#mediachronical

[pinedarhina-blog]

February 20th, 2016

Tanya Tianyi Chen

Buzzfeed

200 5th Ave, 8th Floor

New York, NY 10010

Dear Tanya Chen,

Within this attachment is a research paper on the topic of double standards regarding sex scandals both in the political and celebrity world that I am seeking your assistance to promote it to the top of the newsfeed page.

 I am currently a sophomore attending Johnson & Wales University, and this paper was an advanced English composition assignment, however I’ve realized the double standards regarding how we view sex scandals is a topic that no one has touched on yet. Buzzfeed has published numerous serious articles regarding some of the social issues we face today, and my writing would be an ideal asset to this week’s news feed, especially in light of what has happened with recording artist Ke$ha and Dr. Luke.

I have been a writer since elementary school starting with winning a Community of Hero’s essay writing contest when I was 10 years old. Ever since then, I have been writing both for school, and for pleasure and have extended my skills to earn scholarships that has put me through college today. I’ve been visiting Buzzfeed for multiple yeas and thoroughly enjoy many of the articles posted on the big stories page regarding more serious topics such as a sexism in the food industry, or one of my favorites; “What Happens when women at Historically Black Colleges Report Their Assaults.”

 What I have learned from writing is that words have a strong power; and that one doesn’t need a thesaurus with over complicated words, but honestly, true facts and emotions in order to reach others. With my paper, I explore the hypocrisy of how we view men and women in power vs. fame, and how they act during a sex scandal affects how the rest of us treat each other, and even how we raise our children. During the Bill Clinton/ Monica Lewinsky scandal, many began to see our presidents as being less perfect, and more as human beings who make mistakes; yet at the same time we also saw Monica as ‘dirty’ and shameless despite Clinton being the married man. On that note, when a celebrity has a nude photo scandal, it is almost always highly successful women who have been targeted, such as Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson, Christina Hendricks, or Vanessa Hudgens, yet many men aren’t subjected to these attacks.

 I have gone more in depth about my research on sex scandals in my paper, and I hope you will agree that your promotion will help spread it more, and will educate more readers on your website. You will be able to reach me at 719-649-6659, or [email protected], I look forward to talking to you soon.

Sincerely,

 Rhina Pineda

[pinedarhina-blog]

Keeping Up With The Sex Scandals

Whenever someone hears the phrase ‘sex scandal,’ one of the first people that comes to mind is Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was able to eventually save face, and many even joke about his affair in the oval office, unfortunately Monica’s reputation has been completely destroyed. The differences between how we view sex scandals committed by men v.s women obviously varies, but it gets interesting when you compare between politicians and celebrities.

For politicians, men are slandered endlessly until the next one comes along, or they resign; and sometimes the women (or men in some cases) involved are unable to recover. On the opposite hand, for celebrities it is women who have lost careers and despite being accomplished and successful in their careers, are only being remembered for their iCloud hack

1.) The Bill Clinton Song- Matt Beat, 2013

Always one for politics, never seemed to escape scandals

Had many accomplishments, but all they remember was scandal

OoohX2

Bill Clinton, born and raised in Arkansas

Never know his real papa/ long planned to go into law

Avoided the draft into Vietnam, went to Georgetown, Yale Oxford

Got with Hillary Rodham, It didn’t take long before his first campaign

Attorney general, soon youngest governor

Always one for politics, never seemed to escape scandals

‘Had many accomplishments, but all they remember was scandal

President, 2nd youngest elected and he quickly would be tested

With violence near Waco and the world trade center

signed a law that made it harder to get guns, the FMLA and NAFTA Favored collectivism

Extramarital affairs, accusations abounded: Whitewater, Travel gate, File gate, Zippergate and Vince Foster’s death

Second president impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice

personal life got in his way but people would forgive

Always one for politics, never seemed to escape scandals

Had many accomplishments, but all they remember was scandal

-Like the song states, Bill Clinton had so many accomplishments from being the second youngest president, and tried to be a great President, however the scandal was too much and now he is remembered for the infamous dress stains..

