Part A
For part A of this assignment, I decided to ask my brother about why he likes to dress "cool". The following contains both the answer he gave me, and my interpretation & analysis of his answer.
Part B
For part B, I looked at aspects of my own social act, and named, labeled and dug to the core of my "personality". I specifically looked at three parts, and things that I do. They are; how I wear my clothing, how I consciously use situational dialect, and how I decide what to buy.
First, lets take a look into how I wear (or "rock") my clothing. I would say that a common style in New York City right now is to wear your pants slightly below your waist. This shows a sense of style, but also gives off the impression that you don't actually think about how you dress, you just "wake up that way". I think that I try to emulate this style a little bit, but I don't think I can pull it off. I would say that I am a pretty thin kid, and I don't really have the ability to keep my pants up if they aren't being held up tightly by a belt. I noticed that when I bought my belt a year ago, it fit perfectly, but after a year of wearing my pants low, the belt stretched out, and now I need a new belt. I want to be able to emulate this "don't give a fuck" style, but I don't think I'm physically cool enough just yet.
Next, I want to address how I talk. When I am at school, I have a lexicon of slang and terms specific to SOF which I know how to use in the right context and for the most part, the right tone. Outside of school, or when talking with teachers and adults, I talk like an educated individual and try to avoid my slang vocabulary completely. I think that I feel it is necessary to talk differently to different people, but I don't believe that it is. I think that talking in an educated way inside of school would be accepted, but I just want to put in a little extra effort to improve my social image. I think that I have my real way of talking, which is one large lexicon comprised of both proper english and some slang thrown in for "character". New York dialect I think gives me a sense of individuality and distinctly represents where I'm from. I connect with New York and am proud of the New York variation on the english language that I am so comfortable with using daily.
I think that my choice of what to buy is very much about a desire to emulate lesser known people. I feel like I don't want to dress exactly like my friends, but at the same time, I want to be similar, and fit in. I try to incorporate multiple styles, combining the street-wear of New York (SoHo brands and stores), with designer brands and well made clothing. I think that I do feel better about myself when I wear more expensive clothing, but I would never buy anything which didn't appeal to me. This brings up the question of where my sense of style comes from. I think it comes from a mix of my friends who have "New York Style", my brother (also NY style), my father (dresses in very timeless styles like aviator sunglasses, desert boots and Levi jeans), and movie stars/ musicians.
I don't really think my style is influenced by commercials, or advertisements that I see, but what I buy, in terms of non-clothing products, is totally influenced by them. I don't think what you own is reflected that much on who you are, because it doesn't go onto your body, and can be used, replaced, and upgraded on a whim. An ipod for example, is......just an ipod. You don't look at a person differently because they have an older ipod, you just think it's not as good as the new one. I don't really care all that much about what type of object I have for other people, but because I like having a higher quality item. Not having a macbook, does not make me sad I don't have the macbook pro, because I honestly don't care as long as it works well and meets my needs for a computer.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
HW 30- Theorizing "cool"
What are the sources of this sense of meaninglessness but also of the need for a sense of meaning?
In Viktor Frankl's theory of "The Existential Vacuum", he states; If meaning is what we desire, then meaninglessness is a hole, an emptiness, in our lives.. I think that this statement is highly reflective of the nature of the human being. We constantly subject ourselves to pushing ourselves and being better than we were the day before. This is because we are trying to find our sense of meaning. We than create a self sustaining system of rewarding ourselves for working hard. Being lazy makes us feel unimportant and worthless, but when we work hard, we fill that void, and we don't feel lazy. Since we need to have this hole to fill, being lazy ever once in a while allows us to put our lives back into perspective, thus creating the hole in the first place!
In class, I concluded that this search for coolness, is the result of our existence as intelligent beings. I believe that the "curse" if you will, of being human, is that we are developed enough to contemplate our own existence. While we can theorize and analyze our behaviors, we are just not able to answer the question; why are we here? I believe, that we than try to break this down into smaller parts, which lead us to think about our social roles. A more manageable question could be to ask ourselves where we fit into social groups, or if we even fit in at all. These questions are what we would call "cool".
Basically, it might be easy to think about my theory as a phone bill with two payment options. Lets say, "plan a" has an option to pay the bill as a flat rate, and another to pay in increments over a period of time. If we don't have much money, we will opt for the installment plan, and even if we do, it is still more cost effective to pay with the incremental option. In a similar way, we aren't capable of answering the questions of our existence, because they are simply complex. We have to break down the question into "installments" so we can deal with the smaller questions at hand which make up the overall question of our being.
I think that it is our search for meaning that drives our consumption of pop-culture, which becomes our attempts to become cool. In a nutshell, we look at the world through a defeatist lens, and give up as soon as we see something which can distract us from questions we think cannot be answered. Basically "things" become our purpose for living, and we lose ourselves even more, causing us to be counterproductive in our quest to find our meaning. The problem is, when we broke down the question of human purpose, we did not start at step one, we started to answer another question entirely. The meaning of life is much more basic and less romantic than we want to believe, and thus we have convinced ourselves that the meaning of life has to do with how we interact with each-other, and "making the world a better place".
Being so heavily concerned with coolness is a sign that we are under the impression that we have already answered this question, and have moved on to concerning ourselves with more trivial affairs. The proof, is that we know what the meaning of life is not, but we occupy our time not fulfilling that meaning anyway. If you asked anyone what their purpose was, I highly doubt they would say in all seriousness, "to listen to my ipod". We don't dress trendy, or listen to popular music because we think it is our calling in life. We do that because we subscribe to a motivational state of mind, based on pleasure. This was a theory created by Sigmund Freud, who believed that human motivation was based of of the pleasure part of our brains.
