With November 6 just around the corner and candidates panicking about their place in the polls, I can't help but notice that political "slam" commercials have taken over television. While it's true that I tend to have a flare for the dramatics, this is not an over exaggeration. Every time I turn the TV on I'm being told that so-and-so said this, what's-his-name did that and who-does-she-think-she-is lied about that thing that happened fourteen years ago. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like this election season has taken insulting other candidates to a whole new level. In the interest of protecting my own sanity I'm not going to go into detail about every single commercial that's grinding my gears. Instead, I'd like to focus on the two politicians whose advertisements frustrate me the most: Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren.
In a Scott Brown ad entitled "Let America Be America Again," he slammed President Obama and Elizabeth Warren for saying that no one gets rich on their own. In a different commercial referred to as "At It Again," Scott Brown slams Elizabeth Warren for not telling the truth about her career. He said that she said that she worked for people who had been injured by Asbestus when in reality, she worked for insurance companies to help ensure that victims didn't receive the compensation they deserved. He said that she got paid 40 times what the victims received. His commercials (and the people in them) said an awful lot of things about her. Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand... is no better. In one of her ads called "Fighter," Scott Brown is slammed for supporting tax cuts for millionaires and being on the side of corporations. He's slammed for the same thing in another one of her ads called "Clear Choice."
When Warren aired a commercial about how Scott Brown isn't "for women," he aired a rebuttal featuring women who insist that he is in fact on the side of women everywhere. When he slammed her for writing that she's Native American on applications to get ahead, she responded by making a commercial insisting that he can keep attacking her family, but she'll keep fighting for yours. She also responded to his saying that she hurt Asbestos victims instead of helping them by featuring people who have been affected by Mesothelioma. Scott Brown even aired commercials that focused solely on slamming her for slamming him!
My sister and I always managed to cause a ton of trouble when we were younger, and we got caught every time. Once we realized our TV privileges were being threatened, all solidarity went out the window and it turned into one giant blame game. "She made me do it!" "It was her idea!" "She's older so she should know better!" "You let her get away with everything!" Every time I see a slam commercial, I can't help but picture the candidates as tiny children arguing over who's responsible for breaking mom's fancy crystal vase.
I've seen countless slam commercials this year, and I haven't learned a single thing about the candidates from any of them. After years and years of slam commercials that accomplish absolutely nothing, I can't help but wonder why people still make them. Wouldn't it be much more effective to focus on what you're all about and what you believe in instead of what your opponent's about? Am I the only one who's had enough of the shenanigans?
The election is a little over a week away, and at this point those commercials are doing more harm than anything else, so why not call it a day?
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
The Journalist That Could
"Dream job? It changes every day. I would say that my dream job would be secret agent, but seeing as I have clown red hair, I don't think I would make a very good sneaky spy. So as of today my dream job would be doing something that matters in the world and changes lives for the better, while being a published author of course. Running my own non-profit, being an ambassador for a disadvantaged country, reporting on crimes against humanity- especially injustices occurring against women. Dream, dream, dream job would be to find a way to stop human sex trafficking world wide. It might be with a gun or it might be with making the issue more visible and people more aware." -Rebecca Copeland
This incredible girl's first internship was at Mom Central Consulting. During her time there, she did editing for their online content, wrote press releases, and interviewed various people (including Steve Carell) relating to content on the website. Her next (and most recent) internship was at a print based PR firm that sets out to get socially responsible organizations and companies in the press called Teak Media Communications. She did a lot more at Teak than she did at Mom Central. This time around, her job included interviews, writing and personalizing press releases, taking to reporters, finding interesting stories within the organizations that Teak represented to pitch to reporters, and pitching directly to reporters.
At this point in time, recent graduates don't have many options once they receive their Bachelor's Degree. Getting a job in one's field is virtually unheard of these days for those who are fresh out of college. Most of the graduates I know end up going right back to a life of academia at graduate school. Others end up moving back in with their parents. Becca is one of those rare people who get everything they desire. A few things were handed to her on a silver platter, but not many. She works incredibly hard, but so do tons of other people who never get what they want. She's memorable, extremely intelligent, personable, hard working, charismatic, and lucky. Don't get me wrong, she's had a couple of pretty serious bumps in the road, but she is still truly lucky. Things just happen to work out for her, so she felt confident in graduating from Suffolk, staying in her apartment in the north end of Boston, and pursuing a career in journalism.
Imagine her surprise when she couldn't find a job... When I decided to write about her, I asked her what jobs she applied for in one of our weekly emails. This is what she said:
"WHAT JOBS HAVEN'T I APPLIED FOR? That would be a much shorter list. For example, I haven't applied for restaurant jobs or jobs involving adding and subtracting sums. That's about it. I have applied for every other job. I literally cannot remember them all. A lot of jobs with universities involving their admissions offices and writing centers, a lot of copy editing positions, and a lot of marketing positions with a heavy focus on writing."It was looking like Becca might be forced to move back home for a while, but just as I had expected, she recently got some very good news. In the last week of November, Rebecca will begin her training for AmeriCorps. During her year of service with them she'll be working with WriteBoston: the only organization working with Boston Public Schools (BPS) that improves student writing through in-depth teacher training across content areas such as English, math, science and history. It was founded in 2002 in response to students' poor performance on the writing section of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. When I asked her what her job entailed, she sent me quite the list:
"Serve as a member of the WriteBoston team and attend weekly meetings; maintain WriteBoston and Teens in Print's websites and other social media accounts to increase visibility in the community; produce bi-monthly newsletter and one-time email campaigns to reach partners, volunteers, and other readers; collaborate with Development Associate on various grants and writing projects; assist in the development and implementation of WriteBoston's new marketing strategy, which will result from new evaluation reports and documentation; develop new press packets and marketing materials for new logo presentations; create contact management protocol to better refine and target particular groups and audiences; assist in event planning and create display materials and Power Point presentations for various fundraisers."Becca was a little hesitant to take the job at first because she feared that it didn't have enough to do with journalism, but now she's feeling really good about it. Even when everyone else thought that she might have to move home, I knew that it wouldn't happen. It's Rebecca Flipping Copeland! Things always end up working in her favor. I've probably made it all too obvious that I am in fact jealous of her. I'm not the type to cry woe is me, but let the record show that luck is not a friend of mine. Things don't happen for me the way they happen for her, so it's only natural for me to be jealous. But more important than my jealousy is that I'm so proud of her. She's living her life the way she said she would, and she's doing it without any help.
I hope that I can find a way to follow in her footsteps once I graduate.
Monday, October 1, 2012
"Let's never ever eat a meal together."
BBC posted an article on Thursday, August 9 with the rather interesting headline "10 Things Americans Say... And What They Really Mean." The article, written by Ruth Margolis, yielded some seriously negative reactions from the correspondents at the Johnson blog by The Economist. I, however, didn't respond quite as harshly and even thought some of the points were funny:
1. When an American shop assistant says, "Have a nice day!"
Translation: "Honestly, I don't care what kind of day you have. But please tell my manager I was friendly so I get extra commission."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I will sob myself to sleep if I subsequently learn that you had a less than adequate day."
2. When an American you've just met says, "Let's have lunch sometime."
Translation: "Let's never ever eat a meal together."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth."
The blog on The Economist points out that Margolis had recently moved to Brooklyn, and it's definitely safe to say that she hasn't encountered the friendliest people in her move. If you have any doubts about that, just read the other eight points on the list of what she calls America's most irritating idioms. Margolis's points about Americans are overdramatic generalizations, but I probably find them to be amusing because I don't think she intended them to be taken 100% seriously. Take my post on the stupid things Mittens says and does, for example. I know that Mitt Romney is not an entirely stupid man. That post was intended to be more of a political rant than a description of his exact persona.
Margolis probably encountered some offensive people in her first few days/weeks in Brooklyn and decided to run with the global generalization that all Americans are rude, just like I got frustrated with all of Romney's shenanigans and decided to take advantage of the unfortunate mistakes he makes.
If you disagree, think about it this way: do you think any shop assistant anywhere in the world does home and sobs him/herself to sleep if you say you're having a bad day? Do you think anyone ever means "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth" when they ask you to lunch? Of course not.
1. When an American shop assistant says, "Have a nice day!"
Translation: "Honestly, I don't care what kind of day you have. But please tell my manager I was friendly so I get extra commission."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I will sob myself to sleep if I subsequently learn that you had a less than adequate day."
2. When an American you've just met says, "Let's have lunch sometime."
Translation: "Let's never ever eat a meal together."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth."
The blog on The Economist points out that Margolis had recently moved to Brooklyn, and it's definitely safe to say that she hasn't encountered the friendliest people in her move. If you have any doubts about that, just read the other eight points on the list of what she calls America's most irritating idioms. Margolis's points about Americans are overdramatic generalizations, but I probably find them to be amusing because I don't think she intended them to be taken 100% seriously. Take my post on the stupid things Mittens says and does, for example. I know that Mitt Romney is not an entirely stupid man. That post was intended to be more of a political rant than a description of his exact persona.
