diverse media.

i like to browse the internet from time to time. when i do i always visit worldstarhiphop.com. So on sunday i happen to run across this raw video that i couldn’t believe was real. A school fight in chicago led to a 16 year olds death. It wasn’t like any typical school fight i had ever seen. There were over 10 people fighting and 2 by 4s being swung left and right. The boy the was killed was struck by a 2 by 4 then was repeatedly kicked on the floor. He laid on the floor lifeless and other kids were still hitting him. What most surprised me about this story is the fact that it wasn’t all over the news. I believe a story of this magnitude should be all over the place all over the time. Just to refer back to my old blog.. kanye west got more buzz then this story which is ridiculous. The only time i seen this story on any major media network was when i was looking through CNN.com.

 The thought that runs through my mind is if these kids weren’t african american and they were white would the story get the same coverage? Would a lot more people know about? and would a lot more people care? i think what happend at that school is an event that has the possibility to happen anywhere. The news coverage on the story could help people be more aware of the potential danger that is out there. But the news coverage that this story received just made me think does race play an issue on how important the story might be?

Students in need!

i am not much into politics because it’s not my cup of tea. But i ran across this article in TIME magazine that really caught my eye. Obama has a new plan for college students who receive federal financial aid. I believe his new plan can drastically help many students out there who are going to school to pay off expenses. This reform has been long over due. Ive had many friends drop out of school because it was too expensive to pay for. Obama plans on increasing the amount of money that is given to students through grants and loans. What has been happening with many loans is that students haven’t been paying them and the government is left to pick up the pieces. This will not only benefit the students but it will save the economy billions of dollars throughout the next couple of years. Sure a few jobs will be lost, but i believe in the end education is the key to moving forward and by increasing funds it will help thousands of students across the country who are struggling to get through school. i am one of those students who benefit from financial aid. fortunately i have a job but there are many other students who don’t have one simply by choice or because of other priorities. Having a job and being a full-time student isnt easy to juggle so i understand those students who don’t choose to work and they are the ones that need this bill to go through. i hope that this bill goes through so not only can i benefit from it but other students who are striving for success but aren’t able to because of economic reasons.

what’s all the talk about?

The world and society we live in baffles me sometimes. Soldiers overseas are dying and being wounded everyday but we dont hear about it much. Some one takes a microphone from somebody elses hand and it is all over the place. It is ironic how we follow these peoples’ lives as if we were apart of them or we had any significance in their lives. For those who don’t know Kanye West abruptly snatched the microphone from Taylor Swift’s hand as she was giving her acceptance speech. I saw it happen live but i didnt give it that much thought where i just had to tell my friends about it.

As soon as this happen it was all over the place. I was on facebook and people were talking about what he did. i went on youtube and people were already making video responses about. i went through my aol instant message buddy list and every last one of them were talking about Kanye West. i turn on the news the next morning it is all a headline news. i go to school next morning and everybody knows about it. why is it that stories like these get so much hype and buzz. i’ve had friends die numerous times and i dont see their faces on the news, newspapers, or any other media outlet. i think we as people have our priorities really mixed up. But maybe that is just what the media is making us believe or they just show us so much of it that is all we are accustomed to. People are so drawn to stories that has anything to do with celebrities when we should be worried about things that actually affect us like health care reform.

All the buzz that people have created just made the two entertainers that much bigger. Kanye West got to be on late night tv with jay leno. if i was an entertainer and thats what it took to be on the tv with jay leno i’d be snatching microphones left and right. And for those who weren’t familiar with Taylor Swift are now a lot more familiar with her. I’m pretty sure the hype we helped create is going to benefit both of these entertainers. i just wished we gave our full attention to stories that actually mattered instead of giving it to stories that don’t mean anything at all.

Is it that serious?

I don’t watch much tv but when I do I can’t help but to see at least a couple male enhancement pill commercials (no homo). Like I’m in the middle of watching espn then Bob’s happy ass comes on the tv talking about extenze and how it has helped him and how it made everything better in bed. I figured this was just an advertising scheme seeing that most of the espn viewers are men. I also noticed that these commercials usually came on at night when more mature audience is watching. I thought I only saw these advertisements on tv but one morning as i was driving to school I noticed it was on billboard on la cienega.

I noticed it was becoming a big problem when I was working at my old job. A bunch of 12-year-old kids were telling me that in a few years i would be using products like Viagra in a few years. i found it very ironic but i thought to myself how are they so young but they know so much. i dont remember being that young and knowing anything about products like that but the advertising world has changed so much over the years. The commercials try so hard to be subliminal but they are bright as day light. Products like these aren’t really advertised in my neighborhood of south los Angeles. I usually see billboards like these on the way  to middle class neighborhoods like they are the only ones suffering from erectile dysfunctions.

Just like any product with any side effects they leave the disclaimers until the very end. On billboards they find the lightest and whitest color to write the fine print to make sure nobody sees it. But at the end of the day advertisers should think about everybody who is going to possibly see there ads and how it can be slightly inappropriate for them. But of course now it is all about the money, companies or advertisers aren’t thinking about the harm they can possibly be doing to our children.