Obama did not only become the President of the United States, he also became a pop culture icon. Obama SHOULD be a helluva lot more than just a pop culture icon to Americans, however for some that is all he will ever be. I hope Obama’s iconism doesn’t pan out like Che Guevara’s has. I see so many people wearing Che shirts and buying the Rage Against the Machine mechanise with Che plastered on the front who don’t even know the difference between a gorilla and a Guerilla. People support Che blindly because he is an icon for a rebel, and that’s cool. Obama will not solve America’s problems. Obama’s is only a vessel of hope and change; the American citizens need move past believing in hope and change, and making hope and change.
For the rest of the world, including Canada, Obama will largely remain a pop culture icon, nothing more. But that doesn’t take away from the importance that his iconism holds. The American Dream wasn’t just dreamt about by Americans, the American dream was a global dream at one point. However, since Bush was in power, the dream became a nightmare. Now that Obama is power, people from all over the world can build off the Obama icon that stands for change and hope, and strive for a better world.
Now that the Bush Regime is over and the smell of cash and oil dissipates (along with the war on errorism, oops I forgot the T), Obama’s signature cologne’s Hope and Change is tingling more than just noses in the United States. The “war on terror” I feel was largely a Bush administration creation that manifested with the help of the seeded idea in many Americans that the “American way of life” is the best way of life.
Now “the American Dream” that so many people strived for turned out to be, well… a nightmare. Americans now are left only to follow their nose to Hope and Change. I think America is definitely participating in war, I mean they are using War tactics but that doesn’t mean it’s a justifiable war. Now that Bush is packing his backs and Obama is arriving dosed in Hope and Change cologne people are starting to question their Nations state of affairs and really thing about what needs to change. The NY Times hoax prank is a creative example of the changes that Americans need to voice (check this link out to read up on it http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE4AC0GV20081113). One of the writers of the hoax newspaper said they planned the prank to “make sure Obama and all the democrats do what we elected them to do (Nichols par 5).” This person who is seeing what Obama and his scent gives us and acting on it.
Sources
Nichols, Michelle. “Hoax NY Times newspaper declares end of Iraq war.” 12 Nov 2008. Reuters. 23 Nov 2008. <>
Net neutrality was an issue I had no idea was happening until this fall. I wish I had known about this before my roommate went internet/phone/satellite utility shopping. Now I am stuck with Bell who noticeably throttles my internet speeds, and gives me shitty satellite saturated with duplicate shows and PPV channels. I actually was forced to upgrade my internet connection in order to make room for bandwidth usage. It is ridiculous how much we pay for the internet to experience slow speeds, and also charge me for bandwidth usage. It seems they are double charging.
After reading a lot of the articles about bell, and postings on saveournet.ca and michaeilgeist.ca I still don’t fully understand the net neutrality debate. It needs to be clear what consumers pay for when they pay for the internet from their ISPs, what justifies these extra costs AND throttling.
Bell argues that video streaming and downloading from sites such as YouTube is responsible for massive bandwidth allocation, and I am wondering if Google pays for the internet like I do. I love my internet NOW, but I had to spend more money, and I think that’s exactly what Bell wants. Why doesn’t Google pay for this? I mean they are making millions of a search engine, its ridiculous when you think about it. Type a word in and” wahlah,” you are connected to a section of the web.
If this situation gets worse I will place my faith in the internet’s replacement. If the internet isn’t working, technology will progress. Check my link out for “the grid,” internet’s proposed replacement.
I’ve been a reader of SLAM before I even read magazines. When I was six years old back in ’95 SLAM was exclusively a picture book that satisfied my love for the game of basketball. I feel some sort of homage towards SLAM since I’ve been a loyal reader of theirs basically since their beginning (in 1994). When I grew out of Goosebumps, I found SLAM and have been religiously following ever since. I make a temple with the 200+ scriptures of SLAM that I own.
After doing some mapping, I found out SLAM was once published by PRIMEDIA Inc., a former magazine publisher. They are also publishers of many other guides and magazines, ranging from apartment guides to home magazines (Wikipedia: PRIMEDIA 2008). The company also has many websites corresponding to the magazines and guides.
Suddenly my underground SLAM seems…above ground, tainted by the light. If SLAM is owned by a company that also owns literature that I would consider wiping my ass with if there was no toilet paper. SLAM owned by a company that also owns magazines such Soap Opera Weekly and Practical Horseman? It hardly makes sense to me, and definitely makes me wonder why SLAM was purchased by a media company that is interested in things that have nothing thing do with hoop culture. It gets worse.
In 2007 PRIMEDIA PRIMEDIA Inc. sold their massive “Enthusiast Media “group of magazines to Source Interlink Companies (Wikipedia: PRIMEDIA 2008). Source Interlink is a self-proclaimed “dynamic organization” with divisions of content, distribution, and merchandising (Source Interlink Companies: Our Divisions 2008). Those three divisions spell out three words to me…CROSS MEDIA OWNERSHIP.And the sentence “with this solid foundation for growth, Source will simultaneously harvest operating synergies as it continues to capitalize on market opportunities,” tops it off, blatantly showing me a media monster. Now it’s got me thinking could SLAM part the same rot that Cosmo is a part of?
