The Ad Council

The Ad Council is a neat and significant organization. They specialize in commercials that are geared toward a certain cause that needs to be seriously looked at in today's society. Three particular events or commercials that they have done were Pollution Prevention, Drunk Driving Prevention, and "I am An American". All these articles were really good and I learned a lot from them. Pollution Prevention used the icon "The Crying Indian" to help get the point across on how pollution is harming the environment. This commercial helped established Earth Day in 1971 and the Environmental Protection Agency and is described as one of the top 50 commercials of all time. This cause reduced litter by 88 percent in 300 different communities in 38 states and even in several countries. Drunk Driving Prevention I thought was probably the most influential one of them all. The tagline "Friends don’t let friends drive drunk" is one of the most memorable things from this campaign and 90 percent of adults in America know this slogan. I know from personal experience that a lot of my friends say this, some jokingly; moreover, it’s the fact that we know if you’re drunk, don’t drive period, call a sober driver or designated driver that is the common term used today. This word was started from this campaign and used on the college level with fraternities and sororities so an impact is being made. The proportion traffic fatalities caused by alcohol related crashes has dropped from 60 percent in 1982 to about 45 percent today. Its amazing what campaigns can do to change something that once was socially accepted to something that’s looked down upon; now and days the penalties are really stringent and to get a DUI, kiss your life good bye. The particular article "I am an American" basically explains itself. This campaign was made right after 9/11 during the most troubling time in history. The commercials itself were just amazing, it made you feel happy to be an American and it was easing to watch something positive on TV. Although 9/11 was a tragic event, I thought it brought our country together after this as in more loving towards others and more patriotism was uprooted from this. It seemed like no one was that active as being proud to be an American until this tragic incident happened. Using the Latin word E pluribus Unum meaning "Out of many" was a powerful way to end the commercials. Basically, it was saying that we are all Americans so we should come together as Americans during this troubling time. All in all the ad council does a great job with the campaigns they put on.

Blog on Social Citizenship

This article was interesting but repetitive in some of the points that were trying to be proved. Social citizenship is defined as people who "are energetic and passionate about social causes; brimming with new approaches and ideas for problem-solving; disposed toward sharing the responsibilities and rewards of affecting change in the world; and equipped with the digital tools and people power to make it happen". In the paper it is said that our generation the Millennial are more social citizenship. I do agree with the article that our generation is a lot more technologically advanced compared to previous generations. We do use the internet and use the web to protest certain events that we do not agree with. I myself get several cause event invitations on facebook and some of them seem interesting but I usually click the ignore button because I actually do not want to get contacted by the group and get myself into something I thought was interesting for that particular moment. I think one reason older generations look at our generation, sometime referred to the "Q generation" as Thomas Friedman wrote in The New York Times, as quiet and inactive is because everything we do is either on a phone or a computer, we are not old fashioned like our parents or their parents. To some this might seem lazy but you can reach more people through mass emails, mass text, or a good example social networks like facebook. Something interesting I read in the article was that some scholars feel that behavioral patterns begin to repeat every three generations and we are compared according to the article the greatest generation of World War II. This makes me wonder if they are saying history is bound to repeat itself if our characteristics are the same, so what does the next generation bring forth?

Teenage generation in New Direction

Graham Spanier president of Pennsylvania State University made a good point in his paper. At first he was questioning the drive of America’s teenage generation and lack of voicing opinions on current issues and quoted "I marvel on the one hand at the silence of today's young people on major issues and on the other hand at the inadequate understanding of the issues that some students choose for protest." One thing Spanier pointed out was that our generation is more tuned into to television more and no more about what’s going on in Hollywood than our country. "After all, according to a Newsweek study last year, more Americans were able to name Jordin Sparks as the winner of the American Idol competition than could identify John Roberts as the U.S. chief justice." Spanier was right on with this observation because I am always on facebook and watching the latest television shows and I never really watch the news unless I have too. He then switched up his argument and started to praise this new generation the strong will to help people through voluntary work. There was a 16% increase in applications to the Peace Corps and applications are up 28% for teach in America. I know I did a lot of voluntary work in high school and I loved helping out the community to make it a better place. I do consider myself a genuine person when it comes to helping people in need. I was really pleased with reading this article and it clearly reflects our generation today and how we are headed into a new direction, maybe it’s because of the technology improvement or that’s just the focus on the world today with all the poverty and unfortunate people. Spanier quoted our generation perfectly “while we see fewer marches and angry fists pumping the air, many students are still making a difference, and that is something worth shouting about.”

Said States

This piece was not the easiest to read or understand. It has taken me some time to read because it was so long, I had to take several breaks in reading this. One thing I do have to commend Said on is his ability to tell a story from a non bias point of view. Said himself recognizes, the Palestinian view has been lost and rarely acknowledged in history. I can’t imagine having to go through all of what Said describes and feeling as if I had lost my identity and did not belong anywhere. The colors of the Palestinian flag are outlawed by Israeli law, I think this is a shame and this hurts patriotism for the Palestinians. I really feel bad for them that they cannot exercise this freedom. Having a flag shows your pride of your country and not having one is demoralizing. There is a negative view on Palestinian society due to that fact that from a western point of view that most Muslims are terrorist. This piece did a really good job in depicting that negative contestation. It seems like the Palestinian culture itself is doing more damage than helping it, they have forbidden their history. I still haven’t understood why they do that, I think they are just a confusing culture in itself. In the article Said says that he is Christian. This makes his article stronger on the fact that he is from another religion writing about the hardships of his people in the Middle East. He is trying to bring change and make people aware of what really is going on overseas instead of what we see on the news because the news only shows the violent side of the Middle East. Over all this essay was pretty good and it was well written and he got his point across. Said has changed my mind on how I few Muslims and that Middle East as a whole.

Discover Something New

I have discovered just because you accidently forgot one of your belongings in church, does not mean it will be there or in lost and found when you get back. One would think, being in church, if you accidently left some of your belongings in church they will be there when you get back, or a fellow member would put it in lost and found. Well did not happen to me. About four years ago, a little bit after Christmas, I dropped my wallet in church. I just got finished putting money in the offering and I thought I put my wallet in my back pocket. As we were heading to the car to leave, I realized I did not have my wallet, and I immediately went right back to the chair I was sitting in. Searched all around and still no wallet. I decided to be optimistic and check the lost and found, my wallet was not there. I was distraught; I gave them my information just in case my wallet happened to turn up. I lost $200 cash, $100worth of gift cards, and family photos that I will never get back again. You would think being in the house of the lord no one would steal/take what’s not theirs. From that instance, I learned not to trust anyone to be honest even in the house of the lord. I think this is important because it re-evaluates what is taught in the church and peoples morale character. I was taught never to take what was not mine, let alone in church. Other people should learn not to trust anyone no matter what the circumstances are.