PowerMedia

The Blogger site is getting slow as some of you realize. Please email your posts to me.

http://ejt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/1/5

http://www.frbsf.org/currency/iconography/portraits.html

http://www.iit.edu/~smart/smitcha1/lesson4.htm

http://www.frbsf.org/currency/iconography/features.html

http://www.ronscurrency.com/rcol.htm

Terry D

Since the end of the campaign, there has been great speculation about certain areas of the country in which the majority voted for Bush. Many say that the people in the south and mid-west have lower IQ’s and are at a disadvantage with a lack of information.

Call it a generalization or whatever you want, but there is something to be said for the lack of education and information in those areas of the country. Growing up in Kentucky presented challenges of having limited resources. Whether it is a library or the lack of books, the resources were limited. In defense of those areas of the country, I think it is important to remember that funds are limited and in order to have resources such as good school systems, books, and other references, then you must have the money available in order to support such benefits. I don’t know that I would necessarily agree with the people of the south and mid-west as having lower IQ’s. How is that measured? How many people really even know their IQ? How many people are used for the average? How are those people selected? All of these things leave little room to believe such outlandish statements. However, there could be some underlying validity had the initial concept been slightly more concrete.

The United Church of Christ recently released a controversial commercial concerning the people that are permitted membership into the church. To many the commercial appears to be endearing and heartfelt by portraying and welcoming home at the end of the commercial that allows all people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. The commercial centers around two bouncers outside of the church denying people entry because of varying characteristics that may place them in a minority group, or present some characteristic in which a church or other organization may discriminate.

At first glance the commercial appears to be one with a simple and inspirational message. However, underlying issues surrounding gay marriage as a current hot topic in the United States has forced larger networks such as NBC and CBS to ban the commercial. The networks defend their position by explaining that the commercial draws reference to such a sensitive topic at such a vulnerable time for our nation. The networks do not want to associate themselves with a given position on the topic and therefore has declined to air the commercial regardless of he positive “open-arm” message that it may have.

However, UCC is no stranger to controversy. The Church has consistently made decisions that are not common to many churches and religious organizations. In 1833 UCC played part in providing higher education. They were also the first to ordain an African American to the ministry.

The United Church of Christ has without a doubt grabbed the attention of other television networks. Networks such as ABC, TNT, TNN, and TBS have all decided to air the message believing that the message that it provides is positive and inspirational in a time when people should learn to be more open-minded and welcoming. The UCC has message that is more universal than controversial. Regardless of how controversial the UCC may appear, their overall message should be deemed as something that is moving toward the norm of many churches and organizations. They are just paving the way for others to make bigger strides in eliminating close-minded viewpoints and creating a place of welcome and appreciation for other people’s differences.

-LizH

http://www.stillspeaking.com/default.htm

Can I think of any family that would be an example of a Ned Flanders family? That question is an easy one. I grew up in Kentucky in the middle of the Bible Belt where if there wasn’t a Ned Flanders Family living next door to you then something was wrong. All of my neighbors were extreme Christian fundamentalists who incorporated the church into every decision that would be made for their children and families. Many of them had signs in their front yard with Ten Commandments on them, while others placed crosses or statues of Mary in their front yards.

And everyone knows that Christian territory is directly accompanied by conservatives; in turn, Republicans. Throughout the election the statues of Mary were holding signs supporting the Bush campaign.

The families that live in these parts of the country are c led by the male of the household doing the decision making. Without that type of leadership in the home the family structure would crumble. The daughter of the family tends to take on the pre-set role of the mother and assisting in her duties. The way of life and of thinking is very old fashioned and is something that many, especially in this part of the country find to be ridiculous.

However, there is something to be said for family values and hard work. It is what type of values you are practicing, and to what extent you are pushing them onto your children. There is nothing wrong with incorporating the value of free-thinking or allowing for children to make their own decisions. Regardless, this is something that is obviously lacking in the value system in those given areas of the country. A Ned Flanders family, without a doubt, would not allow their child to vote for John Kerry the crazy “liberal” democrat. The moral of the story: If religion is going to run your life, then it must run your government as well: Vote for Bush J

-LizH

One of my favorite things to do growing up was paintball. All of friends used to go out in big open fields and have never-ending, very competitive paintball games. I never listened to my mother’s worries partly because I thought I was invincible and partly because I rarely listened to my mother. What I did not realize is the possibility of the game being unsafe, and also leading to other bad habits and activities.

Many people think that paintball is a form of violence teaching children to shoot at people and other objects. Some therapists say that the violence of the game, by having a human target, can potentially evolve into a violent nature in children.

Regardless of the things that psychologists say or other concerns that parents may have, when all is said and done the only thing I think is unsafe about paintball is when you have sh*tty player on your team.

http://www.azactionpaintball.com/pbsafety.asp

http://paintballadvisory.tripod.com/safety.html

http://paintball.com

http://www.miniclip.com/paintball.htm (Stress relief office paintball!)

-LizH

The United Church of Christ was looking forward to airing their first 30 second commercial on December 1^st. The UCC greets all people with open arms; despite race, sex, gender, sexual preference, etc. The night before the ad commercial was suppose to air, NBC and CBS broke their promised contracts for stated reasons of controversy. ‘But why’ some may ask. Here is what NBC and CBS has to say about their shattered agreement:

CBS banned the commercial because they said that the ad implied and encouraged the acceptance of gay and lesbian couples which is too controversial to air on nationwide television. "Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," referring to the commercial in question, a clarification from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."[1] NBC merely stated that the ad was just ‘too controversial’, giving no further explanation as to why they refused to air the commercial.

The UCC refuses to let this minor set back stop them from their right to freedom of speech. Other stations still agree to run the ad and air it on nationwide television regardless of what other stations have to say. The commercial will show on: ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land and Nick at Night.

As I researched this topic, I came across some information that caught my attention. Earlier this year we discussed a website known as ‘belief net’. This website is universally known as the nations’ religious website. While visiting this website it is your choice to answer the questions that are asked and wait for your results. When the website is through compiling the answers to the questions it emails you the results of your quiz which suggests what religion you should be based on your answers to the questions. On Chuck Currie’s website it states that ‘belief net’ “has been conducting an online poll asking their readers if the United Church of Christ commercial banned by CBS and NBC should be aired”.[2] I was surprised to see that 76% of ‘belief net’ visitors agreed that the commercial should have been aired on the original date of December 1^st by CBS and NBC.

Something else surprised me as continued to look for information about the banning of this UCC ad. During R. Albert Mohler Jr’s interview on Good Morning America which was aired December 2^nd, Mohler stated, “... Jesus Christ did indeed come to seek and to save the lost but as He said to the woman caught in adultery, ‘Go and sin no more…Jesus did not invite persons to stay in sinful lifestyles. Rather, He came to save us from our sins and to make us what we otherwise could not be -- and that is victorious over all the sins that entrap us. Homosexuality is one of those.” I think that what Mohler is trying to explain is that this ad was a good advertisement and a good idea at that but that it misrepresents Christianity’s ideal of religion. Outside of a Christian Church there has not and will never be bouncers regulating the admittance of people. Could this all be just a misunderstanding of mixed signals?

I came across an article as I was concluding my research which focused on Steven Williams, a Christian fifth grade teacher, who was banned by his principal because of the use of some historical documents relating to Christian content. I think that this action taken was completely immoral. Who’s to say what is too religious and that it is bad for children to learn about the past. History is history; you can’t change it, and some of our nations’ history has to do with religion.

In conclusion, our society is taking certain beliefs way too seriously, especially religion. Every person has the right to believe what they want and share their belief with whoever will listen. If some stations do not want to show an ad for or against a given religion then fine, don’t do it. I have found many websites that support the UCC and their right to air an ad for their church. You can express your opinion about the banning of this commercial which I plan to do.

Posted by Carly Wheeler 12/06/04

Hi all,

I won't be in on wednesday. My car is at the garage.

But I will have AIM messenger running during class time so feel free to use the lab and to kick other people out. My screen name is profpowermc.

By Friday, you'll need to have your Five Best Posts collected and posted in one blog entry.