Margolis probably encountered some offensive people in her first few days/weeks in Brooklyn and decided to run with the global generalization that all Americans are rude, just like I got frustrated with all of Romney's shenanigans and decided to take advantage of the unfortunate mistakes he makes.
If you disagree, think about it this way: do you think any shop assistant anywhere in the world does home and sobs him/herself to sleep if you say you're having a bad day? Do you think anyone ever means "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth" when they ask you to lunch? Of course not.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Oh, Mittens...
While it's true that politicians are just people, it's also true that they need to be more than "just people." Someone is always standing there with a tape recorder or camera waiting for the perfect quote or picture. Someone is always waiting for them to screw up, and they do! People often speak without thinking. People make mistakes. Politicians cannot.
Every now and then I take pity on the poor politicians who get caught saying the wrong thing at the wrong time; this is not one of those times. Instead, since I could currently use a major dose of comic relief, I'd like to focus on some of the ridiculous things Mitt Romney (more fondly known as Mittens in my apartment) says and does.
1. Video taped footage of Romney speaking at a $50,000-a-plate fundraising dinner in May was recently posted by Mother Jones, and it seems pretty darn clear that he wasn't expecting anyone outside of that dinner to hear what he said. I'd like to share several quotes from that video and the transcript provided by abc news.
3. At a stop Romney made in Bethel, Pennsylvania, he decided it would be appropriate to criticize cookies that local residents offered him. "I'm not sure about these cookies. They don't look like you made them. No, no. They came from the local 7/11 bakery or whatever."
4. In an attempt to make strides toward gaining the Latino vote, Romney recently went on Univision. There was a bit of an issue, though... For some odd reason, Mitt was looking super tan that day.
5. "I like being able to fire people." This remark was uttered in good 'ol New Hampshire.
6. At a 2011 campaign stop in Iowa, Romney responded to a heckler with, "Corporations are people, my friend. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings, my friend."
7. Let's not forget that he said it was "hard to know" if the Olympic games would go well while he was in London. That comment was what earned him the nickname "Mitt the Twit" in The Sun.
8. This one needs no explanation:
Every time I watch a speech or an interview of his, and every time I read about him, I can't help but let out a woeful sigh and an "oh, Mittens..."
Every now and then I take pity on the poor politicians who get caught saying the wrong thing at the wrong time; this is not one of those times. Instead, since I could currently use a major dose of comic relief, I'd like to focus on some of the ridiculous things Mitt Romney (more fondly known as Mittens in my apartment) says and does.
1. Video taped footage of Romney speaking at a $50,000-a-plate fundraising dinner in May was recently posted by Mother Jones, and it seems pretty darn clear that he wasn't expecting anyone outside of that dinner to hear what he said. I'd like to share several quotes from that video and the transcript provided by abc news.
- While talking about his wife, Ann, he said, "We use Ann sparingly right now so that people don't get tired of her."
- "There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it."
- "I have inherited nothing. Everything Ann and I have we have earned the old-fashioned way."
3. At a stop Romney made in Bethel, Pennsylvania, he decided it would be appropriate to criticize cookies that local residents offered him. "I'm not sure about these cookies. They don't look like you made them. No, no. They came from the local 7/11 bakery or whatever."
4. In an attempt to make strides toward gaining the Latino vote, Romney recently went on Univision. There was a bit of an issue, though... For some odd reason, Mitt was looking super tan that day.
5. "I like being able to fire people." This remark was uttered in good 'ol New Hampshire.
6. At a 2011 campaign stop in Iowa, Romney responded to a heckler with, "Corporations are people, my friend. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings, my friend."
7. Let's not forget that he said it was "hard to know" if the Olympic games would go well while he was in London. That comment was what earned him the nickname "Mitt the Twit" in The Sun.
8. This one needs no explanation:
Every time I watch a speech or an interview of his, and every time I read about him, I can't help but let out a woeful sigh and an "oh, Mittens..."
Where you lead, I will follow.
Along with the eight leads that succeed, our textbook named, described, and gave examples of three lazy leads that should probably be put to rest: topic, question, and quote leads. While perusing my news diet I came across a tweet by TIME that I couldn't pass up, and that tweet led me to a "lazy lead" that I rather enjoyed.
"Who can resist a puppy? Especially one given to you by Russian President Vladimir Putin?"
While this lead has some components of a direct address lead or even a startling statement, it's definitely a question lead. The textbook does make sure to point out that it's possible to craft great leads in this style, but it's still frowned upon. Upon reading this lead, several other questions popped into my mind. "Putin's giving out free puppies? Who's he giving puppies to? Is he bartering with puppies? What's he getting in return? Is it a "thank you" puppy? Haven't people given him puppies before? I think it was the Bulgarian Prime Minister and someone else in Japan, right? What's up with Putin and puppies? That's a pretty good alliteration." It was quite the thought process. Any lead that sparks that many questions and prompts me to continue reading is good in my book! (And I was right, by the way. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov gave Putin a Bulgarian shepherd in 2010, and a Japanese governor gave him a baby Akita Inu puppy in June.)
