Media Analysis 5

I wasn’t really sure what I was going to use for this final analysis whether it be a song, movie, or article, but I came across a very interesting advertisement about schizophrenia. This ad is basically a person breaking the news to his friends that he has schozophrenia, and while they three people have a conversation about it, the caption at the bottom of the screen does not follow along with the dialog. Instead the caption says what the people are actually feeling/thinking about the person who has clearly just come forward, very uncomfortably, to tell his friends about his condition.

I think it is necessary for anybody reading this analysis to actually see the ad, its only about 30 seconds long. this is the link…   http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/005983.html . After you have seen the ad its clear what the ad is trying to say. First it gives an extremely good portrayal of the ways in which people can be misunderstood when they are trying to describe their illness to people who don’t really know what is going on. It also gives a fairly accurate description of the common mistake people make about schizophrenia in particular, and then it continues on to explain that most people who are uncomfortable around schizophrenia patients are probably people who are unaware of the true conditions and symptoms, as well as the fact that they have no need to be afraid of that person. The ads message is hit home when it says “people with schizophrenia don’t really have a split personality, sadly many other people do”.

I feel that most advertisements are usually trying to cover up the truth, however, this ad is trying to bring the truth out and make people aware of the uneasiness involved with mental illness’s. That’s probably because the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society has several main purposes which would lead it to produce an ad such as this one. Some of the main goals of this group is that it…

• Provides support and education for people with schizophrenia and other serious and persistent mental illnesses, their families and friends.
• Increases public awareness and understanding of schizophrenia and other serious and persistent mental illnesses.
• Advocates on behalf of people with schizophrenia other serious and persistent mental illnesses for better legislation and services.
• Promotes research into the causes, treatment, and ultimate cure of schizophrenia

It is clear that this particular media source is actually quite honest, sincere, and helpful to many people, and although it focus’s mainly on schizophrenia, some of the misconceptions about mental illness’s that the ad portrays can be seen for other illness’s as well.

Media Analysis 4

I was reading several websites about Schizophrenia to see what some different sites would have to say about cures/treatments and what I found was quite interesting. While most sites (including both sites trying to sell treatment medication as well as sites containing medical research data and such) make it clear that there is no cure for  schizophrenia, there are ways in which researches believe the symptoms can be treated and reduced by a significant amount. I do believe that there are ways to help treat such a mental illness, however I believe that most of the pills that exist for such treatment are most likely going to cause more problems than they solve.

Anyways, after reading several of these websites looking for different portrayals of the illness I realized that most sites only want to sell you their particular “treatment” and of course if you buy it then they are making money, so they are going to try and convince people reading their site (most likely people looking for treatment) that they have a treatment that will work for everybody. Of course most of these sites give a somewhat false sense of hope to many schizophrenia patients because most of the medical sites clearly state that there is no known cause or cure for schizophrenia. That is not to mention the fact that everybody is different and since it is thought to be caused by chemical imbalances, a cure for one person may not help another person at all.

Aside from the more common sites related to schizophrenia, I found this one site that was written by a nurse who never believed it too much when doctors said that schizophrenia could be cured by simple things like vitamin supplements. However, after her son was diagnosed with the illness, she has “come to know that schizophrenia, and other so-called mental illnesses are really biochemical imbalances which can be balanced with dietary changes and supplements. [she] now know[s], on looking back on [her] son’s life, that he was biochemically imbalanced almost from his birth. In the past [she] felt sad and angry that [she] trusted allopathic medicine totally, without question. Now [she] just wants the joy of telling everyone [she] can that THERE IS HOPE AND SCHIZOPHRENIA CAN BE CURED. IT IS A BIOCHEMICAL IMBALANCE”. And that is when I took a step back and said wow. After reading multiple pages that include loads of data explaining that schizophrenia has no known cure, that it is different for everybody, and researchers are continuing to research treatments and cures, this nurse is giving people such a high level of hope for something she probably only knows a small fraction about. Of course if “SCHIZOPHRENIA CAN BE CURED” (allin caps as she wrote it), and she knew that there was one, then the medical researchers would have it. Clearly they don’t. If you were a person suffering from schizophrenia and you came onto this woman’s site you would immediately believe her and you would probably become hopeful, however you may then go to your doctor with questions about the site and he would simply tell you that there is no cure and that there are merely a few possible treatment plans, and that they are not guaranteed to work. That would not be a good day for that guy…

So once again it is clear that the media does not always portray these illness’s very clearly or correctly. In fact its probably safe to assume that unless you contact your doctor, or find a well known, respected, and scientifically factual website or book, then it is unlikely you will ever get 100% correct information regarding any mental illness.

http://www.4optimallife.com/Alternative-Medicines-Cures-For-Schizophrenia-Mental-Illness.html

Media Analysis 3

In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the character Smeagel/Gollum is depicted as having a split personality disorder, which is what most people confuse with schizophrenia when it is in fact a “psychiatric diagnosis that describes a condition in which a single person displays multiple distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment”.

