HUM101
Blog 5
Evaluation of my blogging experience
By Joe Bassi
This is our last blog related assignment, and for the benefit of my readers I shall briefly explain what this is. Our instructor has asked us to evaluate our blogging assignments with three questions. I will answer them. The questions are in parentheses and underlined. They are;
“Compared to writing traditional essays as you have in other classes, were the expectations of the blog assignment easier, harder or just different? In other words, was it clear to you what the format of a blog was and how to produce one? “I found blogging to be an enjoyable challenge. I was unaware of the blog format before taking this class and I wrote my blogs just as I would any other essay. The only difference was the technology, instead of quoting my information sources and putting them into a works cited section at the end of a paper. I used hyperlinks at the end of a quotation in my blogs to give credit to the source from where the information came.
I liked the way the questions were presented, because I had a choice of five different questions each time the blogs were assigned. I could pick which one of the five was interesting to me and that gave me a better chance of getting a good grade because of the freedom to choose a topic I liked I was more willing to put in the required time and effort to get an “A”. I think I earned an “A” on every blog, which is good because when we very first met for this class I was intimidated by the subject matter and the text books. I am a mechanic I work in the world of machines, this sort of class seemed very abstract and vague at first but the instructor was able to put it into a way that was practical for me.
“Did the blog assignments, and the requirements to create a blog, relate to the class topics and course objectives? Why or why not?” I think the blogs did because part of the grading rubric was to present two different viewpoints. Also part of the grading rubric was to make a case favoring your opinion, a logical, valid case not an erroneous fallacy-filled case.
I remember my first blog was on the subject of “was it patriotic to shop? “ I took the position that it was patriotic to shop because of the tax revenue generated by shopping and the employment of retailers, but I made some important distinctions. I did not say that it was entirely patriotic, in some ways it is patriotic and in some ways it is not patriotic, it is just a ploy by retailers. So I presented both sides of the question. Like most things covered in the course there is not a simple yes or no answer, the answer is complicated because the question is complicated.
I would also like to add that the class has made me think twice about my purchasing decisions, and what I watch on T.V. We spent a lot of time discussing the media, which encompassed the news media, advertising, entertainment, sports, and the whole enchilada. I tend to be conservative so is my spouse, so we watch a lot of fox news channel who spins the news to conservative tastes. I am more aware of the spin now. Also I am more aware of my addiction to sports, I spend a lot of my free time following E.S.P.N. on television and the web. For example the N.F.L. draft just took place about ten days ago and I could not stop watching it.
I think it is a way of escaping from the reality of working-class monotony, but maybe I would be better served reading or playing the guitar.
“Did the non-text elements of the blog program contribute to your learning in this class? Did they get in the way? Or did they have no effect at all?”
The real challenge for me in this wasn’t the writing, but the difficulty I have with Microsoft Word documents, the internet, and anything to do with computers at all. Logging onto blogger and getting my account started was a major hassle for me, because I don’t do things like that. I think having this blogging assignment was a technological growing pain for me much like getting used to the blackboard format for my online classes here at Yavapai College, and having to become capable of doing word documents. In other words blogging and all the stuff with computers over the past four semesters while getting this degree has pushed me into the modern age , where as in August 2008 I was in the stone-age of computer terms. I used think copy and paste meant using a scissors and some glue.
So to sum it up, as much as becoming computer literate at Yavapai College has been a pain in the neck it has prepared me for the modern world at work, play, home you name it.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Blog # 4
Blog Post # 4
By Joe Bassi
HUM101
For blog-post number I will attempt to address this question raised by our instructor. It states. Montag says,”We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while.” How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” When was the last time you were really bothered about something important and real? What was it and what did you do about it?
Montag is the hero in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I haven’t read far enough to know the context of this quotation but I do get really bothered once in a while. Like two days ago, I took my three year old daughter to the neighborhood park. At the playground there are swings, slides and jungle gym equipment for little kids. Oftentimes there are teenage kids lying about and hanging around on one of the larger jungle gyms, usually girls. They are there because of the teenage boys who use the adjacent skate park. The thing that bothers me frequently is the use of the “F” word by the young people there.
