Cracked?

5/24/12: 5 Reasons You Should Never Take Advice from Celebrities

5/23/12: What People in Famous Photos Were Actually Thinking

5/22/12: The 9 Most Insane Vehicles that are Street Legal

If only I could write about stuff like this all day.

These three articles are among many on Cracked.com, a popular online magazine that posts humorous articles and infographics that satirize popular culture. Their popularity has risen from writing about popular culture in a critical perspective that is not usually seen in online publications.

Although the information presented in Cracked articles is mostly entertainment and humor driven, the odd thing about "America's Only Humor Site" is that it is not a blog forum. Cracked used to be a magazine similar to Mad magazine, but started only publishing online in 2007. Another odd trait of Cracked.com is their articles are backed by accurate facts and many of the writers post links to sources within their articles.

Another factor that is unique about Cracked.com is the writing style that emerges from each writer's clever opinions combined with their use of accurate facts. Most of the articles come off seeming like common sense to think a certain way about a subject, when in fact it may not be to most readers. For example, take a look at this exerpt from Cracked.com's article, "5 Reasons You Should Never Take Advice from Celebrities":

"The number one cause of stress in the average person's life is money, mainly because all of the other things you worry about (your job, your degree) are just other ways to worry about money. So when we get advice from Gwyneth Paltrow on "what to get the man in your life," it's incredibly hard to not burst into fits of psychotic laughter like the black guy from RoboCop. Seriously, take a look at what she suggests and tell me you don't want to punch her in the face:

• "Room spray" (the size of a pill bottle): $125 

• Sweater: $800

• Belt: $420

• Rug with silhouette of his head: $3,500

"

This writing form is persuasive and his reasoning is far from objective. However, many readers can relate to this author's assertion without truly agreeing with his claim. Most of Cracked.com's audience, comprising of mostly college-aged males, may get the pop-culture references and understand the stratification of income between celebrities, such as Gwenyth Paltrow, and the average person.

This form of writing, the humorous use of popular culture references and the interesting subjects written about are what keeps me interested in reading from this website also weekly, and possible guidelines to aid my own persuasive writing skills. It also adds credibility for a website that promotes itself as predominately a humor website.

Many readers learn from these articles while being entertained with the humor. Readers also share the articles they admire on social media sites to inform others of the information. By writing intelligent and amusing articles, Cracked.com's readers create a lot of the promotion for the website and gain even more readers in the long run.

Citizen Journalism - A Potentially Dangerous Way of Finding the News

Last week in class, we had a Skype session with Sam Gregory of witness.org. I asked him about what types of precautions or measures are taken to protect the citizen journalist. Sam said that instead of worrying about the citizen journalist, he worries more about the subjects of the photos or video that the citizen journalist captures. Sam asserted that on witness.org, the individuals' images in the subject of the frame would be blurred or blacked out in order to protect their identity. The person behind the camera would be naturally protected by any potential backlash or recognition.

But I think anyone in a potentially life-threatening situation should be protected. It can be a citizen/amateur reporter, or an experienced journalist, but all should be careful and wary of their surroundings.

gizmodo.com

While perusing the Internet on a citizen journalism Google search, I found a partly satirical, how-to article from Gizmodo, which discusses, "How to Be a Citizen Journalist Without Getting Killed." It is a dangerous world out there, and no matter what anyone says, if someone is capturing a moment of civil disobedience, violence, unrest, human rights violation, or anything of the sort - it's bound to be dangerous not only for those directly involved, but also for those who are in the environment and surrounding areas. The Gizmodo article gives practical application of items that would be very useful for a citizen journalist in a dangerous situation. For example, gas masks, pepper spray, a tight-fitting backpack, and a buddy all make the list. Part of this is extremely satirical, for example, when the author Roberto Baldwin, suggests a citizen journalist not bring a friend who's "kinda sorta into this [and] will quickly bail when all hell breaks loose."

