Thursday, October 22, 2009

Revised Paragraph

Not many changes but it is more clarify...

Original Paragraph
When a consumer eats McDonald’s in a foreign country, especially children who has
the most potential to be attracted by their character and think that what they eat is right.
Then these children think that what they eat would make them more Americanized. Like
in Beijing, Germany when they consume this food, they think that eating in McDonald’s
would “elevate a person’s social status”. But not only have they thought that it would
make them superior they also think that by eating McDonald’s they would be more like
the people in the United States. Just like Den Fujita mentions in the “Fast Food Nation”
article, “If we eat McDonald’s hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years, we will
become taller, our skin will become white, and our hair will be blonde”. Even if most
people around the world was to become just like a white American, also here in the
United States there has been a conflict on how some black Americans has gone through
treatment just to be white. Like in the “Dreams from my Father”, Obama sees a picture in
Life magazines and thinks how children would also peel their skin just to be like what a
American person really looks like and symbolizes.



Revised Paragraph
When a consumer eats McDonald’s in a foreign country, especially children who has
the most potential to be attracted by their Ronald McDonald character and think that what they eat is right. Then these children think that what they eat would make them more Americanized. Like in Beijing, China when they consume this food, they think that eating in McDonald’s
would “elevate a person’s social status”#231. But not only have they thought that it would
make them superior they also think that by eating McDonald’s, they would be more like
the people in the United States. Just like Den Fujita, a billionaire who brought McDonald's to Japan mentions in the “Fast Food Nation”
article, “If we eat McDonald’s hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years, we will
become taller, our skin will become white, and our hair will be blonde”. It states how
people around the world like the Japanese who wants to become just like a white American, would do this to make them happy and to be someone. Also here in the
United States there has been a conflict on how some black Americans has gone through
treatment just to be white. Like in the “Dreams from my Father”, Obama sees a picture in
Life magazine and analyzes how children would also peel their skin just to be like what a
American person really looks like and symbolizes. We could see how this can come to affect because in America white has usually governed and represented this country.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Naomi Klein on the Colbert Report

-I think what Naomi Klein is trying to say in the video, is that the goverment always usually take control of us whenever we feel that there is no hope because a natural disaster like the Hurricane Katrina couldnt be stopped, and the only thing that could have done was to save and help all those people in New Orleans to find home and shelter. So the community and the people trusted the Goverment. But instead the Goverment cheated and took advantage.
-We could relate this argument that Klein states, to the cluster by seeing how in most all of our texts and videos that we have learned, shows a U.S imperialism that controls many of the countries that needs economic help, and when they do this, the U.S goverment exploits the poor nation and take advantages in many ways.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Personal Responses

When I came into the cluster I thought that this was going to be about how America has the most influence in other countries. Well I could see I was right because we are studying on how the United States is controlling some of the countries and how many of our resources that are here are imported to the poorest countries. But I didnt expected we were gonna learn some of the history from the past. I just thought that it was mostly going to be more about the present and the future. Like what other things the United States might come up with. With the texts that we have read and argue about, I feel like it is a good way to learn and make opinions. I am still on King side, even as we have read different texts and see a lot of documentary films.

Life and Debt

Yes, I do think that the film shows colonialism because many of the resources that Jamaica received are from oustside the country. Everything is mostly imported and the resources that they produce themselves for the local people are really expensive. So the poor people can't afford it. International Monetary Fund is usually the one who is giving the money to this country and that is how the country could mantain itself. We could compare this form of colonialism by showing how in the story from Jamaica Kincaid called "A Small Place" illustrates how Antigua was governed by the British, and how this place was before it gained their independence.

I think that International Monetary Fund is the one who has the control of this country. It has control because they are the one who says what kind of production could be made and what they could not produce. One example of this was the bananas, in other countries the banana they produce was cheaper and the bananas that Jamaica produce was more expensive because the resources like the seeds and the soil is imported. The IMF maintains this power by if they dont give the money to this country to maintain itself, then Jamaica will have unemployed people, and there will be more poor people that is already is. One thing that Jamaicans could do or the goverment could do is to set more Free Zones, so that these people will not have to work with taxes and they could earn an amount of money to support their family.

The connection that I see between this film with other texts is how some of the countries are still somehow governed by other countries and how they are usually in control. It could be economically or just beacuse of resources, like the oil. Like in the first text that we read by Obama we could see how Indonesia was still influence by the United States. We could see how they have overthrown the governor of that country and how later Obama saw that they wanted to decide in Indonesia.

Farmingville

I was really shocked at the begining of the film, specially when the boy came out, and he showed his scars and where he was stabbed. Is incredible to see that this still exists now in the modern time. It will have not be a shocked event if you hear these kinds of news 60 years ago. But hearing this now it totally draws a national media attention. But it gets me upset that after this crime event, instead of the community coming together, there were more racism against the undocumented mexicans. But even with all the community resistence am glad too that they created Human Solidity Association group. Also that they continue with their jobs and still continue to achieve the "American Dream" and send the money to their loves ones, even if no resolution was made. This film really shows about who really controls the American dream, and who could share it also.