2.) Dusty Springfield - Scandal, 1989

Mandy's in the papers 'cause she tried to go to Spain She'll soon be in the dock and in the papers once again Vicki's got her story about the mirror and the cane It may be false, it may be true but nothing has been proved

Stephen's in his dressing-gown now, breakfasting alone Too sick to eat, he's on his feet and to the telephone The police inspector soothes him with his sympathetic tone It may be false, it may be true but nothing has been proved

In the house a resignation, guilty faces, every one Christine's fallen out with Lucky, Johnny's got a gun 'Please please me' 's number one

It's a scandal, it's a scandal, such a scandal

Now, Stephen's in the dock for spending money that was earned By Christine and the prosecution says that money burned A hole in Stephen's pocket, for expensive sins he yearned It may be false, it may be true but nothing has been proved

In the news the suicide note, in the court an empty space Even Mandy's looking worried, Christine's pale and drawn 'Please please me' 's number one

It's a scandal, it's a scandal, such a scandal

Last night he wrote these words to his friend 'Sorry about the mess, I'm guilty 'til proved innocent In the public eye and press' The funeral's very quiet because all his friends have fled They may be false, they may be true, they've all got better things to do They may be false, they may be true but nothing has been proved

Nothing, nothing has been proved Oh, nothing, nothing Oh, nothing, nothing Oh, nothing, nothing Oh, nothing

-Dusty Springfield is singing about, well obviously a sex scandal. The person in the song is in the middle of having his reputation on the line and speaking about he’s guilty until proven innocent, a play on the judicial phrase ‘innocent until proven guilty’

3.) The Police- Don’t Stand So Close To Me, 1980

Young teacher, the subject Of schoolgirl fantasy She wants him so badly Knows what she wants to be

Inside her there's longing This girl's an open page Book marking, she's so close now This girl is half his age

Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me

Her friends are so jealous You know how bad girls get Sometimes it's not so easy To be the teacher's pet

Temptation, frustration So bad it makes him cry Wet bus stop, she's waiting His car is warm and dry

Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me

Loose talk in the classroom To hurt they try and try Strong words in the staffroom The accusations fly

It's no use, he sees her He starts to shake and cough Just like the old man in That book by Nabakov

Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me

Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me

-This song by The Police is about a young schoolgirl who has a crush on her teacher, that leads to an affair that is eventually discovered, and although it was written in the 80′s we continued to have sex scandals committed by both male and female teachers involving their students; Debra Lafave for example.

4.) Celebrity Sex Scandal- In Excess, 2013

Don’t be caught suspended there gripping yourself You must take precaution for potential accidents Keep your chair close and check the safety harness Never put on a rubber mask and let the camera roll Never try it Just don’t try it Never try it No…. (Asphyxiophilia will flood your brain with dopamine) Don’t ya know Asphyxiophilia Don’t ya know It will kill ya Leave all your problems dead hanging naked Don’t embarrass mom and dad, they’ll claim a suicide Bowling surfing or skateboarding could be so much more fun All it takes is one slip and you’re sure to not wake up It couldn’t be worth the risk unless you can’t get laid Never try it Just don’t try it Never try it Don’t… (Asphyxiophilia will flood your brain with dopamine) Don’t ya know Asphyxaphilia Don’t ya know It will kill ya Leave all your problems dead hanging naked Learn from the mistakes of David Carradine and Micheal Hutchence Strangulation equals masturbation Just breathe, let the oxygen reach your brain Just breathe, and then come back again

-This song is about auto-erotic asphyxiation, or the act of choking oneself during sex or masturbation and references David Carradine and Micheal Hutchence.  David Carradine is best known for playing the part of Bill in Kill Bill, however it seems many will only remember him for the way he died. As for  Micheal Hutchence, he was the leader singer of INXS and was also found dead in a hotel room with a belt tied around his neck fastened to the door, yet despite fan’s and his close friends claiming it was an accident his death was ruled a suicide along with an overdose.

