There is a website called forevermissed.com that functions as an online memorial for people who have passed away. Upon entering the website, the first thing to see are the large words “create a memorial website”. It then gives the user the option to enter a first name and a last name before clicking a large button reading “get started”. The background of the website is sky blue, with doves flying on the top of the screen, signifying the dead ascending to the afterlife. On the bottom background of the screen is a peaceful scene of a tree in a pasture in front of small mountains. The website goes for a peaceful feel and atmosphere, using lighter colors toward the top of the screen to give the impression of hope in the afterlife.

The website about section has a few paragraphs from the creator of the website talking about his inspiration for undertaking the project. Having never met his grandparents, Oleg Andelman, decided to create an online system for people to archive their lost loved-ones so that they will never be lost from memory like his grandparents were. The site gives the user control over various themes to use for the background of the memorial as well as any music desired for the background. Once a memorial is made, there are options to add life stories, history, testimonies, tributes, and “candles” to the website. The administrator can make it possible for visitors to add tributes or can make the memorial closed to outside visitors.

Unlike physical memorials, this online memorial makes it possible for any person to access the memorial regardless of geographical location or convenience. It also makes the process of paying tribute much simpler and widely accessible. However, the physical presence of family members and friends adds a different level of personal interaction with the memory of the passed. Also, the ease of ability to pay tribute, makes the level of tribute similar to a simple post on Facebook. The time and effort required to pay respects in physical memorials makes the gesture much more meaningful. If tribute is as easily payed as just pressing a few buttons, then the gesture loses meaning.

https://www.forevermissed.com

This image is of the inside of my friends’ house that I will be moving into in the summer. This place has had a very important place in my heart for the past few semesters. Particularly, last semester I had a five hour break between classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. I tried to use this time to go back to my apartment and get work done or take a power nap. However, I was never able to concentrate in my apartment and would end up waste that time doing nothing. I tried spending most of that time in the library, but I found my introverted self getting anxious spending that much time in the library surrounded by that many people for so long. So, instead of going to the library or my apartment, I went to the pictured house and spent time in the pictured living room.

This worked out for me for two major reasons, comfyness and security. To most people this room may look messy, maybe a little cramped, but these aspects all added to the comfort that I felt in this room. I am not a neat person myself, so this level of clutter (messy but not a disaster) actually made me feel more comfortable, like I was free to spread out a little bit and not ruin the serenity of the situation. Moreover, the room looks lived in, by people other than me. There are always at least two TVs in the room, with upwards of three gaming consoles and corresponding controllers stacked in the corner. Unlike in the library, I am not surrounded by strangers, I am surrounded by people who have similar interests, which helps my social anxiety and makes me feel more secure. Also, I am used to living by myself and I absolutely hate it, being in a room that is lived in by people other than myself makes me feel like I can take a break from being locked up in my apartment alone all the time. The dull colors of the room also make me feel more calm and comfortable, while the random decorations like the mannequin and handi-cap sign make me feel secure in the company of my friends. Also, when the Christmas lights hung across the ceiling are lit up, the dim lights give the room the right kind of calming vibe for getting light work done on a computer.

According to Harold, “[culture jamming] seeks to undermine the marketing rhetoric of multinational corporations, specifically through such practices as media hoaxing,corporate sabotage, billboard “liberation,” and trademark infringement (190).” This image of the Nike Logo filled with children from a third world country and with a parodied version of the Nike slogan reading “just make it” is a good example of a culture jam. The intersecting discourses are the ad campaign of Nike presenting themselves as a sports brand that will inspire the consumer to success and the discourse surrounding the use of child labor from third world countries to produce products such as Nike. This image subverts the original purpose of the Nike “swoosh” which ordinarily signifies speed and accomplishment, urging the consumer to “Just Do It”. However, by adding the face of children in the swoosh and changing “Just Do It” to “Just Make It”, the point is being made that Nike is treating children like slaves to produce their products. Instead of “Just Do It” because Nike products will make you good enough to succeed, the point is “Just make It” because your family is starving and Nike has the money that you need, so don’t complain.

