Bored..

Since it's raining here in San Diego and I'm bored in the trailer, I thought it would be the perfect time to catch up on my posts.

Reporters and Rhetoric
In one of this week's essay, Geoffrey Cowan wrote about news reporters and their use of words. He thinks that words used in the news often influence not only the general public but also political leaders. He explains how NBC did so in November of 2006 when they called the war in Iraq a "civil war". He also believes that, "Indeed, there are times when good journalists need to be as concerned with the accuracy of their language as they are with the accuracy of their facts"(161).

I not only actually understood this essay, but also agreed with it. I think that often times journalists write with such emotional words that they don't think that they can influence the general public and sometimes political leaders. But I have a feeling that sometimes they write with these words to be of influence. Just as some people will do anything to persuade one to be on their side, I often think that reporters and journalists do the same.

Welcome to the Infotainment Freak Show

In this day and age, would a news channel report a Britney Spears meltdown before a story of importance, like U.S. troops being killed overseas ? Well of course not, our troops are more important right ? Wrong. In What Orwell Didn't Know, an essay by Martin Kaplan wrote of how this kind of new coverage is more popular and demanded than actual, factual news. "Welcome to the Infotainment Freak Show" is clearly about how the media is much more fascinated and concerned about reporting the "news" concerning celebrities so that their ratings are high. He talks about how many media outlets are making sure they are the first to discover breaking news even if it isn't the truth.

After reading this essay, I couldn't agree more. I remember the time when Britney Spears locked herself in he restroom with her son and how every news station was there to report it and that was all that filled my screen. All news was stopped just for this crazay lady who lip syncs for a living. I could care less what that woman does in her life, it should be private. I would rather see real news about my state, city, and community so I am aware of what's going on.

Politics and the English Language.

George Orwell wrote this famed essay to explain how horrible the English language has gotten and what we need to do to stop it. He gives alot of examples of what he considered really bad English. Most of the examples showed an author using big words and too long of sentencdes to express a simple idea. In the end he gave 6 simples rules to consider while writing so that we do not continue the cycle of bad English writing. Those six simple steps were:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never us a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6.Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

While I was reading this essay at home I was really overwhelmed with Orwell's own use of the English language. To me it felt like he was breaking his own rule and could have used a lot more simple, shorter words to express his thoughts. I know when we write we must go into further detail so our reader can understand where we are coming from but with Orwell I was just lost. I think he could have just simply stated his six rules with simple explanations from the get go.

"I'm coming home again.."

For high school students, the homecoming football game and dance that accompanies it is supposed to be one of the best times of the year. Although that wasn't the case for one Southern California teen Friday night. While I was watching Channel 11 Fox News last night, the story of a sixteen year old high school student being shot at her homecoming game appeared on screen. Melody Ross was the honor student at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California who was gunned down after the school's homecoming game. Ross was one of the innocent bystanders who was hit by a stray bullet and later died at the hospital. Motives for the shooting are unclear and police are still searching for suspects.

As a teen in Southern California I am not only saddened by this story but even more worried when I go out anywhere. It is horrible to know that now and days teens cannot just simply enjoy a football game without being worried about the chance of dangerous altercations. I am angered that whoever committed this crime would do so in such a public place where innocent people were harmed. I am also concerned that the suspects are still on the loose and that security wasn't as secure as they should have been. Security was supposedly beefed up since the school was playing their archrival yet they couldn't track down suspects. I am hoping that these crimes will come to an end and that Southern California can be known for something other than the crimes that give a bad name to the rest of the country.

Rest In Peace... Melody Ross

"I think I died in an accident..."

Having a love affair for tabloids and gossip websites, I am constantly checking websites such as tmz.com and mediatakeout.com. Just yesterday while I was on mediatakeout.com I came across this posting.(http://www.mediatakeout.com/2009/36333-fake_news_fox_news_makes_a_mistake____erroneously_reports_that_kanye_west_died_in_a_car_crash.html) Fox News who is deemed as a credible and widely used source for information claimed that rapper Kanye West had died in an car accident. They posted the news on Tuesday, (October 20th) and when I went to check this shocking news yesterday on their website it was already taken down. Many other media sources have used their voice to clearly state that Kanye West has not died. His girlfriend, model Amber Rose, took to Twitter to defend this false report stating, "This 'RIP Kanye West' topic is not funny and it's NOT TRUE!"

Being a big fan of Kanye, I was so angry to read this posting. Seriously, who in their right mind would post something so horrible? When it comes to death, it should not be taken lightly nor be used to create false stories such as this one. Whoever at Fox News decided to post this news is sick and heartless. (No pun intended since Kanye wrote the hit song, "Heartless".) I feel this is a big problem in today's society, with all these sources it's hard to truly know what is the truth and what isn't. I guess we can't believe everything we read.

Kicking Out Students?

Being sick at home I had plenty of time on my hands and when I got onto the Internet this interesting story popped up on my AOL Homepage. Texas schools kicking out students? The only reason I could think of was possible bad behavior but no that wasn't it. In the small border community of Del Rio, Texas school officials have been suspicious for some time of Mexican children crossing the border daily to attend the schools here in the U.S. Their suspicion grew more as vehicles with Mexican license plates would arrive to school to drop off children. In September school officials were sent to a border bridge to warn those crossing over to attend school that they better provide proof of residency within the district or they would be kicked out of school. A staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund found that method to catch students intimidating and outrageous. Although out of the 195 students asked to provide proof of residency 150 of them followed through which was quite remarkable. You can read more on this article at http://news.aol.com/article/del-rio-texas-school-district-turns-away/709315?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link2|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fdel-rio-texas-school-district-turns-away%2F709315

Honestly, I thought there would be more to this story then there actually was. I felt as though there were other key pieces of evidence left out. Other than residency, shouldn't school officials be looking for citizenship status or something like that? I think it's sad because these kids are wanting the free education and are willing to do whatever they can to get it more than those who already have it and are just letting it go to waste.

"I'm talkin bout Chi-Town"

Being addicted to celebrity news, I am often on entertainment wesbsite mediatakeout.com and on September 28, 2009 nothing was entertaining at all. An awful, just extremely disturbing video of a Chicago teenage boy getting beaten up to death was posted. Since this post only contained video I immediately went to cnn.com the next day, September 29, to look for more information. According to this article (http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/29/chicago.teen.profile/index.html?iref=newssearch), the young teen was an honor student who refused to join a gang which supposedly led to his death. Instead of being able to peacefully walk home the teen, Derrion Albert was confronted by several young men who began to strike him as well as other teens caught in the middle. Onlookers watched, honked their car horns, and even recorded the violent attacks rather than trying to help those victims. You can here take a look for yourself.


As a young teen myself I was absolutely horrified and driven to tears after watching this video. I just could not comprehend why these young men felt the need to attack someone all just because he would not conform and join their gang. It saddens me even more that these young men were African-American just like Derrion Albert. Rather than uplifting and supporting their race, they fought against it. Just like many others I am dying to hear the suspects sides of the story now that they have been caught. I hope that this tragic story opens peoples eyes to the violence and crime that occurs within a race and creates ways for people to prevent it.