The way I chose to share my rant to an audience seems the most fitting because it shows the people my age hard facts about what their priorities are. I understand that the younger generation is not interested in heavily consuming themselves with the news, but serious, major problems should be something they should be aware and knowledgable of. Comparing and contrasting the two tests would reveal the ideas and facts that I need to speak about to the class I gave the quizzes to. My rant or theory does not pertain to every single person my age. I know that there are a lot of people educated on the situations in Iraq and Syria, but the amount of people that are not or have yet to hear about it is what frightens me. Getting these facts out to the students at my old high school might be able to raise awareness. They could go back onto their own social media accounts and post something about what they learned. That could potentially start a trend and get more young people talking about ISIS. Overall, I think they have the capability to make many different changes as long as they are aware and informed.
Secondly, the tweet I sent out applies to what I stated about the student's social media sites as well. After I posted that tweet I had people responding and agreeing with what I said. I had people that don't follow me retweeting and favoriting what I wrote. My tweet did not go viral, unlike most irrelevant and meaningless tweets do. However, it did catch the attention of almost twenty people. If someone else shares the same opinion I have, then it must be a problem that I am not the only one noticing. Twitter has become a huge part of everyday life for the younger generation, including myself. I am on twitter every single day, whether I am posting a tweet or reading others, I am still on the app and getting notifications from other people. Rarely do I ever see anything on my timeline about serious dilemmas the world is facing or anything regarding politics. This is the exact issue I am trying to bring out of the dark.
The video and article that I posted did not change my feelings or shed a new light on the problem, it just verified everything that I believed to be true. The article influenced me to create and submit a tweet about it. Since I only have a personal twitter account I wanted to see how many followers of mine cared about the issue enough to show the tweet some attention. The ages of people that follow me on twitter range from about 16-22. I have about 500 followers on twitter and could barely get 20 people to favorite my tweet. I think that example alone is able to speak for itself.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Presenting to the public
If I were to present my rant to an audience, it would go like this:
1) I'd start off by creating two separate quizzes. One addressing issues that have gone on recently in pop culture and popular trends on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram and the second one questioning the students about their knowledge on ISIS/President's views and actions on ISIS/Other countries affected by ISIS. I would print several copies and visit my old high school.
2) At my high school it was common to take quizzes and survey's similar to these in our homeroom classes. Usually they were from the yearbook class trying to get genuine ratios or percentages to put in that year's yearbook. Since this is not anything out of the normal, no one should question why they are taking it and they would be using their general knowledge on the two topics. I would give the two quizzes to high school seniors and record the results.
3) From the two quizzes, I would address the problem from there. I would give my insight to the students and reveal the results that I found. I would let the high school seniors know of the trend that I have been noticing and get their side of my argument. Making them aware of their priorities, maybe it will shed some light on what they are focusing most of their attention on.
Also, I would use social media to my advantage to get their attention. Sending a tweet would get the young generation's attention because they are constantly on the social media website. I sent a tweet that I thought would get people's attention and got some recognition but not much.
This is the tweet that I sent on my personal twitter that got some interaction on Twitter.
This is the link to the video and article that I watched. It gives a perfect example of everything I described in my previous "rant" blog and also everything that I believe to be an annoyance. I don't think my view changed at all, but I did enjoy this article because it proved my theory right on several people my age who do not pay much attention to serious matters throughout the world.
Revised.....& A Completely Different Topic
I've been searching to find something that really grinds my gears for the past week. Not too crazy or passionate about the cheerleading dilemma, so I was hoping something would come up that would recognize itself as something I have a major problem with.
Finally, I heard it on my way to class this morning.
KISS FM had people calling in to give their opinions on the fight that Amber Rose and Khloe Kardashian had via twitter last night. I thought to myself..."Is this REALLY what people want to express their opinions about? Why are these two people even relevant?". This sparked an idea in my head about what I can write my rant about instead of something generic (like cheerleading being considered a sport). OK, here we go...
ISIS. ISIL. They're both the same thing. But how many people know that? How many people are educated on what's going on in Syria and Iraq? Sure, the older generation watches the news or listens to radio stations that actually broadcast this serious issue, but I've found that I am one in a few people that are my age who follows the news about ISIS.
I am a media lover. CNN is my favorite app on my phone. Yes, some of it is crap, but I do believe it is important to hear what is going on around the world and be educated on the times our country and world is experiencing. History repeats itself, and it seems as though people my age don't seem to care about what historical events are taking place all over again in these days and times.
Whenever I go off on tangents about my ideas and beliefs on what the government and Obama needs to do about the ISIS threat, my friends are clueless as to what I'm actually talking about. Yes, terrorism has been around for quite some time and that is nothing new, but the approach ISIS is taking to recruit new members or their idea of "propaganda" is something the world has never seen before. They are beheading fellow Americans and posting videos, pictures and warnings about it all over Twitter. EXACTLY WHERE MY GENERATION IS CENTRALLY LOCATED. I am just beyond confused on how some people are completely oblivious to even who or what ISIS is.
ISIS is not where my rant ends. I wish people my age were more educated because we are now old enough to vote and have the opportunity to make change happen. Another election is around the corner and with enemies such as ISIS stirring up commotion like beheading captive American journalists and threatening to attack major cities in our country, we need someone who has the ability and authority to make the right decisions.
We are the next generation. We are the future of America. Yet, people are more concerned about two hardly famous people bickering on Twitter.
The general idea of my rant is that I wish people my age were more educated on what is happening in the world they are living in, be more open to hearing about politics and what the government is up to, and pay attention to what can affect or ultimately change what they know their life to be today.
Maybe I just grew up too fast or am old fashioned, but this is extremely troubling to me. I promise, once you start to gain information on national circumstances such what I previously stated, the Kardashian family becomes so much less interesting.