5.) Hard Out Here- Lily Allen 2013

I Suppose I should tell you what this bitch is thinking You'll find me in the studio and not in the kitchen I won't be bragging 'bout my cars or talking 'bout my chains Don't need to shake my ass for you 'cause I've got a brain If I told you 'bout my sex life, you'd call me a slut When boys be talking about their bitches, no one's making a fuss There's a glass ceiling to break, uh-huh, there's money to make And now it's time to speed it up 'cause I can't move at this pace [Bridge:] Sometimes it's hard to find the words to say I'll go ahead and say them anyway Forget your balls and grow a pair of tits [Chorus:] It's hard, it's hard, it's hard out here for a bitch It's hard for a bitch (for a bitch) for a bitch, It's hard It's hard out here for a bitch It's hard for a bitch (for a bitch) for a bitch, It's hard It's hard out here If you're not a size six, then you're not good looking Well, you better be rich, or be real good at cooking You should probably lose some weight 'cause we can't see your bones You should probably fix your face or you'll end up on your own Don't you want to have somebody who objectifies you? Have you thought about your butt? Who's gonna tear it in two? We've never had it so good, uh-huh, we're out of the woods And if you can't detect the sarcasm, you've misunderstood [Bridge] [Chorus] A bitch, a bitch, a bitch, bitch, bitch [4x] Inequality promises that it's here to stay Always trust the injustice 'cause it's not going away Inequality promises that it's here to stay Always trust the injustice 'cause it's not going away [Bridge] [Chorus 2x] Bitch

-This song by Lily Allen talks about how women are objectified, and the differences between how men and women are treated sexually. For example men can brag about their sex lives but when women do, they are seen as a ‘slut.’ She also mentions how much pressure women have to stay attractive, or else they ‘better be rich or good at cooking’ otherwise no one will want them, whereas men aren’t portrayed as having 

A general theme with these songs is that while yes sex scandals can ruin many careers from the President’s to a teacher, to actors and musicians, many will see a male politician as guilty as soon as it is reported, even before being found actually guilty and will never forget it. For women, specifically celebrities, there is an even added pressure to be both attractive, yet ‘pure’ otherwise they will be painted as slut or a bitch.

[pinedarhina-blog]

According to Webster’s dictionary, ‘genre’ is described as ‘a particular type or category of literature or art.’ Where we see genre is basically everywhere; specific television channels; food network broadcasts shows about food, E! shows live feed of celebrities at the SAG Awards, etc..’ however we also see them in radio channels, magazines, and even advertising. Genres are used to control audiences more than people would think; for example think of animation; many automatically associate it as something for children however there are numerous adult shows that are animated such as South Park or mature anime shows and films such as Berserk or Akira. We are so obsessed with categorizing everything that many even feel uncomfortable when we see lines of genre being blurred in popular media, or find it too uncanny. This controls audiences even further than deception by also furthering stereotypes and harmful ways of thinking by people being afraid to consume media that to them isn’t targeted towards them; for example, many men admit to never watching HGTV, or watching the iconic t.v show ‘The Golden Girls’ because they felt it was too ‘female’ to watch, when in reality HGTV shows many programs featuring almost all men doing contraction work in houses, and the gay community has an undying love for a group of five aging women living in Florida. However, genre is also helpful in terms of identity and forming a community to fellow watchers such as fantasy, and Sci-Fi which boasts a large self-proclaimed nerd community in which many who feel like outcasts can lose themselves in another world filled with dragons and intergalactic space pirates. Audiences can communicate with each other through their mutual love of a show or film or book, and also in turn talk to their creators in the form of fan art, fan fiction, cosplaying at movie premiers, and social media.

         The Frontline Videos relate to ‘Jon’ in the sense that they are stories of what teenagers are doing, feeling, acting, and enjoying and although they feature teenagers speaking about their lives, they are not the narrator nor the target audience in their respective genres. Each of the Frontline videos went in depth of the world of teenagers and how they are constantly seeking whatever is considered to be ‘cool’ that is also defined by them as well in a weird form of a desperate catch-22. These videos interviewed a number of teenagers from different backgrounds to ask them what they enjoy and why they do since media outlets are obsessed with those answers in order to sell teens more things in their pursuit to be cool. In addition to this, the internet and social media’s from of validating themselves aids in a teen’s quest to be cool in the form of being trending, having triple digit numbers on their selfies and tweets, all of which is being told in a documentary style, that is narrated by a strong man’s voice. This impact on the viewer gives them the sense of authenticity both from the lack of professional production; no interviews in studios but in their own homes, and by the statements from the pimply-faced teens that are literally on their laptop while being filmed. As for the New Yorker’s ‘Jon’ by George Saunders, his story of teens is told a first person narrative, telling the universal problems that most teens are generally portrayed having rather than an adults studying teenagers attempting to figure out how to sell them things. Jon is written in its first person style of its main character named Randy, but goes by Jon and his adventure of first love, heartbreak, peer pressure, and coming to terms of the truth to his background. This style comes off more authentic and real than the Frontline videos since it comes from a teen and not an adult asking a teen pre-approved interview questions, however ‘Jon’ is ironically fictional, and was written by an adult man. How I felt during the Frontline videos, to be completely honest, was bored. I have watched, read and been lectured to about teenage culture, the pursuit of ‘cool’ and how teens and millennials interact and live off the internet for literally years and didn’t felt any strong emotions other than boredom. Same goes for Jon, I would have rather read a story written by an actual teenager and his story than a fictional one that was too long and dull. The Frontline videos gave me a better opinion on this topic rather than being forced to watched another story about teenagers since they interviewed teens themselves and gave them a voice about how they see and act on the internet rather than having another group of baby boomers assume everyone born in the 90’s or later Instagram’s every meal they eat rather than talk to the person sitting across from them.

