tennis (indoor/outdoor), ping pong, volleyball, and a weightroom.
Our department already has facebook page, but it's hasn't been active in a while. My mission is to take it over, and help attract more members to help us through our slowest season- the winter.
Personas
1. Mark (34) Sarah (32) Ally (16) Austin (9) Ayden (4): This is a young family that lives locally in St. George. They have a summer membership up at the Green Valley Clubhouse that is about to expire in September. They had a lot of fun coming up all summer, but with school starting don't know that renewing their family pass would be there best option. However, the clubhouse could still be just as valuable to them throughout the winter. Matt and Sarah could still come up and use the weightroom, which offers a more private experience than any other gym. And while Sarah is alone all day with Ayden they could come up and enjoy the heated indoor pool. Then during the evenings and weekends the family could come enjoy our other activities as well. They have the option to bring their own equipment to anything aside from the mini golf, which can help them avoid extra charges. This makes for plenty of affordable family fun.
2. Jim (59) Mary (54): Jim and Mary are condo owners they live up north but come down a lot during the winter to enjoy the warmer weather. When they're not staying in the condo themselves they rent it out. The couple hadn't realize that they can purchase yearly memberships through the Green Valley Clubhouse that would allow them and their renters to enjoy the facilities. This would both enhance their own experience during vacationing as well as entice more renters to opt to stay in their condo during the time they're not there.
3. Matt (20): Matt lives locally in St. George. He and his friends love to play tennis, but they don't have a lot of great courts to play on. They can use Green Valley's tennis courts with or without a membership. They have the option to pay a daily fee to access the outdoor courts, or for an additional cost that can be divvied between players they can pay to have the lights on in the indoor court area and play in a comfortable temperature and long after the sun has set. He still has the option of the family membership if he wants to come up a lot, and this also reduces the costs of his friends access through guest fees.
Plan
My plan is to target these three personas by showing what we have to offer them this season through a variety of different posts and promotions on our facebook page. It will be easy to reach the locals through this site, but a specific challenge that I want to overcome is going to be reaching out to whom we call "the snowbirds" (my second persona) and other condo owners. They are our main customer base, and the ones we see the most throughout our slower time.
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