In paper #2, I would like to write about episode #4 of ways of hearing “Money” by Damon Krukowski. In this episode, he talked about objectifying music and making it like any material that could be bought and sold, and how that could impact our ways of hearing sounds. He affirmed that music should be freely accessible. Yes, music should be something that free of cost because music is for entertainment, and we can’t make this entertainment just for people who can pay for it because poor people need to enjoy as well. That would make more people listen to music which makes artists more famous with more fans. Now companies are becoming rapacious and turn music to a business that they could benefit from it, so we can’t just put the blame on artists. Some artists do singing as an avocation without caring about money, and street singers are a simple example of this. But, if we consider singing as a job, we can’t say it should be free because no one is willing to work without profits. It’s not fair because in some cases singing is a source of income for artists, and they need to sell their albums. Actually, it depends on the artists themselves. There are novice singers, and there are very famous singers who could make money in any way like concerts with huge profits. Therefore, I am kind of agree and disagree with what Krukowski discussed in the episode.

Cell Phone has become a technology that takes more of our time and makes us lose the sense of time because actually it is a kind of addiction. One cannot get tired of the phone. You can take several hours using your phone without getting bored and don’t even feel that you have spent all that time on it. I bet you can’t spend two or three days without using your phone. That’s impossible and this what makes cell phones kind of addiction. People think it is a great invention to connect with the world and get information as well. But in fact, phones do more harm than good. I am not saying that spending two or three hours using phone is harmful. I am just against excessive usage of phones. When you give your phone most of your time thinking that makes you more sociable, you will actually be less social in real life. That would make you unable to stay away from your phone and don’t use it while you are sitting with your friends or whoever because you got to addict with internet life which for me it’s imaginary life that doesn’t exist. Therefore, you have got better to be sociable in real life and don’t let your phone controls you. Furthermore, we can’t forget that some people use their phones for information not just communication. Nowadays we have Google which is an easy way to access information rapidly. We think it’s a good source to help us, but in fact it makes us dumb and limits our abilities of thinking. No room to think if there are such modern technologies. I believe that people will never try to turn on their distinct minds if they find that technology because it’s human nature to be sluggish. If we don’t make our brains think, they will get used to receiving information only, and then there is no contrast between us and the machine.

This photo was taken by Diana Davies at the beginning of gay rights movement in the 1970s. It’s an image of Donna Gottshalk, a famous lesbian photographer, holding up a sign written on it “I am your worst fear / I am your best fantasy”. Her attitude shows a great confidence and a mighty confrontation. She is addressing men, and she is kind of trying to say that “I am the one who satisfies your desires, but sorry for that you can not force me to do anything”. The way how she stands and looks and what wrote in the sign, all in all, it gives a strong message which I really like to discuss. In this world, we could ask women about anything in their lives and how they live, but we can’t do that with men. Why? I have no idea. If I ask someone this question, the answer is simple “Because you are a woman”, and I am curious to know what does it mean to be a woman for society. Maybe they don’t acknowledge her as a human being, who knows. Women are really victims in society. She is persecuted in anything. If we look at any anything in this life, we see that women are inferior even in their salaries. Overall, it’s such a sensitive issue and I will talk about it more in my paper 1. 

Recently, Chinese people have released a new trend called the “flaunt you wealth” challenge, and a huge number of people participated. In this challenge, people pretended to be fallen out of luxury cars on the sidewalk, dressed in classy clothes, and the ground filled with their valuable possessions of money, bags, shoes, electronics and other precious stuffs. Well, I think taking such a picture and posting it on social media is silly and funny as well because it has no meaning and no use. What would you benefit from showing your possessions to people? Nothing. Sometimes these behaviors and bragging lead to consequences. I am strongly against flaunting of wealth because sometimes these actions hurt people’s feelings, and it is a cause of depression and a feeling of inferior. So, we should be proud of our morals, not money because money doesn’t last. In episode 3 “ways of seeing”, Berger discussed some historical oil paintings which also show wealth. They are analogous in demonstrating wealth by showing valuables, but there is a difference in attitudes. Maybe in the oil painting there is a kind of exaggerated boast. The way they look at the spectator. Also, in the modern image there is a kind of exaggerated artificiality which is not existed in the oil painting. It is pretty clear that you want to show how rich you are.

John Berger argument in episode #2 “Ways of Seeing” was basically about how men see women or how they have seen them in the past. His discussion was specifically on historical nude paintings, and he made several good points. He stated that the purpose of drawing women “naked”  in the past is to amuse the male viewers, and this underestimates women for being just a tool to satisfy lust. This idea still exists in the present. Women still suffer from this stereotype that they have nothing to do in society except showing their bodies for men pleasure. So, they got abused and no one cares about these creatures because they are just “an object” for entertainment. Strangely, we still blame women and criticize their clothes of being the reason for why they got harassed. That is such futile thinking, and not right at all. If she wears naked clothes or not, that really makes no difference. It doesn’t matter what she is wearing. The basic problem is that she is persecuted in society, and it’s extremely important to put an end for this issue. Now, a national movement against sexual harassment is happening. It’s called the #MeToo movement. Many women broke their silence and shared stories on social media about molestation from men, and they put the hashtag #MeToo. Well, I think it’s a good step for people to know that women have rights like anyone, and we should not infringe their rights because they are “women” and “weak”. 

Camera has added a great value to our lives because first of all, it makes us collect our special moments, and also it educates us about history and elaborates historic images’ details and that’s really important for viewers. Every image tells a story about itself, so they are a kind of languages especially painting image which is really hard to understand because when you see a painting image, you may visualize something that it might not be true and that’s really interesting. For example, I saw a series of paintings images from the Middle Ages. The majority of them are religious paintings which show that people were really faithful at that period of time. There are a lot of Mary and Jesus Christ paintings. In addition, there were statues of churches whose makers are not known. They didn’t put their names on them and this is a proof of their strong faith.

Goldsmith in his Shop

Furthermore, there is a painting called “A Goldsmith in his Shop” which exists right now in the MET museum. It indicates rich people in the Middle Ages which tells me that not all people at that time were farmers and priests. There were people who wore high-end clothes and lived in cities. In the painting, there is a man seems like he is a jeweler, and there are a man and a woman with him dressed upscale. Also, there is a mirror on the table which shows the buildings of the city.