I listened to the banter between the teen girls and boys and cringed, my little kid was oblivious to the meaning of these words, but kids repeat what they here. I have slipped and used bad words in front of her only to hear them immediately spoken by her. So I have to be careful. I guess at the playground she is so into playing that she tunes out what the teens are saying, but I don’t. I am also aware of the fact that I was a loud foul-mouthed teen myself and I probably embarrassed myself a lot but I didn’t care.
I work in a large-scale, heavy industrial garage repairing diesel equipment. I know I use the “F” word perhaps a dozen times on any given day. I am not defending my right to cuss but at least that is the proper time and place for George Carlin’s seven dirty words. A playground for children is not, but try and get teenagers to see that. I have made comments to teens at the park before and I darn near lost my temper once. Now I have just surrendered to the fact that if I take my kid to the playground there is a about a 10% to 30% chance I won’t like what I hear from the older kids.
The real problem is that I don’t want to hear my daughter use colorful words for a very long time (30 + years!). I want her childhood to be as rewarding as possible, and as wholesome as possible in a world that is not Godly.
Where does the media fit into all this? This is after all a class about society and technology. We all know that the language in modern era movies has shifted to the obscene. Maybe even the absurd, the aforementioned hyperlink is a Dailymail.co.uk article; the following are quotes from it “The T.V. watchdog said bad language was so common in modern Hollywood films that many viewers considered it normal in everyday conversation”. The article continues “Its study found nearly every use of a swear word was gratuitous.” You never heard Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall use bad language and the movies were better.
I remember about a month ago at work I was waiting for a morning line-out meeting with a crew of mechanics in the lobby of the main office complex. One of the office staff was overheard using the “MF” word. There were a few uneasy laughs, and then one of the senior technicians said “I guess that’s not a bad word anymore.”
By Joe Bassi
HUM101
For blog-post number I will attempt to address this question raised by our instructor. It states. Montag says,”We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while.” How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” When was the last time you were really bothered about something important and real? What was it and what did you do about it?
Montag is the hero in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I haven’t read far enough to know the context of this quotation but I do get really bothered once in a while. Like two days ago, I took my three year old daughter to the neighborhood park. At the playground there are swings, slides and jungle gym equipment for little kids. Oftentimes there are teenage kids lying about and hanging around on one of the larger jungle gyms, usually girls. They are there because of the teenage boys who use the adjacent skate park. The thing that bothers me frequently is the use of the “F” word by the young people there.
I listened to the banter between the teen girls and boys and cringed, my little kid was oblivious to the meaning of these words, but kids repeat what they here. I have slipped and used bad words in front of her only to hear them immediately spoken by her. So I have to be careful. I guess at the playground she is so into playing that she tunes out what the teens are saying, but I don’t. I am also aware of the fact that I was a loud foul-mouthed teen myself and I probably embarrassed myself a lot but I didn’t care.
I work in a large-scale, heavy industrial garage repairing diesel equipment. I know I use the “F” word perhaps a dozen times on any given day. I am not defending my right to cuss but at least that is the proper time and place for George Carlin’s seven dirty words. A playground for children is not, but try and get teenagers to see that. I have made comments to teens at the park before and I darn near lost my temper once. Now I have just surrendered to the fact that if I take my kid to the playground there is a about a 10% to 30% chance I won’t like what I hear from the older kids.
The real problem is that I don’t want to hear my daughter use colorful words for a very long time (30 + years!). I want her childhood to be as rewarding as possible, and as wholesome as possible in a world that is not Godly.
Where does the media fit into all this? This is after all a class about society and technology. We all know that the language in modern era movies has shifted to the obscene. Maybe even the absurd, the aforementioned hyperlink is a Dailymail.co.uk article; the following are quotes from it “The T.V. watchdog said bad language was so common in modern Hollywood films that many viewers considered it normal in everyday conversation”. The article continues “Its study found nearly every use of a swear word was gratuitous.” You never heard Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall use bad language and the movies were better.