Preamble: The following blog post is an analysis of how reformed Christian Facebook represents itself and its ideologies. To conduct this analysis, I did the unthinkable, I sacrificed my integrity and values and requested to join the “Reformed Pub” group on Facebook. As a reformed Christian myself, I use such strong language to describe this group for a few reasons that will be discussed in greater detail further into the blog post. First to define terms, I define “reformed Christianity” (or Calvinism) as essentially a Christian who affirms the theological teachings of John Calvin and other early theologians of the Protestant Reformation. Moreover, Merriam-Webster defines “ideology” as “a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture.” For the sake of this blog, the ideology of reformed Christians will not refer to the explicit theological belief, but rather the implicit cultural beliefs that make up what is commonly referred to as “the Cage Stage” in Christian circles. “Cage Stage” refers to the attitude of self-righteousness and superiority shared among many reformed Christians, the idea being a young Calvinist should spend a few years caged like an animal to protect the outside world from the shear arrogance and smugness protruded. The “Reformed Pub” on Facebook is the largest community of Calvinists on Facebook; a group of 20,846 reformed theologians discussing their favorite craft beers, showing off pictures of their families and beards, and getting into heated debates in comment sections over the slightest variation in scriptural interpretation. I requested to join, but have yet to hear back, so I requested to join the second largest community of Calvinists on Facebook, “Reformed Pub: Unmoderated”. I was accepted within minutes. 2,434 members with only one rule “follow the Facebook terms of service”. This group turned out to be everything about the “cage stage” enveloped into one Facebook group. After perusing the photos of the group, I was able to come up with three different categories that summed up the unfiltered reformed Christian culture. These three categories are photos of alcohol/beer, photos/memes about family, and photos/memes meant to stir up controversy and start a debate.

The first category is photos of alcohol/beer, this image is a good representation of a standard post in this category. A characteristic of reformed Christians is the liberal take on the consumption of alcohol. A typical Calvinist will hold a moral objection against drinking to the point of drunkenness but has no problem with drinking for the flavor of alcohol. For this reason, it is common to see pictures taken of whatever brand it is the poster is drinking, showing off their taste in alcohol as well as the liberty they have in their belief in the morality of drinking. This reflects the sense of pride that many reformed Christians have in their belief system that allows them the freedom to savor the flavor of alcohol and show off to their friends. It also reflects the cultural significance of alcohol to reformed Christians; still maintaining that drinking to drunkenness is sinful, most reformed Christians drink alcohol exclusively for the flavor and take cultural pride in their refined pallet for booze. It is not uncommon to see reformed Christians posting about their favorite craft beers and even sometimes getting into debates over which brew is superior. In this case, the ideology on display is the pride taken in the belief system that allows reformed Christians to drink and the pride that is taken in the refined pallet of reformed Christians.

For the sake of the privacy of the posters, I took the effort to black out the profile pictures and names of the members of this group. This group, while accepting to anybody, is ultimately a closed group, making this group and the subsequent profiles fall into the “publicly private” category of information availability. Silvestri defines “publicly private” as “author identification and profile information are available, but the content they create is only available to a closed network of friends and family (Silvestri 109). Wishing to respect the privacy of the posters, I chose to not show any pictures of families to demonstrate my second category. Rather, this meme does a good job of illustrating the ideological value of family and marriage. One of the most common demographics for reformed Christians is married-with-children dads in their late 30s, followed closely by single white men in their 20s-30s who desperately want to start a family one day. This ideology traces itself back to the concept of marriage for reformed Christians. The most common belief when it comes to marriage is the traditional view of marriage being between one man and one woman. As implied by this post, for reformed Christians, having a traditional family structure is a source of theological understanding. This is because the love shown in marriage and parenting is supposed to reflect the love shown by God to His chosen/elect. For this reason, family values are emphasized in this group, because those values also display a level of implied maturity and understanding for reformed Christians.

The final category is the photos the try to stir up controversy and debate. This meme in the popular “Change my Mind” format succeeds in starting a debate over the Biblical office of Elder. There are a few ideologies on display here, first being the distaste with Catholic theology and second being the authority of the Christian Bible. The poster compares protestant Pastors to the Catholic Pope/Clergy, relying on the reformed Christian commonplace (ideology) that the Papist is not a Biblical office. This is an enthymeme, with the implied premise being the commonplace of Catholic insufficiency. The office of the Pope is unbiblical, the office of the pastor is identical to the office of the Pope, the office of the pastor is unbiblical. The response which sparks the debate also uses the authority of the Christian Bible as another unspoken premise, which leads to an argument about what the Christian Bible *actually* means. This post displays the confidence that many reformed Christians have in their personal belief systems, and how willing they are to debate even the slightest of issues. Since reformed Christians believe in the authority of the Christian Bible and they think they that they have interpreted the Bible correctly, any attack on this interpretation is an attack on the intellect of the reformed Christian. This pride is characteristic of the “cage stage”, Calvinists have gained a negative reputation because many Calvinists are unwilling to back down from a debate.

 

I understand that many of these posts were memes and jokes not meant to be taken too seriously. However, the stereotype of the “cage stage” does exist for a reason, and that reason can be seen when looking at a group like “Reformed Pub: Unmoderated”. I fully believe that each post I looked at was entirely innocent, but still contained remnants of the culture that they were born from. This culture tends to breed a reputation of arrogance and smugness. As a self-proclaimed reformed Christian, I am part of this culture and so I take great care to make sure I understand our weaknesses and how they manifest in simple Facebook posts like the ones analyzed in this Blog Post. I want to see a better online representation for my beliefs that more accurately display the ideology we hold to that does not have any room for arrogance and pride. Of course, I believe most Calvinists do not fall into the “cage-stage” including those who were included in the posts used in this blog post. However, I do think that there are unconscious biases born out of ideology that feed into the stereotype of Calvinists.

Reference: Silvestri—Shiny Happy People Holding Guns

The ideograph on display in this painting of the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse is one of victory, peace, and unity. This image plays off of the desire to show Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee as rivals fighting on opposite sides coming together for the first time in agreement. This also plays to the narrative of the Confederacy as desperate, noble soldiers fighting to protect their homeland. The reputation of Robert E. Lee is protected in this image because he is standing tall, looking into Grant’s eyes, and respectfully shaking his hand. Even today, this narrative of the honorable rebels reluctantly surrendering and joining into the union exists. As a culture, we do not like to acknowledge the more brutal aspects of our ancestor’s history, which makes this image which focuses on peace and unity more palatable.

This image of a Covington High School Student staring down and seemingly mocking  Native American activist, Nathan Phillips, went viral earlier this year because of the narrative that it seemed to carry. This picture is a perfect example of a naturalistic enthymeme, because it gives an argument regarding the attitude of American teenagers in the era of Trump. An enthymeme is an argument that has an assumed premise, a naturalistic enthymeme relates to images because the assumed premise is that the images are real in all three parameters of realism as laid out by Don Slater. The first premise this image is that this image is “a representation of something in the world (Finnegan, 143)”; since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, there has been a lot of tension between people of differing political dispositions. This angst caused by the election of Trump makes it reasonable to believe that this apparent harassment is representative of the tension already present. The second premise in this image is that it is “actually occurring before the camera at a particular time or place.” The assumption is simply that what is being seen is actually what was occurring the moment the picture was taken and that the context supports the narrative of the situation. The third and final premise is that the picture was “captured by the camera with not intervention from the photographer.” This is simply an assumption that the photo was not staged and was not photo-shopped. The reason why this image is a perfect example of a naturalistic enthymeme is that when more contextual information surfaced about incident captured on camera, it was shown that the argument being made was based on false premises. The incident portrayed on the camera was not supported by the context of the situation, and therefore, the situation was not a representation of a larger political problem of harassment. In fact, this situation led to another naturalistic enthymeme that assumes the premise that this situation was a representation of the misleading nature of the mainstream media.

Visual representation can be strong medium for persuasion and dialogue; however, it does not come without its risks. Brouwer points out that “HIV/AIDS tattoos follow in a long line of strategies and methods by people with AIDS and AIDS activists to make AIDS and people with AIDS more visible (120).” However, by making visible the fact that one is HIV positive, they lose the “privacy and security that ‘invisibility’ often affords (Brouwer 128). Showing off one’s scars can be an intimidating thing to do and can often attract the scrutiny of hateful and bigoted voices. For many people, the benefits of “visibility” do not out weigh the benefits of “invisibility”.

This same concept can be applied to a variety of situations; however, I would like to focus on the NFL National Anthem protests. Over the past few years, many NFL athletes of all races, began a tradition of kneeling during the pre-game National Anthem to protest the unfair treatment of people of color in the United States. While different from physically tattooing one’s body, this type of protest (carried out on National Television) can certainly be considered self-stigmatization. To many Americans, the tradition of standing during the National Anthem is a sacred symbol of patriotism and support for US veterans and soldiers. The fact that it is such a controversial action, makes it that much more visible; it is now virtually impossible to get into a discussion about the National Anthem without at least remembering Athletes like Colin Kaepernick who took part in this protest and ended up sacrificing their passion. Kaepernick lost his position on the 49ers and was unable to get a contract with any other team, and therefore lost his ability to play. The protest attracted the attention of the President of the United States, who called for players to be cut if they knelt during the National Anthem. Finally, the NFL enacted a policy that required players to stand or the team would be fined. This, on top of all of the attention, anger, and resentment that was directed toward these players from more conservative football fans, certainly illustrates the risks that come with self-stigmatization. However, players like Jurrell Casey have committed to continue the protest despite push back. The NFL has since, frozen its policy on protest leaving players the freedom to kneel during anthem. While the push back from the NFL, White House, and fan-base may be strong, to many players, the perceived advantages of “visibility” outweigh the security of “invisibility”.

