MLK Day on a G & M Life

Martin Luther KIng Jr. is one of the most famous folk heroes of American culture. If you cut it down to just those who are black, he is probably number one (But Obama is closing in on that too). However much of his agenda is in fact ignored by the media and few people know about it. In a way this defeats the purpose of celebrating his accomplishments.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrates the man who "defeated" segregation, the man who fought for racial equality at a time when there was known. That is why we celebrate MLK day, to honor all that he accomplished. However, if you look at the grand scheme of what he did, he failed at most of what he tried to do and what he did accomplish was practically an accident. Nobody honors Hitler for helping to have the Jews integrated into society more than they had been (My opinion more than fact I guess), and yet we honor Martin Luther King Jr. This seems a tad odd, but I do not deny that he accomplished a lot.

MLK Day however, tells people a multitude of things that are "crucial" to a good and meaningful life. For instance, fighting the system, exactly what Martin Luther King Jr. did to be honored. It also encourages people to fight for what they think is right. These are both pretty mainstream messages that are common in most forms of culture. What I would like to propose though is that the holiday in fact tells people that overlooking what you don't like and focusing on the good is necessary to a good and meaningful life. That is basically what the holiday is doing, and since it is so celebrating so widely, it is basically encouraging that you just overlook the bad. I think that for this reason the holiday might not be all it should be.

What does the inauguration say about a G & M life?

Every four years, America stands still (or at the very least slows down) and watches as the president is sworn into office for the next four years. The ceremony itself is a big event that is prepared for months in advance. This year of course, extra attention was given to the inauguration due to its historical significance.

The inauguration is essentially a fancy display of a winner, of somebody who beat everybody else, normally against the odds. The inauguration therefore says that success and conquest are good. This year added on to that, by having a man of mixed race win the presidency. This says that making history and defeating the odds are meaningful. In a way, this year also says that being of a race that is not white and doing what a white person has done is also meaningful, because it shows equality and that it can be done by anybody.

Online Advice from the Normal Folks

The world is full of people that are trying to live a good and meaningful life. Many of these people think that they are living a good and meaningful life, and as a result they want others to do so as well, so they post what they think is crucial to live a good and meaningful life online.
One example of this is a set of videos on how to be the perfect boyfriend and girlfriend. The video on how to be a perfect girlfriend states that you should “relax your standards”, in reference to the girlfriend not always expecting her boyfriend to be perfect and for her to not expect herself to be perfect. The girlfriend should not make the boyfriend expect her to be a perfect bombshell, “but make an effort” every once in a while, to liven things up and make yourself feel better. This shows folk culture values women who rise above their standards every once in a while. This can often mean lowering their standards by being more slob-ish and such around their boyfriend. In a way this is encouraging people to lie, or at the least it is leaving that as an option for relationsips.
In the video on how to be a perfect boyfriend, the most important thing is to “listen to her” when your girlfriend talks to you. This shows that folk culture values it when boyfriends listen to their girlfriends. This, coupled with the how to be the perfect girlfriend video message to listen to your boyfriends stories and explanations makes the overall message that listening to those close to you is very important. This shows that when people are in a relationship where they can both communicate and listen to each other well, that they can live meaningful lives. However, the boyfriend video provides a bit of a contradictory message in that they want you to lie to your girlfriend if you weren’t listening to her and say that you were.
In my own findings, a good and meaningful life comes from “self-knowledge”. This is a very common message from folk culture. In my own life, I have found that family often says this and that by knowing yourself, you will know a good life. This can be because if you understand yourself truly, then you will know exactly what there is for you to do in order to live a good and meaningful life.


My source on folk culture: http://www.zeromillion.com/personaldev/meaningful-life.html

Deconstruction of: Christmas

Christmas. The word alone can excite boys and girls across the world at the prospect of getting presents. In the United States, the holiday is one of the most celebrated days of the year, right along with New Years. The holiday is all about togetherness and goodwill towards all men (and women). It is a day when you are supposed to be giving and thankful for that which you receive. The holiday also celebrates time with your families and those you care for the most. These bring up feelings of joy and togetherness, making your inner self feel better.

Christmas is traditionally celebrated in many different ways, making it unique from other holidays. Always falling on the 25th of December, people celebrate by gathering around a cut down tree or replica of one, in their house and opening presents. Later on the people celebrating may go to Church to here the story of why we celebrate Christmas (The "birth" of Jesus) and then have a feast. Christmas, though originally a religious holiday, is generally celebrated by anybody that wants to, surpassing every other religious holiday known.

Christmas, like many holidays, has many unique aspects of attire to it. Of course, the most one most frequently seen is the costume of Santa Claus (A marketing spokesman). In addition to this, the colors of red, white, and green are seen frequently, along with blue and gold occasionally. Phrases such as "Merry Christmas", "Ho-Ho-Ho", and "Feliz Navidad" represent both the corporate aspects of the holiday along with the folk. Christmas has a ton of music too, with album after album of Christmas songs available. Normally classical with an emphasis on lyric and vocals, these tracks are so numerous that Christmas has it's own section in many music stores.

Christmas though is a holiday full of contradictions. First off, the thing it is celebrated for, did not occur on that day (Jesus was born in the spring, not the cold of winter). Secondly, Jesus preached about being selfless and helping others, cleansing yourself in a way. Now, people spend weeks in advance buying presents for themselves and everybody that they know.

America tends to have a habit of focusing on the more consumer based aspects of every holiday, and Christmas is the ultimate representation of this. Black friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the kick off to the Christmas season (A.K.A. early winter), and has sales on everything known to man. Millions of Americans buy buy buy everything they see. As a whole, we tend to base our Christmas' on how many presents we got and how expensive they are. Forgotten is the religious origin, all that remains is the shopping and gifts. This is often due to the shallowness that many people have with their own lives, so they choose to focus on material possessions to make them feel better the way that family and togetherness once did.