With a PR team to rival that of the Kardashians, a knack for bringing a crowd to its feet, and an unparalleled ego that leads him to make outlandish statements and exalt himself to ‘Godlihood’, there is no doubt that Kanye West could convince the general public to believe anything he said. While his announcement may have been spontaneous and bizarre to say the least, anything that gets the country talking about who should or even more so who shouldn’t be running the country the better. Trump is a great voice to stir the pot; however I’m not so sure he would be the best senior statesman to give a speech at the UN. If politics is defined as - Politics (from Greek: πολιτικός politikos, definition "of, for, or relating to citizens") is the practice and theory of influencing other people (Wikipedia.org), then Kanye nailed it! What a testament to the power of pop culture! If our politicians were half as engaging and enigmatic as Kanye, or had the ability to persuade and entrance an audience as he does, then perhaps more people would be interested in the political climate. Look at the statistics…While many of us, when asked what we value most about living in Canada would say 'freedom' or 'democracy', fact is that in the last election, voter turnout dropped to 61% (down from 75.3% in 1988). What does that say about our political climate and our politicians? Why are Canadians rejecting the opportunity to help shape and grow our great country and lead our youth to be a part of it? Maybe if Kanye was running here in Canada, more people would vote! And if this little guy was his opponent, he’d have to bring his A-Game! Anijar, K. (2003) Teaching Toward the 24th Century: Star trek as Social Curriculum (Pedagogy and popular culture) New York, Farmer Press
Chapter 4: ‘Klingon as Curriculum’ In this chapter the author discusses the Klingon language and ‘culture’ and the benefits of language acquisition. It is stated that Klingon is the fastest growing language on the planet; a statement that left me wondering ‘Why?’ While speaking a second language is globally acknowledged as having cognitive benefits, I am skeptical as to the benefit of speaking Klingon. The author goes on to discuss the fact that languages, by their very nature are dripping with cultural ties, and portrays this fact as a negative. It is also stated that learning a second language is generally considered a chore; and that Klingon (as Esperanto) can alleviate any social or cultural barriers and is ‘fun to learn’. I see little validity in these statements, as, when we go on to read the remainder of the chapter, the author makes mention of Klingon as a society, and compares it to militia, warriors and gangs…if these aren’t cultural barriers I don’t know what are. Research shows that bilinguals score higher on tests, do well academically and ultimately earn more money. This chapter presents the possibility that being fluent in Klingon has the same benefits. Klingon is not a real culture, nor is it a valid language. Klingon is a metaphor for a militant world – a make-believe world – a world of power and control. I fail to see how this is beneficial educationally or otherwise. Chapter 5: ‘Resistance is Futile’ Utilizing Star Trek as an ongoing metaphor, as well as the movie ‘Men in Black’, the author discusses quite monotonously, that the term alien is based on perspective. The predominant sense that English, white and mostly male dictate the rules and are resistant and impervious to change or “invasion” is presented as being pervasive and highly protected within the North American culture. The obvious reference to the same being said of any other culture and the sudden awareness of the Arayan state that they too are aliens depending on which side of the border one comes from and who has the greatest control is also indicated. The references to harsh and non-inclusive racist language, cultural trends and specific individuals and quotations is implied by the author to be reflective of an oppressive and reactionary North American culture and appears to completely and naively dismiss and ignore the acceptance and promotion of an integrative society of multiculturalism. The idea that resistance to assimilation of cultures is futile and dangerous fails to acknowledge Canadian ideals related to a society with governmental policies of multiculturalism, two official languages and equal hiring practices. Zombies are taking over pop culture. Movies, comics, TV shows…you name it…our screens and shelves are filled with images and stories of zombie attacks and disease spreading incidents. The Zombie culture is even being used by non-profit agencies to garner the public’s attention to more serious matters.
…A predictive date of destruction, elaborate re-enactments, government references, so-called ‘experts’ in the field…research, forensics, front liners…an elaborate ‘mockumentary’ to say the least. However, does this biopic do more to petrify than prepare? The use of this documentary was part of a risk campaign by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to promote emergency preparedness. http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies.asp The website itself http://www.cdc.gov/ contains much useful information, and used the Zombie Apocalypse documentary as a hook…cleverly done; but how effective is the use of social media satire in this context? How can we use social media and pop culture as an avenue for communicating risk to the general public? How effective is satire and humour in educating our youth of potential disease and disaster? While social media is a ‘free’ system for sending information viral in an instant, do the pros outweigh the cons? If we think about our potential audience – who is going to view the film? Will they see it as satire? Will it create panic of pandemic proportions? How effective is it in raising risk awareness? Will it result in more informed and prepared civilians? In their article CDC’s Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign, Fraustino and Ma discuss “the tension between awareness and behavioural-based campaign success” (Fraustino, J.D, & Ma, L., (2015) CDC's Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign—“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”, Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43:2, 222-241, DOI: 10.1080/00909882.2015.1019544) This article is definitely worth a read and opened my eyes to the world of advertising and pop culture. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2015.1019544 Exploration, Exploitation and Control – drawing parallels between science fiction and geopolitics10/1/2015 Saunders notes that science fiction can be used as an effective entry point to critically examine imperial geopolitics. Not only does it afford students the opportunity to question the content of SF, but engage in discourse analysis.
As both SF and geopolitics are based on exploration of space, exploitation of systems and control over the opposition, effective parallels can be drawn to both understand and critique current political issues. SF allows the extrapolation and exploration of potential outcomes and a modeling of potential systems. You can’t test a model for geopolitics in real time so SF allows you to explore geopolitical models without offending. For example, if we were to talk about excluding Russia from the United Nations, to predict or analyze what the potential political reality would become, our exploration would be limited, due to potential opposition based on the geopolitical allegiance. SF can become one way of discussing current political issues through the use of metaphors, thus not upsetting the geopolitical climate. However, can SF be deemed as propaganda? It is clearly not impartial and when comparisons are drawn to current geopolitical affairs, SF can become a dangerous tool of manipulation. Is SF merely biased information that offers a glimpse of the future? https://professorjt2012.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/propaganda/ Saunders, R. A. (2015) Imperial imaginaries: employing science fiction to talk about geopolitics. Popular Culture and World Politics: Theories, Methods, and Pedagogies. 149-159 |
AuthorJust another teacher hoping to change the world! Archives
November 2015
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