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By ZenMaintenance, 25 Nov 09 21:04

Hello, said Oscar, a small, inexplicable ant of no more magnificent proportions than another small, inexplicable ant; for, in the past four days of his life, there had been, or currently were (He never was very good at keeping track) thirty seven to eighty thousand small diamonds floating around his nest, each having smaller and even smaller images of himself played upon them, shouting one thing: That he had to give himself up, throw his life away, on the whim of Queen Argent; that he, the hardest worker in the colony (Voted so three years in a row), had to give up, or else resign from, his position as the head ruler and economist of the ant colony; that if he didn’t, he would be forced to do one of two things: To either throw away his robe and be exiled, or participate in seemingly crude acts; the first being very dishonorable, and the latter being very undesirable, so, he did what he felt he had to do; first, he went about, cleaning up his room, making sure that he had absolutely no dust on the floor, then, in an act of magnificent courage, went floating down out of his fifty three story room using the dust as a float, moving down past trees, brush, bushes, air molecules (Consisting of no less than seventy percent nitrogen!), bits of water vapor, and the gases pouring off from New York City, that he might be able to escape; that he, a worthless ant from the kingdom, might be able to save himself from a fate no worse than his uncle’s, his poor, poor uncle who had died but an hour earlier from the poorest food in the anthill, and had subsequently been buried in the hill’s walls as if they were savages; Oscar had cried and cried and cried over this fact of truth, until, one day, he realized that he had become an adult ant, that he had the power (The power!) to do whatever he wished with whomever he wished; and so, jumping out of his chair, he broke his back, looking up again at his nest; seeing, in the faces of thirty to eighty thousand small diamonds, his face, playing along, as if an image painted for the pleasure of the queen herself, with everything he did or said: Hello, they said to him, as he said it to them; hello, hello, hello, and as he drifted off into his poor, poor, poor death, he remembered a story from his life, a story which had been of great importance to him as he grew; a story about a young ant who had borne a great secret all his life, who had been forced to say nothing about the traitor living beside him every day in his life, until, at his last dying moment, he screamed out the secret, that his brother was a traitor; and so, as Oscar drifted down into his peaceful death, he, having no great secret, no great speech to tell, simply restated the only thing which played upon his memory, something to say to the faces glowing in front of him, only one thing to say before his unfortunate and untimely death: Hello.

~ZM~

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By KDurch, 12 Nov 09 16:41

okay…so this is just a small paper I wrote for my social mass media class. It doesn’t have much one can talk about, but something interesting to read, I guess… Please feel free to pass judgement or comment on the paper!

