Wild Card Paper- Weird Cultural Practices and Rituals

     

 Culture is defined as the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievements regarded collectively.  Another definition for Culture is the custom of arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. International Culture extends beyond national borders. Taking the subject and class of International Mass Media this semester has helped me explore more, as well as research about different cultures. Some international cultures that I have learned about and discovered come with the good, bad, and ugly, as many cultures do, but how does it affect and effect the media?

It is already evident that communicating culture through mass media gives the power to introduce, and alter certain things that could possible affect the dynamics of one’s society. It’s not surprising to know that International Culture can become Universal, thanks to mass media. There are many excellent examples of how International Culture is perceived in the media. For example, as an American some cultural aspects, international culture aspects may not seem as completely normal to me when I see it being broadcasted in the media. For example, Child Bride marriage has been normalized in the Indian society for years, it’s not looked at as a good cultural aspect to many Americans like myself, or even people in other international societies including their own.

         

Let’s talk weird cultures. One of the most reasons for traveling inexperienced is to learn about different cultures, practices, and rituals, but what do you do when they are relatively weird. The further you dive into some of these cultures the more interesting they become, no matter how weird and obnoxious they are or may seem. There are many Bizarrely cultural practices that are covered in the media, more are to be found on the internet. Weird and uncomfortable cultures and cultural practices are labeled as dangerous, and irrational by societies that differ. Though the media spends its time trying to expose unnecessary cultural acts, the societies that hold it near and dear to their hearts are most of the time offended and feel disrespected over their personal belief in their culture. 

      

Baby Tossing in India may not seem to be the safest and cultural act, but according to research it is a very common practice for many villages in the sovereign country of India. Their society believes it brings children good luck, and prosperity. It is also believed that it brings a long and healthy life to children, as well as intelligence. This ritual is performed by a newborn baby being drop from a tower while a group of adults at the base of the tower holds a rectangular sheet to catch the infant child. Of course it sounds ridiculously crazy to those who are dumbfounded and shocked, but it is completely normal to its society and culture. 

     Growing up in America, and going to an American school, food fights were a no-no, and if you started one, you would have to pay the ultimate consequences. In the town of Bunol, Spain food fights are essential. This is a tradition and it is taken to a higher level every year. Every year the town hosts an event named “The Biggest Tomato Fight in the World” where anyone is welcomed to join and enjoy a messy food fight, with of course the Arkansas fruit itself, a Tomato. Now, I do feel as of this could be normalized for a numerous amount of reasons, why? Well, it can be a good way for citizens to blow off some much needed stress. 

      As we continue to look at weird international cultures and their cultural practices, let’s take a look on a darker and creepier side. In Indonesia it is normal to live with the dead, strangely. Rather than burying the ones they love, they are taken back to the village for a final stay. This can be somewhat compared to a funeral or celebration of life in New Orleans, when a second line band takes the casket and dances through the city before the body is laid to rest, but the only difference is the Indonesian society doesn’t use a casket, they just simply carry the body around as if the person is still alive. I could only imagine a dead body being paraded around, without being in a casket, talk about horrifying. According to research, this is one of the weirdest, and of course scariest cultural practices and rituals known to man. 

     

Last but not least, and as if walking on hot stone wasn’t fair enough to be a part of the most horrible and painful cultural practices, the Chinese society does it, with people on their back. This ritual is connected to a commitment of love and marriage. According to research, after a groom and bride are married into holy matrimony, the groom is required to carried his bride on his back, as he walks on a pan of hot stone and then into their home. I don’t know about you, but that is love? Needless to say there are many different cultures, cultural practices, and cultural rituals that are labeled as normal and most of the time, international wise, abnormal. Some cultural practices carry myths, and others just are strangely mandatory to one’s society. Though the cultural practices I have researched and analyzed are relatively weird, the story lines of each oddly found cultural practices and rituals are what keeps the media alive to a certain extent. 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/7-bizarre-cultural-practices
https://garfors.com/25-strange-customs-and-traditions-html/
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/weird-customs/

Depictions of Women and Minorities- Position Paper III

      The status of an Indian women in the Indian society is strongly connected to being family oriental, as well as having big households and big families that come with it. Patrilineal has played a big part in the Indian society and has also played a part in an Indian’s woman and her new husband’s life. Indian families are often classified as patrilineal due to how they use methods and a certain system after a bride is married to a new man and into a new family. According to research, many families in the Indian society has grown because of the patrilineal system. Though Indian women have been subjected to changes over the years, practices such as Female Infanticide, Dowry, and Child Marriage hasn’t slowed down in running it’s course in the Indian’s women society.

            Students often learn about female infanticide in a learning course such as social problems. Female infanticide is a big social problem in India today. Female Infanticide is a crime against children (babies) who are between the ages of 0-1 years old. Female Infanticide is a killing of a newborn child that is a female. This crime is common for china as well. India counts this crime as abortion according to facts and research about their government. The reason behind female infanticide is mostly related to practical and cultural rituals rather than it relating to religion in Indian. 

              India is reported as the highest country in the world that has dowry deaths. Dowry deaths are deaths of married women who are murdered or driven to suicide by consistent torture and harassment by their husbands. Dowry in itself is property or money brought into a marriage by a bride to her husband. The transfers of Dowry are money, gifts, and most importantly parental property. A married women having a dispute over her dowry with her husband or in laws can put her in a very dangerous situation, especially in her home. There are 1.4 deaths per 100,000 women in India relating to dowry incidents. Dowry was reported as prohibited in the Indian society in the year of 1961, but the issue still stands tall because it has become am cultural aspect in the Indian society, especially for a man’s benefit. In April, 2017, it was reported that at least 21 lives were lost to dowry death in India. 

            Child marriage and rape have also been two common dysfunctional factors in India over the years. Child marriage in the Indian society by law is considered to be marriage with a female who is under the age of 18 years old. Child marriage effects the Indian society as a whole simply because it causes more poverty and is very active in gender discrimination. Though child marriage is technically illegal in India, it is still yet an illegal act that is being cultural used by the Indian society. Child marriage is most likely to occur in a girl’s family who is poor, if the young lady is attractive to a wealthy and older man, her family is most likely to marry her off to that man to help the poor family pay off expenses and live a better lifestyle than before. According to census data, at least quarter of girls age 10-17 in India are married. Some Indian girls as of age 9 are forced to marry and give up their education to stay on and do chores as well as perform wifely duties. India Photographer voices her opinion about the disgraceful epidemic, “What do you expect a kid who’s 15 to understand about marriage or relationships or managing a house?” asks Khandelwal. “They’re not educated, and that trickles down to their own kids. They already don't have money, and they’re already too young to have kids. It’s a vicious cycle. Will they ever be able to come out of this?” the photographer explained how she plans to continue to use her camera to help expose such illegal actions in Indian.

            

     How women are treated in Indian regarding to rape is a touchy topic. Rape is known to be the fourth most common crime in Indian toward women. In, December, 2012 an Indian woman was ganged raped, and beaten with iron rods on the same bus she was traveling with her boyfriend. As a result, the case, more women were willing to report rape, but that hasn’t stopped the crisis at all. When women are raped in the Indian society they aren’t necessarily treated fairly or with comfort. One Indian girl reported rape and her family disowned her. In Indian women reports rape every 15 minutes in a day. It is kept in mind that most rape cases that women file a report on are not looked at or looked into accordingly.