To summarize that assignment, each entry has "posted by: X". Clicking on that gives the unique URL for the individual post.

Review the archives to the right, starting in September, and re-read your posts. Find your best ones, feel free to edit, then copy and paste the URL that looks like this (powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting.html), with the title of your post in the final section.


So your final post should be something like this:

Pat Brown's best posts:

(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-1.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-2.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-3.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-4.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-5.html)

Also on Friday I will bring the evaluations, so please attend.

Hi all,

I won't be in on wednesday. My car is at the garage.

But I will have AIM messenger running during class time so feel free to use the lab and to kick other people out. My screen name is profpowermc.

By Friday, you'll need to have your Five Best Posts collected and posted in one blog entry.

To summarize that assignment, each entry has "posted by: Pat Brown 12/07/04". Clicking on that gives the unique URL for the individual post.

Review the archives to the right, starting in September, and re-read your posts. Find your best ones, feel free to edit, then copy and paste the URL that looks like this (powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting.html), with the title of your post in the final section.


So your final post should be something like this:

Pat Brown's best posts:

(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-1.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-2.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-3.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-4.html)
(powermedia.blogspot.com/2004/12/Title-of-posting-5.html)

Also on Friday I will bring the evaluations, so please attend.

Volunteer to promote a product? Sixty-thousand have so far.


What's an "Early Adopter?

BzzAgent

The United Church of Christ is a religious community of
faith "that seeks to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and
deed." This faith believes that all people are equal, and Jesus'
prayer for the UCC is "that they all may be one". To further their
belief that all people are equal and welcomed into their church, the UCC
recently produced a commercial advertisement to inform the public of the
churches desire to welcome everyone into the church, regardless of age,
gender, race, sexual preference, ethnicity, etc.

The ad begins with two muscular men standing behind a red
velvet rope outside of a church. These two men are depicted as the
"bouncers" of this church. The ad shows these men turning away people
who appear to be different, such as homosexual couples, and people of
different races. The bouncers are discriminating heavily and the only
people they allow to enter the church are white, heterosexuals. The ad then
cuts to a black screen with the phrase "Jesus didn't turn people
away. Neither do we." The purpose of this ad is to demonstrate to the
public that the UCC does not discriminate, and all are welcome to
worship at their church, because they believe all people are equal and
everyone has a right to be welcomed into their church despite their
differences.

By some, this ad has been deemed too controversial to be
played on air, whereas others do not believe this idea. The reasoning for
this ad being controversial is the way it has been framed. George
Lakoff, "master of metaphor" is a professor of linguistics at a
university in California who says that language is the key to any message.
Framing the message is an important concept when trying to convey a message
in favor of your position. The way you frame a message determines how
influential and effective the message will be. In the case of United
Church of Christ ad, the manner in which they frame the message is the
determining factor of its controversial elements. The message of the
church is simple and not controversial, they do not discriminate. However,
the frame they use to proclaim this message is controversial. By having
these bouncers reject several types of people for their differences,
becomes controversial due to the severity of the discriminating being
done. Lakoff also explains that the issues are not as important as the
frame they use, which in this particular case, is clearly evident.

The purpose of the ad was to educate and inform the public
of the views of the UCC with the overall message being a positive and
uplifting one. Although the UCC may feel that this ad is not
detrimental, it has offended some, including two major networks including CBS and
NBC who are refusing to air it on their stations. In an article on the
UCC website, http://www.ucc.org/news/u113004a.htm they cite the reasons
for the stations refusal to air it being that the acceptance of gays
and minorities into the church is too controversial. Also mentioned in
the article is how during this election year, many more controversial
ads have been aired prior to the election, yet this ad with a positive
message underneath a seemingly harsh frame could be rejected, is almost
ironic.

I feel that the majors networks that are refusing to air
this ad are missing the message of the UCC and are too focused on the
frame that is being used. The frame is an effective one, and the networks
are concerned with technicalities such as minorities and gays being
accepted into a church. This is exactly the point of the ad, which is
addressing how other faiths refuse to accept these people, and that they
believe all people are equal and have a right to worship their faith
somewhere. I also find it interesting that these networks themselves are in
the minority, with the majority of the networks accepting the ad
including family oriented networks such as ABC family.