Kendall Durchanek

                                                             Symbolism in Mass Communication
In a world of media and communication, people relate to what they see and talk about as symbols. Symbols can be seen as people, objects or even subjects of interest. “Symbol” as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “an object that is used to represent something abstract” and “Symbolism” is “to represent by a symbol or symbols.”
Symbolic Interaction Theory (SIT) has been around and known for over sixty years now. Its roots are traced back to pragmatist philosophers such as Peirce, Dewey, Cooley, and Mead. Blumer, Becker, Goffman, Denzin, and Hochschild have taken the ideas of the philosophers and continued to study and improve the theory. Blumer, who agreed with Meads ideas, defines SIT as “the peculiar and distinctive character of interaction as it takes place between human beings.” (Gingrich).
Symbols have been around for a long time. Cavemen used the walls of caves to draw their stories to pass down the generations. Books were later formed to write down stories, then still pictures and now moving pictures: television and videos. These are not the only places one can find symbols. Within pictures, stories, and moving pictures there are symbols. There symbols are spoken, moving, or inanimate objects.
G.H. Mead and Herbert Blumer worked together to create the general basics of SIT. They focused on the communication and interactions between people. When one person talks to another, the process of what s/he says to the other they find the interpretation may be different. This comes from the idea that each person grew up with different influences around them than the other person. How they were raised with religion, politics, education, or even location are all factors of your interpretation or symbols in the world.
“Interactionists” focus on their image of people rather than on their images of society. They consider humans “pragmatic actors”, people who continually must adjust their behavior to the actions of other actors” (McClelland). They do these studies by personal observations. They say that personal interaction gives you a better feel for how people interact and behave in actual society. In conclusion they find that people are never the same around people (McClelland).
“The empirical path is one of the main reasons that symbolic interaction has remained an important theoretical influence in communication during most of the twentieth century is they question as to what really happens as humans interact. Given that it concerns human interaction the raw materials for study of this interaction are available to anyone. At the same time, the study requires careful observation, an ability to pay attention to detail, and a consideration of the accepted and routine. While it may be difficult to abstract from the perspective of each sociologist, empirical study must move beyond the prejudice and bias of the observer” (Gingrich).
When they studied people, they made a list of different things that they noticed about humans interactions with each other. These were their emotions, body postures and movements, and their etiquette. If someone had something important, they stood more still and seemed apprehensive, while if someone had some sad news they seemed slumped over and their emotions were slow and sad.
There are some downfalls to SIT though. These range from the fact that it’s “too broad, it places too much emphasis on personal behavior, it neglects other important variables, and it is not falsifiable.” They say that the subject of study is too broad and that one cannot pin-point and describe every symbol or interaction between the people. Another aspect is the reality of the subject. Some event may just be okay, but the people can accept the event as something really good or really bad. Their portrayal may be different than that of what was supposed to happen. These are two of the main topics as to why SIT is not a good theory on its own, but rather the basis for many theories (West and Turner).
As long as media is around, symbols will always be around. Also as long as humans are around, there will always be a study of their behaviors and interactions with each other. There will always be questions to be answered, but might not fully comprehend. We can always get close to finding these answers using technology, but then you take the human out of their normal comfort zones and they will not act the same.
Some interactions that I have had with this theory, through the media have to be based on politics, movies, and basic television watching. When I was little I watched movies and wanted to be like the actors and actresses I saw. As I got older and became more aware of actors and what they did, I changed my mind. They are basic people, but get more coverage, because they are in movies or television, and they lives are never left alone. I do not want to be famous for just making movies and having my “mistakes” made a big deal that could end my career.
If you look at symbols in a political sense, you have two main political parties, the Democrats and Republicans. These two parties are symbolized by a blue Donkey- Democrats- and a red Elephant- Republicans. Every two years there is either state or national elections to elect different politicians. How the Politian is doing in the race is marked by red or blue. People will then know what party is winning and where. These politicians stand for what America wants and represents. So when two people talk about politics, if they were raised in a house with different political views, then those two people’s interactions would not be the same. It might create stress or greater conflicts between the two people, but the two people can also work around those differences and make peace and understanding.
In general people associate education as a symbol of money and wealth. It is common to call people that have a college education on the middle class to wealthy status in life. And if you did not get a high school education, you are looked upon as poor and no money. These are all symbols of the general society. Not all wealthy people had college educations though. Most actresses and actors made it through at least high school-getting the diploma at the same time as acting-. These people are also looked upon as symbols. Little children look upon famous people as idols and want to grow up and be like them. People from other countries see these movies and believe that what they see is what America is like.
Everywhere you go you see signs, cars, and people sitting on the street holding signs. These are all symbols, symbols of life and the society around us. These are just some of the ways I interact and face the idea of Symbolic Interaction Theory. People study the aspect of how humans interact with each other: ranging from body language and emotions, the media’s portrayal of people and aspects of life and each person’s perspective on life.

Works Cited
Gingrich, Paul. “Sociology 319: Symbolic Interactionism.” 1 February 2000. University of Regina. 6 December 2008 .
McClelland, Kent. “SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM.” 21 February 2000. Grinnell College. 7 December 2008 .
West, Richard and Lynn H. Turner. “Symbolic Interaction Theory.” 2007. Introducing Communication Theory Analysis and Application Third Edition. 7 December 2008 .

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By ZenMaintenance, 4 Nov 09 20:56

Life a beauty, new veranda
Stalking lips of Satan sweet
Man hath for sweet the sugar tongue;
And yet, in time, before time long
He sees, I see the life is gone…

Leaves dark amorous soften light
Canopies as I walk I brush aside
Spying her with forests’ gaze
Never to return again;
Eye a gaze the black’ning gloom
Lightning mind, it blinds, it dooms.