The digital age that we currently live in is filled with types of technologies that generations prior could have never dreamed of. From the more modest living room television to the advanced smartphones that deliver information to your fingertips, the degree to which information is readily available is greater than it has ever been in prior history. The important thing to consider during all these technological advancements and achievements is whether things have gone too far. Is it possible that with the influx of technology, people are decreasing their self-awareness and falling deeper into simplicity? In “Amusing Ourselves to death” Postman makes the argument that, due to the inherent biases of television in America, the populous is on the road to a Huxleyan dystopia where the populous cares less about the world around them than the fleeting pleasure they can be find in entertainment (Postman 98). In this blog post, we will discuss the validity of Postman’s observation as well as whether it is relevant to the year 2019.

According to Postman, television, as a type of technological medium, has inherent biases that keeps it from being completely neutral (Postman 84). The major difference between a technology and a medium is like the difference between the mind and the brain, the brain is the physical organ that does the work whereas the wandering mind is the resulting consequence of brain doing its work (Postman 84). Similarly, the technology is the machine that accepts inputs that lead to outputs that eventually create a unique culture of key words and phrases and standards of acceptable behavior. As for the bias of television, Postman said, “[television] has made entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience (Postman 87).” This is problematic because entertainment, as a form of communication, is incapable of handling every type of situation. The point of entertainment is not only to make things simple and understandable to a basic audience, but also to frame topics and events in a way that makes them exciting and enjoyable to the viewer. Many topics are too complex to be simplified in this manner; therefore, making entertainment the purpose of everything makes mass misinformation far more likely.

To illustrate this idea, Postman reminds the reader of an ABC program hosted by Ted Koppel. During this program, multiple different guests and experts had a five-minute window to offer their commentary on nuclear war and foreign relations in response to the controversial film The Day After. Postman argued that although Koppel framed the program as a “discussion”, none of the guests interacted with each other in a meaningful enough way to merit the description of “discussion” (Postman 90). This program like many others emphasized the nature of the medium of television, each person has their five minutes of fame where they can say whatever they want to get recognition from a large audience. However, due to the entertainment-based culture of television, these people must present their information in a way that is entertaining; therefore, nobody would waste their precious five minutes responding to another person’s ideas, rather they would make the best use of their time. Because of this, no dialogue is taking place, no debate is happening, and no minds are being changed.

While Postman may be correct in the 80s when he claimed that “how television stages the world becomes the model for how the world is properly staged”, now with the advent of new technologies such as the internet and social media, the media that stages the world is far more advanced. No one can argue that our interactions on social media do not define how we view and process the world; however, the access to information is much more in the hands of the viewer than ever before. Speakers have far more than a five-minute time slot to get their ideas across. People are generally more culturally and globally aware. However, due to fake news and clickbait advertisements, it’s hard to say that Postman’s predictions of a Huxleyan dystopian will not entirely come true.

Postman, Neil. Amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of showbusiness.

Methuen, 2007.

The Atlantic recently ran an article on the top 25 photos of 2018 

This image in particular caught my eye. This photo was taken in South Carolina shortly after Hurricane Florence. Pictured in this photo, we can see a car parked in front of house being perfectly reflected by the water that submerges a little less than half the vehicle. The technological production is the first thing to be noticed, the resolution is very high making it easy to notice small details like the dirt on the brick wall, the rust on the fence, and the subtle dark mildew growth on the trunk of the car where it meets the water. The colors in this image are typically muted, there is a light gray hue present in the image that is likely due to the overcast setting and the saturation in general is low; however, the blue car has a decently high value which makes it stand out in contrast to the more muted picture. The most interesting part of this image is the reflective part of it. The reflection gives the viewer a unique perspective on the image, being able to see the same image reflected in an almost perfect natural recreation. As mentioned earlier, the day this photo was taken on was likely overcast, because the light present is muted and only serves to give a light gray hue to the image. However, the light also shines directly onto the centerpiece of the image, the car, making it stand out even more than it did. Finally, this image delivers a very mesmerizing feeling, almost like one could look at the picture for hours on end and feel content trying to spot any subtle difference between the reflection and the real thing.