Tag Archives: social network

China Wants Change

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Monica

According to this Forbes article, China’s sovereign wealth fund wants to buy a large enough chunk of Facebook, so that it can control its image abroad, as well as censor much of what the site already allows, because the People’s Republic of China is weary of social media and the freedom it propagates. Although the article is careful to mention that the fund would only be able to buy non voting stock, and that even a billion dollars worth of stock would be only about a hundredth percent of the total amount once the stock goes public, the idea of the article is clear: China wants to take away our social media freedom , and control us.

A Sassy Control Agent or a Smart Shopper?

As was apparent in the little bit of Foucault that we read in class, control and capitalism go hand in hand. The author of the article states that China figures that if it can buy its way into our social media, then it can control us. We owe China so much money that it practically owns us already, and now it wants to own our favorite pastime?

I don’t think that the Chinese sovereign wealth fund is all that interested in telling us Crazy Americans what to do. Maybe it just wants to be a bank and fulfill its wealth-making function, a la capitalism. I don’t think it’s possible for China  to own us anymore than it already does. Anytime we feel threatened, we like to demonize the perceived threat, make it worse than it really is. Especially if we’re in control.

 

Posted in Assignment 4 | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

Cash-Strapped Port Authority

Posted on August 18, 2011 by ngolubin

I had to post about this article because it just makes me sick to think how the port authority is ripping us off. I mean every year they implement these new price hikes on tolls and buses or wherever they just try to make easy money off of the public. It really gets ridiculous more and more, port authority lacks in responsibility, quickens, and just more moral reasoning.

But every year they try to raise the prices…how does that work?? I still dont get it to this date, and all these oppositions approve their hikes…Why? It bewilders me every single time. Especially with this new hike on port authority, this one particularly doesnt affect me because I take the MTA everyday to work to school but what makes me crazy is that they paid over 86.5 million in overtime to their employees last year..and now they want a bigger spending budget and more money. Does that make any sense? Why should we honor their price hike and it is their own fault for capping the budget and paying out so much overtime to their employees. One employee made 156, 000 in overtime in one year…..does that sound reasonable. Learn how to create a better spending plan and ask for price hikes. If this price hike gets approved I just cant see how we are not being robbed. I mean how much do we have to pay for these damn bridges that have to be repaired every single year. Verrazano Bridge is already 13 dollars…I dont even go on that bridge anymore. I cant wait till it costs 20…Im going to love that day.

Posted in Assignment 3, Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Cash-Strapped Port Authority

I survived…beyond and back

Posted on August 15, 2011 by ngolubin

I caught this show on the Biography channel Sunday night. It got me really interested, since i realized this show is about people who have died and come back to life. At first I didn’t really think this was real, i mean i still have my doubts, but after watching this episode it seems pretty realistic to me. This particular episode was about two people, Sandy and Matthew.

Sandy’s story was that she drowned in a white water rafting accident. She was dead for 5 minutes and was resuscitated through CPR. During the 5 minutes that her heart has stopped, she witness death, and what it means to be dead. She says she firsts sees a flash show of her sons in the future, when she is losing consciousness. When she actually dies, she describes herself as seeing her lifeless body in the water. She watches her rag doll body, while she is being saved by the main leader in her excursion group. He pulls her out of the water and drops her onto the boat. When her lifeless body hits the bottom of the boat, it shocks her body enough to get her heart beating again. That is when she says, she suddenly remembers being back in her body and gasping for air.

The second story involves Matthew, another individual that died and came back. However, his story was a bit more horrific. He was shot in the head by a random drive by shooting, and was dead instantly by the shot. He was rushed into the ER and for 5 minutes the paramedic performed everything they could to get his heart beating. For those 5 minutes, he describes himself being changed in a dark abyss..which he says is hell. Believer it or not, but it seemed like a real story, and he is not the only one with such crazy stories.

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Curfew City

Posted on August 15, 2011 by aherrera

Philadelphia  is one of the latest cities world-wide to experience Flash Robs. In recent weeks, the city has witnessed several robberies and assaults. Similarly to flash mobs, people learned of and then participated in the mobs through social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and BBM.  In response to these attacks the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, has ordered a city-wide curfew for “youths” under 21 years of age at 12am and those under 18 at 10 pm. In areas deemed to be more violent, the curfew has been set as early as 9pm.

While these preemptive actions may very well be justified, there has been quite some controversy regarding the comment Mayor Nutter made last Sunday at his church regarding the attacks: “you’ve damaged yourself, you’ve damaged another person, you’ve damaged your peers and, quite honestly, you’ve damaged your own race.” In this class, we have seen time and time again how race has been linked to crime. While Mayor Nutter is attempting to solve a problem, he is also creating one. By being a public official and perpetuating this idea that a particular race is behind an act of violence he is, in my opinion, perpetuating more crimes. By saying that black people are disgracing their race, he is creating a population of “suspects” that can be viewed with suspicion and even hostility by others. This label, as the article points out, takes away from the good things that that same target population is accomplishing, such as the award-winning Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement.  This is just an example of how stereotypes can perpetuate attitudes that encourage crime.

Posted in Assignment 3 | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments