Media and Society - Summer 2019

In this day and age, consumer culture has been growing effectively during the 21st century. Consumer culture helps target groups of people who share the same desire and the same need for a product. Consumer culture can be viewed as negative or positive in many ways. One viewpoint can be opposed by how consumerism can be very "greedy" and it could possibly encourage the idea of "consumption at its own sake". A great example of consumer culture is the idea of the "American Dream". Back in the 1950s, consumer values dominated the American culture, and also the idea of buying goods that will promote happiness. The term "the good life" was popular back then due to the economic boom and the creation of new jobs. When a country's economy is doing well, it leads to more purchases and more money in making. Think of it as the idea of "supply and demand". Consumerism also dictates that it is not the owner of goods who determine what a society should consume, but rather the free-thinking consumers. Many companies that usually think out of the box, has became more successful in the business and consumerism industry. A product will not exist if consumers are not interested in it. In this sense, the economy is self-regulating and self-sustaining. Depending on the sells, and such, it can fluctuate. Another example of consumer culture are Apple products. Apple argues how they strive to make the use of technology easier for people. The look of the newest iPhone, or MacBooks show how sleek, clean, and precise each packaging of each iPhone. Opening an iPhone box for the first time shows a very well thought-out package design that is durable, attractive and thin. Apple targets younger people for their products, like millennials. I personally think it's a smart strategic way for companies to engage with the audience by giving them some type of advertisement, so they can purchase the good. However, there are some downfalls with that as well, such as the environment when making the product. Deforestation, pollutant emissions, and climate change are some of the negative factors that's destroying our environment due to consumerism. We could prevent this from happening by acknowledging the problem and reducing it by changing out lifestyle of things.

GENDER AND MEDIA - by Richard Fontanez

Media is a concept that is forever changing. TV shows, movies, video games, social media etc. They all evolve. Media allows us to portray different types of characters. Some that we can relate to or root for. Some we can love to hate and some we can aspire to be like. Today, media has been doing a lot of justice for women lately. In the past, you would most commonly come across roles like the secretary, the submissive wife, the bimbo or the damsel in distress. These roles were nothing more than the small checked boxes for early televisions quota. Fast forward to today, and we have a plethora of strong female characters spanning all of media. Cinema especially has come a long way from keeping women in a box of limited roles. Hollywood has been shattering that box for the past few years with there new blockbusters with female leads. A genre is not limited to a certain gender. Women like Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) are prime examples of female empowerment. Both of these films show what it means to be a fighter. Alita: Battle Angel highlights the title character's childlike innocence and genuine appreciation of everything around her despite being found unconscious in a dumpster pile in the beginning of the film. In Wonder Woman, Diana is one of a race of skilled warriors that travels to the world of men to prevent a god from reigning destruction. What makes a compelling character is them not being perfect. They have flaws and go through pain. This allows the viewing to feel for the characters and understand them and their motivations. Alita learns that she isn't invincible and gets her first bionic body destroyed by one of the films antagonists yet she still stops him with only one hand and a torso. Her purpose now is to become a hunter warrior and fight evil. While doing this she uncovers memories of what she was. She was a powerful weapon. In Wonder Woman, Diana believed she had killed the god of war Ares when in reality it was just another antagonist. This shatters her worldview when she sees that nothing changed and mankind is still fighting. What these scenes had in common, is that neither character refused to give up. They continued to fight. Alita being a battle born cyborg found a new body which enhanced her abilities and Diana being a literal Demigod discovers Ares true identity and fights for humanity rather than letting mankind's evil deeds corrupt her. A strong female character is a character you can relate to, no matter the gender. They have personality like any other human and above all else aren't perfect. Whether it be Alita's determination or Diana's compassion, imperfection is what makes characters compelling. Woman are people with personality and the media is finally giving good examples of that. These are the characters that little girls can look up to. These are characters that we can all look up to.

