RU 4 Online Dating?

I have been contemplating the way(s) that our increasing devotion to technology has affected the ways we communicate with each other and develop realationships. One obvious part of this discussion is the issue of Internet dating. I am really curious to hear your opinions on this topic. There are, of course, convincing arguments for dating online (you can find who/what you are looking for a lot easier; it gives you access to a larger "dating pool"; you can communicate and find out if there is any real compatability beyond physical attraction), but there are also a lot of reasons not to do it (first and foremost, there are a lot of freaks in the world, and many of them spend a lot of time online; the people you meet often live too far away for a real relationship; you can't know if you have chemistry with someone until you meet that person face to face; people are fake online, putting forth a false, or idealized, version of themselves). These are all arguments I have heard, not necessarily my own arguments. I'm sure you have heard these arguments, or similar ones.

So my question to you is this: Is online dating a good thing? Is it improving or hindering the way we meet and fall in love? Is it speeding up an outdated process or taking all of the fun and tradition out of what my grandparents would call "courting"? Feel free to share personal experiences. Do you meet people online? Do you have success stories? Horror stories? I am really interested in hearing your views on this topic, as well as your own diverse experiences.
~D

Are You Sold on Sex?

Today we had a really great discussion about visual rhetoric, and one topic that generated a lot of conversation was sexuality in advertising. "Sex sells" is a truism that we hear from time to time, but we went a little deeper than that today. We discussed what ads that appeal to human sexuality say about us. Do they reveal how far we've come, to a point where we can openly celebrate the human body and our sexual nature, or are they gratuitous appeals to base impulses that exploit and objectify the body? Do they promote unrealistic ideals to consumers, especially young consumers? Or do such images depict common fantasies and impulses that we no longer, in 2008, have to keep hidden? And, from a rhetorical point of view, do these ads work for you? Does this image at all persuade you to buy these jeans? I would love for any of you to sound off on this.

Conspiracy Theories

With the recent memorial of 9/11 I thought I would share something that was discussed in my class. I was in my Public Speaking class and my teacher was talking about different speeches she'd heard recently and the day before 9/11 UVU had a man come and speak about it. This man was apparently one of the scientists that had worked on the 9/11 case and shared some conspiracy theories of "what really happened." I've heard all different kinds of junk about this topic but this was new information that they had just found. Apparently when cleaning up the after math of that horrible day scientists found big chunks of the building with red paint on it. They have recently found that this paint is a type of explosive agent. The reason this is so interesting is because scientists say that the rate the buildings dropped is impossible. They said that where the plane hit would have started a huge explosive fire and knocked out a few floors. The rest of the floors would have to be completely burned through before the building started collapsing and each floor would have taken about 2 hrs. to burn through. The buildings collapsed within 6 seconds and from the ground up. They are saying now that this red explosive paint played a part in the explosion, and they are looking for the answers to where the paint came from. I don't think his theories involved the US Government, but it does leave some questions. I know these are just theories but I would love to hear what others think of what this scientist had to say. I personally think that our government had NOTHING to do with it. Tell me what you think....

I found another article on Palin - this one is more comical about her being a "hockey-mom". I did not know that so much could be read into one statement, but did Palin when she decided to use that term? Read the article and let me know what you think. http://www.slate.com/id/2199361/

Sarah Palin Continued

Based on our class discussion yesterday, I thought I might point you toward two editorials I read this morning. The first is by Jack Shafer, and he writes about the media and the "appropriateness" issue we discussed in class. The URL for his piece is http://www.slate.com/id/2199121/. The second editorial is by Bonnie Fuller, who argues that Palin is exploiting her daughter's pregnancy and is forcing her to have a shotgun wedding. The URL for that piece is http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonnie-fuller/sarah-palin-she-has-chose_b_123282.html. Please feel free to respond to either, or both, of these editorials on the blog. See you tomorrow.










Sarah Palin as runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant (left) and as Governor of Alaska (right)