I remember about a month ago at work I was waiting for a morning line-out meeting with a crew of mechanics in the lobby of the main office complex. One of the office staff was overheard using the “MF” word. There were a few uneasy laughs, and then one of the senior technicians said “I guess that’s not a bad word anymore.”
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Blog post number three.
Joe Bassi
HUM101
Blog Post Number Three
For blog three I shall examine the phenomenon of “lovemarks”, the creation of advertising and retailers that commands loyalty from consumers. For the reader’s benefit I will retype the instructors question here, it asks “ In “The Persuaders”, marketer Kevin Roberts uses the term “lovemarks” to identify brands to which people are loyal even when devotion is not logical. Are there brands to which you are devoted? When you stop to think about it, is your loyalty to any particular logical or a “lovemark”? If purchasing a particular brand is not logical, why would you ( or other people) do it?
In the Frontline episode “ The Persuaders” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/view/
Ad-man Kevin Roberts has identified brands people “love”. In “ The Persuaders” second segment he is interviewed by Frontline and describes a “lovemark is a brand that has created loyalty beyond reason” and “you.. recognize immediately as having some kind of iconic place in your heart”. Also in “The Persuaders” they talk about “emotional bonding” with products, “cult brands”, and even a “meaning system” which is associated with certain brands “fulfilling peoples’ needs”. ( All quotes are from the hyperlink, “The Persuaders”). I only had time to watch the first half-hour of “The Persuaders” and I thought it was great. I watch a lot of t.v. and while I don’t like all the commercials I am still influenced by them evidently.
The first question asked in the assignment says” are there brands to which you are devoted?” The answer is yes I am. The second question posed is “When you stop to think about it, is your loyalty any particular brand logical or a “lovemark”? this is more complicated than yes or no. To answer I am going to examine two brands that come to mind, Levis jeans and The Oakland Raiders of the NFL. I will go in order and talk about Levis jeans first.
Levis jeans are really expensive, and before I continue writing I have to tell you that I was raised to be a frugal shopper. I buy clothes at Ross or the Levis outlet. When I buy work clothes at Goodwill and The Disabled Veterans thrift store, the Salvation Army is too expensive. Levis website http://us.levi.com/home/index.jsp advertises pants for as much as $70.00 ( people should be ashamed of themselves). I bought a pair of Levis at Sears last year for $ 35.00 because I was invited to an awards banquet where I recieved an award for most improved student. I felt really guilty about spending $ 35.00 on a pair of pants, but for some reason I feel like a slob if I am not wearing Levis pants at a social gathering, and I guess that is because of advertising. Now, Levis are more comfortable than other jeans but really I pay for a name – Levis. An American icon.
The second “lovemark” brand name I’ll tackle is the Oakland Raiders of the NFL. http://www.raiders.com/. They’re my team, they stink. I remember an exchange I had in our Humanities 101 class about the new scrubbing luffas or sponge thingies that retailers are peddling to get people cleaner. There was an advertisement we watched in class ( from the super bowl) for Dove:Men+Care, and I was making fun of it. One of my class mates pointed out to me that I would use it if it said RAIDERS on it, and I laughed. I had to think critically about the joke.
The Raiders moved from Oakland to L.A. ( I’m from SoCal) and then bailed on me ( so did the Rams) back to Oakland, they never got a stadium in either town. Anyway, in 2002 the Raiders won the AFC Championship and went to Super Bowl XXXVII and were beat badly by Tampa Bay. Since then they have had the 2nd worst record in the pro’s. Also since then I have moved from SoCal and I have no desire to back. Why do I still get excited about the Raiders? What logical reason is their? I typed “ why do fans still support the Oakland Raiders”? into google I surfed around some of the sites and got a few laughs but no worthwhile material for an opposing view point. I guess I will always like the teams I liked when I was a kid.