Becoming obsessed with pleasing ourselves is completely unrelated to finding our meaning, and is the root of meaninglessness. I propose, that being driven by pleasure is what drives meaninglessness, and being driven by your goals, gives us meaning. The importance of the question of our existence, is not that we need to answer it, but that we try to answer it. The massive goal which that gives us in life, drives our will to live at the most basic of levels. I don't know the meaning of life, and its hard to say if anyone ever will. What I can say, is that as long as we seek out and continue to slowly define what makes us important in the scheme of things, we will never be without meaning, and our lives will never be meaningless.
When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you begin to die. And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about justice. - Mumia Abu-Jamal
Free Mumia!
In Viktor Frankl's theory of "The Existential Vacuum", he states; If meaning is what we desire, then meaninglessness is a hole, an emptiness, in our lives.. I think that this statement is highly reflective of the nature of the human being. We constantly subject ourselves to pushing ourselves and being better than we were the day before. This is because we are trying to find our sense of meaning. We than create a self sustaining system of rewarding ourselves for working hard. Being lazy makes us feel unimportant and worthless, but when we work hard, we fill that void, and we don't feel lazy. Since we need to have this hole to fill, being lazy ever once in a while allows us to put our lives back into perspective, thus creating the hole in the first place!
In class, I concluded that this search for coolness, is the result of our existence as intelligent beings. I believe that the "curse" if you will, of being human, is that we are developed enough to contemplate our own existence. While we can theorize and analyze our behaviors, we are just not able to answer the question; why are we here? I believe, that we than try to break this down into smaller parts, which lead us to think about our social roles. A more manageable question could be to ask ourselves where we fit into social groups, or if we even fit in at all. These questions are what we would call "cool".
Basically, it might be easy to think about my theory as a phone bill with two payment options. Lets say, "plan a" has an option to pay the bill as a flat rate, and another to pay in increments over a period of time. If we don't have much money, we will opt for the installment plan, and even if we do, it is still more cost effective to pay with the incremental option. In a similar way, we aren't capable of answering the questions of our existence, because they are simply complex. We have to break down the question into "installments" so we can deal with the smaller questions at hand which make up the overall question of our being.
I think that it is our search for meaning that drives our consumption of pop-culture, which becomes our attempts to become cool. In a nutshell, we look at the world through a defeatist lens, and give up as soon as we see something which can distract us from questions we think cannot be answered. Basically "things" become our purpose for living, and we lose ourselves even more, causing us to be counterproductive in our quest to find our meaning. The problem is, when we broke down the question of human purpose, we did not start at step one, we started to answer another question entirely. The meaning of life is much more basic and less romantic than we want to believe, and thus we have convinced ourselves that the meaning of life has to do with how we interact with each-other, and "making the world a better place".
Being so heavily concerned with coolness is a sign that we are under the impression that we have already answered this question, and have moved on to concerning ourselves with more trivial affairs. The proof, is that we know what the meaning of life is not, but we occupy our time not fulfilling that meaning anyway. If you asked anyone what their purpose was, I highly doubt they would say in all seriousness, "to listen to my ipod". We don't dress trendy, or listen to popular music because we think it is our calling in life. We do that because we subscribe to a motivational state of mind, based on pleasure. This was a theory created by Sigmund Freud, who believed that human motivation was based of of the pleasure part of our brains.
Becoming obsessed with pleasing ourselves is completely unrelated to finding our meaning, and is the root of meaninglessness. I propose, that being driven by pleasure is what drives meaninglessness, and being driven by your goals, gives us meaning. The importance of the question of our existence, is not that we need to answer it, but that we try to answer it. The massive goal which that gives us in life, drives our will to live at the most basic of levels. I don't know the meaning of life, and its hard to say if anyone ever will. What I can say, is that as long as we seek out and continue to slowly define what makes us important in the scheme of things, we will never be without meaning, and our lives will never be meaningless.
When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you begin to die. And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about justice. - Mumia Abu-Jamal
Free Mumia!
Monday, December 14, 2009
HW 29- Merchants of Cool
Question: Should advertising to young people be banned? Up to what age? Or all ages?
It is my opinion, that advertising to young people is not a bad thing. It is a smart thing, where market study manifests itself at its purest form, but it is also a potentially destructive thing. Targeting young people for marketing, shapes and influences most of what we believe about social interaction, but it stems from internal desires and appeals to our most basic of needs. marketing to kids is another aspect of an inherently bad system; capitalism. In a capitalist society, advertising to kids, is no more evil than advertising to teenagers, and adults. In a world, where teenagers make up about 1/10th of the american population, the teen demographic is almost impossible to ignore.
Their are two schools of thought that I believe to be equally valid in the context of this question. The first, is that advertising to young people is harmful and takes a manipulative role in the development of future consumers. The idea that advertising is breeding a generation of mindless consumers holds weight, because this is pretty much the exact intent of the corporations when they shove money into advertising their product anywhere possible.
The second school of thought, is that advertising is banking off of the ignorance of the population, and if children are so highly impacted by advertisements, than the parents obviously are not shouldering enough responsibility in contradicting what the kids are fed by corporations.
It is my own opinion, that the real problem lies with uninvolved parents. I think that by using marketing tactics which target juvenile sexual expression, cultural icons and self-image, the companies act as role models. Ideally, a child's parents should be inspiring what the kid view's as cool, through non-material associations. Making cool equate with new shoes, or a nice car, is the result of being berated by commercials, advertisements, endorsements and product placement.
I think that the best example of product placement being more effective than parental guidance, is in the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry spent massive amounts of money endorsing movie stars, stylizing ad campaigns and commercializing the "cool" factor in cigarette smoking. Even placing print ad's at children's eye level on deli's and supermarkets counters ensured a young demographic with which to establish a strong brand identity.
Like we discussed with Matt Fried in class on tuesday, the real root of young peoples search for coolness is partly the direct result of a lack of feeling acceptance as a child. Being accepted by your family, is than substituted by being accepted socially, which than leaves children open for the marketing tactics of whatever brand name or product appeals the most to them. Being accepted for what you own, rather than who you are, is entirely what these companies and the whole capitalist system is banking off of. Apple may not be able to sell you love and affection, but they sure as hell can sell you a way to tune out the world, and store all your music, photos and videos.