Although that definition of a split personality disorder would certainly be a fitting description/diagnosis of the character Gollum, it certainly is not how the disorder would affect most people. To put it another way, people with the disorder may experience the multiple identities, but would not necessarily have one evil side and one good side, and they two identities would not necessarily hate each other and talk to each other as if it were two completely seperate people, which is how the movie depicts the disorder. So this gives people watching the movie an overemphasized or overexaggerated portrayal of the disorder.

Also “The causes of dissociative identity disorder have not been identified, but are theoretically linked with the interaction of overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents, insufficient childhood nurturing, and an innate ability to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness”. So it is fair to say that the mysterious powers of the ring, and the fact that after it was taken from him, Gollum constantly has the thought of the ring on his mind, the stress of not having it, and the traumatic event when it was taken from him. It is fair to say that the author probably had a good idea of what the causes of such a disorder could be, and could quite possibly have purposely overly-portrayed the disorder so that it would indirectly help to support the idea that “the Ring” basically has more power than anything that ever existed.

So it is clear to say that most viewers of this movie might walk away with a fear of people with a form of split personality disorder. I mean the scary creature that somewhat resembles a human, eats raw fish for dinner, and yells back and forth at himself from his other self, is not something that most people would feel comfortable being around, but the truth is people with such a disorder are really not that bad or scary, and they really just need some help to be nearly “normal” or cured.

Media Analysis 2

The movie Rain Man, starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, is about a man (Charles Babbit) who’s wealthy father dies and leaves all the money to a Mr. Raymond Babbit. In the story Charlie does not even know he has an older brother named Raymond because Ray was placed in a mental institution long before Charles was old enough to know the difference.

In the movie, Raymond is an autistic savant which “researcher Darold Treffert defines as a rare condition in which persons with developmental disorders (including autism spectrum disorders) have one or more areas of expertise, ability or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual’s overall limitations”. In the case of Ray, his area of expertise is mathematics and memory, and it is really amazing what he is able to do. He can instantly count the number of toothpicks on the floor after they have been accidentally dropped from a box, he can remember almost every television show-time, show, every baseball player, what team they played on etc.

When Charles finally meets his brother, finds out it his brother, and discovers his unexpected talent, he brings him to Las Vegas where he sees potential for his brother counting cards in Blackjack. Throughout the movie, there are many times when Charlie has trouble controlling his brother as well as many times when they seem to get along wonderfully. And by the end of the book, when there is a hearing to determine the if Charlie should retain custody of his brother from then on, Charlie realized he actually cares about Ray and that he wants the custody.

The movie gives people a slightly unrealistic, but plausible interpretation of a person with a mental illness. People who watch the movie will come away with the understanding that people with mental illness’s are usually challenged in one or two ways, while the rest of their body is perfectly normal and healthy like everybody else. In this particular case, people might even see that people with a mental illness may even have their own strengths that would make a normal person marvel at them. I believe that this movie gives puts a good portrayal of mental illness in the minds of people as they watch, not to mention that it also hits a note of truth as well, and people should realize that as well.

Creepy song lyrics blog?

I’m not exactly sure how I’m supposed to be analyzing this song, or the lyrics at least, but I know it definitely falls in the category of lyrics that could be taken as creepy, overly-obsessed, or stalker-ish. The song is by a group called Firehouse, and the title of the song is “I live my life for you”, which almost gives it away as one of those creepy songs without even being played. However, the lyrics made me fully believe that this song is too much of a stretch to be a real love song. The chorus of the song goes like this ” I live my life for you/I want to be by your side in everything that you do/And if there’s only one thing you can believe is true/I live my life for you”. Then another verse in the songs goes like this ” I dedicate my life to you/You know that I would die for you/But our love would last forever/And I will always be with you/And there is nothing we can’t do/As long as we’re together”. So I’m pretty sure this qualifies as one of those songs that I cannot think of an all-inclusive categorizing word for.