         The media uses myself and others by using fear. Everyone has common fears such as car accidents, being mugged, and so on, but social fears such as dying alone, being poor, low in status, fear of missing out (FOMO) and being unhappy are stronger and are being used against us in order to either sell a product or lifestyle. Genres define many people in terms of fandoms, but can also beliefs and can even go as far to categorize personalities such as the ‘shy, nerdy, Dr.-Who-loving-gamer-girl,’ yet are also limiting people by defining them by what they like and not what they actually are. Some of the genres I prefer in the media are comedy, animation, and dramas; which can tell people that although I’m goofy and enjoy shutting my brain off when watching T.V, but I also like realistic dramas and am able to become serious when needed. For music, I like hip-hop, rap, some electronic but not EDM, and also orchestral arrangements, typically soundtracks; so I use these genres of media to form a mold of interests that can tell others what kind of person I am; mostly silly, likes to dance to bad remixes of Grimes songs, but also is slightly aware of the world and all of its serious issues. I talk back to the media that tries to uses me by using social media to call out brands, companies and people in the public eye for being awful, while also reporting ads I see since I want to use the internet to talk about myself, not to be sold a pair of ugly shoes, yet as long as big companies use the media as a tool to collect information and sell us things, it seems like I will forever be clicking out of promoted twitter ads.

Works Cited

1.) Hetz, Patricia R., Christi L. Dawson, and Theresa A. Cullen. "Social Media Use And The Fear Of Missing Out (Fomo) While Studying Abroad." Journal Of Research On Technology In Education (Routledge) 47.4 (2015): 259-272.Business Source Complete. Web. 31 Jan. 2016.

2.)  Bradley, Laura. "The Real Reason Everyone Thinks Millennials Suck." Http://www.slate.com/. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/12/you_don_t_hate_millennials_you_hate_21st_century_technology.html>.

3.) "Genre." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genre>.

4.)  Milbourne, Constance C., and Jeffrey S. Wilkinson. "Chasing Infinity: The Fear Of Disconnecting." American Communication Journal 17.2 (2015): 1-14. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 31 Jan. 2016

5.) Neil Howe. "Why Millennials Are Texting More And Talking Less." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 15 July 2015. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2015/07/15/why-millennials-are-texting-more-and-talking-less/#59c3a0585576>.

[pinedarhina-blog]

Robert Redford Supporting Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign

           The story behind this myth emerge from a Larry King Interview in which Redford stated he enjoys Donald Trump, which was confused as an endorsement. What seems off about this myth was that it first was posted by Donald Trump himself in a cute, little graphic of the actor with the quote; because literally anyone with a computer can make that. What was missing was the rest of Redford’s statement from the interview where he continued to say “He’s got such a big foot in his mouth, I’m not sure you could get it out,” which Trump and his other supporters so conveniently ignored. How this myth came to fruition might have been from one of two ways, the first: someone watched his interview by Larry King and didn’t watch the whole video, and stopped after Redford made that statement. Another is that they choose to focus on the positive aspect of the statement, seeing it as an endorsement. Critical thinking was not used here, it seems that only personal opinion was used in this case, which often happens when there is a presidential campaign. Due to social media and the internet, unfortunately there are so many misquotes, and misinformation being shared, reposted, commented, and trending so that makes it challenging to know which is real and which is fake, yet there is the Larry King interview as proof.

