Anyone Else To Blame?

After watching Supersize Me, I debated with several people in the class on who is responsible for the health issues in the United States (health issues as in high cholesterol, diabetes, etc.) But just right now, I finished my International Relations reading, in which I read a chapter about Transnational and International Organizations. But I was alerted when I began reading about the transnational companies. Transnational companies are companies that have branches outside their home country. As I further read on into the section, I came to realize that transnational companies have more power than governments. After all, transnational companies can evade taxation or any sort of governmental control by reducing their transfer prices. If government cannot tax companies, how are the governments taking control? In fact, political analysts even concluded that governments are losing power to the transnational companies. What I am trying to say here is that maybe governments should also be a part of the blame for all the health issues in the United States that are occurring due to unhealthy foods. If the governments took more control of the fast foods and put more regulations, maybe they can make the difference. Quit blaming McDonald's Mr. Spurlock, they are not the only ones responsible for the health issues. Its the powerless government that also should be held responsible.

A Change in Who Owns the Media

Yes, I still do think that technology has a major impact in the media. But after looking at so many films, including The Ad and the Ego, I think its advertisements that own the media. Its the advertisements that manipulates consumers to buy a certain product. Its the advertisements that help the corporations earn profit. Its the advertisements that change the society. They change everything in the society because look at them. People want something, and if the corporation can provide it, then people will buy it. Thats how the world works. Advertisements have become increasingly popular in the past decade, that it has manipulated the minds of the society. In fact, they target the children to become part of advertisements in order to sell their goods and make profit. Its dirty, but it works. And because it works, advertisements own the media.

The Corporation vs. The Ad and the Ego

Consumers don't only impact our economy and the flow of money in society, but also impact our environment and surroundings. You can tell that consumers impact our society by influence. After being brainwashed into buying a certain product, consumers push others to buy that very product. They say, "it works", "its right" and what not, but they don't realize that it sometimes doesn't. The impact of a consumer can lead to even more products from a particular company. Consumers buy certain things that may have problems, and once the company realizes that, the company makes a new product that would not have that very problem. I really think that the consumers impact the society by their influence, but another way of how they impact society is by giving into the advertisements. There are so many consumers in the world that give in to the advertisements, including me. This impacts the society because it allows advertisements to have more power, and it shows that the people are in the advertisements hands. Advertisements can change the way consumers think. If they show a celebrity doing something fancy, consumers will do the same. The consumers are just "blinded people committed to economic growth". They don't see how they are changing, and it takes quite a lot of time for them to realize the change. 

Now its tricky to say whether the public is informed about the advertisements. In my opinion, they aren't. Advertisments have taken over the minds of the people, and when a consumer really wants something, they will do anything to get it. For example, there is a company in India called Fair & Lovely, which basically gets your skins fairer. Or at least what the company says. However, the product didn't prove to help much, as most people had the same skin tone as before. But can't you all see how people are willing to do anything for what they want? I really don't see the public being informed about the corporation products. But one thing is for sure: in the future, the public may be informed. An example would be Marlboro Packs of cigarette. Smoking is unhealthy, and the compnay informs it to the consumers on the front part of the box. So it is a possibility that in the future, the public will be more informed about advertisements. But for now, it lacks too much of it. 

The Corporation Conversation

I don't know about the rest of the world, but I find it really weird when I begin talking about something I learned in class into depth. It actually just happened yesterday, when Bahia and I were talking about the Corporation before Yom Kippur began. Now in my point of view, corporations are just doing business. I think what they are doing is absolutely legal and fine, because all they are really trying to do is make a living. A really big one. Yes, many times the product they sell aren't good for the health. Sometimes they sell milk that may be unhealthy, and many times they do things that will cause health problems when they know it. That part does anger me, but in reality, its how life works. Corporations are major companies that are trying to earn the biggest possible profit. Even if we hate it when the corporations produce unhealthy products, do child labor, and may give the lowest possible salaries, someday many of us are going to be doing the same. Its just how the world works today, and unless if the governments put regulations on corporations, things will be the same even when we are working. 

Now, Bahia thought differently. Bahia is not a fan of corporations. She said, "I think that its ridiculous the way almost everything is slowly falling into the hands of corporations as they are gaining more and more power". Bahia really hates how the corporations make such a negative impact on the health of people and environment, and that they only do it for their selfish profits. In addition, another reason why Bahia hates corporations is because they pay their labors 50 cents and sell their product for 12 dollars. Thats a major profit, and the corporations frankly take it just for themselves. 

Now those were our opinions, but then I frankly just told her, "you know Bahia, some day me or some of your other friends may own a corporation, and they might not even be healthy for the environment". And she simply replied, "then I would probably not like them". Then we got into an argument and I told her that thats just how life works and how you have to be responsible for your own problems, while she replied that its the powerful corporation who causes the world all the problems. It didn't end that well, but clearly we both had a very strong opinion about corporations. 

