Looks like this is it. I have no audience anymore. What happened? Did I have to be in school simply to have my work appreciated? I'm not one to beg for pageviews; I'm just wondering how The Smoking Gun went from being such a popular blog to not getting a single view in the course of a month. I love writing; you guys were my original motivation to write. But now I have no one to write to anymore. I may have to close up shop soon.
Yours,
Jackson Yoder
The Smoking Gun
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Coming Out as Communist
Let’s talk Communism. Before we get into
connotation, let’s look at it according to Merriam-Webster: “A way of organizing a society in which the government owns
the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil,
factories, ships, etc.) and there is no privately owned property.” In my
opinion, that sounds like a pretty great deal. I’ve always embraced the ideals
of people coming together to work together for the common good, where you work
to eat, and you can actually support a family. But I know what’s running
through your head as I say this:
Connotation
is a bitch. From the Capitalist perspective of American eyes, we see Cuba,
Russia, China, North Korea, Chile – all of these countries that look horrid on
first glance. Let’s really look into that though: do we hate Communism, or the
people who run and determine their apparently despicable societies? I’d argue
the latter, because when you talk to a great number of people, you’ll get the
common, petty answer of, “Well, yeah, Communism looks great on paper, but not
so much in practice,” and then the conversation switches topics. If Communism
looks great on paper, then why can it not succeed in practice? For this I have
three reasons:
1) Capitalists
of America and other Westernized countries have not allowed for Communism to
succeed. I’d like to recall Chile, 1970: Salvador Allende became the first
democratically elected Socialist president of Chile. Nixon and all his other
bastard brethren we’re so vehemently against the idea of a nation based on
freedom and justice for all that they decided to send in the CIA to overthrow
the new Chilean government. Yeah, and they succeeded. America would rather have
a fascist, bloodthirsty society, where innocent people are killed for stating
their point of view, rather than have to suffer from the “horrors” of Communism.
2) Some Communist countries have shitty leaders: Mao
Zedong, Kim Jong-il, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Vladimir Putin, and Fidel
Castro (but this last one is debatable). Greed from politicians – corruption –
I argue that that is the basis of our hatred, that we despise these men who
rise to power, claiming absolute equality, while in reality practicing the
polar opposite. What the world needs is another great Socialist or Communist leader;
another Che Guevara, or Salvador Allende.
3) Maybe it’s time that we change the approach.
Communism may not be supposed to work on a large scale. Ironically, and all
places, unofficial Communism was highly successful for Northern Native
Americans, as well as the first European settlers in Jamestown. It was John
Smith who himself declared, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat,” thereby
eliminating the arrogance and laziness of the aristocratic assholes who decided
to make the trip.
If I have a target on my back now because of what I’ve
said, so be it. It’s better to tell the truth and admit my country’s downfalls
than to remain idle and ignorant.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
The Devils Down in Kansas
Let’s not play games here guys; I’m a pretty patient guy. Anyone who knows me knows that I try to here out all sides of a story. I believe in the Thucydides’ concept of seeing a situation from all points of view. The only problem with that is that there are ignorant idiots out there who aren’t capable of doing that.
That’s right, I’ve had it up to here with all of the
terrible atrocities that occur throughout the world each and every day, but
this one hits too close to home. I’m talking about those blind, forsaken
shitheads over in Topeka, Kansas. I’m DONE with Westboro Baptist Church.
Couple things before I go on, guys. If you’re
uncomfortable with me prosecuting a religious establishment, I apologize ahead
of time. However, if you question my opposition to the hate that these people
spread like rampant viruses, then I’d like you to, personally, never visit this
site again. You know I appreciate your support, but I will not tolerate having
an audience that supports hate and the spread of it. Now that that’s out of the
way, let’s move on.
If you aren’t already aware, Westboro’s main goal is to
spread the word of God by means of hatred and demonstration. Some of their most
coined messages include, to name a few:
·
“God Hates Fags”
·
“Thank God for 9/11”
·
“God Hates America”
·
“Antichrist Obama”
The
list goes on. And on. And on. And if you think that the messages are the most
horrible thing about this establishment, well, not quite. I think it’s reasonable
to assume that it’s the people SENDING these messages that are so horrifying:
I bet their parents are
so proud. Matter of fact, that’s probably the worst part is that their parents
probably ARE proud of them.