      India has been labeled as the most dangerous country for women in the past decades due to multiple issues and unstoppable crisis. It has been stated that the country is in denial about the fact that women are treated poorly and incomparable to men in their society. Women in Indian aren’t necessarily free, because they don’t feel safe or protected most of the time. Even though women in India have learned to cope endless depression, and anxiety due to how society and man treats them, it still isn’t right or serves any justice for their way of living. The irony is that media coverage has helped expose this issue, but what actions, what more actions can be taken into consideration for the issues to completely stop?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/03/12/why-indias-modern-women-say-its-a-burden-to-be-female/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/27/india-abuse-women-human-rights-rape-girls

https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/indias-problem-with-women/

https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/india/

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/health/india-witnesses-one-of-the-highest-female-infanticide-incidents-in-the-world-54803

https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/dowry-deaths-national-crime-records-bureau-conviction-rate-972874-2017-04-22

Digital Access- Position Paper II

China is known as one of the most global forces in technology. As a major and big investor in digital technologies and one of the world’s leading countries when it comes to the digital aspect of technology, China is succeeding at innovations far beyond its limit and time. With a lot more greatness to come, China will eventually be the world’s greatest country of digital and technology innovations. Industries will face new changes and profit from it in much value to multiple companies and corporations. China has many capabilities to keep the innovation of strategizing their digital implementation simply because the country is a strong force to be reckoned with intelligence wise, and because their potential for commercialization is at an all time high.

When you do your research on China’s position in the global digital landscape, you will discover that China is the home of many top-notch digital innovators, and that China is the global leading investor of some of the latest and greatest technology of our time. Digital China is already advanced in its ways, far much more advanced than other countries observers, corporations, and companies. The current value and profit of China’s e-commerce is worth more than the five countries combined, the U.S., France, the UK, Japan, and Germany. The digital economy in China is an example of investor excitement, and commercial success overall. The country is making a way to achieve strategic ways to grow in digital technology.

China’s capital, Beijing, is focused more on digital. The Chinese market is allowing access to and growing rapidly in the business of digital business and its commercialization on a huge scale. China’s main internet giants, known as Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu, are currently building a profitable ecosystem. Not to mention how China’s government is very proactive in enhancing the digital aspects of its society by giving digital analyst time and permission to experience and of course experiment openly. The official regulations in China are actively supporter and plays a big role in being a supporter investor for digital aspects in the country. 
Several digital forces can empower and help create more room for digital innovation in China. 
Disintermediation and Dematerialization are two big trends in china that helps increase digital use. Disintermediation is basically a digital disruption that isn’t acted upon as much in the country. Disintermediation isn’t really used in the country of China due to Dematerialization being in full affect. Dematerialization is the digital force that makes things come to life in digital globalization. Dematerialization enables consumers to receive what is needed or what products are needed at any time and at any location in China. 

It is evident that digital forces in China will shift from old business strategies, to new business strategies. How? From destroying the strategic actions of digital attackers and to being consistent in building digital globalization that is accessible to not only its own country, but others as well. Acting boldly in commercialization and organization will help innovations of digital products expand in China, as well as other areas of the world, but since China already has the upper hand in digital globalization, expanding should be a breeze and content for digital companies and corporations.

According to China’s top 5 Ecommerce trends of 2019, foreign brand consumers should take their time when in digital marketing, as well as taking their time choosing what digital marketplace to purchase from or even to work with. With many digital business models in China, there are a huge amount of options to pick and choose from that are available on platforms. The dominant position of digital marketing in china is its purchases and sellers, advanced investors, and the trending Ecommerce. Almost anything you need can be found on digital websites such as Taobao, which is really like the foreign eBay, which is located in china. 

The government in China has the potential create an advance market for upscale technologies. According to research, digitizing government operations relating to the government could make a big contribution to the technologies of China. Promoting friendly competitions to help increase innovations that will expand the interest of digital consumers. These facts make it important for the government to act effectively when it comes to the abuse that may occur for digital access in China.

We know that many digital products are made in China which gives the country the leading title of being the world’s most leading country to a bigger and better digital future. The global digital country has crossed an enormous milestone is internet use. The recent amount of internet users in China was over the number of 800 million users in its society, and the numbers still have space to grow. China has upscaled many barriers through complex, risky, and adaptive strategies. The digital aspect of china understands that it is important for expansion of businesses, innovations, and consumers to be accessible for the upbringing of digital access.