MEDIA EFFECTS - by Nicole Shepps

Media is very popular amongst many individuals in this world. It is routine for most individuals to wake up in the morning and immediately check their social media news feeds to see what is going on currently in the world and what is going on that day. I myself, being one of them. Not only does social media affect us adults but it can also affect adolescents as well. The way that it can affect us as adults is, it can create an increased amount of anxiety, depression and even lack of sleep. Too often does negativity come from social media. Not only are individuals constantly comparing themselves to one another but there is cyber-bullying and invading of privacy that also occurs. Social media not only causes an individual harm mentally, but it also causes it physically and emotionally. Social media can potentially ruin a friendship or relationship. This happens because many times on popular platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter you see individuals talk about “relationship goals” while posting something cute or romantic of their significant other. This then results to the comparing aspect of social media. Which then may cause a disagreement within each other potentially ruining the whole relationship. As far as it affecting adolescents, I see this every single day. Being a Teacher’s Assistant at a preschool, many parents will be waiting to drop their children off and while waiting to drop them off, their kid throws a tantrum. First thing I see the parents do is, give the child their phone to distract them. Not only is this an inappropriate way to deal with a tantrum but, the parent is teaching the child absolutely nothing by doing that. In fact, they are enabling the behavior and basically telling the child that it is okay to act like that in a school setting. Too frequently do I see this happening. It almost becomes a habit and a dependency for most parents to deal with the behavior this way. Which may become very misleading to the child. For the reason being, the child will automatically think every time they do not get their way and throw a tantrum that mommy or daddy will allow them their phone too watch videos or play games on. It is absolutely okay for a child to watch videos and play games on an electronic device. However, in my opinion they should only be given it for a short period of time when deserved along with being monitored while on it. Children should experience going outside and interacting in real life, not be so caught up on these devices. I remember when I was a kid, all I did was go outside and I used to play with my friends from dawn to dark. There was never any worry in the world. Nowadays with devices like these, it can potentially expose your child to inappropriate videos or games. For instance, I have had students come in to class talking about guns and shooting just because that is what they did in the game, Fortnite. Games like that simply do not set a good example for kids. Especially with everything going on in the world today involving guns. Even though the game involves guns, it also involves explicit language. You would be shocked by the language these kids pick up for only being three and four year olds. It is insane and not an appropriate vocabulary to have when you’re that young!

FANDOM - by Jeremy Shikarides

What is a Fandom? Merriam Webster defines a fandom as firstly; all the fans (as of a sport) And secondly as; the state or attitude of being a fan. Fandoms are groups of people who are fans of a piece of work; whom are more so devoted to the work than the average viewer. This piece of work could be a movie, comic, television series, cartoon, video game or book. Some fandoms include, harry potter, the rocky horror picture show and marvel.

Fandom as a Commodity. Fandoms began as groups of people sharing a common devotion to a particular genre or piece of work. Soon these people began sharing their own work based on their work of choice. As people began commerce of these works the companies that produced the original work caught on and began manufacturing and selling their own merchandise. Soon movies had clothing lines released before the movies themselves. This created fandoms for the purpose of monetization.

Race and gender. Fandoms can seldom incite hate, every so often there is an event where a person is shamed or taunted for their cosplay of a character, a woman dressed as a male character or an African American dressed as a white character, but most often; the majority of the time the common interest of a fandom surpasses race and gender, allowing men and women of all races to interact and share their love of media.

Cultural impact. Fandoms have not only created unity in small scale between people groups but has largely created subcultures of people. People constantly think in an ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ mentality, black versus white, man versus woman, Caucasian versus Afro-Caribbean; these fandoms create trekies, versus star warriors, Hayao Miyazaki supporters versus Steven Spielberg supporters. This shift from internal descriptor to external ones that define ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ has, at least in a smaller scale, created peace among many people groups.