I think that marketing is something that companies need to be held accountable to. The lack of ethics in advertising used to be the fact that their was no real significant regulation in the industry. When the laws making it illegal to advertise cigarettes on television and to kids were passed, the prospect of breeding a legion of pre-teen cigarette smokers became less likely. At that point, it was up to the parents to make sure what leeway the tobacco industry still had in targeting their children was eliminated by their own influence. When it comes down to it, the decision has to be made as a parent who you would rather have influencing your child; you, or Marlboro?
It is my opinion, that advertising to young people is not a bad thing. It is a smart thing, where market study manifests itself at its purest form, but it is also a potentially destructive thing. Targeting young people for marketing, shapes and influences most of what we believe about social interaction, but it stems from internal desires and appeals to our most basic of needs. marketing to kids is another aspect of an inherently bad system; capitalism. In a capitalist society, advertising to kids, is no more evil than advertising to teenagers, and adults. In a world, where teenagers make up about 1/10th of the american population, the teen demographic is almost impossible to ignore.
Their are two schools of thought that I believe to be equally valid in the context of this question. The first, is that advertising to young people is harmful and takes a manipulative role in the development of future consumers. The idea that advertising is breeding a generation of mindless consumers holds weight, because this is pretty much the exact intent of the corporations when they shove money into advertising their product anywhere possible.
The second school of thought, is that advertising is banking off of the ignorance of the population, and if children are so highly impacted by advertisements, than the parents obviously are not shouldering enough responsibility in contradicting what the kids are fed by corporations.
It is my own opinion, that the real problem lies with uninvolved parents. I think that by using marketing tactics which target juvenile sexual expression, cultural icons and self-image, the companies act as role models. Ideally, a child's parents should be inspiring what the kid view's as cool, through non-material associations. Making cool equate with new shoes, or a nice car, is the result of being berated by commercials, advertisements, endorsements and product placement.
I think that the best example of product placement being more effective than parental guidance, is in the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry spent massive amounts of money endorsing movie stars, stylizing ad campaigns and commercializing the "cool" factor in cigarette smoking. Even placing print ad's at children's eye level on deli's and supermarkets counters ensured a young demographic with which to establish a strong brand identity.
Like we discussed with Matt Fried in class on tuesday, the real root of young peoples search for coolness is partly the direct result of a lack of feeling acceptance as a child. Being accepted by your family, is than substituted by being accepted socially, which than leaves children open for the marketing tactics of whatever brand name or product appeals the most to them. Being accepted for what you own, rather than who you are, is entirely what these companies and the whole capitalist system is banking off of. Apple may not be able to sell you love and affection, but they sure as hell can sell you a way to tune out the world, and store all your music, photos and videos.
I think that marketing is something that companies need to be held accountable to. The lack of ethics in advertising used to be the fact that their was no real significant regulation in the industry. When the laws making it illegal to advertise cigarettes on television and to kids were passed, the prospect of breeding a legion of pre-teen cigarette smokers became less likely. At that point, it was up to the parents to make sure what leeway the tobacco industry still had in targeting their children was eliminated by their own influence. When it comes down to it, the decision has to be made as a parent who you would rather have influencing your child; you, or Marlboro?
Thursday, December 10, 2009
HW 28- Informal research
For this assignment, I researched "cool" on the Internet. I found a few sources that gave tips on how to be cool, and others that defined what is cool right now. I think that from what I found, I realized that cool is a temporary thing, and is basically synonymous with a fad.
Source #1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)
This source, I found to be highly irrelevant, and often times flat out wrong. In trying to define cool in a wikipedia entry, the entry missed the point of cool entirely. Since "cool" is highly objective and varies between people, this was really not an accurate account of what makes cool. The article was flooded with generalizations and meaningless charts. I believe that what this article really was showing, was general trends throughout the world. The idea of trends pertains to pop-culture, which is not the same as "cool".
For example, the trend in American colonial pop-culture, was burning witches. Burning witches however, is not exactly cool. I think that cool, can only be truly measured with time and social advances. Often something becomes cool, or popular because it is the best thing available. When something or someone is truly cool, it should transcend it's time, and if it passes that test, than it is truly cool (not a passing fad). That point, led me to my next source, also on wikipedia.
Source #2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis
From what I picked up by reading the "cool" wikipedia page, I realized that if I wanted to look at something/ someone "cool", I needed to find something that has been around for a few contrasting generations. I realized, that Jazz, which started in the early 20th century, is still pretty cool today. From that, I used my own knowledge of Jazz, to pick out the coolest Jazz musician; Miles Davis. Miles Davis was and is the coolest Jazz musician ever to live. His extraordinary talent, lifestyle, and demeanor all made Miles cooler than anyone else.
I know Miles is cool, because Using the test of time, Miles still sells out stores, and still is regarded by many as one of the best musicians to ever live. Also, he had qualities typical of a cool person including a "don't give a fuck" attitude. A self destructive tendency (Miles was a notorious junkie until he sought help from his family back in the south, and kicked his drug abuse for good). Also, despite changing slightly in his attire over the years, Miles never changed who he was, and continued being cool till he died. Additionally, Miles recorded an album called "Birth of the Cool", which simply gave recognition to what everyone else said, and what Miles already knew.
Source #3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnuK0ka9Ho8
In this video, Russell Simmons addresses the question of what is cool, from a transcendentalist perspective. In the video, Simmons talks about how being cool is something that begins from within, and is than left up to outside interpretation. The concept of being calm and self-aware equating with "cool" makes far more sense to me, and is alot more interesting than everything else we have been discussing in class.
Being at peace with yourself, is interesting in this context, because it demonstrates how what you feel inside is often projected on the outside. Additionally, what you project on the outside is what determines your "coolness", as it is what everyone sees when they look and interact with you. The idea of "cool" vs. "tool" makes a lot more sense after watching this video. A "cool" person, is a person who is actually who they say they are, and does not change themselves based off of other peoples opinions, but off of their own inner opinions and consideration of outside information. A "tool" changes based on fads, and changes in accordance to the "cool" people. Differentiating between one and the other is simple, a person who stays true to themselves will have style and a personality which transcends their time, and sets the bar for calmness and confidence. The people who change moment to moment, are the "tools" who look to these confident "cool" people for ideas on how to change in order to be accepted.
Source #4: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/doyle-buehler/mytego-nation/youre-not-cool-i-am-what-cool-finding-cool-factor
I found that this website, like the wikipedia entry on cool, did not seem to provide any real answers of what cool actually is. For the most part, I was reading something which asked more questions and proposed more avenues of research into "cool" than reading it actually answered. The examples that it gave were rather dumb and didn't really spark any new ideas or revelations on this topic. Overall, this was not the best source because it worked with assumptions and hypothetically about cool rather than actual research or facts.
Source #5: "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" Season 4 "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest"
In this episode, their are two characters in particular who exemplify the contrast between a person who has characteristics typical of someone cool, and a character who demonstrates the opposite. Having already established that cool people have confidence and are honest about what they feel inside and show outside, I tried to find what character I felt showed these qualities. What I came up with, was that the character "Mac" was cool. Mac uses this modeling competition in order to bang a lot of really hot models, and doesn't try and pretend he is trying to do something different. Throughout the episode, he uses his position as a judge in the competition to trade sex for a better chance of the girls to win the competition. The girls who do have sex with Mac, end up winning the competition, while the girl who didn't have sex with him, ends up loosing. She is pissed, but Mac reminds her that she didn't have sex with him. So in a way, Mac's honesty and confidence around these hot women demonstrated Mac's "coolness" as a character.
Dennis on the other hand, is a character who was popular in high school, but has since peaked. He is really an average person, but in his attempts to try and prove this wrong, he tries to ignore reality. In this particular episode, Dennis seems to believe that he is capable of being a male model, and competing in this competition. When he competes, he pretty much makes a fool out of himself, but doesn't actually care. He is not a cool character because he clearly tries to hard, and is unaware, that contrary to what he may believe, he is actually not extraordinary. Thus, his inner personality, or perception, is not projected out to other people, who see him far differently than he sees himself.
Source #1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)
This source, I found to be highly irrelevant, and often times flat out wrong. In trying to define cool in a wikipedia entry, the entry missed the point of cool entirely. Since "cool" is highly objective and varies between people, this was really not an accurate account of what makes cool. The article was flooded with generalizations and meaningless charts. I believe that what this article really was showing, was general trends throughout the world. The idea of trends pertains to pop-culture, which is not the same as "cool".
For example, the trend in American colonial pop-culture, was burning witches. Burning witches however, is not exactly cool. I think that cool, can only be truly measured with time and social advances. Often something becomes cool, or popular because it is the best thing available. When something or someone is truly cool, it should transcend it's time, and if it passes that test, than it is truly cool (not a passing fad). That point, led me to my next source, also on wikipedia.
Source #2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis
From what I picked up by reading the "cool" wikipedia page, I realized that if I wanted to look at something/ someone "cool", I needed to find something that has been around for a few contrasting generations. I realized, that Jazz, which started in the early 20th century, is still pretty cool today. From that, I used my own knowledge of Jazz, to pick out the coolest Jazz musician; Miles Davis. Miles Davis was and is the coolest Jazz musician ever to live. His extraordinary talent, lifestyle, and demeanor all made Miles cooler than anyone else.
I know Miles is cool, because Using the test of time, Miles still sells out stores, and still is regarded by many as one of the best musicians to ever live. Also, he had qualities typical of a cool person including a "don't give a fuck" attitude. A self destructive tendency (Miles was a notorious junkie until he sought help from his family back in the south, and kicked his drug abuse for good). Also, despite changing slightly in his attire over the years, Miles never changed who he was, and continued being cool till he died. Additionally, Miles recorded an album called "Birth of the Cool", which simply gave recognition to what everyone else said, and what Miles already knew.
Source #3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnuK0ka9Ho8
In this video, Russell Simmons addresses the question of what is cool, from a transcendentalist perspective. In the video, Simmons talks about how being cool is something that begins from within, and is than left up to outside interpretation. The concept of being calm and self-aware equating with "cool" makes far more sense to me, and is alot more interesting than everything else we have been discussing in class.
Being at peace with yourself, is interesting in this context, because it demonstrates how what you feel inside is often projected on the outside. Additionally, what you project on the outside is what determines your "coolness", as it is what everyone sees when they look and interact with you. The idea of "cool" vs. "tool" makes a lot more sense after watching this video. A "cool" person, is a person who is actually who they say they are, and does not change themselves based off of other peoples opinions, but off of their own inner opinions and consideration of outside information. A "tool" changes based on fads, and changes in accordance to the "cool" people. Differentiating between one and the other is simple, a person who stays true to themselves will have style and a personality which transcends their time, and sets the bar for calmness and confidence. The people who change moment to moment, are the "tools" who look to these confident "cool" people for ideas on how to change in order to be accepted.
Source #4: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/doyle-buehler/mytego-nation/youre-not-cool-i-am-what-cool-finding-cool-factor
I found that this website, like the wikipedia entry on cool, did not seem to provide any real answers of what cool actually is. For the most part, I was reading something which asked more questions and proposed more avenues of research into "cool" than reading it actually answered. The examples that it gave were rather dumb and didn't really spark any new ideas or revelations on this topic. Overall, this was not the best source because it worked with assumptions and hypothetically about cool rather than actual research or facts.
Source #5: "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" Season 4 "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest"
In this episode, their are two characters in particular who exemplify the contrast between a person who has characteristics typical of someone cool, and a character who demonstrates the opposite. Having already established that cool people have confidence and are honest about what they feel inside and show outside, I tried to find what character I felt showed these qualities. What I came up with, was that the character "Mac" was cool. Mac uses this modeling competition in order to bang a lot of really hot models, and doesn't try and pretend he is trying to do something different. Throughout the episode, he uses his position as a judge in the competition to trade sex for a better chance of the girls to win the competition. The girls who do have sex with Mac, end up winning the competition, while the girl who didn't have sex with him, ends up loosing. She is pissed, but Mac reminds her that she didn't have sex with him. So in a way, Mac's honesty and confidence around these hot women demonstrated Mac's "coolness" as a character.
Dennis on the other hand, is a character who was popular in high school, but has since peaked. He is really an average person, but in his attempts to try and prove this wrong, he tries to ignore reality. In this particular episode, Dennis seems to believe that he is capable of being a male model, and competing in this competition. When he competes, he pretty much makes a fool out of himself, but doesn't actually care. He is not a cool character because he clearly tries to hard, and is unaware, that contrary to what he may believe, he is actually not extraordinary. Thus, his inner personality, or perception, is not projected out to other people, who see him far differently than he sees himself.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
HW 27- Informal Research- Interviews and Surveys
Family Member Interview: Marty Friedman
What do you like to do when you have spare time?
I like to read, listen to my music, watch television. I would think that this is a pretty common response, but I like reading about historical events and figures, while my T.V watching is usually limited to the news channels, politics and economics mainly.
Do you think that what you do in that time is "cool"?
I don't really consider it cool, but I think its a much better way to spend time than what you and your brother do (we tend to spend a lot of time on our computers, and playing Xbox), other than your schoolwork and reading of course.
Does being cool matter to you?
I would say it doesn't, but I like to stay in touch with what's going on. Even if I don't really like alot of the music and styles nowadays, I do know what they are. Being informed is what matters to me. Being cool....not so much.
Even if it doesn't, what do you think is cool?
I mean, I think that new technology is cool. I think it has a few particularly negative effects on people today, and adults are being effected as much, if not more than kids. For example the Iphone is a great thing, but it has isolated a lot of people who use that little screen to escape in there own world.
Who do you think embodies "cool" in your mind?
Frank Sinatra. That's it, he was just so good at what he did, and did it for so much longer than everybody else. He is known as widely today as he was in the 1940's, and he always appeared to be doing his thing so effortlessly.
What sort of things, or what person is completely not cool in your opinion? Why?
I think that what isn't cool, is difficult to answer. I would have to give that a little more thought, and be able to set aside my own prejudices given what I have seen in my life. Generally, I think ignorance is not cool. Being ignorant is a primary cause of massive problems in today's world. Things like America's involvement in the middle east is partly the result of ignorance. Not paying attention to history resulted in our government disregarding it and following in the exact footsteps of many empires and nations before us.
Friend Interview: Hunter Cavat- Gore
Do you think that you are cool?
"No, I think my girlfriend thinks I'm cool, but I don't. I think "cool" is overplayed, and I just don't take time out of my life to think about being "cool". Doing what I like to do is more important than my social image, at least to me. Being cool often means that people who don't really know you, or you don't care about, think you are "cool". For me I just focus on the people I care about, and that's it."
What do you think makes a person cool?
"I think that people who are "cool" are more worried about what they can do for the world, than what they can do to change how the world sees them. I mean, I think it's a lot more cool to be a doctor who actually helps people, than a person who gets wins a drinking competition, and fucks the baddest girl at the party, but contributes nothing to society."
Where do you find it important to be seen as cool?
"As a teenager, I think for most people, being seen as "cool" is really important. If it mattered to me, I would think being seen that way was very important. Being cool, is like the term used to describe people who are at the top of some sort of "social competition" trying to essentially win at life (ridiculous as that may sound). If being cool is something you actually care about, it may always be "important" to be cool. Realistically though being cool is never important. What is important is to get along with your peers. It may seem to be the same thing as cool, but if "cool" happens to be a side effect of getting along with others, than I guess being cool helps with that."
Are people cool in unique ways, or do "cool" people fit into categories of coolness?
"Nah, I think people all have different methods to be cool. I mean technically we are all different, so we start off trying to be cool from a different standpoint. Some people are naturally better at sports, and by becoming a good athlete, they become "cool". People's natural abilities is what makes a person good at something, and thus cool in a certain way. The fact is, people are impressed by other people who can do something better than they can. Things that anyone can do, like buy stuff, drink alot, smoke alot, etc, etc, are all trivial, and not talents. Being athletic, or creative, or funny, those things are talents and the categories that they fit into, depend on the certain ability they have."
Street Interviews
Street Interview #1: Young Asian Guy
I tried to walk with this guy, in the hopes of him answering some of my questions. I expected that I might get a response when I asked him about who he thought a "cool celebrity was?", but I did not. Not only didn't he answer me, but as I walked with him, he tried to turn around and walk facing away from me. This was surprising to me, but I guess some people really don't like talking to other people. I decided that this guy was not cool because he was trying to hard to not talk to me. If he was cool, ignoring me would have been effortless, but he kept looking back to see if I was still with him. Uncool!
Street Interview #2: Older Caucasian Man in a van.
Me and Charles asked an older man in car, what he thought was cool, and what specifically made someone cool. Unlike the Asian guy, this man responded;
"Stay away from drugs, and live a good life. Be yourself and not just another one of the crowd"
I think that this statement was pretty generic, and I didn't get much insight from what he said. However, his additional "anti-drug" statement seemed to show me that being "cool" in his mind is being sober, and aware of the world around you. I'm not sure if he was just repeating rhetoric, but it was interesting nonetheless.
Street Interview #3: Time Warner Cable Guy in TWC Van
I asked a cable guy waiting for the light, who he thought the coolest celebrity is. He said;
"I would say the coolest celebrity is Tiger Woods because of all those girlfriends he has!"
This was funny in the sense that I was unfamiliar with what had happened with the whole "Tiger Woods thing" and honestly didn't really know what he was talking about when he said that. I think it's pretty funny he said that, but I also think he was joking when he said it. The point of saying Tiger Woods I think, was to be witty by responding to the question with topical humor. This guy was pretty cool, although he didn't really answer the question in the way I would have liked. This is an example of how cool it is sometimes to do your own thing (the cable guy "did his own thing" by responding in his own way).
Street Interview #4: Officer Perez
Me, Charles and Lauren went up to a cop car to ask this cop what he thought made a "cool" person, he was actually really friendly and briefly responded to the question.
"Be yourself and be awesome"
Despite the lack of meaning or thought that went into this response, we all found Officer Perez to be a pretty "cool" cop, and a cool guy. He may not have been insightful in his response, but at least he was friendly. Being friendly seems to be pretty cool.
Street Interview #5: Ben (younger Caucasian man)
I saw a guy walking down the block who seemed kinda' artistic given the way he dressed. I assumed he would be a nice enough guy and give me an interesting response. I decided to catch up with him and ask him about who he thought the coolest celebrity was. As it turned out, I was right, the guy was pretty nice, and actually stopped to talk with me briefly.
"I think Johnny Depp is the coolest celebrity. He is a good actor, and really popular, but he stays away from the limelight and still remains a cool guy."
This was my first insightful interview that day. Ben made an interesting point by saying how people who are cool, don't try and get attention, they just get it. Johnny Depp manages to be a cool guy, because he isn't in tabloids and retains a sense of self. When most celebrities stay in the media's focus, the public starts to feel like they actually know these celebrities. By staying away from that, Depp maintains his humanity and downplays his coolness. Downplaying your coolness is very cool.
Finally, I thought that when conducting these interviews, it was always better to start off with the most "cool" question. Questions that make the interviewee think to much, or confuse them will make them less likely to continue talking with you. Asking them about a celebrity however is more interesting to most people, because more people like to talk about celebrities than themselves, or social trends.
Also, it seemed to work for me to start off by saying the survey was for my "sociology class" and not my social studies class. I think it made people think about what I had to say more seriously and with less skepticism about how old I was or looked. Being more eloquent also had a similar effect, and worked a lot better than taking a conversational tone. I think that could be attributed to the lack of patience people had in the morning for high school students rather than sociology students.
What do you like to do when you have spare time?
I like to read, listen to my music, watch television. I would think that this is a pretty common response, but I like reading about historical events and figures, while my T.V watching is usually limited to the news channels, politics and economics mainly.
Do you think that what you do in that time is "cool"?
I don't really consider it cool, but I think its a much better way to spend time than what you and your brother do (we tend to spend a lot of time on our computers, and playing Xbox), other than your schoolwork and reading of course.
Does being cool matter to you?
I would say it doesn't, but I like to stay in touch with what's going on. Even if I don't really like alot of the music and styles nowadays, I do know what they are. Being informed is what matters to me. Being cool....not so much.
Even if it doesn't, what do you think is cool?
I mean, I think that new technology is cool. I think it has a few particularly negative effects on people today, and adults are being effected as much, if not more than kids. For example the Iphone is a great thing, but it has isolated a lot of people who use that little screen to escape in there own world.
Who do you think embodies "cool" in your mind?
Frank Sinatra. That's it, he was just so good at what he did, and did it for so much longer than everybody else. He is known as widely today as he was in the 1940's, and he always appeared to be doing his thing so effortlessly.
What sort of things, or what person is completely not cool in your opinion? Why?
I think that what isn't cool, is difficult to answer. I would have to give that a little more thought, and be able to set aside my own prejudices given what I have seen in my life. Generally, I think ignorance is not cool. Being ignorant is a primary cause of massive problems in today's world. Things like America's involvement in the middle east is partly the result of ignorance. Not paying attention to history resulted in our government disregarding it and following in the exact footsteps of many empires and nations before us.
Friend Interview: Hunter Cavat- Gore
Do you think that you are cool?
"No, I think my girlfriend thinks I'm cool, but I don't. I think "cool" is overplayed, and I just don't take time out of my life to think about being "cool". Doing what I like to do is more important than my social image, at least to me. Being cool often means that people who don't really know you, or you don't care about, think you are "cool". For me I just focus on the people I care about, and that's it."
What do you think makes a person cool?
"I think that people who are "cool" are more worried about what they can do for the world, than what they can do to change how the world sees them. I mean, I think it's a lot more cool to be a doctor who actually helps people, than a person who gets wins a drinking competition, and fucks the baddest girl at the party, but contributes nothing to society."
Where do you find it important to be seen as cool?
"As a teenager, I think for most people, being seen as "cool" is really important. If it mattered to me, I would think being seen that way was very important. Being cool, is like the term used to describe people who are at the top of some sort of "social competition" trying to essentially win at life (ridiculous as that may sound). If being cool is something you actually care about, it may always be "important" to be cool. Realistically though being cool is never important. What is important is to get along with your peers. It may seem to be the same thing as cool, but if "cool" happens to be a side effect of getting along with others, than I guess being cool helps with that."
Are people cool in unique ways, or do "cool" people fit into categories of coolness?
"Nah, I think people all have different methods to be cool. I mean technically we are all different, so we start off trying to be cool from a different standpoint. Some people are naturally better at sports, and by becoming a good athlete, they become "cool". People's natural abilities is what makes a person good at something, and thus cool in a certain way. The fact is, people are impressed by other people who can do something better than they can. Things that anyone can do, like buy stuff, drink alot, smoke alot, etc, etc, are all trivial, and not talents. Being athletic, or creative, or funny, those things are talents and the categories that they fit into, depend on the certain ability they have."