To be blunt, Westboro is passing along the false message
that all of us are doomed to Hell and that we are sinful not for our actions,
but for our very existence. Luckily, I am not the only one who has realized the
Church’s various injustices. Various organizations in across the United States
have already begun to try and stomp out these empty words. Better yet, people
have begun to become involved on a more personal level with eliminating these
evil peoples’ message:
If we keep up this amount of support and the Obama
Administration continues to pass laws that bring us closer to human equality,
then we’re taking a step in the right direction.
We can’t
live a life based on hate; only through love may we prosper. As said in 1 John
4, Verses 7 through 21:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone
who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know
God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among
us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live
through him. This is love: not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our
sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God
lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He
has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to
be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is
the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love
God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God,
and God in them. This is how love is made completeamong
us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love
drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one
who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates
a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their
brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not
seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love
their brother and sister.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Greatest Inventions Used in the Worst Ways I: Media + Marketing = Abomination to Society
So this is it, guys. This is the last
one; the last media blog. But let’s not fool ourselves: this has been too fun
for me to just put down. So even after this final media blog is finished and
published, hopefully there will be many more great blogs that get produced by The Smoking Gun in the future.
I’d like to thank all of my viewers
again for all the support. I never would’ve thought three months ago that my
writing would become so popular, especially on a worldwide scale!
To all of my classmates, thank you
for the warm encouragement and the feedback. This blog couldn’t have improved
without your comments and recommendations. It’s been a pleasure working with
all of you guys to try and make sense of this crazy world of neon signs and
billboards.
Lastly, and perhaps most
importantly, I’d like to thank Mr. William Maxwell for his outstanding support
as a teacher. As a truly intellectual man as well as a hilarious comic, it was
an absolute pleasure to study under you. Had it not been for your class and
your unique style of teaching, I wouldn’t be where I am today in terms of media
literacy.
I guess this is what it feels like,
hmm? This whole idea of online appreciation… It’s such a wild feeling, and
believe it or not, I’ve never really experienced it before. I don’t use
Facebook or Myspace or Vine or Instagram or Twitter or Kik or Skype or anything
else like that. (YouTube, maybe, but it’s up for debate whether or not it’s a
form of social media.) Truly, this blog is really my first hands-on experience
with the grit of media. And I’ll admit: it’s pretty cool! To be part of this
flow of ideas and feel part of this worldwide community makes me ecstatic just
to think about it.
It’s fun for a while. And then the
feeling sets in that something might not be right. Usually, this comes with
something like #YoloSwag2014. It’s at this moment that you may realize that
that comment was completely useless. But what do you and most people do? Not
only do you ignore the stupidity of the comment, but you may go on to say
something of the like!
You see, the one thing that I’ve
taken out of these past three months is that we’ve got access to this awesome,
powerful force called media, but we abuse the living daylights out of it.
Here’s a fine example: the use of
hashtags. You may remember my blog #Hashtags
but in case you haven’t read it, let me sum it up for you: Hashtags were originally
designed to get people to connect over various specific topics (i.e. An
interest in Miss Representation à #MissRepresentation), but instead, it’s used more commonly
for complete nonsense – say, #YoloSwag2014. At the rate that media and
marketing are expanding, our entire lives will begin to look like a walk
through downtown New York, Tokyo, or Shanghai. But then again, in a way, they
already have.
So what do we do to fix this
predicament?
It starts here, with us. I’m talking
about all of you media-analyzers, you truth-seekers, you skeptics, and all of
my fellow critical thinkers. We’re the people who are going to set the record
straight about all of the BS that marketers and social media creates.
But
we can’t do it ourselves; we’ve got to pass our literacy onto our peers. Here
are some starters:
·
Remember
the difference between having a little fun on the internet and it becoming a
full-blown obsession.
·
Monitor
the time that you spend on the internet or watching television.
·
DO NOT
make people like photo-shopped supermodels and idealized idols your role
models.
·
Remember
who you are. Do not let businessmen and jackasses in the comments section dictate
who you should be or who you are. Be yourself.
·
Strive
for truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
It won’t solve all of
our problems, but it’s a damn good place to start. The sooner we start working
towards revising this twisted and idealized world that we live in, the sooner
that we can start living our lives again. And I can like that.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Big Booty Bitches: A Musician's Paradise
Miss Representation
preached that women have been portrayed to people as this Midriff, this whore,
this socially unable person; all portrayed to us through the middle men writing
the papers and snapping the photos. These
people – Well, is that an appropriate word? What about monsters? Homewreckers?