MEDIA POLICY AND CENSORSHIP - by Danielle Smith

Media policy is about power. The power to establish boundaries, norms, and standards for mass-mediated visual culture. The power to decide which perspectives will be informing social discourses, debates, news, and entertainment. A media policy is a corporate code of conduct that provides guidelines for people who post content on the internet either as a part of their job or as their private life. As well as the prohibition of forms of speech and media content deemed to be contrary to the common good. Policies and censorship vary depending on macro and micro companies, business, social media platform campuses, etc.

The media economy is ruled by profits but also by the governments and industry organizations who set out to regulate it. Macro media companies need to follow the rules just like media consumers. Over the last few years’ media laws have had to adapt with the evolution of technology. Everyday internet culture between tweets, memes, viral videos, is built on this casual everyday sharing. The internet gave tons of tools for communication in media creation but it also opened up loopholes of policies and censorship. Between links, URLs, photos, songs with everything we do at our fingertips is basically breaking policies and censorship rules. Online that includes our browsing habits and history, plus personal information we share with all the websites and apps we use.

For instance, on our campus website when we first log on it states, “privacy, cookies, and terms of use, blackboard will collect, use, and store your personal information that is necessary to use this application and the related functionalities. Blackboard handles this information on behalf of your institution when selecting “accept and continue” you are agreeing to blackboards terms of use.” Aside from just this website every website basically ‘tracks’ what you are looking at as well as saving the data you are clicking to share with them.

There are multiple reasons as to why companies have media policies. The goal of social media policies is to set expectations for appropriate behavior and ensure that the posts will not expose the company to legal problems or public embarrassment. Such policies can include a wide range from what kind of information can be shared, to including restrictions on disclosing confidentiality. Referring to privacy, access, the collection and sharing of personal information. Which all falls under the policies and what has to be censorship.

Censorship, policies, copyright, and other media regulations have always been a bit complex, but the internet made all of that infinitely more complicated. Laws are trying to play catch up with how media has changed due to technology and many of the old definitions and approaches start to mesh when used in the new media ecosystem. These were laws that were made before the current media moment colliding with what is has become everyday practice. The gaps between current media practices and traditional laws are already impacting lives to our online lives which poses serious challenges to our legal system. There are always going to be shifting notions of media policies and censorship. Our technology is outpacing legislation.

MEDIA CENSORSHIP IN JAPAN - by Shinga Miyajima

People may believe more developed country tend to have more press freedom. In fact, the members of the group of seven (G7, the top 7 economic countries) ranked at least top 50 from the top of the free press ranking. However, there is an exception, Japan had ranked on 67th. It is the worst rank in the countries in a G7. Japan is not a communist country, Japan does not have any problems with environmental of technology. What makes Japan rank on 67 on press freedom rank in 2019? The government of Japan officially have announced freedom of the press after World War II. There is not censorship by the government. However, there is censorship by society and people There are several media that argue those taboos purposely, but the industry is not as big as other western countries.

○Television Media would not report their scandals.

When the TV media had established any scandals, media tend to not to report it, even they did repost about it, it is not going to be a big deal. Minor media sometimes report scandals. Eventually, the scandal will be on a discussion on the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization(BPO). But, the members of the BPO are mainly television media. The scandals will be hidden from society.

○The Press Club in Japan

Generally, the press club is a place where a journalist expands its network. So, the most journalist will be welcome to the press club. However, only selected journalist have permission to enter the press club in Japan. And, to do not lose permission to enter, most media and journalist never leak this information.

○Media would not criticize Advertisement agency

There is not much advertisement agency in Japan. If the media criticize the advertisement agency, the advertisement agency will stop produce an advertisement for certain media. This situation triggers a lack of funds to the media. Media would not criticize advertisement agency

○Japanese Entertainment Agency

Most huge Entertainment Agency share has the stock in most of the media. Several Medias is controlled by the entertainment agency. If there is a scandal by the famous entertainer, the media will not report about it to protect their entertainment agency”s reputation. If minor entertainer had made a scandal, the media will treat them badly to kill them from the entertainment industry.

○Emperor of Japan

Japanese people used to believe the emperor of Japan is actually god. He had access to all three power in the three powers of government (legislative, executive and judicial) Even he had lost all access to the government, the emperor family still exist in Japan. He is the Japanese people’s symbol. The media will never criticize the empire of Japan

○Korean-Japanese and Chinese-Japanese.

Koreans and Chineses were forced to move to Japan to become work power under the Imperial Japanese Government. Those minority people were treated so badly. This subject is still one of the huge discussion in Japan. To avoid any troubles, media tend to not to report anything that relates Korean, Chinese-Japanese.

○Religion

There are several media that is running by the new religion. When those new religions have scandals. The media that is running by the new religion do not report about it at all.

○Imperial Japan.

Japan had lost in World War II. Japan had given many troubles and issues to several countries. Therefore, even there is something that is praisable about Imperial Japan. Media will never report about it.

○Yakuza

There is mafia in Japan, they have known as a Yakuza. People and Media find something that relates to the Yakuza in daily life. However, no one discusses it. People and Media afraid the revenge.

○Sports team

Most of the professional sports team in Japan is running by the media. Even there are scandals in the sports team. The media do not report scandals by a professional sports team to maintain their reputation from the public.

Since Japan is following pure democracy. There is not censorship by the government. However, the censorship by society and people makes Japan rank in the below the 50th in the free press ranking. To improve this condition, Japanese people and the Japanese government need to cooperate to find the solution for each issue.

MEDIA BIAS - by Kailey McCartney

Media bias is defined as, the bias or insinuated bias of journalists and/or news producers, who are involved in mass media. This is prevalent in all events that take place and how they are depicted and covered. A journalist/news producer’s job is to keep everything they say or report, neutral. No opinions or feelings should be involved in any media. There are six types of media bias and they are bias by omission, bias by selection of sources, bias by story collection, bias by placement, bias by labeling, and bias by spin. Bias by omission: this is defined as leaving a side out of the story. An example would be ignoring important parts of a story to discredit a liberal or conservative. This can occur with all types of media and be prevalent for a long or short period of time. Ways to avoid falling for bias by omission is keeping up with current issues regarding liberals and/or conservatives. Bias by selection of sources: this has to do with adding more sources that support a claim rather than adding ones that discredit it. The common phrases associated with this type of bias are, “ experts believe,” or “observers say.” Most times, journalists will search for quotes that favor their argument about a certain topic. Ways to avoid this type of bias is to stay in tune with the people journalists are quoting and their views on the topics in question. Bias by story collection: this means including stories that go with the opinion of the journalist/news producer rather than adding stories that oppose their opinion. An example of this would be a liberal or conservative member, conducting a study but ignoring the similar studies released by the opposing side. To look out for this, you need to know the sides of both the liberals and conservatives. Bias by placement: this has to do with the importance an editor places on his or her story. As well as a news outlet releases stories that coincide with the topic of the story while getting rid of stories that oppose their opinion. One viewpoint is highlighted and made most important while other stories will get less recognition and aren’t viewed as important. To look out for this, keep an eye out to see where news stories are placed. As well as seeing how far into the story the viewpoint is located. For example, in an unbiased story, conservative and liberal viewpoints would be included, if not, there’s bias. Bias by labeling: an example of this would be putting an extremely positive label on a conservative and doing the opposite for a liberal and vice versa. Labels such as “expert” or “awful person” is definite bias. However, not all labeling is bad. It becomes a problem once a conservative is labeled and a liberal is not, or the other way around. Bias by spin: spin has to do with the tone of the journalist/news producer. In addition, bias by spin means when only one person’s interpretation of a story is included and the other is excluded. This is kind of similar to bias by omission but it differs because it’s the authors subjective opinion about an objective topic to make one or the other political group look better. To check this, see if the story matches either the liberal’s or conservative’s viewpoints. If a story reflects one viewpoint and excludes the other, there is bias by spin. I think bias is so unfair because it’s a false interpretation and media has the power to sway someone’s opinion. Therefore, it should be kept neutral and fair so people can properly form an opinion about anything, not just politics.

INFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE - by Elizabeth Mundus

In the latter part of the 20th century, with the invention of the personal computer and the World Wide Web, the world changed rapidly. This change was similar to the industrial revolution in the way that it completely changed industry and the daily lives of most people. Most of the world went from an economy based on industry to one based largely on information and technology. Along with changing the economic world, this shift has created a new culture for education, access to information, and traditional media.

In the Digital Age, or Information Age, social, economic, and political activities are completely dependent on information and technology. Most jobs require knowledge of, and access to the internet and are dependent on it to continue business. People rely on the internet and social media more than ever before in their personal social lives and also to access news and other information. According to the Pew Research Center, 62% of all adults in the United States get news on social media. This news must also be extremely up to date in the age of the 24-hour news cycle. Even politicians rely on social media and the internet to spread awareness of their causes and to communicate directly with the public.

With the massive shift in the way information is produced and consumed, access to information has dramatically increased. Today, most information is readily searchable and free on the internet. The average person can do a quick Google search to find a recipe, instructions on how to rebuild an engine, historical facts and figures, information about celebrities and public figures, and countless other things. Information is also available almost immediately. One no longer has to wait for the Sunday paper or even the evening news to hear about what is going on. Scientific discoveries and other new information can also be updated very quickly. Never before has there been such easy access to information. This has created a shift in power dynamics between the government and it’s citizens, teachers and students, employers and employees and others.

There is a democratization of information on a level that has never before been seen and this has brought many benefits to individuals. Consumers can research products and prices before making a decision, giving them more control and power and forcing brands to adapt in order to stay relevant. Employees have more access to continued learning to help keep their skills in demand. Those looking for love can research a potential date on the internet before ever meeting them. Education and access to information is no longer considered a privilege, but a right.

The democratization of information is also a two way street. Not only are individuals able to consume more media than ever before, they are also able to produce it. The internet allows for a massive amount of user-generated content. Social media enables more one-to-one communication rather than the top down structure of traditional media. This has changed the face of what media is. It is no longer just professionals or large corporations producing media. Amateurs create large amounts of content available online. An amateur video can receive more views and attention than a professionally produced piece.

The ease of producing user-generated content has benefitted many people, but it has also introduced new problems. “Fake News” has become an everyday part of our vernacular to describe the false, misleading information, or propaganda that can become widespread on the internet. As earlier noted, many people get news from social media and this has resulted in viral spreading of misinformation. Today’s consumer must not only know how to access information, but they must have the skills to determine if that information is accurate and reliable. Information literacy is a skill that is becoming more and more important for the everyday consumer as the credibility of available information becomes more of an issue in the digital age.

YOUTUBE AND SOCIAL MEDIA - by Connor Winchell

                       How does social media bring people together born in the mid-90’s to the 2000’s; and 

what are some of the effects on people born in the Generation Z era? Social media genres include Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter, on-line dating, video playing and Facebook. The most popular social media is Instagram. People reach out to their friends by posting, liking photos, commenting and direct message. Social interaction occurs even if you are not talking to people face to face. Some messaging is fleeting, like SnapChat, which has an expiration date on the photos/messaging, and others, like Twitter and Instagram can live on forever in a recycled, retweeting kind of way. I prefer face to face interaction, but it is not always possible because some people may be busy during the day and can’t hang out with you because of work, school, etc., so, I communicate with them through social media, usually Facebook or Snapchat. I like using these two specific types of social media because it is easier for me to see what my friends are commenting on regarding my posts or pictures. I like to Snapchat the best because you can use filters to change photos and it allows you to keep your own photos. I use Snapchat to talk to my friends and cousins in different states, so it helps me stay in touch when I don’t see them as often as I like. Even though Instagram is the most popular type of social media in my age group, I still like the better quality of pictures in Snapchat and Facebook.