Street Interviews
Street Interview #1: Young Asian Guy
I tried to walk with this guy, in the hopes of him answering some of my questions. I expected that I might get a response when I asked him about who he thought a "cool celebrity was?", but I did not. Not only didn't he answer me, but as I walked with him, he tried to turn around and walk facing away from me. This was surprising to me, but I guess some people really don't like talking to other people. I decided that this guy was not cool because he was trying to hard to not talk to me. If he was cool, ignoring me would have been effortless, but he kept looking back to see if I was still with him. Uncool!
Street Interview #2: Older Caucasian Man in a van.
Me and Charles asked an older man in car, what he thought was cool, and what specifically made someone cool. Unlike the Asian guy, this man responded;
"Stay away from drugs, and live a good life. Be yourself and not just another one of the crowd"
I think that this statement was pretty generic, and I didn't get much insight from what he said. However, his additional "anti-drug" statement seemed to show me that being "cool" in his mind is being sober, and aware of the world around you. I'm not sure if he was just repeating rhetoric, but it was interesting nonetheless.
Street Interview #3: Time Warner Cable Guy in TWC Van
I asked a cable guy waiting for the light, who he thought the coolest celebrity is. He said;
"I would say the coolest celebrity is Tiger Woods because of all those girlfriends he has!"
This was funny in the sense that I was unfamiliar with what had happened with the whole "Tiger Woods thing" and honestly didn't really know what he was talking about when he said that. I think it's pretty funny he said that, but I also think he was joking when he said it. The point of saying Tiger Woods I think, was to be witty by responding to the question with topical humor. This guy was pretty cool, although he didn't really answer the question in the way I would have liked. This is an example of how cool it is sometimes to do your own thing (the cable guy "did his own thing" by responding in his own way).
Street Interview #4: Officer Perez
Me, Charles and Lauren went up to a cop car to ask this cop what he thought made a "cool" person, he was actually really friendly and briefly responded to the question.
"Be yourself and be awesome"
Despite the lack of meaning or thought that went into this response, we all found Officer Perez to be a pretty "cool" cop, and a cool guy. He may not have been insightful in his response, but at least he was friendly. Being friendly seems to be pretty cool.
Street Interview #5: Ben (younger Caucasian man)
I saw a guy walking down the block who seemed kinda' artistic given the way he dressed. I assumed he would be a nice enough guy and give me an interesting response. I decided to catch up with him and ask him about who he thought the coolest celebrity was. As it turned out, I was right, the guy was pretty nice, and actually stopped to talk with me briefly.
"I think Johnny Depp is the coolest celebrity. He is a good actor, and really popular, but he stays away from the limelight and still remains a cool guy."
This was my first insightful interview that day. Ben made an interesting point by saying how people who are cool, don't try and get attention, they just get it. Johnny Depp manages to be a cool guy, because he isn't in tabloids and retains a sense of self. When most celebrities stay in the media's focus, the public starts to feel like they actually know these celebrities. By staying away from that, Depp maintains his humanity and downplays his coolness. Downplaying your coolness is very cool.
Finally, I thought that when conducting these interviews, it was always better to start off with the most "cool" question. Questions that make the interviewee think to much, or confuse them will make them less likely to continue talking with you. Asking them about a celebrity however is more interesting to most people, because more people like to talk about celebrities than themselves, or social trends.
Also, it seemed to work for me to start off by saying the survey was for my "sociology class" and not my social studies class. I think it made people think about what I had to say more seriously and with less skepticism about how old I was or looked. Being more eloquent also had a similar effect, and worked a lot better than taking a conversational tone. I think that could be attributed to the lack of patience people had in the morning for high school students rather than sociology students.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
HW 26- Photos and Questions
For this assignment, I asked a few of my friends, and some Greenwich Village Locals, what their thoughts on "cool" were. I hoped that the questions I asked would provoke thoughtful, insightful answers.
Questions:
1. Are you cool? Why do you or don't you think so?
2. Who do you think is the coolest person?
3. What makes someone cool?
4. What is not cool?
Interview #1: Claire Weinman, 16 years old, Student/ Upstairs Neighbor
1. Yes. I do think I'm cool. Pretty much because I consider myself to be independant. I mostly do what I want, and have my own unique personality.
2. I think that my Dad is the coolest person I know. He's mad chill, he's married to my good looking mother, and he's overall a boss [like Rick Ross]. He isn't running on anyone elses schedule other than his own.
3. Generally to be cool, your inner self needs to be reflected on the outside. You need to be authentic, and basically real. You can be cool in different ways, according to different people.
4. Doing something for reasons that are'nt your own. Restricting yourself becaseu your scared of how people will react to what you do. Being mean is not a cool trait, and I try not to associate with people who attack others and make them feel uncomfortable about themselves.
Interview #2: Billy Romp, 56 years old, Christmas Tree Salesman/ Mandolin Player/ Slate Roofing Contractor
1. Yea, I would say I'm pretty cool. It's Pretty self-evident, don't you think?
2. I think I would have to say my son Henry is the coolest person that I know. He plays a "kick-ass" bass guitar, is good with chicks, and knows where to get good weed.
3. The question of "what makes someone cool", is somewhat indescribable. You have to be capable of recognizing coolness. When I attended one of these philosophy "bullshit" sessions, we all came to the conclusion that being nonchalant is probably the basic concept of being cool. Its cool to not care in general, but it is cool to care for someone, or atleast pretend to. Also, it is cool to be direct with people; for example, one of the coolest people that I know is the biggest assholes. He'll say exactly what he means, and doesn't care what you think about it.
4. I think dishonesty is the least cool trait a person can have, that and you know... killing other people.
Note: Billy Romp is quoted discussing similar topics in a book called "Sidewalk" by Mitchell Duneier, and is the focus of a book about him and his family called "Christmas on Jane Street: a True Story".
