NY post cartoon

When I first saw the ad I thought about it more in reference to the writing of the stimulus bill rather than a racial stereotype of Barack Obama. It would indicate that the stimulus bill is a document that the police obviously don’t have a lot of faith in.
If you look at the circumstances surrounding the death of the monkey, the 911 call from its owner tells the police to kill him, even thought he was practically a member of her family. This lack of hope is ironic considering that hope is generally one of Obama’s key speaking points. After looking at the cartoon a second time, it is obvious what the artist thinks of Obama’s skills as president. Depicting him as a monkey just adds insult to injury. After indirectly criticizing Obama’s competence to write the bill, the appalling racial offense shows deliberate racism.

Modernization

Marx and Engels describe modernity as “all that is solid melts in the air.” Modernity is described as not only the act of change, but as the yearning for newness as well. He goes on to say that change cannot be stopped, and if you do not change with the rest of the world, you will be passed by.

Modernism is essentially how we can measure the passage of time through culture. For example, communication used to be primarily face to face or through written form. After a time people began to speak over the phone, and many years later the internet. It is next to impossible to keep up with the new cell phone technology that is implemented at the present time. Just by looking at how far we have come shows how inevitable modernism is, and how right Marx was when he said that the rest of the world will pass you by if you refuse to keep up with society. If one was to try to communicate with friends through letters rather than instant messenger, they would be seriously out of touch.

A Gift From Kenya

The Maasai people are obviously very compassionate and sensitive to suffering. The cows were perceived to be a perfect gift for America. The representation aspect in this situation was though the cows dind't really have a place in Manhattan, the healing and selflessness they represented was definitly a salve to the new yorkers after 9/11. This shows us that despite the cultural differences that may alter a message, the concept and heart can be translated if we take the time to understand and consider the circumstances and environment of that culture.

Two Communication Models

The two models of communication described in the book are the transmission model and the cultural model. The two work together to ensure that communication occurs.
Transmission model:
The transmission model focuses on the source, message and receiver model. The message is relayed to one person and then transferred to another individual. It focuses on how there is static that always occurs because of ones persona interpretation of the message based o their back round and pre-conceived notions. Therefore one message an have multiple meanings depending on the reciever.

Cultural model :
The culture model expands upon the fact that different cultures with different beliefs will need to have a message tailored to their understainding in order to properly recieve it. The culture model also gives a little more meaning to the message. Especially if the message has been passed through generations, they become integral to the beliefes and values of that culture.

Media Representation

According to Professor Hall, representation is the way in which meaning is given to the things depicted. Representation "re-presents" the meaning that was already contained in what is depicted. When we talk about the issue of representation, we are really referring to the use of a stand in. The media uses stand ins to re-present information in a more appealing format all the time. Take for example, When P-Diddy got on board with the rock the vote campaign, or more recently, with his anti-drunk driving campaigns. The information has always been there, Telling people to vote and not drink and drive. However when the information is re-presented in a way that speaks to its target audience, you have a much more effective persuasion and communication tool on your hands.