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"AS THEY wake on November 6th, political-science students at Temple University in Philadelphia will receive e-mails reminding them that it is election day, via their department's automated mailing list. Once out of bed, they will find student Democratic volunteers bustling about with iPads and smartphones, ready to tell them which is their polling station and to provide directions..."
I would classify this lead, found on The Economist website, as a scene-setter lead since it lacks the urgency that a hard-news lead has and transports the reader to another place. The tweet that led me to this story says, "The coddling and hand-holding of modern voters is a phenomenon worth pondering with regards to the US election." In this case, I would say that the tweet is more effective than the lead. The scene that this lead creates is a good one, but it's also a bit misleading. From the lead alone, I would have guessed that the article was solely about voting on college campuses, but it isn't. The article covers exactly what the tweet said it would. As a college student, I would have kept reading regardless. I'm not sure that other people would, though. I don't think the lead does the article any favors.
-
Every now and then I came across a lead that I couldn't easily identify as one or the other while doing this assignment. Some of them seemed to fit into a few categories and others didn't necessarily fit into any category at all. Take this lead, found on the TIME website, for example:
"As if riding a motorcycle wasn't risky enough, one Michigan man is betting he can ride his Harley-Davidson without using his hands - and without making any stops - from Michigan to Kentucky."
When reading about the leads that the textbook names, I came up with a few potential options. I suppose it could be a lazy topic lead, but it doesn't seem to have all of the necessary characteristics. Topic leads also convey no actual news, and I'd say that this story is news. A lot of people are very interested in setting records and would probably find this interesting, so can it really be a topic lead? My next possible lead was anecdotal/narrative. It definitely sounds like the beginning of a story to me, but it lacks the middle and end that are mentioned in the text. I think that the most applicable lead is the startling statement in this case. Who the heck decides to drive that far on a motorcycle without using his hands? That can't possibly be safe...
"Who can resist a puppy? Especially one given to you by Russian President Vladimir Putin?"
While this lead has some components of a direct address lead or even a startling statement, it's definitely a question lead. The textbook does make sure to point out that it's possible to craft great leads in this style, but it's still frowned upon. Upon reading this lead, several other questions popped into my mind. "Putin's giving out free puppies? Who's he giving puppies to? Is he bartering with puppies? What's he getting in return? Is it a "thank you" puppy? Haven't people given him puppies before? I think it was the Bulgarian Prime Minister and someone else in Japan, right? What's up with Putin and puppies? That's a pretty good alliteration." It was quite the thought process. Any lead that sparks that many questions and prompts me to continue reading is good in my book! (And I was right, by the way. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov gave Putin a Bulgarian shepherd in 2010, and a Japanese governor gave him a baby Akita Inu puppy in June.)
-
"AS THEY wake on November 6th, political-science students at Temple University in Philadelphia will receive e-mails reminding them that it is election day, via their department's automated mailing list. Once out of bed, they will find student Democratic volunteers bustling about with iPads and smartphones, ready to tell them which is their polling station and to provide directions..."
I would classify this lead, found on The Economist website, as a scene-setter lead since it lacks the urgency that a hard-news lead has and transports the reader to another place. The tweet that led me to this story says, "The coddling and hand-holding of modern voters is a phenomenon worth pondering with regards to the US election." In this case, I would say that the tweet is more effective than the lead. The scene that this lead creates is a good one, but it's also a bit misleading. From the lead alone, I would have guessed that the article was solely about voting on college campuses, but it isn't. The article covers exactly what the tweet said it would. As a college student, I would have kept reading regardless. I'm not sure that other people would, though. I don't think the lead does the article any favors.
-
Every now and then I came across a lead that I couldn't easily identify as one or the other while doing this assignment. Some of them seemed to fit into a few categories and others didn't necessarily fit into any category at all. Take this lead, found on the TIME website, for example:
"As if riding a motorcycle wasn't risky enough, one Michigan man is betting he can ride his Harley-Davidson without using his hands - and without making any stops - from Michigan to Kentucky."