(about Billy Romp & Family)
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/08/nyregion/trees-for-sale-warmth-free-each-year-family-turns-manhattanites-into-neighbors.html?pagewanted=all
Interview #3: Emiliano, 40, Deli Manager/ General Employee ("Spyro's Deli" on 12th street and 8th avenue)
In this interview, their was a little bit of a language barrier, so his co-worker had to try and translate between myself and Emiliano.
1. I don't think that I am cool. I don't have much time to go out, and I spend most of my week working hard, and being with my family. I have responsibilities to my wife and kids, so I have very little free time.
2. I don't know who I think is cool (I suggested several actors, but he didn't seem to think celebrities were that cool. Also he seemed confused as to what I was asking)
3. Cool people go out alot. They don't work all the time like me. They have a lot of free time, and not a lot of responsibilities.
4. Yo No Se. (He didn't quite understand this question either, but when I took a picture of him, he held up the wad of money in his hand and laughed. I guess a part of what thinks is "uncool", is being poor, or lacking money.)
Interview #4: Sgt. Ricardi Santos, ?? years old, Police officer/ Precinct Manager at the 6th Precinct (Greenwich Village)
1. Absolutely, I think I'm cool. I know that because if I wasn't cool, than I couldn't deal with stress. In my job, having perspective on what you do is cool. I learned to not take things personally, and do what I am supposed to. At the end of the day this job is a job like any other, and being cool and not letting what people say get to you is pretty cool I think.
2. Bill Gates, has got to be the coolest person in my mind. Not because he is rich, but because he is charitable, and puts his wealth to good use in the world. Some people have alot of money, but they only use it for themselves. Bloomberg is an example of that, he has all the money in the world, but uses it to become mayor and help himself.
3. Being cool, is keeping to yourself, and not bothering other people. A person who helps out and is a productive member of society, with something to contribute.
4. Things that aren't cool are being cruel, having a nasty attitude, selfishness, arrogance & lacking appreciation. People who are not respectful are not cool people either.
Questions:
1. Are you cool? Why do you or don't you think so?
2. Who do you think is the coolest person?
3. What makes someone cool?
4. What is not cool?
Interview #1: Claire Weinman, 16 years old, Student/ Upstairs Neighbor
1. Yes. I do think I'm cool. Pretty much because I consider myself to be independant. I mostly do what I want, and have my own unique personality.
2. I think that my Dad is the coolest person I know. He's mad chill, he's married to my good looking mother, and he's overall a boss [like Rick Ross]. He isn't running on anyone elses schedule other than his own.
3. Generally to be cool, your inner self needs to be reflected on the outside. You need to be authentic, and basically real. You can be cool in different ways, according to different people.
4. Doing something for reasons that are'nt your own. Restricting yourself becaseu your scared of how people will react to what you do. Being mean is not a cool trait, and I try not to associate with people who attack others and make them feel uncomfortable about themselves.
Interview #2: Billy Romp, 56 years old, Christmas Tree Salesman/ Mandolin Player/ Slate Roofing Contractor
1. Yea, I would say I'm pretty cool. It's Pretty self-evident, don't you think?
2. I think I would have to say my son Henry is the coolest person that I know. He plays a "kick-ass" bass guitar, is good with chicks, and knows where to get good weed.
3. The question of "what makes someone cool", is somewhat indescribable. You have to be capable of recognizing coolness. When I attended one of these philosophy "bullshit" sessions, we all came to the conclusion that being nonchalant is probably the basic concept of being cool. Its cool to not care in general, but it is cool to care for someone, or atleast pretend to. Also, it is cool to be direct with people; for example, one of the coolest people that I know is the biggest assholes. He'll say exactly what he means, and doesn't care what you think about it.
4. I think dishonesty is the least cool trait a person can have, that and you know... killing other people.
Note: Billy Romp is quoted discussing similar topics in a book called "Sidewalk" by Mitchell Duneier, and is the focus of a book about him and his family called "Christmas on Jane Street: a True Story".
(about Billy Romp & Family)
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/08/nyregion/trees-for-sale-warmth-free-each-year-family-turns-manhattanites-into-neighbors.html?pagewanted=all
Interview #3: Emiliano, 40, Deli Manager/ General Employee ("Spyro's Deli" on 12th street and 8th avenue)
In this interview, their was a little bit of a language barrier, so his co-worker had to try and translate between myself and Emiliano.
1. I don't think that I am cool. I don't have much time to go out, and I spend most of my week working hard, and being with my family. I have responsibilities to my wife and kids, so I have very little free time.
2. I don't know who I think is cool (I suggested several actors, but he didn't seem to think celebrities were that cool. Also he seemed confused as to what I was asking)
3. Cool people go out alot. They don't work all the time like me. They have a lot of free time, and not a lot of responsibilities.
4. Yo No Se. (He didn't quite understand this question either, but when I took a picture of him, he held up the wad of money in his hand and laughed. I guess a part of what thinks is "uncool", is being poor, or lacking money.)
Interview #4: Sgt. Ricardi Santos, ?? years old, Police officer/ Precinct Manager at the 6th Precinct (Greenwich Village)
1. Absolutely, I think I'm cool. I know that because if I wasn't cool, than I couldn't deal with stress. In my job, having perspective on what you do is cool. I learned to not take things personally, and do what I am supposed to. At the end of the day this job is a job like any other, and being cool and not letting what people say get to you is pretty cool I think.
2. Bill Gates, has got to be the coolest person in my mind. Not because he is rich, but because he is charitable, and puts his wealth to good use in the world. Some people have alot of money, but they only use it for themselves. Bloomberg is an example of that, he has all the money in the world, but uses it to become mayor and help himself.
3. Being cool, is keeping to yourself, and not bothering other people. A person who helps out and is a productive member of society, with something to contribute.
4. Things that aren't cool are being cruel, having a nasty attitude, selfishness, arrogance & lacking appreciation. People who are not respectful are not cool people either.
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