These images are true and real -- and captured by regular Joes, like you and me. A quick snapping cameraphone/smart phone, a Twitter account, some practical safety items, and a good ear and eye might be all you need to capture a moment that could very easily go viral and create history. Good luck out in the field.

The Online Persona of Jon Stewart According to the Media

After watching the video on Jon Stewart and his criticism of CNN’s Crossfire, I watched another video of an interview of him on Fox News with Chris Wallace.

Jon Stewart represents himself as a comedian, a satirical commentator that sheds a different perspective on the state of American media not for a political agenda, but to expose the absurdity that surrounds the body of politics and representation of media. 

Fox News, on the other hand, believes that Stewart represents himself as a political commentator trying to be an expert on what they believe he isn’t an expert in.

Even though we, as consumers of media,  are given the materials to determine how his representation affects our views on politics, through logical arguments and evidence presented on both sides, I think  our decision to form an well-informed opinion would all come down to how the argument is presented.  Stewart carries himself through very simple logical explanations, while Fox New’s commentator, Chris Wallace, instead of critiquing the argument at hand, puts his focus on Stewart and tries to classify him as a certain identity.  Chris Wallace uses the fallacy of the Straw Man for his argument.  Instead of dealing with the issues, he presents information to try and discredit Stewart and create an image of Stewart that is not what he represents himself as. 

There is obviously a mismatch in what is being argued between Stewart and Wallace.

So how do these views of Jon Stewart’s persona appeal to the public and how do we really see Jon Stewart?

Like what was reiterated in Stewarts interview with Crossfire, Jon represents the voice of many citizens that are displaced.  He says “I represent the distracted center….My comedy is not the comedy of the neurotic. It comes from the center. But it comes from feeling displaced from society because you’re in the center. We’re the group of fairness, common sense, and moderation…We’re clearly the disenfranchised center…because we’re not in charge. (Stewart quoted in Jones: 114-15)” (Boler).

His words are not far from the truth to me.

  

FaceBlog

Out of all the social media sites available to the public, Facebook is one of the most prominent.  It not only allows individuals to connect with others all around the world, but also provides an outlet for businesses to market their products and has brought a whole new level to viral marketing.  Although it may be one of the fastest ways to exchange information, it is often criticized because it allows people to share ideas at the click of a button which somewhat undermines the ideas being shared.  With that being said, while I may not use Facebook as a reliable news source, it is embarrassing to admit I often discover breaking news from what my friends post on Facebook; for example, I found out that Osama Bin Laden was dead on Facebook.

From marketing, to connecting with friends, to being a news source, it is obvious that Facebook can function as many different tools depending on the user.  Recently I came across a blog called AllFacebook: The Unofficial Facebook Blog that posts excerpts about Facebook all day everyday.  It provides information on what Facebook is doing as a company, for example, their recent purchase of Instagram.  It also posts information on how to get more "likes" on Facebook, who to market to on Facebook, the war between kids and parents on Facebook and political parties using Facebook.  This blog shows just how big Facebook has gotten because it not only has an audience that uses it's site for social media purposes, but also has followers who are interested in Facebook as a brand.  In a way, this blog kind of acts like a Facebook for Facebook where people can posts updates specifically about FB and make comments all pertaining to the FB world.
http://allfacebook.com/

A Satirical Look at Social Media Marketing

Matthew Inman, the artist behind webcomic series The Oatmeal, gives us a look at the all-too-familiar nature of using social media as a marketing platform for lackluster content. As the satirical imagery states upfront, this phenomena includes the practice of placing Facebook "Like" buttons in and around content, a technique that both individual bloggers and mainstream media have capitalized on.

In this critique, the artist suggests that in order to get more "likes," one should "put your energy into making things that are likeable," continuing with the sentiment that one would not mimic these marketing behaviors in the real world.

On proposing a list of "simply awesome" content to create and write about, the artist states, "If I saw any of these things on the internet I would click the like button so hard Facebook's servers would poop their pants."

"In short: Less marketing douchebaggery. More tanks."

Link to the feature:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/facebook_likes