Food Inc. Argument and Solution

Food Inc. displays the truth about how food is produced and what the working conditions are in the factories. The film could be used as motivation for becoming a vegetarian because of the abusive scenes of the animals and the workers. Illegal immigrants are bused to the United States by the companies yet are deported by police. The immigrants’ job was to produce food in factories that hired them but will not help them if the police arrest the immigrants.  The film addresses the viewer’s emotions with the sad story about a child who died from E.coli.  People can change the industry but an inexpensive healthy alternative has yet to be discovered. Healthy foods such as lettuce and broccoli are hard for low-income workers to buy. The Gonzalez family has to decide whether to pay for the father’s medicine or for healthy vegetables and fruits for the family. 

Economies usually run on a demand and supply system. If people want a certain type of food then companies will supply that food. This system earns money and satisfies the consumer. People are going to continue to eat meat regardless of how it is made. The demand of meat will not decline and companies have to think of ways to meet this demand. However, companies should not give up safety for efficiency. A company does not have the time to test every piece of meat that passes through the factory. Ground beef would be tough to test for disease and contamination since it is composed of many different cows. Meat is easier to produce than fruits and vegetables because animals are easier and faster to raise than plants.

The demand of meat will continue to push the factories to meet this demand in an inexpensive way. The factory should test the cows as they arrive at the slaughterhouse. This will consume time and possibly money as the factories try to find an efficient way to test the animals. Corn is being used for various foods and must be planted in mass quantities. If corn farmers could use a few of these acres for other crops then the price of healthy foods may be reduced. People could increase the demand for vegetables, fruit, and organic food. The factories will have to adjust to this demand. 

Korean Shamanism

A shaman acts as a medium for the human word and the spirit world. Shamanism can be seen in certain Native American tribes and Asian countries. In South Korea, shamans are called mudang (무당). Mudangs are usually women who have showed signs of the call of the Sky Spirit. The “call” is an illness that can only be relieved by accepting the call to be a shaman. Shamans were seen as magicians, mystics, and magic men. They entered trance like states and traversed the spirit world searching for ways to help people. Mudangs conduct kut or gut (궅) which are various rituals used to cleanse, heal, or bless people or villages. 


Shamans have always been considered a low class citizen in South Korea yet accurate and skillful shamans attract many clients. Governmental leaders such as Syngman Rhee and Park, Chung Hee tried persecuting shamans after Korea’s liberation from Japan. However, attempts failed. Now the South Korean government accepts the songs, dances, and rituals of the shamans as an important part of Korean culture. Shamanism has been interwoven in Buddhist, Confucianism, Daoism, and Christian beliefs in Korea.

Modern Korean Shaman

I’ve also liked Asian culture. It is my heritage and my culture. I was raised in America but I have always been drawn to the Asian cultures. I like how respectful they are to each other. Korean shamanism has interested me since I watched the Korean drama, The Moon that Embraces the Sun (해를 품은 달). This historical fiction drama showed shamanism being used for political gain. The supernatural aspect of shamanism appealed to me since I love supernatural creatures, beliefs, and stories. Who knows? Maybe mudang can traverse to the spirit world.

Chief Shaman Jang from Moon that Embraces the Sun

Sources:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shaman 

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Korean_shamanism

Letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,                                                                                                    October 1, 2012

            This country and the world are experiencing the aftermath of the recession in 2008. People’s homes are being foreclosed while they lose their jobs. The United States of America has an increasing gap between the upper class and the middle class because of tax cuts and unfair compensations. The system failed due to the corruption on Wall Street.

            Charles Ferguson’s documentary, Inside Job, shows the events leading up to the financial crisis of 2008. The spark for this inferno began with deregulation during the Reagan Administration through bills and acts such as the Garn-St. Germain Act. During regulated periods, there was most likely corruption still occurring; however, it was not allowed to become a huge commotion that would impact the economy of the world. With deregulation, finance companies and banks could become more dishonest with no one to stop them.