Then I typed “ Why do fans follow a team”? into google and found videojug http://www.videojug.com/interview/footballs-social-impact-2
It discusses footballs social impact and one of the questions they attempt to answer is “ Why does football grow in popularity”? It says” …football is kind of like a microcosm of our society…when you get knocked down get back up again”. ( quotes from videojug, the previous hyperlink). I guess that’s why the Raiders still appeal to me.
HUM101
Blog Post Number Three
For blog three I shall examine the phenomenon of “lovemarks”, the creation of advertising and retailers that commands loyalty from consumers. For the reader’s benefit I will retype the instructors question here, it asks “ In “The Persuaders”, marketer Kevin Roberts uses the term “lovemarks” to identify brands to which people are loyal even when devotion is not logical. Are there brands to which you are devoted? When you stop to think about it, is your loyalty to any particular logical or a “lovemark”? If purchasing a particular brand is not logical, why would you ( or other people) do it?
In the Frontline episode “ The Persuaders” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/view/
Ad-man Kevin Roberts has identified brands people “love”. In “ The Persuaders” second segment he is interviewed by Frontline and describes a “lovemark is a brand that has created loyalty beyond reason” and “you.. recognize immediately as having some kind of iconic place in your heart”. Also in “The Persuaders” they talk about “emotional bonding” with products, “cult brands”, and even a “meaning system” which is associated with certain brands “fulfilling peoples’ needs”. ( All quotes are from the hyperlink, “The Persuaders”). I only had time to watch the first half-hour of “The Persuaders” and I thought it was great. I watch a lot of t.v. and while I don’t like all the commercials I am still influenced by them evidently.
The first question asked in the assignment says” are there brands to which you are devoted?” The answer is yes I am. The second question posed is “When you stop to think about it, is your loyalty any particular brand logical or a “lovemark”? this is more complicated than yes or no. To answer I am going to examine two brands that come to mind, Levis jeans and The Oakland Raiders of the NFL. I will go in order and talk about Levis jeans first.
Levis jeans are really expensive, and before I continue writing I have to tell you that I was raised to be a frugal shopper. I buy clothes at Ross or the Levis outlet. When I buy work clothes at Goodwill and The Disabled Veterans thrift store, the Salvation Army is too expensive. Levis website http://us.levi.com/home/index.jsp advertises pants for as much as $70.00 ( people should be ashamed of themselves). I bought a pair of Levis at Sears last year for $ 35.00 because I was invited to an awards banquet where I recieved an award for most improved student. I felt really guilty about spending $ 35.00 on a pair of pants, but for some reason I feel like a slob if I am not wearing Levis pants at a social gathering, and I guess that is because of advertising. Now, Levis are more comfortable than other jeans but really I pay for a name – Levis. An American icon.
The second “lovemark” brand name I’ll tackle is the Oakland Raiders of the NFL. http://www.raiders.com/. They’re my team, they stink. I remember an exchange I had in our Humanities 101 class about the new scrubbing luffas or sponge thingies that retailers are peddling to get people cleaner. There was an advertisement we watched in class ( from the super bowl) for Dove:Men+Care, and I was making fun of it. One of my class mates pointed out to me that I would use it if it said RAIDERS on it, and I laughed. I had to think critically about the joke.
The Raiders moved from Oakland to L.A. ( I’m from SoCal) and then bailed on me ( so did the Rams) back to Oakland, they never got a stadium in either town. Anyway, in 2002 the Raiders won the AFC Championship and went to Super Bowl XXXVII and were beat badly by Tampa Bay. Since then they have had the 2nd worst record in the pro’s. Also since then I have moved from SoCal and I have no desire to back. Why do I still get excited about the Raiders? What logical reason is their? I typed “ why do fans still support the Oakland Raiders”? into google I surfed around some of the sites and got a few laughs but no worthwhile material for an opposing view point. I guess I will always like the teams I liked when I was a kid.
