Ali Helfenbein @alihelf - Tumblr Blog

lol

Butters is convinced he's living in a virtual reality.

South Park is a TV show that has been around for a long time now, and it's pretty well-known. I'm sure you all have seen a couple episodes, or at least heard of it. Basically, the show is about the crazy adventures of four little boys: Eric, Stan, Kenny, and Kyle. The show pokes fun at celebrities, current events, religion, and all kinds of other subjects. It pushes the boundaries of what should or should not be shown on television and discussed in a joking manner. However, if it is taken as complete humor, it is actually hilarious.

The premise of this episode, Grounded Vindaloop, that there is a virtual game that comes in the form of a headset and goggles. When a person is wearing it, they are transported into a different world. In this world, they can do whatever they want and nothing will affect them because it's not "real." Eric is something of a bully, so in the show he picks on one of the weaker, gullible, and unsuspecting characters named Butters. Although this virtual world does not actually exist, Butters is convinced by Eric that it does. It's just a game that Eric is playing with Butter to make fun of him. He manipulates Butters through a walkie talkie by acting like his "guide" in the game, but this plan soon blows up in his face when the four boys all become involved and the game seems somewhat real. The episode becomes confusing and backwards very quickly, and there is plot twist after plot twist.

Grounded Vindaloop definitely relates to the readings and movies we have been reading, watching, and discussing in identity and place -- especially Existenz, Neuromancer, Inception, and The Matrix. I suggest checking it out. I think that you'd all find it interesting, if not at least a little bit funny. If you do, make sure you watch the whole thing, all the way through to the end. The last few seconds contain a crazy plot twist that you will never expect. A little disclaimer though: it's racist, sexist, and vulgar (as all of South Park is), and it can be a little bit shocking if you've never experienced South Park before.

Mandatory ASU Sexual Violence Awareness Module

This last weekend, I started and completed the ASU Consent Education module. If anyone is unaware as to what this is, it can be located on your myASU home page, on the righthand side. I believe that ASU also sent out an email regarding this new procedure. It's absolutely mandatory, by the way. If you do not complete the 30-ish minute module by a certain date, there will be a hold on your ASU account, and you will not be able to confirm your classes for next semester. It's a good idea to complete it as soon as possible, and it's HARDLY painful at all. Basically, it starts with a pre-test about statistics about sexual violent and abuse, as well as questions about what would be the best way to act in the case of witnessing an assault or dangerous sexual situation.

At first glance, it seems that this module is constructive and important on campus. To me, as well-intentioned as it was, I'm not a fan, because it actually spends quite a bit of time reinforcing gender stereotypes. When the class talks about how to be an active bystander in a bad situation, it has mock interview answers on the screen. All of the males state that they would act to separate fights, engage with aggressors and abusers, and generally handle situations concerning sexual and physical abuse. However, the females stated (and were subliminally encouraged) to either wait until things (hopefully) would calm down to "say something" or get a group of friends to help deal with a problem. This course basically taught that females should run away from issues. Maybe this would be best in most situations concerning situations where "a man is trying to put something into your friend's drink," or "you can tell that he is trying to get your friend drunk," or "take her into a back room at a party when she is drunk and protesting."

That's not to say that the course does not call attention to abuse and violence towards men. It is very clearly stated that most men do not sexually abuse others in college, and that there is only a certain "handful" of people (mostly of the male sex, relative to females) who perform these harmful acts. However, I think that it is important, if you have not completed the module yet, to pay attention to the sexist themes that unintentionally reinforce gender stereotypes on college campuses. Even if you have done the course, try to recall the mock situations that were a part of the class. Maybe, you already noticed this issue, if you haven't, you may view it a little bit differently. As something of a disclaimer, I reiterate that I do believe this module was made mandatory for good reason and it was intended to increase knowledge about important issues on ASU campus (and most other campuses in the United States). However, I do wish that the creators of the class paid a little bit more attention to the social issues that they may have perpetuated.