Hollywood-sons-of-bitches? We’ll stick with people, but remember the
connotations – have thrust several images into our head of what the ideal women
should look like, such as this one below:
Of course, who
wouldn’t recognize the infamous perfection of the Barbie Doll? This, my
friends, is what they are teaching our young girls to look like: anorexic
pieces of plastic that are more product than human. Well ain’t that swell!
Thank you media! Little girls, at one point or another, in one form or another,
and in one place or another, are exposed to the Barbie symbol. It’s a
well-known fact that if you expose a child to something at a young age, when
their brains are still developing and they soak up every little influence,
chances are that this idea of perfection are going to stick.
Anyway, that’s
not what I’m here to talk about. No, I’d actually like to go to the complete
opposite side of this image of the super model to the image of every musician’s
perfect whore. I’ll be diving into various genres and songs to really show how
deeply this is rooted into the music culture. So let’s start with some glam
rock.
Now, Steel
Panther may not be the best band to get the point across, because that’s really
not the message that they’re trying to sending out. You gotta read into them a
little more to see that EVERYTHING they sing about is just a huge joke
dedicated to the dirty, nasty, and less-than-sterile era of the Big 80s. But
anyway, that’s beside the point. This song will work for our purpose because it
still sends out the most exaggerated form of the sexed-up image of women.
What is it that
men wish? Fat girls. I myself could never see what the phenomenon was; why
having overly large buttocks and breasts was such a big deal, or why bigger was
suddenly better. But I’m only one person. Many other young men have adopted
this ideal that bigger is better. Right. How has that affected young women who
aren’t as physically developed? This is the type of stuff that leads young
women to alter their body; whether it be through excessive eating or surgery.
Is that the message that we want to send out?
Let's move onto the world of rap. Mmm... Lot to talk about here. But let me keep this one short. For this example, I've chosen none other than then the King of Crude himself: Mr. Slim Shady.
Don’t get me wrong: I love Slim Shady, I
love Marshall Mathers, I love Eminem, and I love Ken Kaniff. Yeah, some of the
stuff he writes is pretty outrageous. But again, like Steel Panther, you gotta
know the context. A lot of what Eminem writes is done in the persona of Slim
Shady. While taking on this persona, Eminem tends to enter the area of dark,
cross-the-line humor. And how can you have that without a little innuendo? The
following are, respectively, lyrics from the songs “Crack a Bottle” and “My
Name Is”:
Crack a Bottle
“Oooh! Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting
for
In this corner, weighing 175 pounds, with a record of 17 rapes
400 assaults, and 4 murders, the undisputed, most diabolical
Villain in the world, Slim Shady!
So crack a bottle, let your body waddle
Don't act like a snobby model
You just hit the lotto
Uh oh uh oh, bitches hopping in my Tahoe
Got one riding shotgun and no not one of them got clothes
Now where's the rubbers? Who's got the rubbers?
I noticed there's so many of them and there's really not that many of us
Ladies love us and my posse's kicking up dust
It's on till the break of dawn and we're starting this party from dusk”
My Name Is
“Hi kids! Do you like violence? (Yeah yeah yeah!)
Wanna see me stick Nine Inch Nails through each
one of my eyelids? (Uh-huh!)
Wanna copy me and do exactly like I did? (Yeah
yeah!)
Try 'cid and get fucked up worse that my life is?
(Huh?)
My brain's dead weight, I'm trying to get my head
straight
But I can't figure out which Spice Girl I want to
impregnate (Ummmm...)
And Dr. Dre said, ‘Slim Shady you a basehead!’
Uh-uhhh! ‘So why's your face red? Man you wasted!’
Well since age twelve, I've felt like I'm someone
else
Cause I hung my original self from the top bunk
with a belt
Got pissed off and ripped Pamela Lee's tits off
And smacked her so hard I knocked her clothes
backwards like Kris Kross
I smoke a fat pound of grass and fall on my ass
Faster than a fat bitch who sat down too fast
C'mere slut! (Shady, wait a minute, that's my girl
dog!)
I don't give a fuck, God sent me to piss the world
off!”