Daddy

My initial reactions to “Daddy” are basically a little confusion and some understanding that Plath’s father was involved with, related to, or a Nazi in some way. The poem is filled with strange wording and tons of allusions that I am sure have some important meaning I am missing, and so obviously I don’t have the full understanding yet. I do know that I don’t like poetry and this poem is no exception, so looking at it more closely is not going to be fun.

A hoax most cruel

 

WOW.

 

After reading this article I’m not sure where to start. One thing I must say is that there are way to many people in this world who are so completely, undeniably, flat-out stupid. I don’t care what anybody says about conformity, and listening to authority and or authoritative figures, that is no excuse for anything that happened in any of these stories.

The fact that this one man hoaxed something like 70 different places to perform these searches completely blows my mind.

 

When I say that there are so many stupid people, I truly mean it because there is no way that I would have either performed such a search or let myself become a victim of one of these searches…and I will explain why.

 

First of all, if I worked at McDonald’s and my manager told me to go in the back room, I might go. If he/she then proceeded to order me to take of my clothes, question me about stolen items or contraband, and then tell me that I was in trouble with the law…I would probably tell him to…well, I can’t really say it but you get what I mean. Even if I had stolen something, which I wouldn’t, and I’m pretty sure most of these victims hadn’t, I would wait till a police officer was standing in front of me before I even said anything else…never mind take off my clothes. The funny thing is, that most of these people were so stupid, and must have lacked all common sense because they didn’t even think twice about these things.

 

Like I said, if a police officer was standing in front of me telling me to do something, I would do it (that doesn’t include taking of my close, performing oral sex, or any of the other terrible things that people did). I wouldn’t do it for any manager, and unless the police officer was a fake, at least he was in front of me dressed in a police uniform with a badge and gun….not some voice on the phone. The fact that people actually felt that because they were the manager (or even the managers fiancé!!!) at a McDonalds, that it gave them the right to do things like Nix where “He ordered her to dance with her arms above her head, to see, the caller said, if anything “would shake out.” He made her do jumping jacks, deep knee bends, stand on a swivel chair, then a desk. He made her sit on his lap and kiss him; the caller said that would allow Nix to smell anything that might be on her breath.” And then he “slapped her on the buttocks, until they were red”. I mean, COME ON! People, have to be practically brain dead in order to do those kinds of things just because somebody on the phone tells you they are a police officer. Perhaps if a voice on the phone said, “this person is dangerous and may have a weapon, so take them in a back room and keep an eye on them until the police can come take charge of the situation” I would probably listen. But a voice telling me that a young girl suspected of stealing change at a McDonald’s should be forced “to strip-search and perform oral sex” is a completely different situation. As one lawyer said, “You don’t have to be a Phi Beta Kappa to know not to strip-search a girl who is accused of stealing change”.

 

I’m getting really heated up trying to comprehend how ridiculous people can be, and I don’t agree that they any of these people can try to put the blame on such things as conformity and following an authority figure. Why? Because there’s a reason we have police, they take care of these situations for us. The police don’t call us and ask us to take care of the situations, we call them. Think about it. On top of that, if these people are being put into jail because they were “impersonating a police officer”, which is a felony by the way, then it makes sense that if a strip search was necessary, a police officer would have done the search!!!

Honestly, I don’t believe that these people were conforming in any way, shape, or form. Instead, they were all just stupid enough to become senseless drones, and follow the orders of an unidentified “authority figure”. If I was a manager or a worker under question, I would not have done anything so stupid. I don’t care what anybody has to say, this is not conformity, its stupidity…and that is no excuse for what happened. In my mind, the managers should be locked up, and the victims should be given all the help they need for free because that would obviously be a very traumatic event. And don’t get me started on the whole situation about our law system with all the loopholes that allows the man, who everybody knows to be guilty of these crimes, to get off with only a slight punishment, and even to put people like Nix (although I do not approve of him in any way) in jail for longer than Stewart.

People….THINK!