Then I typed “ Why do fans follow a team”? into google and found videojug http://www.videojug.com/interview/footballs-social-impact-2
It discusses footballs social impact and one of the questions they attempt to answer is “ Why does football grow in popularity”? It says” …football is kind of like a microcosm of our society…when you get knocked down get back up again”. ( quotes from videojug, the previous hyperlink). I guess that’s why the Raiders still appeal to me.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Blog assignment # 2
Blog assignment # 2
By Joe Bassi
I chose to answer question 3 for this blog post. I shall restate it here for those who may not be in the class. It asks’ “Why are so many people uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don’t have a single solution? Give an example of a current controversy in which there are different factions arguing that theirs is the one RIGHT answer and explain why there is in reality no one right answer to the issue”. I will answer the opening question in the previous statement first. In my opinion, people are uncomfortable with solutions that conflict with their own and people are uncomfortable with complications of any kind; especially in the realm of the controversial .Tempers arise. Ideals clash. We are all familiar with the saying “Do not discuss religion or politics at the kitchen table.”
A current controversy that encompasses all of the above elements is illustrated in our country’s Health Care Reform Bill. I do not follow the news frequently, so in an attempt to better understand this controversy and what all the squabbling is about I shall examine a few websites. According to Thomas Bates http://www.rockthevote.com/issues/health-care-center/
Featured Video on Rock the Vote.com .He sums up the current state of the Bill as the Senate has passed a bill, the House has passed a bill that is similar, but both versions of the Health Care Reform Bill are supposed to be compromised upon and the result would be a conference report. After it is voted upon it would then be up to the President to approve it. ( I’m a bill , I’m a bill on capitol hill that’s how I remember civics’ lessons).
Yesterday a 7.5 hour White House summit and debate ensued in D.C. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul
To summarize whets happening, Democrats disagree over the President’s plan but they are moving forward with the goal of achieving some kind health care reform.”It’s time to do something, and were going to do it.” Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada. President Barack Obama says “I don’t need a poll to know that most Republican voters are opposed to this bill and might be oppose to the kind of compromise we could craft... And if we can’t… I think we’ve got to go ahead and make some decisions and that’s what elections are for.” The article includes Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky who said “Frankly, I was discouraged by the outcome” and “I do not believe there will be any Republican support for this 2,700 page bill.” The only voice from this article I read and hyperlinked here that made sense to me was that of our own John McCain, a republican from Arizona who said on ABC’s “ Good Morning America “ that the White House summit was beneficial and a good learning opportunity. I like when he said it is time “to start over. What we’re saying is, let’s start out on the areas we agree upon.” According to the article further on it says those items are dropping sick policyholders, ending annual and lifetime monetary benefits, and letting young people stay on their parents insurance longer, into their 20’s. All these quotes and the information from this paragraph can be found in the hyperlink at the beginning of this paragraph.
Through my research I have stumbled upon the White Houses’ official site. http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting. The opening page asks “what will the Presidents’ Proposal mean for you?” then I click on “I have insurance through my work.” This leads to an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) screen. The Q (question) says “will my premiums / costs go up because of health care reform” The A (answer) says No. I like the sound of that, but I know that someone has to pay for it, probably me in the form of higher taxes.
From my research I can see that there is no one solution to our health care dilemma. No easy way to care of our people, we are the richest country in the world we should have health care for all of us. How to accomplish this? I think law makers should put into effect those things that both parties have agreed on. This would be a victory in bipartisanship and would help some people in the country. Mostly it would get things started, even it was just those three little things it would still be a win/win for Washington and the people. It would be something to build on, and it would lessen the frustration of people like me who just want to see our elected officials accomplish some form of bipartisanship.
By Joe Bassi
I chose to answer question 3 for this blog post. I shall restate it here for those who may not be in the class. It asks’ “Why are so many people uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don’t have a single solution? Give an example of a current controversy in which there are different factions arguing that theirs is the one RIGHT answer and explain why there is in reality no one right answer to the issue”. I will answer the opening question in the previous statement first. In my opinion, people are uncomfortable with solutions that conflict with their own and people are uncomfortable with complications of any kind; especially in the realm of the controversial .Tempers arise. Ideals clash. We are all familiar with the saying “Do not discuss religion or politics at the kitchen table.”
