Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Stop the Microaggressions

  Rumplestiltskin, a fairytale character in a TV series called Once Upon A Time, can twist and turn anyone's words to work in his favor and leave the other party tasting regret, the aftertaste of a bad deal. It's hard to imagine America's future leaders creating a play on words to work against others just like Rumplestiltskin, but in "Sorry, but it's your fault if you're offended all the time" Matt Walsh brings light to the issue. In the blogpost Walsh says that Americans are taking insult by twisting non offensive phrases into ones with malicious intent and he claims that we are taught to continue this way of thinking through out college by discussing these microaggressions as if they were true aggressions. Like Walsh's opinion, I agree that one should stop making these microaggressions because one isn't in the path of true harm, the microagressions aren't adding to the process of our society's development, and doing this simply just makes our society look weak.
    Although, some comments truly are meant in an offensive way, people aren't in the grasp of danger just by hearing these comments. For example, if one African American child was offered fried chicken by a person of another ethnicity they could easily say they were only approached with the deal because the color of their skin. Just like the African American child an African child has also faced racial profiling except the African's offender assumed the color of their skin meant the world would be a better place without them and proceeded to stone this African child and place him in the need for extensive care after receiving his "punishment" for being colored. Just like the African American child, many other Americans face situations when they may be belittled, but if no physical  harm is being done the situation is not a major crisis to complain about. Therefore, the complaint just becomes a microaggression and attacking that certain issue doesn't achieve much.
    In order to develop society we must improve, but microgressions counter that progression due to awareness not being raised toward the right subjects.  Many Americans are getting worked up by issues like that, but once these issues are solved they serve to do nothing more than to make certain people feel better about themselves. Earlier this year the microaggression about the Redskins' team name actually became viral. Some people thought that the term "redskins" was outdated and offensive. In reality the name wasn't meant to degrade native Americans, but this issue is came up as if the team just loved to belittle Native Americans which was far from reality. So basically the only result to fixing that would just be a smile on a small group of peoples' faces, but would it stop the Native Americans from getting physically abused or maybe even stop Americans from holding them captive? The result of fixing that issue would definitely not do any of that considering we never had that issue to begin with. To people looking in from other countries it seems like Americans are desperate to have important matters happening to gain,what Matt Walsh called, the "hero" position.
     Because Americans are so desperate to have relevancy, they are creating microaggressions, and in result they are just making the American soceity look weak as a whole. In the video by Andrew Klavan, provided as support in Walsh's blog, Klavan read out loud real responses, from people around the world who've had to deal with real aggressions, to microaggressions. In those letters each response had a tone as if they were being patient while explaining something to a child. Each writer also implied that they had it way worse, but still managed to keep the tone. By this repetitive tone, it's apparent that the people from other countries think American "issues" are petty compared to theirs. If this is the case Americans should just stop making the microaggressions all together because people from other countries would gladly trade their problems in for american ones even though Americans claim to face the same problems. Therefor it makes Americans look weak because Americans can't even handle something as simple as a non life-threatening insult while the lives of others are being threatened for the "same" issue. Redemption is never too late, so Americans should hop on the one way flight straight for it.
       In order to this, the termination of microaggressions is a necessitity. By doing this, when real danger comes around Americans will have preserved their energy for the right moment instead of wasting it on petty microagressions, Americans will finally be on the path to a developing society once again, and Americans can finally wave the flag of United States flag proudly with strength without being looked down upon by other countries.


http://badgerherald.com/news/2014/03/27/uw-madison/#.VC0uNX48KrU


"Sorry, but it's your fault you're offended all the time" by Matt Walsh
http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/09/16/sorry-but-its-your-fault-if-your-offended-all-the-time/


Thursday, September 18, 2014

Old Timers Now Trending

Constantly nagging me about what I pick from the store, "That looks so grandma...", my mom says with a look of disgust and then proceeds to add "...Ew" just for emphasis on her point. This is due to my fashion looking very similar to what her mother used to wear. Is it possible to imagine wearing the same clothes as our grandparents once did? Believe it or not, fashion has a tendency of repeating itself, so if we aren't wearing items that made it's first debut a decade or more before-hand then we are out of trend.