Unfortunately adding fuel to the fire, the video that shows the full quote has the title: “’I’m Glad He’s In There”: Robert Redford’s Surprising Support For Trump 2016” that was posted on Larry King’s official YouTube channel, thus creating the image of a verified endorsement. Along with this, I also searched for academic journals that would explain how these myths begin and spread so easily, which could be explained due to the fact that mankind now will have generations of people being raised on the internet. Being on the internet in some form all day every day can cause people to choose quantity over quality, which may necessarily not be a terrible thing, but it does explain why many do not bother to fact check anything they retweet, reblog, share and so on. 

Furthermore, satirical websites such as the popular ‘click hole’ and ‘the onion’ certainly does not help with online myths since many people online have and will continue to confuse an entertainment website for being an actual reputable news source along with anything posted on those sites. With this, there is a so-called ‘Google generation,’ aka millennials, who rely heavily on the internet to get all of their information, but many often only read headlines and articles posted by popular press such as People, Cosmo, and Buzzfeed confusing them for professional sources that do routinely fact check and make corrections to all of their articles and videos. For example this past week there has been picture of a dead female kangaroo next to her joey and the ‘grieving’ father, but in reality a zoologist confirmed the male was attempting to mate a final time and may have even killed her in the first place. Touching.

The social impact of this myth can be extremely damaging due to the fact that most often than not, many people of all ages, race, and backgrounds rely on the internet to get their information, and can be swayed easily by their favorite celebrities. Thus when one is mistaken in a situation like this, soon Redford’s fans may be more convinced to support Trump when in fact he doesn’t wish that at all. Fact checking is extremely important in instances of someone being quoted because an alarming amount of ‘quotes’ were either not even said by that person, or only a fraction of the whole quote was used, to be used however the myth creator wants.

For my research process, I simply typed the phrase ‘Robert Redford Supporting Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign’ into Google.com and the very first link was an article stating the truth behind the quotes, sourcing his representative from The Hollywood Reporter. Yet, anyone can write that his ‘representative’ said Redford doesn’t Support trump, so then I went onto YouTube to see if I can find the interview, which I then watched myself to realize that it wasn’t true. With this, since I knew I wasn’t going to find an academic journal on an internet meme, I decided the best course of action was to search for the reason behind this myth. So after typing in buzz words ‘online myths debunked,’ ‘online myths,’ ‘Google generation,’ I found numerous sources of studies performed by universities and hospitals researching how people use the internet.

MLA Citations

1.) "Robert Redford Wants You to Know He Does Not Support Donald Trump." Saloncom     RSS. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.     <http://www.salon.com/2015/09/08/robert_redford_wants_you_to_know_he_does_not_support_donald_trump/>.    

2.) "Robert Redford Denies Endorsing Donald Trump for President." The Hollywood Reporter. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.     <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-redford-donald-trump-endorsement-820933>.

 3.) Nicholas, David, et     al. "The Google Generation: The Information Behaviour Of The     Researcher Of The Future." Aslib Proceedings 60.4 (2008): 290-310.     Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.

4.) King, Larry. “'I'm     Glad He's In There': Robert Redford's Surprising Support For Trump 2016.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS1lvL63mfc.Youtube.com.     August 27th, 2015. January 17, 2016.

 5.) "Kangaroo in     Heartbreaking 'grieving' Photos May Actually Have Killed Its Mate."     The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.     <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/12099012/Do-these-heartbreaking-kangaroo-photos-actually-show-a-brutal-scene-of-murder.html>.

[pinedarhina-blog]

Just a lil tip:

i’m doing the homework right now next to my sister, who’s an English teacher and she just told me this this site:

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/search/basic?sid=b97cce2c-435c-4215-ade5-78cf751a1b60%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4214

is good for searching for some academic journals, to be honest, I haven’t really looked at it all that much but it may be helpful for some of you

PS: after reading Ms Sugar’s post on uLearn, it may be helpful to search for stuff like the psychology behind online myths, myths in general, etc. to answer the third question for the assignment (since you’re obviously not going to find an academic article on a meme lmfaooo) 

[professormoriarity06-blog]

Movie about the environment and Life. It’s called Racing extinction. http://racingextinction.com/

[professormoriarity06-blog]

Adam Ruins Everything Every Episode and it’s sources

http://www.trutv.com/shows/adam-ruins-everything/blog/adams-sources/index.html

[professormoriarity06-blog]

Adam Ruins Everything

http://www.trutv.com/shows/adam-ruins-everything/blog/adams-sources/adam-ruins-forensic-science.html