                                                                      Dating Sites
           		Another popular type of social media is dating sites.  There are sites like Bumble, Tinder and Christian Mingle.  They can be costly and the more up-front compatibility matching they do for you, the more they charge.  A monthly subscription can be between $39 to $100 dollars.  My friends and I have mostly been disappointed by the outcome.   In addition, many of us have experienced cases of malicious use of dating sites.  I have found on more than one occasion that the location of the person interested in meeting me was thousands of miles away.  It was a good thing I kept track of that.  There are people out there that act very flirtatious and who are very complementary of your looks, personality and interests but it becomes obvious that they are just trying to lure you into a porn site or some other way for them to make money off your interest.  It is sad that data sites don’t screen for this and block such accounts or at least warn you. 

                                                                   Video Game Playing
                    Video game playing can be an excellent way to reach out to your friends and meet new people.  Popular platforms (PS4, Xbox, etc.) have social networking capabilities where you can play with or against and communicate with other players.   Sites like Twitch offer recorded and real time tutorials on game playing and provides links to gaming  conventions and other ways to connect with other gamers.  

                                                                   Cyber Bullying

Social media can tear apart generation Z due to and cyber-bullying, hate speech and harassing messages that the users can receive. Emotions can run high when you are in your late teens or early twenties. Often things are said on social media out of anger or hurt and they are hard to take back. Sometimes people are just being cruel and putting someone down. You must develop a “thick skin” and not take things seriously. Some people are just so immature that they are purposely trying to hurt someone else due to their own insecurity.

                                                            Taking Personal Responsibility

I can’t help but notice on a Friday or Saturday night at a mall that many of us in our late teens and early twenties are hanging out with our friends, however, we are spending most of our time on our cell phones. How did we get to this point? We seem more comfortable in a digital space than face to face. That is a reason why dating sites even when you reach a point of going on date tend to fail. We need to invest in our own self-image, we need to seek face time and we need to view digital social media as a tool to enhance our face time instead of replacing it. Our generation is bombarded with messages about dating sites and internet-based access to one another. That is contributing to isolation and the messages back from a digital world can be cold or downright cruel. Social clubs at school are a great idea to make a connection. They lead to social interaction with your peers. You make new friends, you see their faces, you can see how they react not only with their words but with their facial expression and gestures. Group projects in the classroom are also a good way to promote face time and to learn to work directly with one-another. Most of us feel uncomfortable at first but we learn how to delegate based on a person’s strengths and interest and we often develop new friendships or at least an appreciation of how individual we all are.

EDUCATION AND GLOBAL MEDIA - by Lacy Clark

    Although the world is a fast paced environment, global learners of all ages require social-emotional skills, critical thinking and self management. Many known educators agree that education is a universal human right, but funding education is complicated. After World War two, the world saw the right to education  as a key to global society and school reforms worldwide were created to help prevent illiteracy. According to author of the book (One Student at a time: Leading the Global Education Movement), Fernando Reimers, there is currently a new global education movement striving to initiate collaboration of education across the world. This movement is often financially supported by donors who value education and grass roots community effort.
    We need to ask ourselves how are our own community and federal government serving citizens in global education? Our own United States Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos is known for her support of school choice but her pattern of siding with for-profit colleges makes some question her true intentions. According to Reimers, global citizens need to understand that educational efforts need to start with collaboration in education that removes global poverty. In other words, some countries have made education a business. In contrast, countries like Finland boast that all their schools are equal. Finland and China put a strong emphasis on language education to prepare students for the global market. India and Nigeria are currently some of the largest English as a second language speaking countries. 21st century global learners are asking educators, "Help me to think and evaluate, let me digitally tell my story, and please understand that we are digital learners."
    According to Bill Gates, K12 has the power to unleash potential in students. He said, "The goal here is 80 percent of low income and minority students should graduate high school and be ready for college." However, I believe K12 could be modified for students globally and be used as a tool to reduce inequality.K12 is FUN! The online education program is changing the way we think about learning. The part of the K12 vision statement that stood out to me states "Students will use engaging technologies." This means students will become engrossed in their telecommunication for learning. The advantages of all online global learning is: no immigration problems, working with classmates around the world and also you can learn and enjoy life while advancing your career and creating family bonds. Online global learning is perfect for self-motivated learners who are able to connect with educators interested in offering online global opportunities to students. Some of the more globally perceptive universities that see the importance of global learning include: Penn State World Campus, Purdue Global Online, Royal Global Online University and from India, Birla Global University and Op Jindal Global University. The disadvantages to global online learning have to do with money because many people can not afford internet and lack access to lap tops and computers until their governments and donors take action to provide that access.
    The global world is currently changing the way we learn, interact and evolve as a human race. Everyone from stay-at-home grandparents to first graders can utilize the global technology to lean new languages, STEM studies and course curriculum in schools and college all the way to the doctoral degree of advanced education if they choose to invest themselves in global learning and there will be more global tools in the future of humanity.