A current controversy that encompasses all of the above elements is illustrated in our country’s Health Care Reform Bill. I do not follow the news frequently, so in an attempt to better understand this controversy and what all the squabbling is about I shall examine a few websites. According to Thomas Bates http://www.rockthevote.com/issues/health-care-center/
Featured Video on Rock the Vote.com .He sums up the current state of the Bill as the Senate has passed a bill, the House has passed a bill that is similar, but both versions of the Health Care Reform Bill are supposed to be compromised upon and the result would be a conference report. After it is voted upon it would then be up to the President to approve it. ( I’m a bill , I’m a bill on capitol hill that’s how I remember civics’ lessons).
Yesterday a 7.5 hour White House summit and debate ensued in D.C. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul
To summarize whets happening, Democrats disagree over the President’s plan but they are moving forward with the goal of achieving some kind health care reform.”It’s time to do something, and were going to do it.” Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada. President Barack Obama says “I don’t need a poll to know that most Republican voters are opposed to this bill and might be oppose to the kind of compromise we could craft... And if we can’t… I think we’ve got to go ahead and make some decisions and that’s what elections are for.” The article includes Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky who said “Frankly, I was discouraged by the outcome” and “I do not believe there will be any Republican support for this 2,700 page bill.” The only voice from this article I read and hyperlinked here that made sense to me was that of our own John McCain, a republican from Arizona who said on ABC’s “ Good Morning America “ that the White House summit was beneficial and a good learning opportunity. I like when he said it is time “to start over. What we’re saying is, let’s start out on the areas we agree upon.” According to the article further on it says those items are dropping sick policyholders, ending annual and lifetime monetary benefits, and letting young people stay on their parents insurance longer, into their 20’s. All these quotes and the information from this paragraph can be found in the hyperlink at the beginning of this paragraph.
Through my research I have stumbled upon the White Houses’ official site. http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting. The opening page asks “what will the Presidents’ Proposal mean for you?” then I click on “I have insurance through my work.” This leads to an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) screen. The Q (question) says “will my premiums / costs go up because of health care reform” The A (answer) says No. I like the sound of that, but I know that someone has to pay for it, probably me in the form of higher taxes.
From my research I can see that there is no one solution to our health care dilemma. No easy way to care of our people, we are the richest country in the world we should have health care for all of us. How to accomplish this? I think law makers should put into effect those things that both parties have agreed on. This would be a victory in bipartisanship and would help some people in the country. Mostly it would get things started, even it was just those three little things it would still be a win/win for Washington and the people. It would be something to build on, and it would lessen the frustration of people like me who just want to see our elected officials accomplish some form of bipartisanship.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Joe B blog #1 "patriotic shopping"
Joe B
Hum101
Blog assignment # 1
Is it patriotic to shop? It depends on where the product you are buying was made. If you are buying “patriotic” let’s first define the word. A patriot is “one who loves and zealously supports one’s own country” ( from Webster’s New World Dictionary), would mean you would by only U.S.A. made goods.
From this point of view one would be a patriotic shopper if everything he purchased was American made. Lets for a moment consider that sadly very little is made here in America these days. Then let’s consider our former President George W. Bush’s plea to “ get on the airlines, get about the business of America ”http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0929-04.htm. This was of course said shortly after 9/11. He was talking about keeping money flowing thru our economy. And at least when you fly, you are on an American made plane.
As an owner of two Toyota’s and a Nissan I have contributed to the downfall of Detroit. I am not proud of this, but they were used when I bought them. My Nissan Quest is really a Mercury Villager (Ford) with Nissan electronics, a Nissan nameplate. It was built in America by Ford for Nissan. My Toyota Camry was built in Kentucky U.S.A. so it’ confusing these days as to what an American car is. I think it would be patriotic for me to buy a new Chevy or Ford made by American Auto Workers in Detroit , but I cannot afford to right now. Of course it must be said that most Chevy’s and Ford’s are assembled in America, but from international and outsourced components and materials.
U.S.A. made items like pants that are made here of domestic materials cost dearly. http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/clothes-workwear/mens/mens-pants/84011.aspx?feature=product_11. They are $ 69.50 for a pair of pants, pants advertised along with work pant’s. I would not work in them. These are pants that the working class can’t afford. They are made in Kentucky, and I can picture the employee’s working their finger’s to the bone for $7.00 an hour.
Despite the confusion over what is American made and the often bleak picture I have painted of America’s manufacturing capacity. I believe it is patriotic to shop. When you shop you are moving money thru the economy, paying sales tax to fund public works projects and pay off our deep debt. Also you are encouraging capitalism and the American way of life. But this is not enough. It’s time America started to manufacture again. The question I addressed was “Given that the U.S. economy is based on consumer spending, is it patriotic to shop?”. We must create jobs. The other component in the economy is that the consumer must have an income to spend .
I worked at a small manufacturing plant before I started the internship program, that was bought out by a large international competitor and subsequently shut down. Being a lowly welder there I wasn’t informed why this was done and lucky for me I landed this job before they shut the doors. My father’s manufacturing job was outsourced to another country a short time after he was willing to relocate across the country to stay with the company. The point of all this is America needs to get back to what we do best which is manufacturing . In addition to mining and farming it is what we need to get our country on track financially.
Hum101
Blog assignment # 1
Is it patriotic to shop? It depends on where the product you are buying was made. If you are buying “patriotic” let’s first define the word. A patriot is “one who loves and zealously supports one’s own country” ( from Webster’s New World Dictionary), would mean you would by only U.S.A. made goods.
From this point of view one would be a patriotic shopper if everything he purchased was American made. Lets for a moment consider that sadly very little is made here in America these days. Then let’s consider our former President George W. Bush’s plea to “ get on the airlines, get about the business of America ”http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0929-04.htm. This was of course said shortly after 9/11. He was talking about keeping money flowing thru our economy. And at least when you fly, you are on an American made plane.
As an owner of two Toyota’s and a Nissan I have contributed to the downfall of Detroit. I am not proud of this, but they were used when I bought them. My Nissan Quest is really a Mercury Villager (Ford) with Nissan electronics, a Nissan nameplate. It was built in America by Ford for Nissan. My Toyota Camry was built in Kentucky U.S.A. so it’ confusing these days as to what an American car is. I think it would be patriotic for me to buy a new Chevy or Ford made by American Auto Workers in Detroit , but I cannot afford to right now. Of course it must be said that most Chevy’s and Ford’s are assembled in America, but from international and outsourced components and materials.
U.S.A. made items like pants that are made here of domestic materials cost dearly. http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/clothes-workwear/mens/mens-pants/84011.aspx?feature=product_11. They are $ 69.50 for a pair of pants, pants advertised along with work pant’s. I would not work in them. These are pants that the working class can’t afford. They are made in Kentucky, and I can picture the employee’s working their finger’s to the bone for $7.00 an hour.
Despite the confusion over what is American made and the often bleak picture I have painted of America’s manufacturing capacity. I believe it is patriotic to shop. When you shop you are moving money thru the economy, paying sales tax to fund public works projects and pay off our deep debt. Also you are encouraging capitalism and the American way of life. But this is not enough. It’s time America started to manufacture again. The question I addressed was “Given that the U.S. economy is based on consumer spending, is it patriotic to shop?”. We must create jobs. The other component in the economy is that the consumer must have an income to spend .
I worked at a small manufacturing plant before I started the internship program, that was bought out by a large international competitor and subsequently shut down. Being a lowly welder there I wasn’t informed why this was done and lucky for me I landed this job before they shut the doors. My father’s manufacturing job was outsourced to another country a short time after he was willing to relocate across the country to stay with the company. The point of all this is America needs to get back to what we do best which is manufacturing . In addition to mining and farming it is what we need to get our country on track financially.
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