For more information about the United Church of Christ here are some
websites:



http://www.ucc.org/index1.html




http://www.stillspeaking.com/default.htm




http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2004/12/god_is_still_sp.html

On December 1, 2004, the United Church of Christ (UCC) announced that they will be airing their first crossover ad. The ad would be aired from 12/1 until 12/26/04. However, on November 29, 2004, CBS and NBC refused to run the UCC’s paid advertisement on these specific networks. CBS and NBC deemed this advertising campaign as “too controversial” to air on major network television. The ad was allowed to air on ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land. As of 12/1/04, media buys were pending on CNN, Lifetime, Comedy Central and MSNBC.

The 30-second ad begins with two men who appear to be well-built, bouncers dressed in black clothing (cotton tee-shirts and black dress pants). They are standing in front of a stone church that is surrounded by areas roped off preventing anyone from getting in anywhere but where the bouncers are standing. They are only allowing “white, Christian-looking” people into the church. They are rejecting the “other” races, minorities and people of same-sex orientation. They are blatantly being denied acceptance into Sunday Mass. The next scene turns to a black screen and the there are white words that appear and a voice that states “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” The next scene plays happier music, and flashes scenes of happy people of all races and preferences. The voice continues to narrate, “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” The ad concludes with a panoramic view of people of all different races. It also flashes to a scene of two women with their arms around each other. The ad implies that all races are welcome and also people who choose to live an alternative lifestyle.

The UCC’s main purpose of the ad was to improve its recognition with the church-goers and to become more popular with the younger people. Although the UCC has about 6,000 congregations across the U.S. and about 1.3 million members, the church still feels as though it is not as wide-known as it could be. The symbolism in the commercial was put-forth to demonstrate the present rejection that people feel toward the church. Before the ad was filmed the UCC hired Ted Pulton, a managing partner of the New York based ad firm, Gotham, Inc. to use group testing. The UCC wanted to know the present-day outlook that the people of the U.S. really have on the church. The group testing “revealed that only a small handful of participants said that they knew something about the denomination. Random testing also uncovered strong negative feelings about churches in general, regardless of denomination. A large percentage of respondents said that they held churches to be responsible for past hurts in their lives, and many traced their feelings of inadequacy to negative church experiences.” (www.ucc.org/news/r112904.htm).

The problem with today’s congregations is that they have left worshippers with a sense of insufficiency resulting in a general outlook of not feeling welcome into a church any longer. As a result of this testing, the UCC decided to base the ad’s theme around rejection of other churches and acceptance into their church. They wanted to symbolize the people’s present day feelings of rejection. They also chose to conclude the UCC ad with feelings of acceptance and welcome no matter who you are or how you choose to live life.

This ad campaign is also tied to a UCC nation-wide program in an attempt to welcome newcomers into worship. There have been thousands of lay persons and clergy trained for this new program. The materials used to train are built on the slogan, “God is Still Speaking.” “This is a modern rendition of the farewell by Pilgrim Pastor, John Robinson, to his congregation of dissidents who set sail on the Mayflower for the New World. “Do not cling to where Calvin and Luther left us,” Robinson said, God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from God’s Holy Word.” (www.ucc.org/news/r112904.htm).

The pilgrims are one the many predecessor’s of the UCC. The UCC is a mix of four distinct Christian traditions which includes, Congregational, Reformed, Evangelical and Christian.

Since the ad had been aired, the UCC has experienced an influx of new worshippers. The ad campaign’s director, Ron Buford says, “The comment I hear most often when people visit a UCC church for the first time is, ‘I never knew that a church like this existed.’” “Declaring that the UCC must ‘not succumb to relentless erosion,’ the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC General Minister and President, states, ‘In an age of media saturation, if you are not visible on television, the popular assumption is that you do not exist. This effort shows the world that we have a bold and dynamic message to proclaim.’”(www.ucc.org/news).


AVG

CBS contacted Media Matters, but left questions ... [Media Matters for America]