Thanksgiving Thoughts/ Black Friday Thoughts

Thanksgiving vs. International Genocide Day

Black Friday vs. Buy Nothing Day

 

            So the time has come and past where tourists flood into the city for nothing but the opportunity to stand around in the cold of a New York Thanksgiving Day Parade. One of the glorious American traditions in America is to watch or attend the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade which concludes in the arrival of Santa Claus. I’m sure that the Native Americans are looking fondly on us.

            Thanksgiving will always be a optimistic holiday where people will be happy for the things in their lives (or so they should, hence the name). There are those who can reflect back on what the Americans did shortly after Thanksgiving to the Native Americans who so graciously welcomed us with open arms. That is why we celebrate International Genocide Day on Thanksgiving as well, so that we can be thankful for what we have yet reflect on the past. I tried to bring this up at my Thanksgiving dinner and it led to a rather interesting conversation about the contradicting nature America has. My mom in fact took this as a good time to enlighten me on all of the things that America has gone back on. She then told me not to trust anybody wholeheartedly, because they may just go back on their word. I don’t think she is right. I think that Thanksgiving is a day where we should be thankful for what we have and reflect on what we have. From there we should be mindful of the things closest to us and do our best so that they do not slip from our grasp that way we can remain happy (hopefully).

            This year was the first in the last five where my Grandma didn’t come in to town for Thanksgiving. This might seem unimportant to you, but it changed my plans very much. The last five years you see, I have woken up early, gotten dressed, hopped on the train and run to the city to go shopping. And such is the glory of “Black Friday”, where everything is on sale and the city goes wild. This year I didn’t wake up early. I didn’t even get dressed until 6:00 pm. I only bought one thing, and that was a strawberry milkshake from McDonalds. It felt great to celebrate “Buy Nothing Day” instead of “Black Friday”. It was relieving and comforting. I think that in fact it helped to calm me down from the stress of my life, to take a day off. Next year, should my Grandma come to visit, I think that I would actually prefer to take “Black Friday” off to just relax and enjoy things as they are instead of trying to buy things to fill that void. In the battle between “Black Friday” and “Buy Nothing Day”, “Buy Nothing Day” blew away the competition this year.

Good and Meaningful Life According to Various Sources Draft, Pt. 1

 

1. Introduction: Every person on the planet, whether they do it consciously or not, is trying to find meaning in their life. However, meaning is not a definitive term, and every person has a different idea for what is meaningful. These interpretations of meaning differ from person to person due to the cultures around us, including corporate culture, folk culture, and big sub-cultures. Within each of these there also lies he mainstream, marginal, and prohibited messages that they get out.
2. My ideas about a good & meaningful life 1: I personally think that there are many different ways to live a good and meaningful life. While I may feel that certain things I do are meaningful and good, somebody else may think that they are a waste of time and pointless. For that reason, I think that in order to live a good and meaningful life, you have to follow your own standards. Everybody has a place in this world and everybody is an individual. No people are the same and they shouldn’t be. If everybody was perfect, successful, and helped their fellow person, individuality would be lost. This “utopian society” would eventually crumble due to withheld resentment. While not all meaningful lives are good, meaning can be found in all lives.
3. My ideas about a good and meaningful life 2: I do believe that there are certain overall guidelines that should be followed for a good life. I was raised to be Catholic, so I am influenced by the Church. As a result, I do think that most of the 10 Commandments apply for a good life, but there are exceptions. I do not think that somebody has to be religious to have a good life, and they don’t need to honor their mother or father. I think that people do have to overall be nice to others and do their best to help their fellow person, but if somebody is entirely helpful to others then they will lose themselves and their individuality.  A good life is harder to have then a meaningful life in many cases, because you have to be a good person to others and yourself. In addition, just because you live a good life, it is not necessarily meaningful, and vice versa.
4. Other peoples ideas about a good and meaningful life 1:
5. Other peoples ideas about a good and meaningful life 2
6. Defining corporate/commodified culture and raising the question of messages it sends (dominant, marginal, prohibited)
7. Corporate messages 1 - Music video 1: The song “Lip Gloss” by Lil’ Mama is basically saying that physical possessions, such as Lip Gloss, make you popular and happy. Therefore, it implies that having expensive or nice possessions will make you happy, more popular, and that it will make your life “good”.
8. Corporate messages 2 - Music video 2: The song “Good Life” by Kanye West talks about money and the things that come with it. The song goes on to describe money as a good life, and that having nice things and a sexy woman by your side is meaningful.
9. Corporate messages 3 - Film 1: The movie “Superbad” starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera has mixed messages on a good and meaningful life, and is a good representation of mainstream media contradicting itself. Throughout the movie, the main characters are trying to get to a party so that they can “get with” a couple of girls. Michael Cera’s character Evan is more into the romantic side of mainstream media, where you like a girl for who she is (Although she is also rather pretty) and don’t avidly pursue sex. Jonah Hill’s character Seth is the opposite and wants to get drunk, get action, and have a summer full of sex. The movie in the end seems to put most of its support behing Evan though, as he ends up getting the girl and Seth, seeing this, decides to try to be more romantic and caring for who the girl he is with is.
10. Corporate messages 4 – Magazine Ads: Corporate media sends out many different messages depending on what circle you are in. What is a prohitited or marginal message from one circle may be mainstream for another. In the video game world, there are money common threads. Based on advertisements for both Saints Row 2 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, conclusions can be drawn quite simply. Other than the surface “message” that video games are meaningful and good.

Election '08 Conclusion

When history looks back on November 4, 2008, what will they see it as? Will they see it as the beginning of the Obama era? The end to the Bushes and Clintons dominating American politics? The first major office held by a minority? Or the beginning of the greatest economic and civil downfall in American history?

            People tend to think that Barack Obama is going to fix things automatically, but that is most definitely not the case. He has a lot of work to do to fix the country and this will take time. I predict that Barack Obama willl in fact fail at first when he attempts to fix the economy. While he has ideas, none are particularly solid and he has minimal experience in addition to that. Bush has destroyed our economy, and the best that Barack Obama can do, at least with his first term, is try to slowly piece things together. I do however think that Obama has a solid health care plan and that it seems very practical and helpful. While this may affect some major health care companies, the overall affect of this move is positive, in that more people will have health care and feel safer.

            I think that the election of Barack Obama is also a huge lift for minorities nation-wide. People of every race united together and proved that just because somebody is black, it does not mean that they are less qualified. This opens the door for many races and hopefully will be the starting point for presidents of many races. Obama put a lot of hope into the hearts of Americans, and with it they can accomplish anything (Or at least find the motivation to get further than they ever have before).