blog10----Manufactured Demand

      Many people who choose bottled drinking water understand that it is more expensive, but they are willing to pay the extra money because they feel bottled water is safer, healthier and comvenient than tap wate  for them. After all, bottled water is often marketed as "natural spring water" or "pure glacier water."
In reality, few bottled waters come from natural springs, and most of them use municipal tap water. The companies are able to get away with this false marketing because the regulations and standards for bottle drinking water are less stringent than those for residential drinking sources.
Bottled water quality is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while drinking water systems are typically regulated by State regulations or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This doesn't mean that the FDA isn't doing their job. It's just that the rules for bottled water only require it to be as good as tap water, not better.
   

blog5----- The truman show

The truman show

          Cristof created a perfect world to control Truman.  There everything are not truth,  including the weather, was controlled in a huge Hollywood dome. Truman grew up having no idea he was being watched every hour of the day, and that every step he took was being viewed by millions all over the globe. As the show progressed, it became clear how much media influenced Truman's life, and also how Christ of played a huge role in Truman's well-being.

       Firstly, the influence of media affects our lives in many ways. As The Truman Show ran 24/7, there were no commercials. Therefore, the show had to generate an income by advertising products to the viewers. For example, when Truman's wife showed off her recent purchase, a Chef Pal, she listed many unique characteristics about the product, hoping some of the millions of viewers would purchase it. This shows how much commercials and advertising can persuade us to purchase a product. Without even realizing it, TV viewing can influence people's purchases.
        Secondly, a form of media displayed in the show can be described as broadcast media. The Truman Show was broadcasted all over the world and millions of people were watching it. You could see this because during the movie people were shown watching the show in various places. For example, there was a man watching TV while in his bathtub and two security guards enjoyed the show while on patrol. This shows how TV can be addictive, and possibly interfere with our ability to complete everyday tasks. Finally, Truman was basically living in an artificial world. Everything was planned, and the actors were well educated to make Truman believe everything about his life existed in Seahaven. This shows how people can be influenced to believe that something is real or true but in reality it is not. He had a wife who did not love him, a teacher who did not support what he was trying to go after, and a friend who did not actually mean what he said. Cristof always control Truman.
      For me , I do not like other people to control me ,Some parents want to control their children a great deal, while others don’t have much control over their kids at all. when i was a teenager ,I felt that my parents were  right in the middle of high and low control. Things that I did everyday were sometimes limited by my parents, while other times they were lenient with me. They are adults, have much more experience than me, and that was why they had certain opinions on different issues, which I value. An example was my curfew. My parents set a time that I could stay out until for the weekends. I conversed with my parents about the issue by telling them how I felt, but they were the ones that ultimately made the decision. By setting a reasonable time to try to satisfy me, but also instill some rules, they made the choice based on what they knew,  and what they wanted. Like all children, some situations I don’t agree  with them. However, they knew what was right and wrong. Some of the time they might make the wrong decision, or the decision that I didn’t want to, but it’s for a certain reason, and I respected  that.
      In my conclusion ,  everyone do not like to control by someone, including
Truman, they would think that they lose their freedom. I think people should not try to control someone , and parents should not limit their kids to do what they want,sometimes they should let them to make a right decision for their life.
   

blog4--- The allegory of the cave

    The allegory of the cave

       In plato's    “Allegory of the Cave”. Socrates describes to Glaucon a scene in which there are people chained by their arms and legs to the wall of a cave. They cannot turn their heads, so they can only see what’s right in front of them. The people of the cave are only able to hear echoes from outside, and see shadows of people as a result of a fire behind the cave. They are limited to only these observations. Once the prisoners climb out of the cave, they are exposed to reality and they see what caused the noises they heard and the shadows they saw.  Socrates explains that these prisoners are like unenlightened people who have only an ideal version of reality, which is to say their imagination of how life should be. This is portrayed as an idealized sense of what goodness and justice are. When the prisoners leave the cave, Socrates explains that these are the philosophers who have come to an understanding of what life really is. The “people” they see are the realities of life.
       Firstly , this is an almost accurate description of life, and the process one goes through with the passage of time. In the start, we have a sugarcoated, childlike perception of reality, which is our “natural condition” before “education”.  The “education” Socrates mentions is our inevitable exposure to reality.  As we age and are exposed to many different things in life, we realize that things are not always in accordance with the idealized version of the world we had in our heads as children. The goodness and justice we thought was inevitable is in fact not guaranteed to occur. However, when Socrates and Glaucon agree that the freed prisoner would not want to go back to their state of idealized imprisonment, the allegory veers into op-ed territory.  I have always identified with the expression “ignorance is bliss”. As a teen, the moments when one realizes that life isn’t always fair are often the hardest moments of “growing up”. Sometimes, and I’m sure many people feel this way, we want to return to that cave of shadows an echoes, because dealing with reality isn’t as easy as people make it seem.
      The allegory of the cave is an accurate description of the philosophical process one must face throughout ones life. Socrates and Glaucon agree that this process is preferred over the unenlightened state of the cave prisoners. However, I do believe that if Socrates and Glaucon had heard of the phrase “ignorance is bliss”, they might have drawn a different conclusion.