Week 6 Response: Azar Nafisi, “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books”

This article talks about a group of women who are trying to survive in a totalitarian regime. These are women have formed a hidden group where they read books, and using their imagination create another world for themselves. In countries like Iran, totalitarian regimes are common, and people who do not follow them are punished severely. But these women are strong enough to try to do something about their interests. Although they appear to be strong, they are also weak and scared at the same time. All these women belong to different backgrounds, but have the same view about escaping totalitarian regime. They like to analyze books and watch movies, play sports, listen to music, dance. It gives them a sense of freedom which is hardly felt in their country.

Hitler can be easily said to be a dictator who imposed totalitarian regimes on the people of Germany.

Week 6 Response: Clay Shirky, “The Political Power of Social Media”

Social media is one of the most important segments of our lives. Without social media our lives would be hollow. The fact that we can connect to the whole world within seconds just makes it so good. If the Internet is taken down even for a sec, we start panicking. It is the easiest way to connect to the world. It helps us do thousands of things, without which we could not survive. Although media and Internet need to be regulated, it shouldn’t be bias or hindering anyone’s progress.

 As the information is available in abundance, people might as well misuse that information, so type of regulation is still necessary. Social media is up to an extent controlled politically as they need to control sensitive information which could hurt the countries over-all growth.

Week 5 Response: Carrie Packwood Freeman and Debra Merskin, “Having it His Way: The Construction of Masculinity in Fast-Food TV Advertising”

Meat eating has been related to men for several years now. Fast food restaurants have targeted the best people for promoting their products. Although there are several women who also enjoy meat, but still we would see maximum advertisements of fast food restaurants showing men. Women are generally considered weak and are not much of foodies. Relating meat to men was a masterstroke in my opinion. It was the best marketing scheme anyone could have thought. 

But it was further accentuated by combining babes with the meat. What could be better that a hot woman serving meat at these joints. It really increased the sales of these restaurants. It gave men a chance to enjoy good food, and bond with their friends without being judged or questioned.

Week 5 Response: Danah Boyd, “White Flight in Networked Publics?: How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook”

In this article the author talks about racism on the Internet. Younger generations are carrying forward this practice by using it on the Internet.

“It’s not really racist, but I guess you could say that. I’m not really into racism, but I think that MySpace now is more like ghetto or whatever” – Kat.

The teen says this without realizing its implications. According to her, people who are still using MySpace are backward or Blacks. She tries to put an image of white people being much advanced and creative. And the minorities are just gonna follow them.

Week 4 Response: Paul Krugman, “Confronting Inequality”

This article talks about the Economic and social inequalities that coexist in today’s world. The author briefly mentions about “The Occupy Wall Street Movement” which was focused on the inequality between the top 1% upper class people and the rest of the 99% of population. This economic inequality creates a lot of problems in society. The Occupy Wall Street Movement was when a huge crowd occupied the wall street of New York in protest against the unjust economic system. People believe that the top 1% people are not paying enough of their share of taxes. The middle class people are going bankrupt due to this unjust system. Which really caught the attention of the whole country and the movement spread to many major cities.

Week 4 Response: Joan Acker, “Is Capitalism Gendered and Racialized?”

In this article the author expresses his views on the current situation of our society. According to him, our society is completely male dominated. Male chauvinism has been a problem in our cultures for quite a long time now. Although slavery was abolished in 1865, racism has reached its peaks today. White men are responsible for this. They were the ones in control of everything in the past and it has been the same way since. Gender bias has continued for a long time and it can be seen all over the globe. Women are considered to be weak and thus not given any jobs requiring strength. Even if that was correct, they are only considered as homemakers or house wifes. The man of the house is supposed to be sole breadwinner of the family. Women were constantly prohibited from working. But it has begun to change. As single mothers have to work to serve their children. But they are mostly given low jobs, and poor compensations for their work.