Congressman (Orange County Rep.) Gary Miller made a mistake.

This past week Gary Miller was featured as a guest on KFI Radio. Congressman Miller was brought onto the show to discuss SB1070 Arizona Immigration Law that has just recently passed. Something we have all heard about. Miller proceded to list various Spanish speaking groups in attempts to discuss all the different types of illegal immigrants that come into the United States. Congressman Miller mistakenly included Cubans in the “illegal alien” category.

What Miller has failed to realize is that Cubans are political refugees, not economic immigrants. Most Cuban exiles in the United States are both legally and self-described political refugees. This status allows them different treatment under United States immigration laws as opposed to every other immigrant who are not categorized as so.

It might be a good thing to point out that there are other types of people sneaking into the United States, despite the fact that appoximately 60% of illegal immigrants are of Mexican descent. There are many other races, not just Mexicans looking for a way into the United States. The effect of Miller’s incorrect information about Cubans being illegal, it changes the name of the game he is playing, his misinformation is creating a false image that ALL spanish speaking countries are looking for a way in and doing so in an illegal fashion.

At this time it is of upmost importance and significance, especially with California elections just around the corner, so that Republicans representing our own state do something similiar to what Arizona has done to protect our borders and national security.

Dear Lindsey, please just follow the rules…and go away.

The past few days, there seems to be one reoccuring story: Lindsey Lohan. According to Fox News, ABC News, KCAL 9 News, Lindsey Lohan is now required to wear a SCRAM blood alcohol monitor. After missing multiple court dates she is now required to wear the monitor and submit to weekly drug tests. As happy as I am to see the law actually act on a celebrity’s mistakes (instead of just letting her off, as they have done before) there are more relevant things to be speaking about.

Spending valuable air time on a yet again, another celebrity screw up is only endorsing how focused this generation and society depends on this type of news. When California elections are right around the corner, the British Petroleum accident in the South, and other very significant news, we are spending time on Lindsey Lohan and how she is going to “get better” or “change” or “stay sober this time”. Is any of that truly relevant to our society? Is Lohan’s sentencing really going to change anything? The answer is no. I expected a large commotion about this stotry from TMZ or Perez Hilton, not from legitimate news networks.

It was rather shocking to see how much was actually being covered. Yes, it is important to know the repercussions of action such like Lohan’s but only because it may stop someone else from doing the same thing – but its not likely because of how many times this particular celebrity has been let off of the hook. Maybe some real news coverage would be best.

Single Ladies

As I watched the news this evening, there was a segment on a video of young 7 year olds dancing to Beyonce’s song “Single Ladies”:

What is absolutely amazing is that these young girls are dressed and dancing to this song. Not the song, but the choreography itself is absolutely outrageous. But what I did find some comfort in, is that the news caster was not promoting how “cute” this was, but was actually horrified at the site of these LITTLE girls dancing the way that they were.

It is so disheartening to think that parents somewhere think that this is cute. HEADS UP: This is not cute. It is absolutely disgusting that someone would put their daughter into some sort of dance routine such as this one. Especially since there is always some sort of rape, kidnapping, or sexual molestation story on the news. This is what society has turned these parents into, not their children. These 7 year old girls are not old enough to comprehend that what their doing is utterly trashy. Their parents should be absolutely ashamed that they would do this to their kids.

If society didn’t objectify women in such a way, maybe we wouldn’t have things like this happening. To be honest, this video is no better than child pornography. I so desperately wish I could ask the parents of these little girls what the hell they were thinking. There are reasons why children get molested, and raped, and kidnapped and abused…and I believe things like this are a big reason. The media has made sexy something acceptable among children and it is portrayed as “cute” or “adorable”. But you know something? It won’t be so cute when your child is harrassed or sexually molested. So thank you, media, for making sexy the newest fashion for children.

Sexting. Where do they learn it?

This past week, under a bad case of boredum, I was channel surfing through some pretty bad day time television when I came across the Tyra Show (I know, its pretty lame but I’m trying to make a point here). The theme of this particular show was young teens “sexting” which is pretty much a sexually explicit text message or picture. These girls on the show were as young as 13 years old, sending sexually explicit messages to boys, and even older men.

The first thing that came to mind was “Why the hell are these kids doing this?” Clearly these girls were young and don’t know better…hell they didn’t think twice about sending a naked picture to someone. But what spiked my curiousity was where did they learn to do this. My question was answered just a couple of days ago as I sat in my local Barnes and Noble when I saw a young girl, no older that 14 reading “Cosmo” …. and of course the cover had a large subtitle with the latest tricks on what to do during sex and how to keep sex exciting. I grabbed myself a copy of Cosmo and went to sit next to the girl to see what article she was reading. As I flipped through the pages of the magazine, I found the one she was looking at. As I began reading there were tons of “tricks” on how to sexually pleasure your man…and many of the “tips” given including sending sexy text messages throughout the day to keep him fantasizing about what you will do to him when he gets home.

