English 1A

Fall 2007

Seminar #6

Note:  Your seminar grade will be determined by the quantity of your responses (how many questions you answer and how many other students you respond to) and the quality (how well you demonstrate an understanding of the ideas you're responding to, how detailed your responses are, how coherent and in-depth they are, etc.)

Directions:
1.  Read Culture Jam: Winter and Spring (pages 48-136)

2. Choose two questions and respond with at least one paragraph per question. Include quotes and/or specific references to the text to back up your responses.

1.   Rise of the Corporation: Why does Lasn call the Santa Clara decision in 1886 "an event that would change the course of American history"? (68) How did this decision cause us to turn away from the ideals of our forefathers of the American Revolution?  Do you agree with him that corporate freedom has gone too far?  Why or why not?

2. Body Image Factory: Why does Lasn think we've lost control of our sexuality?  He says that in many ways, Americans  "are no longer making the decisions about how they should look, what they should feel, or what constitutes a successful relationship."  (74). What does he mean by this, and to what extent do you agree with him? Provide examples from your own life.

3. Two Schools of Thought : Summarize what Lasn calls the "two worldviews" of global economics (86).  What are the fundamental concerns of each, and why does Lasn call one of them "unbelievably arrogant"?  What do you think of his spin on these two ways of thinking? Is his an accurate portrayal, or do you think some of his accusations are unfair? Give specific examples.

4.  Buy Nothing Day : Who are the G-7 (now the G-8 with the addition of Russia) and what is their purpose, according to Lasn?  How does his idea of "Buy Nothing Day" challenge the agenda of the G-8? What do you think of this tactic? Are you one of the human beings he says will react to buy nothing day with outrage, calling it "unthinkable"?  (95) Why or why not?

5. Situationists : Who were the Situationists, and what was their agenda?  What were some of the tactics they used to further that agenda? Have you ever taken part in or seen examples of this type of activity, designed to disrupt social commerce? Have you ever made what the Situationists would call "an peak experience"?  Describe what that was like for you, and what you did to trigger it.

6. Meme Wars : Summarize what Lasn says about meme warfare. What is a meme and how is it used to to manipulate you, according to Lasn? How does Lasn suggest that culture jammers, or "meme warriors" can do to win this war?  Give some specific examples of what an everyday person can do to fight the media wars. Would you ever consider doing any of these things? Why or why not?

3. Save your work as a .doc or .rtf document and submit your response to the Assignment Chamber by midnight on Monday, Oct. 29.  

4. Post your responses to the appropriate forum by midnight on Monday, Oct. 29.

5. Read all the other students' posts throughout the week.

6. Respond to at least two other student's post (more is better) .  You will have until midnight, Monday, Nov. 5 to read and respond to the other students' ideas in the website.

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