Wow, people are crazy…

I was reading a post about some man that put his child in the microwave, and from what I read I had to take a look at the article myself in order to believe it. Apparently this man called police saying that he burned his daughter after he tripped while carrying hot water, and it wasn’t until later that he told police he put “his daughter in the microwave because he was under stress”. First of all, putting a child in a microwave because you’re under stress is not an acceptable excuse. Second, there is something suspicious going on if he lied to the cops in the beginning, maybe he meant to put his daughter in the microwave? Third, if the little girls mother is defending the father, then something is probably wrong with her as well, if not maybe she was a part of the whole incident. Maybe they both agreed to kill the baby until after 10-20 seconds of watching their baby burn in a microwave they realized how %@&#$ up they were. Also, it says something about both the man and the woman’s lack of responsibility if they have a child at such a young age, then put it in a microwave. Perhaps they couldn’t handle the responsibility of a child, and at least one of them decided that the best choice was to microwave the 2 month old girl. I don’t know what other messed up explanations there could be for these actions, but none of them justify what happened to the helpless infant. I think that the father should absolutely spend life in prison, and if the mother is defending him then she should go to prison too. If the mother doesn’t go to prison then the least that should be done is the little girl should be placed into different custody. I don’t know what else to say except that these people are absolutely crazy.

Behaviorism

Several classes ago we discussed behaviorism as the study of cause and effect. This is when we tried to have one person perform a task simply by giving that person positive reinforcement for actions that were part of the overall task (Nate doing the tango). During this class we also talked about how free will  played a role in behaviorism.

What I wanted to talk about was how behaviorism will be different on an individual basis as well as between species, and how I think it has  a lot to do with intelligence level. To explain what I mean, think about training a dog. Everybody that has trained a dog knows that if you want your dog to learn to sit, you say sit, you push it’s butt to the ground, and you use positive reinforcement in the form of treats. However, if you were to try and train a person in a similar fashion, you might be able to succeed, but the chances are the person will not become a ‘pet’ simply for a treat. A person will realize that they do not necessarily need the treat (unless they are starving to death, which is the only case in which this particular argument would not work) despite the fact that they might want it. On the other hand, a dog will sit for a treat anytime you ask. In fact after you have taught a dog that he will receive a treat for sitting, he will sit for you repeatedly without being rewarded with any treat at all. If the dog had a higher level of intelligence it would not take him long to realize that the treat was only being used to make him do what you wanted, which is why a person (or most people, depending on how smart they are) would be able to figure that out. I would be willing to bet that the same concept holds true for almost any animal, and you can probably predict how fast each animal will realize this depending upon their level of intelligence.

Conformity

    Last class we talked about conformity, and the fact that everybody conforms to society in some way or another. I actually found this discussion interesting because I do not necessarily agree with everything we discussed. For example, the idea that driving on the right side of the road can be classified as conformity is not something I would necessarily agree with. However, a definition says that “Conformity can have either good or bad effects on people, from driving safely on the correct side of the road, to harmful drug or alcohol abuse”. So I cannot exactly argue the fact that driving on one side of the road is in a way conforming, however, I think that when your talking about conformity in a social aspect, driving on one side of the road and going to school are really just rules that children in America have no choice but to follow. I think that it is unfair to call it conformity when the only choice we have is to drive on one side of the road or get arrested. If there were a third choice, perhaps I would take it, but there isnt… so I’m not conforming to driving on the right side of the road, instead I’m keeping myself out of the way of the laws that our society has placed upon each of us for being born in America. I believe conformity has something to do with choice, and in this case, there is no choice because I cannot be an exception from the law, and if you break the law then things are not going to go well for you. What I’m trying to say is I have the option of breaking laws and going to jail, but everybody knows how horrible jail is, and so really I’ve been born into a society where I can’t do whatever I want because there were rules and laws that I had no part in making because they were created long before I even existed. In a way I am conforming, yes, but it isn’t my choice, and if it was, then I wouldn’t conform.

That’s a little confusing, but its hard to put the words together to make my argument.

 Anyways I found this quote online talking about conformity, and I think its a good example of what I believe conformity is. “The good, say the mystics of spirit, is God, a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man’s power to conceive – a definition that invalidates man’s consciousness and nullifies his concepts of existence.  The good, say the mystics of muscle, is Society – a thing which they define as an organism that possesses no physical form, a super-being embodied in no one in particular and everyone in general except yourself…. The purpose of man’s life, say both, is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question”. This quote is a little confusing but what it basically says is that people have created the idea of God, whom we are supposed to have faith in despite the fact that his/her/its existence is totally based upon each individuals beliefs. And people have created rules/laws which come from the government that we, as a society, have created, and which we have no choice but to follow. I believe that this helps to explain why I believe conformity should be based on and defined by choice. For example, here it explains that most people believe in God, and despite the fact that we spend time, money, and effort worshiping God, people at least have the choice of believing in a God. On the other hand, society has created a government which we have no choice but to obey. Therefore, I would classify belief in God as a conformity, while I would classify following the laws as more of a guideline that people must follow.