Supersize Me Review

You know, the documentary is trying to show the bad sides of McDonald's, and okay I can agree that McDonald's wouldn't be the healthiest of meals to eat. Indeed, eating fries everyday would increase cholesteral and eating McDonald's everyday would increase the chances of getting Diabetes. But I am really dissapointed with the documentary. I think it was well filmed and had good facts but the aspect I didn't like in the documentary was that the main guy was targeting McDonald's for many health issues in America. Yes the food that is provided in McDonald's is not healthy and almost everything has sugar in it. But you want to know what the main cause of all these health issues like diabetes and high cholesterol? Its responsibility, the lack of it. People are just not responsible and they don't care about the food that they are eating. I'm sure they all know that McDonalds is unhealthy but yet they go and eat it everyday. And even if they don't know its unhealthy, its not McDonald's fault. McDonald's didn't tell people to come every day, its just that their products were tasty which attracted customers to come regularly. You really can't blame McDonald's this, because what they are doing is simply business. Targeting McDonald's was at fault here, the guy should have targeted the people. It is completely irresponsible if someone would just eat at McDonald's, see that they are getting health problems, and suffer for it. They should have seen it coming.

I'm not being biased because many of you may think I am due to the fact that I love McDonald's. People just need to understand that in order to survive healthily, they have to be responsible. That's it.

Oh and, I suggest you guys check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9ajRIgTJNAY
Yes, I am loving it and I would always fight for my fries!!!

Now that is just my point of view. But I have seen several articles that made a review of the movie. The first article that I saw came from the New York Times. This article had supported the documentary, stating that the McDonald's corporation is responsible for the American epidemic of obesity. This article had praised Mr. Spurlock's documentary, as it had notified the American society that one of the primary causes for obesity in  the US is coming from Fast Foods. Now the second article first criticizes Morgan Spurlock, stating that he wanted his movie and that he got it. It later on says that "Supersize Me" shows that eating too much of food makes you gain weight, which I think everyone in this world should know. The article later on states about how since the 70's, people have taken in more calories on average. That basically states that whatever you eat, you are anyways going to take in more calories since people today eat more than what people ate in the 70's. In addition, the article was also defending corporations, which makes it seem a little more biased. However, the article really focuses on the fact that its not fast foods that are the only things that make people obese, but its also that people don't do enough exercise. Now if you ask me which article I prefer, I would choose none. I feel that the second article is a little too biased. It has to be clear to the media that the fast foods are unhealthy, especially if you are taking in fries and burgers everyday. Those things can cause you to get high cholesterol! The New York Times Article, I don't really like it because its blaming McDonald's for all the health issues and that is not true. Yes you may think I am contradicting myself but what I am really trying to say is that people cannot think that McDonald's is healthy and people cannot think that McDonald's is the cause for their health issues. Fries and hamburgers, are unhealthy and if you eat it everyday, not only are you going to get FAT, but you are also going to get health issues. BUT WHO SAID THAT YOU HAVE TO EAT THAT EVERYDAY?! You don't, and if you do, its your responsibility. Some people may not be able to cook, but heck there are SO many fast food restaurants in the United States, why can't people choose the variety they are given?

Media Consumption Week 3

7:00: Shower, Eat Breakfast (Head & Shoulders, Coco Pops)
8:00-15:00 : School :(. I see everyone wearing AIS T shirts as usual.
17:30: Listen to Music on Latebus after football practice (The Killers album "Hot Fuss")
19:00: Out for dinner to Max Brenners (pass by many other restaurants) I also see a lot of movie posters. 
21:00: Work and download new music (Kaleidoscope by Tiesto, I really am just waiting for the new Maroon 5 album to come out)

This week I saw a little bit of change, and its partially due to the fact that I had gone out more during the week. When I had gone out to Industrial Zone on Monday, I had passed by a few restaurants like Kyoto, Spaghettim, and Joya. In fact, another type of media that I passed by were posters. I had seen many of those Movie posters on the end of every street, with posters of A Team and Eat, Pray, Love. In addition, I had encountered more music during the week, simply because I downloaded more :). But my normal day was pretty much the same, until the night time where I saw more advertisements around the streets in the Industrial Zone.

In fact, tomorrow I'm going to lunch with a good friend of mine so I'll probably be seeing a lot more advertisements and names of restaurants :).

Media Consumption Log Week 2

Media Consumption Week 2 

Now this was when I had my Rosh Hashannah Break.
10:00--Wake up, eat my Coco Pops
till 12:00--YouTube, Facebook, Skype, TV (around 20 advertisements and New Kid Cudi Music)
1:00--Go out for Lunch (pass by at least 20 different posters on the streets like movie posters of The Expendables) (also listen to my ipod, Random music).
3:00--Play FIFA 09 on playstation
5:00--Reading new magazines and newspaper (Herald Tribune, TIME)
6:00:--Watch TV (How I Met Your Mother)
7:30--Eating Dinner (Coca Cola on the side)
9:30--Watch a movie (Shooter)


So, clearly my Rosh Hash Hannah break wasn't filled with so many events as I had barely encountered any media. I think the reason is because during the Rosh Hashannah break, I had a religious week, where I had to fast some of the days. Due to the religious week, I was not allowed to go out much and I wasn't really doing much during the day time as well. I couldn't eat several items either, like cheese or bread. I really spent my time during the Rosh Hashannah break staying at home, which was really boring. But, I have realized something. Whenever I go out, I tend to pass by more media then the times when I am at home. But whenever I go to my bathroom, I always encounter TONS of media as there are soap bars, perfumes, colognes, aftershave, shampoos, toothpaste etc. And it always has its labels like Head & Shoulders, Dove, Calvin Klein, Aquafresh and many more. That's just something you should know about me, that there is A LOT of media in bathroom.