Holy Hip-Hop

Where to begin on this topic. In class we had a HUGE debate on what hip-hop was, and if it had "died" or not. There were only a few people in our class that thought hip-hop had actually "died." However most of the class seemed to agreed that hip-hop didn't "die," it just evolved. I agree that it has evolved. I also agree that hip-hop doesn't sound the same as it use to, nor does it talk about the same exact things, but its still considered a type of hip-hop. There were also a few students who thought that hip-hop only talked about three topics and that's it. Murder, materialism, and misogyny. Artists can write songs that have nothing to do with either of those categories, and still be considered hip-hop.

The Media!

Today in class we talked about what we think the media has done to us as a society. We talked about if we thought it had made us smarter, stupider, meaner, or nicer. I think that media has actually made us smarter, however i would agtee there are some disadvantages to the media now also. The media has taught us a lot about technology, and how to use the internet or phones. The media has given magazines more topics to talk about. The power of internet has allowed us to learn more about the world and the issues that are happening as well. Instead of havin to tune in to a certain channel to listen to the president talk or an important speech by someone we can just get on the internet and watch it on a website that recorded it. I feel like it makes thing a lot easier, IF you understand technology.
However I feel like technology could make us somewhat stupid also. We get a lot out of computers now, and typing a paper isn't the same. A lot of people just type the paper without printing it out and reviewing it and making corrects. They just assume the computer changed all their mistakes. But today most computers do in fact correct a word automatically, without you even clicking spell check. Some computers don't even change it to ther right word.

"Tough Guise"

In class we watched a video on the stereotype of men, and why men act the way they do. Before watching this movie I asked myself why men thought that certain things make them masculine that women do not. Jackson Kats, who is an anti-violence counselor talked about how men think and why they act the way they do. He talked about how even from a young age guys are given toys with huge muscles, and even guns showing that this powerful toy was masculine. In the video he showed pictures of toys from the 70's and the SAME toy figures that we have today. They were the same character (batman, superman, etc) only they had more muscles and were built bigger.  There were many different things that Jackson brought up about why guys do certain things to look masculine. He talked about how guys need to be more vulnerable, and stop putting up this new "pose." There are a few men in the media culture now that do show their vulnerable side and allow themselves to cry to give hugs. Those are the types of men that are masculine to me. The kind of man that can show how he is really feeling and not put up a fake front to people. I really enjoyed this video and i think some men in our culture need to view it themselves!

Violence/Masculinity

Reflect on waht we've discussed in class and what you've heard in the video/what you've read in the article about violence/masculinity. Is it something to be concerned about?


I think that violence is something to be concerned about. Our crime rates have increased throughout the years. Does anyone sit back and think abou why this is? Could if be because of our violence in movies have increased? I think that there could be a connection with the crime rate increasing and the amount of violence that is in our media today. The movies today in our culture are much more violent, and have more speical affects. When we discussed this in our class we talked about why some people think that violence occurs more often, and if the media is to blame. I do think that our media may have a little impact on how people act. However i'm not saying that people watch a movie about gangsters and killing people, then go out and kill someone. I do think that people forget that we are in the real world, and that it's not ok to do the things that people do in movies. I don't think that its serious enough for the government to get involved or anything, but i do agree that this could be a cause for more crimes.