As you can see in the lyrics, women are
ruthlessly defamed as for items used for sex only. Farther beyond that, not
only is the sexual image horrifying, but also, women are also framed in the
songs as subject to abuse and violence. Words such as ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ and actions like ripping off women's tits and raping them simply goes too far and ends up broadcasting the wrong message.
Regardless if these songs are joking or
not, these musicians audiences are taking these messages to heart, men and
women alike, and it is further adding to the degradation of the female image in
media.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
YouTube Ads Part II: My Soul Mate, Meng
Howdy folks! This
is Meng. She’s 31 years old, single, and looking for a man! Oh, and did I
mention that the lives in Guangdong, China? I guess this is YouTube’s attempt
at matchmaking.
No, but let’s be
serious for a second. How the heck – like – I cannot even begin to comprehend
how this ad was chosen to be marketed to ME. First, YouTube assumed that I
wanted to play some sexed-out pirate game and now they think I’m looking for an
international Chinese relationship? What?
As we learned
watching the various episodes of Frontline,
marketers are watching what you look for and what you find interesting online
and they use that information to market products specifically to you.
Delightful! Funny thing though: I’ve never visited a Chinese dating site for
people 30+ years old. I don’t even think I navigate my way through eHarmony! I
just don’t get it.
Anyway, enough of
that ridiculousness. Let’s focus on this wonderful little ad for a sec. The
first thing that you’re drawn to is – we’ll say Meng’s – face. She is looking
up at the audience and smiling at us warmly. This is designed to make us
comfortable. Making the viewer comfortable will make them more likely to pursue
the ad.
The second thing
that you notice in this ad is Meng’s dress – or rather, lack of. I don’t know
what it is about these YouTube ads: they want to show as much cleavage as
possible. They do this in this ad as a means for building our attraction for
Meng.
Next, you see a
little bit of Meng’s personal information: her name, age, relationship status,
where she lives, et cetera. This makes attracted viewers once again feel more
comfortable about Meng because they know more about her. And lastly, you have all
the technical stuff; what the website is designed for and whatnot and how you
can access it.
Alrighty then!
Let’s really get down to the sunny trifles, eh? In regards to Meng, it’s
important to remember that she is just an image; she is a symbol for who the
dating service wants to make you believe you can date: a young, cute, Chinese
woman. Is every woman that you could get together with via this site going to
look as IDEAL as Meng? Nope! But the dating service has already convinced you
otherwise.
Last but not
least, the background and color of this ad plays an important role in the
portrayal of the message as well. These dominant colors in this ad are soft
shades of green, blue, and tan. These colors help add a note of cuteness and
innocence. The background is designed to look like a message board. The text is
surrounded by a rounded box, making it look like an incoming message. This
helps add to the sense of cuteness and also seems to promise success with the
site.
Now: I’m not Meng’s
type. Anyone out there who thinks they’d be a better match?
"Hey Macklemore! Can We Go Thrift Shopping?"
Kweku Djan may
have beat me to doing a blog on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ song “Wing$,” he
still left me with a lot of material.
I’ll break it up
into two blogs because these two songs are completely different, so for right
now… LET’S GO THRIFT SHOPPING!!!
The first video is the released music
video for the song. Fair warning: There's a lot of profanity in this song. Just letting you know. As you watch, you can really see the whole idea behind the
song. In case you can’t hear the lyrics, I’ve provided the second video, which
includes the song and lyrics (but no music video):
What Macklemore is
trying to tell us through this song is that we don’t have to have flashy
clothes and a ton of money to be cool. Usually, especially in the media, beauty
is largely associated with dress. As jokingly stated by Macklemore,
“I'm like, ‘Yo - that's fifty
dollars for a T-shirt.’
Limited edition, let's do some simple addition…
Limited edition, let's do some simple addition…
I call that getting tricked by a business”
As he says,
businesses trick us into thinking that their products are what make you cool.
They feed off of our desires to fit in and feel cool by providing a bridge
between the too.
Macklemore uses
his funny, sarcastic tone just to show how truly ridiculous this concept is. He
also shows this in the music video by showing us how cool we can be and how
much fun we can still have without having to empty wallets.
Ultimately, I think this song, besides
being a a catchy new rap tune, is also an effective symbol for the fight
against media-influenced lifestyles.
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