She follows bloody sun to Earth’s lovely ends
Its violence fueling her adventure
To the world upon worlds
What is found is not to like
What is liked will not be found
In a world which empowered
In direction flowing down.

Frosty white, the sparkling snow,
Plays softly on her lips;
Its cold dark depths are heightened to their fame, and
As I see her lying there in comfort made of snow
Falling all around her it is there I must not go…

And in the forests she remains again.
I cannot find her to these sultry ends:
Darkness is enchanted touch
As fingers grasp the want, the need,
A falling, growing, feeling seed,
The love will grow there like a weed.

Water dripping stone finds her again in God’s great grasp.
The morning sun is left us now,
Left us for to ask: Can we,
In a great mind, find sight for us to give;
Or will we soon discover
There is nothing for to live?

Alien symbols in your touch
And sitting in a crutch,
The mind is great in passage as,
As you and I are here
And see what our love has…
It seems to make me glad…
Although I still feel bad…
For what we could have had…

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By Rowen, 20 Jan 09 19:11

I can’t hold onto something so thin

That it slips through my fingers with ease.

Like grains of sand, life giving water.

It slips away before I can drink.

No security, no assurance,

No knowledge of how this will turn out.

Different people with different minds

I can’t extend a hand, to one who breaks away

And tells me it’s my life.

I can’t see myself standing with this man

Who always allows a distance to part us.

What is life then?

When I can’t give assurance or life

To someone I strive to be.

What is left after I’ve finished my growing

And we’ve finished our learning?

I want life, I want to live

Yet all I do is suffocate.

Under a pressure that kills my breath

And takes my voice.

Tears come forth and he only looks at me with disdain.

How can I be me,

When you’re all that influences me?

My sense of self

Only influenced by you.

A man who plays with people and inflicts great pain

I can only love you.

What is life?

When I can’t even hold your hand.

Nothing is great, nothing is pure,

Nothing can be done.

There’s you and there’s me

In a cramped little world you’ll never return to.

There will always be space.

There is no closure.

Good-bye.

You have to take care of your own needs.

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By Rowen, 10 Jan 09 20:47

We hold inside our perfect little world
A perfect little life
Protected by little deceits and imperfections.
All we hold dear and all we hold near
Gives us life and gives us love,
A sad song plays out,
Ringing in our ears.

All our sins come back to haunt us in the end
And hang around, hang us by a thread.
We have no more than moments in time anymore.
Slight movements controlled and calm for others to see
But wanting more.
Wanting a love
Of passion and unrestricting bonds.

We hold true to love and hope.
Someday it’ll be easier
Someday it’ll be simple
With a growing need of caresses and embraces
What is simple to us?
Summer roses, victims of the fall
You, and me, both of us.

Awaken at dawn to an empty bed,
A morning yearning for a memorable face
One we used to know.
We see ghosts of one another
In the things we used to know.
One word we used to say
Between me and you.

The sun is burning, and the nights are blinding
Hopes of better days to come
Will keep us in for the long run
I’ll give you hope and give you love
I’ll give you what you need.
Just don’t cry tonight
And don’t feel empty.

I love you
Words that were so hard for me
Are now natural and sweet on my tongue
They pour delicately and fluently
To your ears.
I want to see it
You make me smile.

I smile, knowing everything’s all right
To the core.
We won’t fail, we won’t falter
I’ll hold fast for you and you’ll smile for me.
I want to see you smiling.
I want to hear you laughing.
I want to see you again.

I’ll try to sleep, to keep you in my dreams
Till I can bring you home to me.
So come in closer
Come as close as you can to me,
And I’ll feel your heartbeat underneath your chest
In your pulse, and in your breathe.
A sound that makes me drift and fade away.

I don’t want the world to see me
Because they wouldn’t understand.
That I’d give up forever to touch you
And I’d give everything to see you.
I don’t want to miss you tonight.
But I won’t see you
And I won’t hold you tonight.
Sooner or later it’ll be over
And there will be comfort
In everything and anything we do.