Junior Theme

I am having some trouble coming up with a thesis to my junior theme questions which is why are Americans consumers? I changed it from why are Americans consumer focused? I think that it makes more sense to talk about why Americans are consumers than why they are consumer focused. So far I have information about history and consumerism and I also have the idea that a big part of consumerism in advertisement. I can not think of an idea to put it into a thesis or have an introduction. I think that I want to state my question into the introduction as a rhetorical question. Any Ideas please feel free to comment.

Also I was wondering if anyone had an idea of a person that I could interview. I already emailed Paco Underhill who wrote the book Why We Buy. If anyone has any ideas of a person of type of person that I can interview. Please comment.

Junior Theme

I think that I pretty much have the question for my junior theme. It is Why are Americans consumer focused? I think that it is a good question. I am going to look at the pre-1920s when Americans were not consumer focused and at the Industrial Revolution, and now with the economic crisis the rates of savings and consumer debt and how they have changed over time. I think that it is going to be an interesting topic. I think that learning about this topic might actually help me for the future to not be so consumer focused because I will learn about the debt that Americans get in and it will teach me the bad about consumerism. If anyone has any ideas of what else I should look into or anything that will help me on my junior theme, feel free to comment.

Psychology of Advertising

This week in my American Studies class we got our prompt for what we have to do for our junior themes. I was thinking that I wanted to do something with America and how Americans are so materialistic. Then I thought that with in that topic I could look at consumerism in America, and the psychology of advertising. I began to think about the psychology of advertising and how when I watch TV and I see all these infomercials, I always wonder if anyone actually buys the product that is being sold on the TV. I never have even considered calling in to the people on TV to ask for the product, because I feel like they are going to scam you. People must call in other wise it would be a waste of time and money to be having these infomercials. I think that it is amazing that when an American sees an ad they feel as if they need that product, but if they had not seen the ad they would have never thought about buying the product before. Advertising is basically a scam to try and make people buy a product that most people do not actually need in life. Advertising is an interest of mine because it shows how that mind works, if a famous person has a product, then you need the product too, if the product has a catchy song to it then everyone knows the product. Like McDonald's, everyone knows that their slogan is "I'm Lovin' it" and most people know the phone number to Empire or Luna the carpet places. This is all because of their advertising and how they market their product. I am excited to start my junior theme on this topic so that I can have further discoveries about the psychology of advertising.

Religion

The other day I was talking with my grandpa about religion. We started talking about how most wars are fought over religion. I thought about what if the world only had one religion, what would we have to fight about? I kept pondering the idea of a one religion world, or a no religion world. I wonder if it would make the world better or worse? What would happen to the human race? I think that in parts of the world it would be a lot more peaceful like in the Middle East. Without religion to fight over and a battle of who gets what land because you were raised to think that the other people are the bad guys. Like Israel and the Gaza Strip. What do you think would happen if the World only had one religion? Do you think it would be better if the world had no religion? I think that the World would be a lot more peaceful, but countries would still probably find something to fight about.

South wins Civil War

In class today we were talking about the reconstruction after the Civil War and whether or not it was a failure or a success. This got me thinking about what today would be like if the south had won the Civil War, and how my life would have changed. I know that we live in the North and slaves were free in the North, but how would you feel if the United States were not unified? What if there were still slaves in the South? I think that my life would be completely different. I have many friends who are black and that would not be thinkable, and I also don't know if I would approve of what was happening in the South and how could you act if you think that half of your country is wrong, is it unpatriotic to think that what half of your country is doing is wrong. If the South won the Civil War would they have taken over the North? Since the North made the South abolish slavery, if the South won, would the make the North have slavery?
What are your thoughts?
How would our lives as we know it be changed if the South would have won the Civil War?

Propaganda of New Trier

In American Studies today we talked a little bit about propaganda and persuasion, and we also talked about what New Trier wants to be portrayed like and the different signs and posters that are all around, I went to each class looking more critically and more alert of my surroundings. I always noticed the signs of all the languages in the P stairwell, but I never knew what they said, and I don't think that I have ever seen the one that is in English, I am sure that they have it somewhere, but I think that it is funny that New Trier puts up all the different language signs in the busiest stairwell, so that they can show all the people that come that New Trier is a diverse place with many different cultures and languages. I know that this was mentioned in class today, but I think that it is funny that on the announcements they only say if New Trier was first or second in State, and in the gyms there are only flags that have state champion wins and it is for basically every sport that New Trier offers. Most schools are excited if they get to regionals, but at New Trier it is basically win State or lose. I think that they only have all the State champions because they want to show other schools that we are better than they are and we will beat them. We also talked about the different copies of paintings that are many classrooms and I think that this is also funny, because who ever put them up are saying that we are intellectual and forcing other people to think that we are intellectual by putting up a few paintings. New Trier wants to be known and wants to be good at everything and it is an incentive to go to New Trier and be good at everything because you go there.
What do you notice when you walk through the halls? What propaganda does New Trier use?

First Ever

This weekend I was on an airplane and the movie that they were showing was called Flash of Genius. The movie was about the guy who invented the timed wind shield wipers. It was a big deal because this guy tried to sell his wipers to car companies and no one would buy it. Then Ford decided to copy the model and make their own with out giving the guy any credit. So with when the man finds out that Ford stole his model he sues them for all that he has, and now to this day every wiper that is made on a car his family (since he is dead) gets paid a certain amount of money. I thought that it was funny that they made a movie of this guy’s story, and it had Hollywood stars in it also. In my American Studies class we were talking about how people talk about first ever, for example like Christopher Columbus and how people think he is the first ever to come to America. In American Studies we were also talking how a lady was suing McDonalds because she spilled her coffee and got burned and there was no caution on the cup that the coffee was hot. I thought that it was amazing that someone who was the “first ever” can get money and recognition by a movie and there are people who actually are the firsts that no one knows about. If you have any incite on “first evers” or know of a “first ever” that no one knows about, I would like to know and so would other people who read this blog.