The Clinton Administration continued deregulation with the Gramm-Leach-Bailey Act and the Commodity Future Modernization Act. The Gramm-Leach-Bailey Act repealed the Glass-Steagall while the Commodity Future Modernization Act banned regulation on financial derivatives. Before deregulation, lenders were cautious about allowing loans to someone. Lenders became less concerned about being paid back since they could sell the mortgages to investment banks. Investment banks would combine mortgages with other loans to create collateralized debt obligation (CDO). Investors would then buy the CDO. If the CDO failed then the lenders and investment banks would not be responsible.

Corruption on Wall Street was exposed with Charles Keating in 1989 yet, instead of increasing regulation, the government begins to deregulate finance. Government officials appointed to finance offices have Wall Street backgrounds and work to make Wall Street richer. In 2008, the enormous corruption of banks and other financial establishments are exposed to the world as companies fail. Stock markets plummeted and the recession began.

Four years have passed and it does not seem like much has changed. People are expecting huge changes. Mr. President, I am not writing to depend instant change. That is not possible after the huge failure of companies. I am writing to thank you for being able to lead our nation in a time of crisis. The recession was not any one person’s fault. The fire was slowly fueled until the explosion in 2008. I encourage you to continue to search and enact a solution that will benefit this nation in the best way possible. Thank you for your time and your efforts.

Sincerely,

Natalie E. Gladden

Trust No One

I hate politics and corruption. Inside Job is filled with politics and corruption about the recession of 2008. Politics and corruption seem to go hand in hand since the media mostly reports on the bad side of things. I know the world is not filled with puppies and rainbows but the world is not made of gray clouds and wolves. It would be nice to hear good things in the media about politicians and life in general.

Inside Job makes one wonder if you can trust anyone in the world. Money seems more important than protecting other people. Esteemed researchers, professors, and other people the public relies on lie and twist the facts for green paper. The people in power should be trustworthy people but everyone falls into temptation at some point. Trust seems pointless in this world. Well, trusting powerful people seems pointless. People are being swayed to write reports praising a failing system or to rate something higher than it really is. How can we find the truth in a web of lies and bribery?

Life isn’t easy. It’s anything but easy. Trusting someone makes you vulnerable. We have very little choice on trusting people in power. We do have a choice in whether we trust blindly or not. Charles Ferguson offers some hope in reform at the end of the film. But will reforming the system help us trust the people more? The system is flawed and will always be flawed in some way. There is no perfect system. All we can do is be cautious about what we trust. The question is no longer who can we trust. The question is what can we trust? 

Pictures:

http://rt.com/files/politics/corruption-strategy-plan-medvedev/bribe.n.jpg

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/is-your-complete-wealth-and-your-the-sovereignty-of-your-nation-worth-your-supposed-safety/question-156980/?link=ibaf&q=web+of+lies&imgurl=http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000156980/polls_spider_web_1a_4129_778242_answer_4_xlarge.jpeg

http://www.jonathanferraragallery.com/dynamic/images/detail/Dan_Tague_Trust_No_One_5411_395.jpg

Music and Images

Music is a powerful tool. It sets the scene in a movie or TV show. Imagine a killing scene in a horror movie with happy music playing or no music at all. You would probably not be scared. It can make you want to get up and dance or sit down and meditate.

Psycho Shower Scene With and Without Music

The music of Koyaanisqatsi reflects the scenes of everyday life as being repetitive and fast paced. The nature scenes usually have soft music with long notes instead of fast repetitive runs. The film opens with shots of nature and ominous music before abruptly changing to a fast tempo and repetitive runs. The faster music builds as piercing notes enter as Godfrey Reggio, the director, focuses on people’s faces. The music falls back to the slower tempo with men chanting “koyaanisqatsi” as a building falls in the middle of a city. The people are no longer being zooming by but are being slowed down by special effects.

Koyaanisqatsi means life out of balance. The music paired with the right scenes shows the viewer how different life can be. But is life really out of balance? What counts as being out of balance? The music, to me, suggests that we have increased the gap between civilization and nature. Nature seems to progress at its own pace while we must move at the pace of society. The music was more interesting to me than the actual film. The pictures seemed very random to me and did not mean much. I liked some scenes but the images were boring to me.