 

https://hbr.org/2018/11/competing-in-the-huge-digital-economies-of-china-and-india

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/china/digital-china-powering-the-economy-to-global-competitiveness

https://www.digitalcitizenship.net/nine-elements.html

News and Information- Position Paper I

             

           

BBC news is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Being the world’s largest broadcasting corporation and news organization, BBC news generates through radio broadcasting, everyday television, and most importantly, online news coverage. BBC news online launched in the year of 1997. The website includes very detailed news stories with multiple categories that are beneficial to consumers. BBC news online contains international news coverage such as British, entertainment, science, and politics.

            Hard stories that are stressed on BBC News online are often based on politics and matters in society. Every day it seems as if a hard story about President Trump, the American Government, and the possible association with another country is often stressed simply because it is something to speak of throughout the week, there are different parts of each story. BBC news and BBC online has covered about then stories for six days straight regarding to President Trump possibly facing impeachment. Feature news stories on BBC news online is often under the inspirational stories category. Each feature story features a member or organization that are often a part of well-known and sometimes unknown communities.

            Does BBC news online publish in an atmosphere of freedom of speech? I would have to say yes because of how authentic their stories can be. BBC news online has covered multiple stories in the category of one expressing their freedom of speech as well as if freedom of speech really free in America. On October 23^rd, 2018, BBC news online published a news story questioning is Freedom of Speech under threat not only in one country, but worldwide. The website also published a news story expressing how hard it is to have freedom of speech in the media. 

            Though many feel as if BBC news online is a credible source many others feel otherwise. According to reviews based on BBC News online UK, Excellent is 6%, Great is 2%, Average is 1%, Poor is 1%, and Bad is 91%. All reviews are mainly based off of political and economic beliefs. Other reviews regarding to BBC news online overall has been looked at as a credible, but non credible source. According to users, BBC news online often spreads hatred or encourages others to spread hatred worldwide due to the amount of content and violence that is graphic on their website, as well as the website manipulating people and their actions by showing fake news.

            BBC News Online US and Canada appeal to be more diverse compared to the other country genres. Being the largest online news provider for the UK area, BBC news online has made steps to improve the technology and comprehension through launching the BBC Worldwide News App. For even more better improvement the BBC News Worldwide launched a YouTube channel in July, 2016. The app and YouTube channel currently has content available to access worldwide. Though others have felt that BBC News World online hasn’t done the best job with content or graphics, I believe that the content is great and well updated for those who use the website and app daily to access valuable information. 

            One thing I noticed is that BBC online news provides more than feature and hard news stories. The categories that are displayed at the top page of the website are in black and white. BBC.com provides of course sports and news, but also different stories relating to cultural matters, as well as future events and traveling aspects. They also provide music links and top television shows that are currently airing on different networks, and links about work life, and video content.

            The thing that I find most intriguing and interesting about the website is the Entertainment and Arts section of BBC online. I feel that this section would most likely provide the proper resources for those who would necessarily need to know about the different cultural aspects of art and Entertainment. The section provides stories about leaders in the Entertainment and Arts industry, as well as entrepreneurs who start businesses relating to entertainment and art.

            BBC World News offers updated news covering Africa, Europe, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Stories that are covered in Africa has harder content than the other areas, depending on what is taking place in each area or country. From reviewing the website, the content that is provider for Australians is more based off of sports and society matters. Latin America stories right now are mainly based on the importance of change that are happening in politics today.

            The founding editor Mike Smartt and Project Director Bob Eggington helped form the BBC News online and its content. For 21 years BBC news online has provided ultimate services for those who rather use technology rather than television. Being the world’s most largest broadcasting corporation, BBC news online has taken their occupation to the next level by providing access to their news stories through apps and the internet.