Finally, I heard it on my way to class this morning.
KISS FM had people calling in to give their opinions on the fight that Amber Rose and Khloe Kardashian had via twitter last night. I thought to myself..."Is this REALLY what people want to express their opinions about? Why are these two people even relevant?". This sparked an idea in my head about what I can write my rant about instead of something generic (like cheerleading being considered a sport). OK, here we go...
ISIS. ISIL. They're both the same thing. But how many people know that? How many people are educated on what's going on in Syria and Iraq? Sure, the older generation watches the news or listens to radio stations that actually broadcast this serious issue, but I've found that I am one in a few people that are my age who follows the news about ISIS.
I am a media lover. CNN is my favorite app on my phone. Yes, some of it is crap, but I do believe it is important to hear what is going on around the world and be educated on the times our country and world is experiencing. History repeats itself, and it seems as though people my age don't seem to care about what historical events are taking place all over again in these days and times.
Whenever I go off on tangents about my ideas and beliefs on what the government and Obama needs to do about the ISIS threat, my friends are clueless as to what I'm actually talking about. Yes, terrorism has been around for quite some time and that is nothing new, but the approach ISIS is taking to recruit new members or their idea of "propaganda" is something the world has never seen before. They are beheading fellow Americans and posting videos, pictures and warnings about it all over Twitter. EXACTLY WHERE MY GENERATION IS CENTRALLY LOCATED. I am just beyond confused on how some people are completely oblivious to even who or what ISIS is.
ISIS is not where my rant ends. I wish people my age were more educated because we are now old enough to vote and have the opportunity to make change happen. Another election is around the corner and with enemies such as ISIS stirring up commotion like beheading captive American journalists and threatening to attack major cities in our country, we need someone who has the ability and authority to make the right decisions.
We are the next generation. We are the future of America. Yet, people are more concerned about two hardly famous people bickering on Twitter.
The general idea of my rant is that I wish people my age were more educated on what is happening in the world they are living in, be more open to hearing about politics and what the government is up to, and pay attention to what can affect or ultimately change what they know their life to be today.
Maybe I just grew up too fast or am old fashioned, but this is extremely troubling to me. I promise, once you start to gain information on national circumstances such what I previously stated, the Kardashian family becomes so much less interesting.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Go Team, Go!
So in my past, I was a competitive cheerleader. (Yeah, I bet you already know my argument after reading that first sentence.) And since the lack of creativity is beyond real today, my rant was about how I honestly believe competitive cheerleading IS considered a sport. No, I'm not someone who will fight to the death about this argument but I do believe that it's an insult to tell someone that what they put their heart and soul into isn't worth their time and effort. Competitive cheerleading includes all of the following:
- practice/workouts
- hard work and dedication
- competitions
- competing for one title or trophy
- ridiculous amounts of endurance and stamina
- talent
- goals and aspirations
- tumbling skills
- enough strength to hold a girl over 100+ pounds over your head
- perform a jam packed, non-stop routine OVER AND OVER again until it's molded into your coach's idea of "perfection"
Reading that list, I really don't understand what separates all of those things from any other sports team? Even though this sport is considered "extremely girly", football is thought of as a "man's sport"....so what's the difference? FUN FACT: Cheerleading was named the most dangerous sport over football. Concussions being the number one injury from cheer.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not some huge feminist but it always seemed to be men complaining about this issue...Is this just another way for people to disregard things women do as "easy"? That's the feeling I always got, anyways.
Girls are way more than accepting to men interesting in cheerleading or being on their team. In fact, it's something to be excited about! Even though it is a dominantly woman-based sport, men cheerleaders are always the ones with huge muscles and constantly surrounded by girls....
Ultimately my question is: What makes people think competitive cheerleading is easy and should not be considered a sport? Can you do a series of back handsprings into a back tuck, layout, or FULL or a combination of those? Do NOT even get me started on stunting.
During the first semester I was involved with the Lewis University Cheerleading team. They are a great group of talented young women! Unfortunately, because of my work schedule and the excessive amount of injuries I've endured from this sport, I had to end my time on the team.
Here's a picture of one of the pyramid's the LU Cheer team was working on before I left the team. (I'm on the very top in the purple!)
Good cheerleading is the definition of blood, sweat and tears.
As soon as I come up with a better rant I promise I'll post my views on my blog. But for now, this will have to do!
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Highs & Lows
After reviewing in class yesterday the documentaries we watched, I thought about the several highs and lows I witnessed while watching Blackfish.
The list of the highs I came up with goes as follows:
- Creating awareness of the affects captivity has on wild animals
- OSHA trial created safer restrictions for trainers working with the killer whales
- Showed another side to the Dawn Brancheau story
- Decreased sales at SeaWorld
- Famous artists (such as Martina McBridge, Willie Nelson, the Barenaked Ladies and many more) canceled their acts at SeaWorld in Orlando, FL.
- Former trainers speaking out against what they witnessed
- OSHA taking a stand to stop the horrors and unfit living situations for the whales
The lows that I recognized were:
- The separation from the mother and calves
- Capturing the whales from the wild
- Tilikum is still performing at SeaWorld
- Several trainers dying, being injured or affected by the whale's behavior
- The living conditions of the whales
- Lies told to the media to cover up SeaWorld's wrongs
- How unpredictable the whale's emotions and attacks are (could happen during a live show)
- Shamu's image appeals to the public as fun and friendly, but in reality is extremely dangerous
- Raking and violence done to other whales living in the same pool
I'm sure that there are several more highs and lows of the documentary but after viewing the film again these were the ones that were coming to my attention. Each one of these is showed during the film to the audience and is explained. The audience can easily understand after watching the documentary why each could be considered a "high" or "low" point in the film.
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