URBAN GLOBAL MEDIA - by Lynn Gardner

Urban is defined as; of or relating to cities and the people who live in them. Usually this description is accompanied by a description of those referenced as being older, poorer with the area being a densely populated, central section of the city. It, for whatever reason, excludes or eliminates the culture of the urban area within the description known as Urban Culture. Wikipedia has a a more fitting description; "The presences of a great number of people within a limited space". It is fitting and goes further to point out the resulting developments of such an environment, referring to them as sub-cultures, in equally large numbers. These sub-cultures function within very tight knit proximity to each other, while at the same time not intruding into each others private lives.

    Whether religion, foods, art, tradition, social behaviors, music, dance, clothing or language (which include patterns of speech) there are a wide range of human cultures that contribute within the urban community. There persists to be a bringing together, people who in wider geographic conditions would likely have had little if any interaction with one another. Yet here, within these urban communities we find that these people do live together.  They travel using the same transportation systems.  They shop in the same grocery stores and pharmacies and in some cases to there own surprise they are purchasing the same items. Over time they also develop many new, never seen, traditions and food preparations, such as, in Brooklyn New York, there is Rasta-Pasta which infuses a variety of Caribbean curry & Italian ingredients and loved by both. 

    Realities such as these are rarely depicted by the media to the global-media community.  Knowing that media within itself possesses the mind controlling power to persuade the thoughts and attention of the viewing public through the frequency levels of their day to day programming. 

    Generally, media coverage of inner-city activity focuses on negative, and in many cases violent crimes or just general crime.  The impact of this type of coverage, which is disseminated nationally, through television, print and social media reporting produces an overall feeling and vibe that these areas are very bad areas that should be avoided at all costs. Oftentimes there is accompanying footage captured by a private home camera or local business surveillance system showing what happened with explicit closeups of the alleged perpetrator asking for the publics assistance in bringing them to justice. 

    However, it comes across as shocking that those same cameras that are operating 24 hours a day never seem to capture the neighborhood good the occurs everyday on those same streets.  Unfortunately the negative passes through without too many questions while the good images of America at its best are passed over with no time left on the programming schedule.  Images of people in urban communities helping people daily with the same exact neighborly concerns that arise with suburban dwellers in their communities everyday is shelved or discarded. 

    The stunning impact to this one-sided coverage is that the faces from the urban communities to the global viewer is now tarnished and the communities that they come from deemed undesirable.  Considerations of investing in those areas would not be in their best financial interest. Home values deteriorate.  Local services dry up.  Ultimately the community crumbles.  Then mysteriously, developers move in and snatch up properties at what is described as realtor bargains. Those, whose faces were depicted in the media previously as residents are now labeled as undesirables as well, with expiring residential privileges. 

    The ultimate tragedy is that while the real images of the principles of America, are being carried out, international news clips in countries all across the globe see only the negative narratives and shake their heads with the thought that the concept, which is America, does not work, while in reality it does.  The dream of America is being lived out daily, in melting pots all across this great land, with individuals living in close proximity to people who they previously had nothing in common with. They are now neighbors, fellow citizens and in most cases friends.  This is the Real America.