When reading about the leads that the textbook names, I came up with a few potential options. I suppose it could be a lazy topic lead, but it doesn't seem to have all of the necessary characteristics. Topic leads also convey no actual news, and I'd say that this story is news. A lot of people are very interested in setting records and would probably find this interesting, so can it really be a topic lead? My next possible lead was anecdotal/narrative. It definitely sounds like the beginning of a story to me, but it lacks the middle and end that are mentioned in the text. I think that the most applicable lead is the startling statement in this case. Who the heck decides to drive that far on a motorcycle without using his hands? That can't possibly be safe...
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Don't Tell Me What To Drink!
After reading "Goodbye, Big Soda: New York Becomes First City to Ban Large-Sized Soft Drinks" on TIME's website, I can't help but feel a little angry.
The New York City Health Department officially banned the sale of sugared soft-drinks over 16 oz. This means that restaurants, mobile food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters will be fined $200 for selling said beverages after their grace period ends. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, reported that people can still purchase multiple 16 oz. sodas; that's not included in the ban; he just hopes that people will think twice about consuming that much soda now that the convenience of it is being taken away.
I'm a big supporter of the anti-obesity campaign, but this is taking it a bit too far. Obesity in America is a seriously problem; I don't think it's something that new laws are going to fix, though. The elimination of oversized sodas won't do anything about fast food, obscenely large portions, lack of exercise, etc. Even if this new law did fix the problem, since when is it okay for officials to tell people what they can and cannot wash down their meals with?
The New York City Health Department officially banned the sale of sugared soft-drinks over 16 oz. This means that restaurants, mobile food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters will be fined $200 for selling said beverages after their grace period ends. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, reported that people can still purchase multiple 16 oz. sodas; that's not included in the ban; he just hopes that people will think twice about consuming that much soda now that the convenience of it is being taken away.
I'm a big supporter of the anti-obesity campaign, but this is taking it a bit too far. Obesity in America is a seriously problem; I don't think it's something that new laws are going to fix, though. The elimination of oversized sodas won't do anything about fast food, obscenely large portions, lack of exercise, etc. Even if this new law did fix the problem, since when is it okay for officials to tell people what they can and cannot wash down their meals with?
If Narcissus Had A Mustache
On September 14, TIME magazine published an article entitled "For the Love of a Mustache: Pakistani Man Forced to Flee Hometown Over Facial Hair" on their website. After coming across the headline I was left with one thought, and one thought only: what!?
Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi is a father of ten children from Bara, Pakistan. He doesn't live there anymore, though. His house was invaded by men from an extremist group four years ago. The men took him to a cleric who decided that his mustache broke the Islamic law. They then shaved his mustache off at gunpoint. Afridi spent eighteen months growing out his mustache again, which has now grown out to twelve inches long, and moved to Peshawar to secure the safety of his precious facial hair. He reportedly spends thirty minutes a day grooming his mustache with almond oil extract, coconut oil extract, a gel from Germany, and the help of his wife. Despite the 5,000 Pakistani rupees a month that the government gives him to maintain his majestical mustache, Afridi still spends a considerable amount of his own money on his 'stache.
This article raised so many questions for me. Why would he flee his hometown for the safety of his mustache when his life was being threatened? Was having his mustache forcefully shaved really worse than being abducted from his home and held at gunpoint? Why on earth would this man uproot his twelve-person family to protect his facial hair? Why is the government now giving him 5,000 Pakistani rupees a month to care for the hair growing out of his upper lip? Am I the only one who feels completely befuddled by this information?
I'm hoping that there's some kind of cultural barrier keeping me from understanding the logic behind this story... If not, I'd say that this man has the potential to give Narcissus a run for his money.
Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi is a father of ten children from Bara, Pakistan. He doesn't live there anymore, though. His house was invaded by men from an extremist group four years ago. The men took him to a cleric who decided that his mustache broke the Islamic law. They then shaved his mustache off at gunpoint. Afridi spent eighteen months growing out his mustache again, which has now grown out to twelve inches long, and moved to Peshawar to secure the safety of his precious facial hair. He reportedly spends thirty minutes a day grooming his mustache with almond oil extract, coconut oil extract, a gel from Germany, and the help of his wife. Despite the 5,000 Pakistani rupees a month that the government gives him to maintain his majestical mustache, Afridi still spends a considerable amount of his own money on his 'stache.
This article raised so many questions for me. Why would he flee his hometown for the safety of his mustache when his life was being threatened? Was having his mustache forcefully shaved really worse than being abducted from his home and held at gunpoint? Why on earth would this man uproot his twelve-person family to protect his facial hair? Why is the government now giving him 5,000 Pakistani rupees a month to care for the hair growing out of his upper lip? Am I the only one who feels completely befuddled by this information?
I'm hoping that there's some kind of cultural barrier keeping me from understanding the logic behind this story... If not, I'd say that this man has the potential to give Narcissus a run for his money.
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