The Media

What is the media?

It's all around us and it affects how we think about things and what we do each day. I think it's almost impossible to not be affected by the media.

The media includes radio, TV, the Internet, books, newspapers, magazines, pictures/photos, music, movies, and even video games. The iPhone made by Apple is probably the best symbol of the media for this generation. You can access the Internet, movies, music, newspapers, books, photos, maps, in addition to it's main function as a cell phone.

The media can be a good thing and a bad thing. Without the media, specifically news reporters, we wouldn't know what is going on around us, and yet in the United States the media tends to focus inward. This means that you hear mostly about what is going on in the USA and not about what is happening in other parts of the world. For example, the flooding throughout the state of Tabasco in Mexico was mentioned only briefly in the American news. In fact, I didn't even know about it until a group of informed Gresham High students presented about the disaster last week.

The media also tells us what to do and what to think through advertising. When you watch a show on TV there are a lot of commercial breaks. In fact, an hour long show on TV is really only about 42 minutes, with 18 minutes of commercials. A 30 minute show is about 22 minutes of programming and 8 minutes of commercials. We are shown what products to buy, what clothes to wear, and how our bodies should look.

Think about the media in the United States. What are some positive (good) things about the media and what are some negative (bad) things? What are some ways that you think you are influenced by the media? For example, items you buy or want to buy, clothes you wear, brand names you like, the way you want to look, what makes someone beautiful or handsome, etc. Leave a comment for the class.

Immigration

Immigration is a hot issue in the United States right now. You hear about it nearly every night on the evening news and find it on the front page of newspapers across the United States. Why has it become such a big issue recently? Is it because of the upcoming presidential election or the struggling US economy? Either way it is a very important issue that needs to be resolved for a number of reasons.

Who is an immigrant? If you look it up in a dictionary you'll see something like, "an immigrant is a person who comes into a foreign country and takes up residence there." Referring to someone that leaves their home country, moves to another one, and makes it their home.

Everyone that lives in the United States (other than Native Americans) are here because our families moved here from another country and decided to stay. This makes us all IMMIGRANTS, except that some of us have been living here longer. I think we need to keep this in mind when talking about the current issue of immigration.

We also need to get rid of (throw away) the term "alien" when used to describe people that are immigrants. Nowadays, an alien is understood to be one of those scary, green creatures from outer space. It should not be used to describe people who are born in other countries and live in the USA.

There is an upcoming presidential election and all of the people running for President have an opinion on the issue of immigration. Please read some of these opinions here, and then comment on which candidate you agree with the most. Perhaps which candidate you would be most likely to vote for if you were 18 years old and allowed to vote.

Feel free to include your own opinion on the topic of immigration in your comments, just make sure that you stay away from trash talking. Stick to talking about what you think and feel about immigration and not about what you think and feel about President Bush or anyone else.