Needless to say, a lightbulb went off. This new thing that kids are doing, sexting (which isn’t so new by the way, its just that adults have actually caught on that their younger kids are doing it too), is everywhere. When a young girl is reading a sex magazine, when kids are seeing this enough in television that they are taking it upon themselves to do it in their own personal lives…its just disheartening. Does our generation have nothing more to offer the up and coming generation? And don’t get me wrong, Cosmo isn’t the only magazine to do this, but it definitely on of the more well known ones.

This trend of sexually explicit messages being sent from very young girls (or even boys…they do usually end up taking pictures of their package at one point or another) is something that kids are picking up in today’s media. Its everywhere, but what we are not seeing enough of is the effects of sexting. Once something is sent over a phone, or email, its out in the online world forever. It can be sent to hundreds of people at once, put on a website, etc…it never goes away. Not to mention the danger that kids are putting themselves in when they do this kind of stuff too. So as much as you annoy me Tyra Banks, at least you brought the issue up and brought it to the attention of a few girls. Our media focuses so much on women needing to be sexy to get a man’s attention. What needs to be brought to the surface is that women shouldn’t have to send a naked picture to a guy so that they can be liked. The media so poorly portrays female self esteem, its pretty much nonexistent.

So should we really be surprised that this is occurring in young kids? Quite frankly, I think we have ourselves to blame for creatinga media that so poorly portrays women and how they should be.

Rude Boy.

Its no secret that Rihanna’s latest single “Rude Boy,” is explicitly sexual.  Before I go ahead and speak about this particular piece of media, take a second to look at a few pieces of the lyrics of the song:

Come here, rude boy, boy, can you get it up?
Come here, rude boy, boy, is you big enough?
Take it, take it, baby, baby, take it, take it, love me, love me

Tonight I’ma give it to ya harder
Tonight I’ma turn ya body out
Relax; let me do it how I wanna
If you got it I need it and I’ma put it down
Buckle up; I’ma give it to ya stronger
Hands up; we could go a little longer
Tonight I’ma get a little crazy, get a little crazy, baby

As I was listening to the radio just the other day, this particular song came on the air. I happened to be in the car with my boyfriend when he said, “This song is disgusting. Its not even slutty, at least women who sing slutty songs try to make it somewhat sexy.” …needless to say this stir up quite a bit of conflict. I find it amazing that still today, women are being characterized in the media. Even at this moment, 2010, women are still “suppose” to be a certain way. Don’t get me wrong, anyone is entitled to an opinion, but I don’t believe this opinion would still be standing if women were not supposed to be in such a cookie cutter form. This comment made by my boyfriend made me wonder what other men thought of this song.  I took it upon myself to ask 10 of my male friends what they thought of Rihanna’s song. 7 of them said that the song was way too vulgar and sexually explicit and they didn’t really like it. But when I asked them if they had listened to D12′s song “Nasty Mind,” all of them said that it wasn’t so bad, that it was just a song. Here are the lyrics to D12′s song:

What is on your nasty mind?
(Nasty mind, nasty mind)
Don’t you wanna get fucked from behind?
(From behind, from behind)
They treat me like a dirty slave
(Dirty slave, dirty slave)
And beat me like I won’t behave
I just wanna get freaky baby

I’m to Swift on my toes
To get caught up with you hoes
You don’t know me
See I don’t gotta front to play the role
I’m a Know-G
I know when you’re being phony
See you’re probably boning them officers
Just to pull up on me
That’s why sixty percent of women is lonely
They getting my mix only
They trying to creep slowly because they nosey
I ain’t listen to what my momma told me
I fuck ‘em and pass ‘em to my homies
Then he fuck ‘em and pass ‘em to the homies
I’m a nasty ass macaroni
You flashing fast money
You can pass the Roley
Fuck a alimony
If you want me
And ain’t out screaming about your monthly
I’ll be sticking your pretty ass until you turn ugly
You suddenly see stars when fucking me
Ain’t no ménage
It’s I-want-’em-in-threes
Release your garments
It ain’t even me to hold back
I’ll fuck your moms quick
Have her running around this bitch screaming
“That’s my dick!!”

…I don’t really know how accurate my assumption is nor have I asked every male I have come across what they think of this song, but from talking to my male friends this song is just like any other song. Clearly, there is something that media is still not doing, and that is showing women as sexual beings as well. All people are sexual, that’s just a fact of life, yet in the media we like to see women as housewives and moms, not someone who has sexual desires. If you ask me, this D12 song is disgusting. As a country we need to realize that women can be just as sexually vulgar and shouldn’t be crucifie d for being that way. Maybe I should just make new friends? As far as I’m concerned, the men or women that think Rihanna’s song is too much or vulgar: you are the real Rude Boy’s

iPad fame.

I’m sure that most of us have seen the latest iScandal of some kids buying a iPad and smashing it to pieces with a baseball bat by now. If you haven’t, youtube is surely streaming it. The reason that these people smashed the iPad is because they wanted to be the first people to smash an iPad…what does that tell you about our generation?