Learning to Help Instead of Contribute to the Problem

On November 17, I attended Mary O'Brien's presentation, titled Step Up ASU! : Exploring Prosocial Behavior and Bystander Intervention. This presentation was on helping and altruism, and was held in Barrett (coincidentally, it was held in the same exact room that our HON 394 class uses). I think that this presentation was extremely important, and that it also relates to our identity and place class because it concerns how humans act around each other when issues are taking place. O'Brien talked about bystander intervention (whether direct or indirect) in both emergencies and non-emergencies. She explained that there were three parts of each emergency that effect whether or not somebody may help the victim. These three defining factors were individual characteristics, situational characteristics, and victim characteristics. There is a five-step model of events (whether mental or physical) that must happen for a person to help in a bad situation or an emergency. Firstly, a bystander must notice the event happening. Secondly, they must interpret the event as a problem or emergency. Then, they must take personal responsibility for the issue, (4) decide what would be the best to help in the situation, and then (5) act, or "step up" as O'Brien called it. She explained that a "breakdown" or diffusion would happen most often at the second and third steps. She called this diffusion the bystander effect, and this phenomenon happens when every bystander looks to the others to act first, and is unaware that others are in the same state of shock and confusion. Because of this, nobody jumps to the aid of the victims of the issue.

Throughout the presentation, Mary O’Brien showed several videos that displayed experiments that concerned the bystander effect. One of them was the video about a little girl who was supposedly being abducted by a man. He was actually an experimenter, and the point of the experiment was to see how many people would help when he grabbed her and tried to put her into his car. She cried out for help, but most bystanders never tried to help her, even though footage clearly showed that they noticed the incident. O'Brien explained the reasons why this may have happened, namely diffusion of responsibility and the fact that most bystanders would write off the incident and not recognize it to be an emergency. They maybe though that perhaps he was her father -- however, she repeatedly yelled that this was not the case, and they still failed to help.

Another video that was shown was about an experiment called the Milgram Study. This experiment that involved experimental subjects continually delivering shocks to a confederate because an authority figure -- the experimenter – insisted that they do so. The confederate “agreed” in the beginning fo the experiment to participate, but started to complain that the shocks were hurting him as the experiment progressed. Even when the confederate protested, complained about his heart hurting, or even stopped responding completely, most of the subjects continued delivering shocks. This shows the unsettling and shocking reality that most people would follow authority even when they were aware that they were hurting another person greatly.

Lastly, O’Brien talked about conformity and showed a video that explained an experiment called Asch's Line Experiment – that normative influence from a group can change a person's actions. She explained that compliance to "group" or "mob thinking," can change how a large amount of people may act together, as opposed to if they were not in a group. Overall, the presentation was a useful because it explained that in the case of an emergency or non-emergency (such as everyday interactions), people may not act when they should, or act how they should. I left with this understanding and the challenge to try to "do what is right, not what is easy," and he a catalyst in starting to help when others will not. It is important to counteract the bystander effect and potential pluralistic ignorance in emergencies by realizing that these ARE societal issues in themselves.

"Today somebody asked me if I'd seen Mockingjay. I do remember seeing something about a dystopian world in which racism is alive and well, murder is no longer a crime, student loans have impossibly high interest rates, jobs don’t pay enough for the expense of living, the Earth has an expiration date because we don't take care of it, people around the world are being killed for no reason, school shootings are normal, and cops can do whatever they want. But I don't remember Jennifer Lawrence singing, so that might've been the news."

-Abby Gillette

Lee Lee's

On Friday, November 7, 2014, I went to Lee Lee’s Asian marketplace in Phoenix, Arizona with a friend. The store was quite an experience, and it got me thinking about some concepts that relate to identity and place. Since I grew up in a European family, I have only visited German markets in the past. I remember one particular shop that my family visits whenever we go back to Chicago, which is my Father’s hometown. I have never gone to any other ethnic marketplace, so it is probably easy to imagine the culture shock that I experienced when I stepped inside Lee Lee’s Asian Marketplace. When I first entered the market, I was faced with an explosion of color, noise from other shoppers and cashier stations, and smells. I especially focused on the shoppers – their ethnicities and ages, as well as their relationships and interactions.

From what I could tell, the customers who shop at Lee Lee’s come from different Asian backgrounds, but there were some non-Asian people shopping there. There were some Middle-Eastern people, as well as other European or Caucasian shoppers. However, there was only a handful during the time that I was there, so it seemed to be pretty rare. There were both adults and children at the marketplace. One thing that seemed to be characteristic of Lee Lee’s was the diversity in the languages that were spoken. Most of the families that I observed seemed to speak a language other than English to each other – probably because those were the languages that were spoken in their homes. I wish I could have understood what they were saying; it was hard for me to even pinpoint what languages they were speaking. For all I know, there could have been several dialects of these languages spoken as well. Although I could not identify the languages that I heard spoken particularly well, I could at least assume or infer what some of the customers’ conversations entailed. Regardless of the language that was spoken, it was not hard to find indicators of the types of relationships that existed between the people that I observed.

Much of Lee Lee’s market consists of Asian food, but I found that not all of it was as such. For example, one item that I saw that interested me was Henna. This product, from my understanding, has more of a Middle-Eastern origin and practice, and I was surprised to see it at Lee Lee’s. This excited me because this one venue holds and sells products from several different countries and even continents. Instead of being solely Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, or Middle-Eastern, this market has selections from each culture. Lee Lee’s so unique and has such a diverse customer base. It was easy to find some kind of food that might be enjoyable. There is something for everyone, even if it is someone like me, who is just trying it all out for the first time.

I mentioned this music video in class; I believe that it really relates quite a bit to what were were talking about in identity and place. This song is all about a stereotypical "geeky" guy. He explains his life and his hobbies, and then sings about how he's a completely different person when he goes online to chat rooms and whatnot. His alter-ego is a tall, dark, and handsome guy -- he's famous and ripped and all-around attractive to every girl he meets on the internet. The song is actually pretty hilarious, even if you're not a country fan.

Recently, I attended Joshua N Hook's presentation, which was titled “Connecting with Culturally Different Individuals and Groups: the Role of Humility.” Hook is a psychologist of religion at University of Northern Texas with a degree in counseling psychology. His presentation was about diversity and engaging with people who are different than “us” in society, the country, and the world. It really related to Identity and Place because that is exactly what it was about.

One of the main concepts that Joshua Hook addressed related to my own experiences. This was about the dissonance that he experienced when he started to study psychology, which also happens to be my major. Growing up, his family was Christian and very religious. He was taught that abortion and marriage is immoral, and that there is an afterlife or Heaven. His family has always taught him that Christianity was the only “right” religion, so when he started studying psychology he wasn't sure that religion and psychology could mix. His psychological learning was all about respecting the religious views of others and being humble, and he was confused by the tension that he felt (in psychology, this is called dissonance.) He didn't know whether or not to melt those two parts of his identity together, or to change the relative importance of one of the two. Also, past Christians have used the Bible to rationalize and validate slavery. Those people were wrong in doing so, so it was hard to not question other values and wonder if they could be wrong as well. I can definitely relate to his situation, because I come from a Catholic family who believes that "it's our way or the highway." My parents believe that gay marriage and abortion -- as well as many things in the world today that are happening – are “wrong” and condemnable.

He explained that humans are naturally drawn to those who are similar to us, and talked about the aspects of attraction that might cause certain behaviors towards others. Sometimes, it's hard to relate to people who are dissimilar to us, which can be quite an issue. Part of his studies were conducted in order to figure out how to teach people to relate, understand, and help those who were dissimilar to them -- weather in race, cultural aspects, or religious views. If a person has humility, they will focus more on others than themselves, which leads to a more accurate view or perception of the Self. People with a lot of pride tend to be egocentric. An overinflated idea of oneself can lead to misunderstanding, bigotry, and lack of acceptance and tolerance. It is important for a person to have humility about their religious and other viewpoints. If a person accepts others’ religious beliefs and values, he or she will generally be more liked than those who fail to tolerate others’ views.

EyeGuardian is Facebook protection from porn, sexting, stalkers, and cyberstalking to manage your reputation

This article poses a lot of important questions and ideas about the dangers of Facebook. Mostly, it focuses on inappropriate displays of things such as sexting and nude photos. However, the most important part is contained in the last sentence. The most dangerous thing about sites such as Facebook is the things that other people may say about you or your loved ones. Those things can have a substantially larger impact than things such as inappropriate sexual content.

If you've ever talked about social justice, you've probably encountered claims that you're being too sensitive. But this looks more like an excuse than a real argument.

True, true, true.

niknak79

desumeowmeownekokittychan-deact

How low? This is really convenient, especially in Canada where it’s negative asshole degrees out. Besides, sometimes you do need your phone while walking outside, whether for light or communication or directions.

tramampoline

like i’ve needed to text people while outside several times this week i’d rather not literally risk frostbite to do it

tabbibeard-deactivated20160428

durr hburr techonology is bad fire is scary and thomas edison was a witch

artist-formally-known-as-xazz-d

I want that last line on a shirt

savannahgambino-deactivated2023

Keegan and Jordan misunderstand the tone of each other's text messages while trying to make plans. Watch more Key & Peele: http://on.cc.com/1tG6BeK

Nowadays, with texting, it is very hard for both people on each end of the conversation to understand exactly what the other person may mean when he or she says something. Tone of voice or mood is so easily lost in the words that each person sends to the other. Personally, I can say that I have misunderstood another person's meaning because of the lack of real tone or mood that is communicated. If it's ever happened to you, I'm sure you can relate to this humorous Key and Peele episode, at least on some level.

Trigger warning for rape Yesterday, FCKH8 released a video called F-Bombs for Feminism: Potty Mouthed Princesses Use Bad Words for Good Cause that quickly went viral, and has been shared hundreds o...

Follow-up to my last post.

Some responses to the FCKH8 campaign's latest video have been very positive, and some quite the opposite. Some think that this video is great, and that it was a productive idea. Others have decided that this is a "problematic discourse disguised as progress, which is good to start conversations, and also bad because these ideas may be perpetuated in nonproductive directions" (as one of my friends said).

Here's another person's take on the matter, who also views the video in light of the latter position.

What's more offensive: little girls dropping the f-bomb and other expletives, or other social issues such as 'pay inequality' and 'rape'?

You decide.

You want all of these. Don't lie to yourself.

Haha, this basic bitch thing is just showing up everywhere

“Culturally Grounded Interventions to Enhance Academic Performance”: A Presentation by Stephanie A. Fryberg

Very recently, I attended a presentation on social psychological concepts by Stephanie A. Fryberg (PhD) that I believe relates to cultural appropriation and Gloria Anzaldua’s writings. This presentation was called “Culturally Grounded Interventions to Enhance Academic Performance” and was about Fryberg’s studies of cultural issues and the cultural cycles in an elementary school that had under-performing Native students. She addressed representation and how it affects students in a classroom setting, first by starting with changing the mindsets of the teachers, and then those of the students. The issue was that teachers and students did not always understand each other’s intentions because of cultural differences and what each person thought was normative in a social setting because of the context. In this presentation, there were many psychological ideas and studies that relate to social psychology concepts that have been taught in class. Fryberg talked about diffusion of responsibility, saying that if a student is sitting alone, it is more constructive for a teacher to talk to the other students and tell them to involve that student, instead of placing blame of the student in question.

The idea of self-fulfilling prophecies and the effect of positive reinforcement were prevalent in her presentation. If native students under-perform and teachers stereotype them to be lazy, unintelligent, and hopeless, they will not try to help them grow as students. As a result, these students are more likely to under-perform, because it is what others believe, which leads them to believe the same thing. In this example, teachers have a fixed mindset instead of a growth mindset, which causes the students to have like ideas about themselves. This makes these students feel interdependent instead of independent. Teachers are “color-blind” and, because of their fixed mindsets, place the blame for failure on the students’ families and the students themselves. In Fryberg’s intervention, she made an effort to teach multiculturalism and a growth mindset, in which any failure (or success) was due mostly to the teachers and school. Teachers began to make an effort to positively reinforce their students. In other words, by making small changes in telling students that their success is based more on effort to “grow their brain,” instead of their ability, students began to believe that they were capable or performing well. They began to take more risks and be more optimistic, which lead to the community’s validation of the school’s change and work.

Through Fryberg’s work in the Tulalip community, Native students began to perform well and see themselves as capable of improving. They also began to take failure in a better way. Instead of giving up, and saying that they “couldn’t do it,” or “weren’t smart enough,” which is similar to the concept of self-handicapping, they took failure as a reason to try harder. Students began to not feel stigmatized. Teachers began to learn about cultural groups’ differences and traditions, and embracing or observing them as valid. They shifted their understanding of potential, which then expanded to the students, and further evolved to encompass the community mindset. This is what needs to happen in our communities nowadays. If members of cultural communities learned about other cultures, there would be no need for each race or culture to be on either end of a metaphorical “spectrum.”

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Ali Helfenbein