SLAM magazine would be part of the “content” division of the company, Source Interlink Media.Under this division there are “more than 75 publications, 90 Web sites, 400 branded products, 65+ events, and TV and radio programs [making it] the largest provider of content to enthusiast communities interested in automotive, action sports, marine, and other niche activities (Source Interlink Media 2008).” The division’s strategy focuses on these targeted communities and exploits for their marketability by supporting “market-leading brands through a multiplatform media approach (Source Interlink Media 2008).”
This however does not turn me away from SLAM; I feel that I do not buy SLAM just for the pictures any more (although they still have some of the best). I continue to follow SLAM like a cult because of TRASH TALK (a section where writers to SLAM can get their own ink by saying what they like/don’t like about SLAM), NOYZ(an inside joke/underground news blurb)…because of Scoop Jackson, Khalid Salaam, and Lang Whitaker (writers of SLAM). It’s the writers that make SLAM for me, I dig their style.
My SLAM is safe from Foxes and Cosmos.
Sources
"Our Divisions". Source Interlink Companies. 2008. 15 Nov 2008
"PRIMEDIA." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 1 Nov 2008. 15 Nov 2008.
"Source Interlink Media". Source Interlink Companies. 2008. 15 Nov 2008
Maybe I can learn from my tight on money lifestyle. Maybe I will keep these habits for the rest of my life even if my pockets grow. I did not realize realized how much consumption pressure is put on us every day of our lives. When money is tight, and you don’t own a credit card (maybe it’s a good thing!) it’s a lot easier to say “well no…I don’t really need that.” The principles I have adopted aren’t just used when I am thinking about making a purchase, the creed is applied to several daily activities. When money is tight I force myself to reuse and I force myself to reduce. I recently read a book by Bill McKibben about genetic engineering, robotics, and nanotechnology that surprisingly connected to my creed. I found many parallels with consumer driven capitalist nation and the idea about technological progress in this quote…
Since the mid 1950’s pollsters have annually asked Americans if they are happy with their lives. The numbers who say yes have declined slowly but steadily for four decades, even as technology has dropped more and more conveniences from the sky. The researchers have found that people expect material progress to increase and also expect “inner happiness” or “piece of mind” to decrease. The results of such surveys indicate that in fact a substantial majority of people believe there is a negative correlation between progress and happiness (McKibben 121-122).
We are constantly being told what we need to buy not only so we become happy and cool but so we can survive in society. Cell phones for example are now considered a must have and if you don’t have on you can’t participate in society. Well I don’t own a cell phone; does that make me a Luddite? Not everyone owned a cell phone 10years ago and everything seemed to work out back then. I just hate how we have become conditioned to believe that we need something. I can have fun and be happy without spending; spending more money does not increase my happiness or my piece of mind. I have realized that, although corny, it is correct; the things most important in life money can’t buy. This statement is so common but yet humans still seem to be focusing on material power. “Must we forever grow in reach and power? Or can we, should we, every say, “Enough”? (McKibben xiii)” Being tight on cash has forced me to have many Buy Nothing days…and be totally ok with it because…I will survive!
I hope genetics has a lot more to do with this than I originally thought. My 88 year old grandfather is a role model for spending his money wisely and limited. My grandpa saves and reuses everything and would never ever throw something broken out before fixing it. I hope to keep my college creed and learn from my grandfather and have many “Buy Nothing Days” for the rest of my life.
Sources
McKibben, Bill. Enough:Staying Human in an Engineered Age. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2003.
I once again chose to look at my bathroom literature, SLAM. The artist used Obama’s hope poster as inspiration for this December’s cover. There are 5 collectable covers each with a different player on the front and each released to a different region in America. Even SLAM, a largely politics-free zone has taken advantage of the cultural significance of the American presidential election and it’s only fitting. The winner of the election captivates to both young people AND basketball fan (I bet you can also guess who are the majority subscribers to SLAM too). The art directors of SLAM used Obama and his pop-culture iconicism to connect to their own specialty, hoop culture. SLAM editor in chief, Ben Osborne, explains the cover in the opening section saying,
Much like the candidates keep talking about all they’re going to do that’s going to be better than before, everyone in the League is promising to be better in shape, be a better teammate, call better plays, sign better players and on and on. In other words, everyone is giving reason to hope. (Osborne 18)
Just like many other companies, SLAM was compelled to the aura of Obama and the effect he has on the targeted readers (youth part of hoop and hip-hop culture). Heck Obama even still plays the odd pickup game. Using the fuel from the thrilling hype of the American election, SLAM hopes to hype up the upcoming NBA season by driving Kobe ahead as a presidential candidate for the Lakers in the Pacific division. This is the perfect cover choice for SLAM, Obama is loved by NBA players, and they even support them when they play by writing messages about hope in black marker on their shoes.
Sources Osborne, Ben. "The 6th Man". SLAM December 2008: 18
