HW 4-7

I feel that the crisis of democracy in this country has fundamental and unbreakable connections to the yawning divide between the rich and the poor. We actually have two systems of governance in this country. The first is democracy and it is the more iconic of the two. Democracy attempts to give everyone an equal say in the affairs that pertain to them. The second system of governance is that of money. Money is many things to us, it's power, it's time, but it's best articulated as a source of supreme motivation, and as expected the uneven distribution of wealth belies an uneven distribution of power. Corporations have been cursed into entities that by law can't be concerned with anything but maximizing profits. Even the CEOs and board members have to fall in line with this rule or they are accused of misleading the shareholders and often are deposed from their thrones. However, there is good news. In this country we have free will, choice. We can choose to patronize some and ignore others. The fall of democracy was preceded by an increased faith in the dollar over people. My vision for a true and just democratic society first requires that people care. We need to banish the idea that one person can't make a difference. It's true that most people can't do much, but what we can do is tell others. Next, we need to collectively realize that the importance of any material object is determined solely by how much we invest in it. A hundred-dollar bill is only worth that much because we all agree on it. In my vision for a just democracy we will have to rein in capitalism and realize that in our current system, unrestricted growth in a finite system, capitalism is essentially cancer. The NIMBY-ers are an excellent start towards realizing that the lofty dreams of individuals aren't are unattainable as we first thought.
2.After observing the outside world and comparing it to the televised one a number of stark physical differences are apparent, but just as interesting to me is my own number of psychological differences while in two contrasting mental environments. Looking at THE screen versus out A screen the first noticeable difference is the level of activity. On the screen I notice much more movement, while outside there is some calm. I was reminded of culture jam when watching commercials on the TV. They seem to jump around a lot and every time the screen shifted from show to advertisements the volume jumped about ten notches, I always turned it down almost immediately. The show I was watching was about animals so I was getting some natural stimulation, but what I noticed was the presence of the camera. The camera frames what you're viewing and separates you from it. In fact, as I thought about it, the people on TV, the programs, are like a sort of composite person. Especially after working from behind the lens it's interesting to note how the auteur can shape reality, the sights and sounds, when they appear and where and the speed of it all. It's like Alex Carey's education and propaganda argument. In a way, a large number of television programs are, by his definition, propaganda. Writers and producers set up certain characters to be relate-able and others to be despised based on how they want the viewer to feel and react. Now, I'm not saying all forms of film and television, video recordings, are bad. But what we should remember when watching them is that someone designed that programme to elicit specific responses at specific moments in specific ways, we can always hope though, that they're on our side.