With youtube being one of the easiest ways to gain fame lately, I’m not very surprised to find that some kids spent 500 dollars just to break the newest Apple gadget. Unfortunately I think that it shows a lot about what our generation is turning into. I believe that it just shows the desperation to be in the spotlight and to be noticed, even if its not for anything amazing…I mean really, being the first one to smash the iPad isn’t exactly something I would put on my resume. The only thing these kids are getting out of this is their 15 minutes of fame.

What’s even more upsetting is that news channels are actually showing that crap! Which must mean that people are watching it! Talk about needing ratings. This generation has an infatuation fame, and the need to be “famous”. If someone was willing to spend that much money just to break something for recognition, what extreme will someone else go to? These kids aren’t even being paid to break this thing…so what is the gain? I feel like this generation will do anything to get noticed, even if its by doing something that shouldn’t be noted. This sends a wrong message to kids. Instead of being noted for academic success or something worthy of attention, this is showing them that doing something stupid will get you famous, which could lead to all sorts of harmful results.

Burger King: Honesty Is the Best Policy

So, this past week I happened to be watching television and saw the latest commercial for Burger King. The infamous mascot for Burger King, “The King” himself is breaking into the McDonald’s headquarters and steals the recipe for one of their breakfast sandwiches. In a nutshell, since every other fast food joint has one, why not Burger King too.

I found this an interesting advertising tactic. Most fast food joints focus on their orginality and taste of their food, but in this ad Burger King is open to admitting that they are using someone elses idea. I actually think that their commercial is going to be more effective than what other fast food places use. I’m thinking that their honesty is going to boost their sales, simply because their not beating around the bush and working so hard to establish individuality. That in itself will stand out, mainly because most marketing for fast food is the same. “We’re the best,” “All real meat,” “Real taste,” all common slogans…then you have Burger King saying (not in these exact words) “We didn’t come up with this on our own.” I think its an interesting angle that Burger King took. I think it was actually a really smart move for them to make, I guess when it comes down to it honesty is the best policy.

American Idol and Ellen Degeneres

I imagine that I am probably a few months late with the whole Ellen DeGeneres being a judge on American Idol…nevertheless, as I am watching American Idol this past week (which in itself it quite odd) I seriously sat and thought about “Why the hell is Ellen DeGeneres on American Idol?” Yes, no one can deny that DeGeneres is quite the comedian, but a music judge? Not so much.

Five days a week, Degeneres’ show is aired on television across the nation, and yes, there is much comedy in her show and much entertainment…but there’s nothing that she does to give her credibility as a judge for a musician talent search competition. At least Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi and Paula Abdul had a name in the industry that gives them some credibility whether the fans of the show like them or not.

My best guess for this is that the comedian in DeGeneres would bring a little lightness to the show and up the ratings perhaps. But even if it did…its illogical for her to be a judge on Idol. If she could sing maybe, but she is neither a singer, song writer, or music producer. She does not bring much to the show itself except another filled seat on the judges board.

Ke$ha…with a dollar sign.

Throughout learning about the media, I have noticed that many people fail to mention music as a source of media when it is actually a large part of it, especially in the lives of our generation. One of the most prominent names in music as of late is Ke$ha…and yes, she had to spell it with a dollar sign. With hit songs such as “Tik Tok,” and “Blah Blah Blah,” she has made quite a scene in the music industry (how long it will last is another story all together).

This past week, while listening to the “Kevin and Bean” morning show on 106.7 fm KROQ, they did a segment, on our newly beloved Ke$ha. In a nutshell, they said she sucked (which isn’t very far from the truth). But what they didn’t mention is how music such as Ke$ha’s plays a role on our youth. Let’s face it – the world does not need another girl singing about how drunk she’s going to get and how badly guys want her…there’s way too many of those in the world, but aside from all that they world does not need another person making behavior like waking up in bath tubs socially acceptable. Its actually quite disappointing that this is the majority of the music that is being played on the radio and all over the television music networds. This is what people are hearing, the messages that all of their actions are okay. After all, everyone is influenced by music whether we think so or not. But what kind of influence do you really want, a good one or bad one?

The more artists such as these the more our generation thinks this is okay. Not to mention that its probably giving hope to someone out there that has no vocal talent that they will someday make it. Unfortunately, when you record a song and have your voice on autotune, and you still sound horrible, there’s clearly something not right. The lack of talent in today’s music and the excess of partying is just sending the wrong message. I’m not saying that every song recorded has to be life changing to someone or have this incredibly life changing message, but damn – at least have some talent.

Proactiv: How Sexy Would You Be Without the Stars?

I have made, what I think, and interesting observation. We have all seen the Proactiv commercials. Some beautiful and famous actress, singer, etc… promoting beautiful and sexy skin with the use of the product. The problem that I have with that is the “sexy” part.

Is it such a horrible thing to want sexy skin? No, not at all (in my opinion at least). Nevertheless I think it is quite ridiculous that they use the classic idea of sex sells to sell skincare. Even though they equally promote the effectiveness of the product itself, I doubt the success of the product if there were no big name stars in their commercials.

I think it mainly comes back to this insane idea that society has created about beauty. Granted, no one wants bad skin, but I think that is a physical attribute, not dealing whatsoever with the actual person.