 Many of the clothing items we see on the street are a variation of something that has previously been trending sometime in the past. Great examples of these reoccurring trends are crop tops, high-waist bottoms, and shawls. These grab and go pieces are amazing ways to look well coordinated and fashionable without even trying. Although, we've all seen these pieces in some way or another, they are the buzz in the world of fashion because WE ALL LOVE THEM...well at least most people do, including myself. The article  How to Dress Grunge: 15 Steps (with pictures) makes apparent that "The grunge look first appeared in Seattle in the late 80s and early 90s when bands like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam were just beginning (and making a big splash in the music world)." Today this edgy "I don't care" look is coming back with dissemination and the people wearing it get a whirl wind of compliments by just putting on plaid shirt with plain jeans. It's definitely safe to say we can never fail wearing these revamped older trends.


Some people think fashion comes out of the wood works, and while there are fads that do that, we never hear of a long lasting trend getting started like that. Fads are typically new to the fashion world and are the cool thing to wear for only a few months. Also the other downside to fads is, not everyone is on the bandwagon. Unlike fads, reoccurring fashion really has enough time to go through all the dislikes without being more criticized, and it's a lot easier to wear, therefore more people are likely to wear it. Fashion is really like that one person who has been to prison before, so the second time back is a lot easier to make it through.

As a a person who loves everything relating to fashion I am more likely to accept fads and understand why they are liked for the moment by some people, but I'm only one person. Most people would feel a person wearing a fad has made a really wrong turn in their wardrobe, so for the safest way to look trendy, we should put on our older style clothes with a modern flare. BUT WAIT, we should do this ONLY if we are willing to receive compliments for years on our very trendy outfit. c;


The television show "Saved by the Bell" aired in the 80's and early 90's. (The image above is not my own)


 
This is an example of today's trending look. This outfit is very similar to the outfits of the characters from "Saved by the Bell."(The image above is not my own)

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Are Fashion Advertisements Going too Far?

Going to all the important social events from the VMAs to high-end fashion shows during New York Fashion Week, Rihanna isn't failing to surprise us with her unique bold outfits. Much like Rihanna's exotic wardrobe, fashion advertisements, now so more than ever, are bold, over the top, and may even offend people. Believe it or not, risky images are a necessity to captivating the attention of a fashion magazine reader.

The consumers purchasing these magazines are people who are used to seeing eccentric designs live on the runway, so in a fashion magazine they are going to be looking for that same rush. Hmmm but how is it even possible to get the same rush from a still picture?


WALK ON THE THIN LINE.  Many fashion magazines put a whole 360 degrees on the way their designs are perceived by doing this they put images like the one described in "Why do grotesque fashion ads lure readers?" where Jimmy Choo decided to have a woman who accidentally caught a man with her fishing hook while attempting to fish for a purse. Therefor the image is boldly saying "with Jimmy Choo purses you'll hook a man." Advertisements like the above aren't meant to offend anyone, but just to make a statement clear. There is no denying that images like that will definitely get the job done.

If you were to see a fashion advertisement you felt crossed the line way too far, would you be upset? Would throw a fit? Maybe even call them out on twitter?

Well if you do so, even then the advertisement did it's job by capturing your attention and being all you could talk about.

For those who aren't offended, the advertisement will actually work miracles for stimulating the brain and getting those gears grinding. The advertisements are actually quite similar to what you'd see on an AP test because they have a picture clearly giving you a message but leaves it to you to interpret what that message is. In the process it may cause you to think like authors used as examples in " Why do grotesque fashion ads lure consumers?" Thinking "'"...women [are] transported into the story world set in motion by the ad's pictures, asking themselves, 'What is happening here?' and 'What will happen next?'" or if you're more into the aesthetics of the ad focus on  "'...[immersing yourself] in the images, examining its lighting, colors, lines, composition, and creativity'"

http://www.tastemakermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/rihanna-fashion-20124efbaa6c27d34.jpg



Tim Burten Advertisement:
 http://rottenfields.blogspot.com/2013/10/halloween-special-tim-burton-magical.html: