The Tale of the Golden Shoes

When told in a class of budding Public Relations professionals that the Prime Minister was in a pair of US$1795.00 golden Louis Vuitton sneakers, I immediately pictured golden running shoes... because they've been seen around.  I was quite confused and slightly appalled as to why Mrs. Persad-Bissessar would be wearing an all-black outfit with these sneakers, seeing that she is usually very nicely put together. 

Fig. 1. Regular gold sneakers

Had I known that she was actually wearing a pair of Louis Vuitton Punchy sneaker boot in grained leather and sequins, that I would not have been shocked at all.  

Fig. 2.  Louis Vuitton Punchy sneaker boot in grained leather and sequins

Differentiation, however important it may be to know (If you even plan to go to a nightclub) is not my goal.  It is actually to look at how the public interprets and understands what is reported in the Media.

"KAMLA'S PRICY BOOTS

US$795 a pair..."

By Susan Mohammed - Trinidad Express Newspaper - Thursday 16th February, 2012.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Kamla_s_pricey_boots-139413813.html

The article, referring to the Prime Minister as Kamla in the headline, gives the tale of the boots priced at US$795.  Every girl deserves a pair of Louis Vuittons and clearly she can afford it.  Don't ask me how, I'm not her accountant.  

The Media however is a powerful tool of socialisation, producing and re-producing culture.  The apparent disrespect for not only Mrs. Persad-Bissessar but the Office of the Prime Minister has spread through local society as people refer to the current and past Prime Ministers by their first name.  Here we see the media making it socially acceptable to do so.

Also,  those who heard US$1759 in class and did not read the article would say, as the one who first said it, that the PM has US$1759.00 shoes, thus public knowledge and opinion is formed and circulated from an error.  Social media takes control of this matter though and images of the boots with the price have been circulating on many of the popular local joke pages Facebook and by individual users.  Social media in theory gives the masses the power to choose what information they receive but popular culture transcends all form of media. With the Facebook "home page", popular posts are placed to be absorbed by those not knowing how it works.  It leaves one to questions how much information is someone actually free to choose.

A Free and Interdependent Media she says

"EXTREME ACTION

PM calls on Gibbs to explain raid on newspaper"

By Anna Ramdass - Trinidad Express Newspapers - Friday 10th February, 2012

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/EXTREME_ACTION-139135919.html

A Blog for Legal Coms

For my Legal Communications Course we have to do a blog around the idea of media literacy.  Check it out. It shall be incorporated into this one after the course is finished.

http://amediahat.blogspot.com/

Contesting Urban Space

“Energy Minister Under Fire from OWTU” – Renuka Singh

Page 16 - Daily Express – Thursday 9^th February, 2012

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Energy_Minister_under_fire_from_OWTU-138989194.html

Members of the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) converged outside the Ministry of Energy in Port-of-Spain this week demanding a meeting with the Minister of Energy Kevin Ramnarine.  This protest action created a temporary autonomous zone that exceeded the normal flow of life at the Waterfront (Firat & Kuryel, 2011) where the Hyatt Regency hotel and numerous Government offices are located on Wrightson Road, the always active main road passing through Port-of-Spain.  

Not only were the visual and sonic compositions of the spaces disrupted with the chanting, drum beating and horn blowing by the OWTU supporters, but participants brought new meanings and messages to this relatively public space that may soon be a popular event.  This unexpected “eruption of dramatic intensity” (Shawyer, 2008) that confused and subverted dominant cultural codes (Firat & Kuryel, 2011), seems to be the new action being taken by groups who have perceived pressing issues with the Ministries and Ministers who occupy this urban space. 

Perhaps it is the centrality of the newly relocated Ministry centres to one location that has highlighted protests more recently but this now allows protesters, as well as anyone with any form of Ministry business, to access and address Ministers and issues in different Ministries almost simultaneously with more ease that before.  The OWTU representatives were able to meet with Minister of Labour Errol McLeod on his way into his Ministry as well.  

This gathering not only affected and disrupted the social codes around the work space of the Ministries and the transit space of hundreds but coincided with the last day of the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference held at the Hyatt Regency and the unexpected meanings, messages and images would surely have impacted upon those in attendance.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Firat, B. Ö., & Kuryel, A. (2011). Cultural Activism: Practices, Dilemmas, and Possibilities - Issue 21 of Thamyris/Intersecting: Place, Sex and Race. Rodopi.

Shawyer, S. E. (2008). Radical street theatre and the Yippie legacy: A performance history of the Youth International Party, 1967--1968. ProQuest.

Down, Down the Media Hole

The unrestricted reach of technology has created a world where escaping from electronic media consumption is very much implausible.  My Blackberry is constantly available and my computer on when I’m home, sending or receiving messages, music is playing music while I shower or water my plants; there is no escaping the spiral into worlds that mass communication allows.
Down into the "desert of the real", as Baudrillard refers to it, allows one to constantly alter and reshape their reality at any given moment.


Let's look at my Media consumption:


6:00a.m.
Wake up to Blackberry's alarm
Check messages
Respond to messages
Go back to sleep
Wake up every half hour after to the snooze alarm.


At whatever time I wake up (varies depending on what time I have class)
Skype - Respond to missed calls and messages
Facebook - see what posts/comments/messages really need a reply or attention.  This possibly gets extended by clicking on the "HOME" page and being distracted by pictures or interesting feeds but it depends on the time I have before I have to leave.
Email - Check school email as it is the only one I can't recieve on my phone.  See if Marketing sends out any emails about the events that are happening on that day before I leave for school.  This seldom happens as they send messages later in the day so I miss whatever events that I could have attended anyway.
Music - as I do the dishes from the day before or get ready for class.  Morning classes never see me on time as the music can become a little distracting; no class should start before 10:00a.m. anyway.


All of this is done while I carry on conversation with people who BBMed while I was asleep.


Leave for school
BBMs sending on the way with message service slowing down as I get closer to campus.  Messages take forever to send while on Campus, possibly because of the high concentration of BBM/EDGE activity.


IN CLASS, PHONE IN BAG...
most of the times...  but there is the tendency to... amm... touch the phone…


Out of class
Check Twitter, look at anything interesting, and reply to interesting tweets.   There is ALWAYS something interesting on Twitter; news and crazy people have some cool tweets and Outlish always has something for me to reply to.  


By lunch time I've already experiences happiness, joy, excitement, amazement, surprise, horror, sadness, anger and disappointment solely because of my media consumption.  If I did not leave my room I would be on a constant roller-coaster of emotions comparable to that of physical human interaction.

My University Dilemma

I find myself at times during my University experience feeling as if I am still in secondary school.  I actually feel as if I now have less of a value, but more so, as if people think less than in secondary school.  Maybe I am just fortunate to have gone to a secondary school that promoted exploration and understanding of life, not just pushing students solely after grades.  For the experiences I gained there I will forever be indebted. 

Now at University, it seems as if people are just focused on graduating.  It upsets me that the quality of my degree is being brought down by people who are allowed to graduate with a G.P.A of 1.  When I have classes with people who display their lack of comprehension in their study area, areas in which they are employed in companies, I begin to understand why our country is in the condition that it is in.

What further startles me is how easily we stay quiet when we are concerned about something or how we simply accept what is given to us.  I am tired of being told to stay quiet when I raise issues at home, in class or with people.  I am pulled apart as I am guided when I state my views in some forums, but in the majority of others I am left with silence or brushed off statements.  People seem scared to talk about what they see going on, unless of course it is useless bacchanal.  I am torn apart as I try to move forward thinking in University.  It seems as if we are the microcosm of a complained about society.

Why are we so scared of questioning?  

Are we afraid to lose our jobs or be harmed or be regarded as fools?  

Will we simply accept everything that happens until we reach like other places where we revolt?  

Can we not find ways to develop the systems as we grow so that we all can move forward together and avoid future problems?  

Or is it that we are just no thinking at all?

Are we believing that we are thinking but, without realising, actually following along like sheep? 

This is my University Dilemma...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=albNykjWXsA&feature=youtu.be