In the article, “The Rise of the NBA Nerd”, Wesley Morris discusses the change in clothing choices that the basketball players of the NBA have made over the past two decades. He notes that from the end of the 90’s to present day; the attire that the basketball stars wear in their interviews on off the court has changed from the stereotypical “rapper” attire to a more sophisticated look including tailored suits and cardigans which we associated with the upper and more respectable class of society. In one section of the article, Morris makes a great deal of connections with their current clothing choices to the likeliness of Carlton Banks from the popular TV show of the 90’s, “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. This signifies how the changing of times has led to the change in appearance for the stars and the negative connotation associated with this appearance has quickly disappeared.

The reason this is so bizarre is due to the way black culture was during the 90’s. Black culture was greatly immersed in the hip hop genre and everyone was supposed to expect to fit the status quo of maintaining this image. This monolithic idea of the expected clothing choices out of black people is continued today in a different manner because of the expected image that NBA players are supposed to portray. Now that there was a change in the expected appearance of these players, they are still expected to uphold an image that may or may not fit what their real personality and clothing choices entail. Generally, it’s the same problem that was seen years ago where once someone is immersed in a culture, they are supposed to fit that culture. Visually, I believe that these men are only making a statement, whether it be political statement or just an image that the NBA expects out of their players. Regardless, it is absurd to expect someone to fit an image just because they are a part of an organization and the idea of personal individuality is becoming only a myth.  

TED Talks

Jon Ronson is easily one of the most unique speakers that I have ever personally seen. In his speech “Strange answers to the psychopath test”, Jon addressed all areas of the test and related them back to personal encounters that he had with actual psychiatric patients in mental institutions. This ranges from one man who faked a state of madness to land himself in what he hoped to be a more “cushy” hospital for the criminally insane rather than going to jail; to another man who believes that he is personally not anything close to a psychopath despite his many characteristics that emphasize otherwise. In his delivery, Ronson addressed every area of possible area of opinion that the audience could have. Normally this approach would weaken the effectiveness of his speech, but due to the manner that he presented it, his speech held a very unique and powerful prowess to it. The most effective part of his speech was his relation of his personal beliefs on the subject of psychiatric practice to the people he’s encountered that were potential, and actual, psychiatric patients themselves. This developed a whole knew sense of understanding of what he was intending to convey to the audience through the stronger development that he achieved when he related it more heavily to his the people he met. Still, on the other hand I feel that my opinion of his speech is misguided due to his constant use of heavy oversimplifications of the diagnostic processes of the psychiatric field. Jon claims that the diagnosis of psychotics is held simply to a checklist of very general qualifications to be inherently insane. To which he claims; “...everyone is a bit psychopathic”. He seemed to skim over the more important and complex issues faced by the professionals and their diagnoses. What he should do in the future is respectively address the issues and his beliefs on them, while also presenting the professional’s side to the situation and giving plausibility to their positions as well. I feel that Jon Ronson had a powerful presentation with a unique delivery that ultimately fell short due to it’s oversimplification of the “grey areas” and the diagnostic process addressed by psychiatric doctors.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_strange_answers_to_the_psychopath_test#t-572930

I’ve always been a firm believer in that everyday is a good day until your nude photos end up on the internet. For many celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, and others such as Selena Gomez, the past few weeks have not been filled with the greatest of days. Ever since the nude photographs of the women were leaked to the press, there has been an immense amount of scrutiny directed towards these women for apparently “subjecting” themselves to this kind of negative attention. On the other hand a contributor to Forbes magazine, Scott Mendelson, is a strong believer of the exact opposite. What most people fail to understand is that these photographs were not voluntarily leaked by someone who had the right to have them, but were in reality stolen off of every single one of these celebrities phones. Mendelson believes that these women should not be held accountable for the photographs stolen off of their phones and reiterates the fact that this is only a problem of theft because the perpetrators intend to “...exploit its victims as punishment for the unpardonable sin of being female.” As well, he feels that these women should feel no regret for having these photos stolen from them because they had every right to take a posses these photos shamelessly.

Personally, I believe that while it is an act of crime to steal these photos, I also believe that these women should be held somewhat accountable for these photos being on the released to the general public. This is due to their unimaginable celebrity status and because of this; they should protect how their reputation is being perceived by the general public. In conclusion, people need to be careful with what pictures they take with their phones because once the internet gets ahold of them, they’re out there forever.

Homework for September the 2nd

What's up guys, my name is Seth. I'm from a town in southwest Virginia called Roanoke. I'm here at UK because I toured the campus and really enjoyed the atmosphere and campus in general. Also, i'm an engineering major. For the icebreaker question, I chose the song New Slang by The Shins. I feel this song really represents my past year because its vibe really embodies the bittersweetness of leaving my past and all the people I have known, and then transitioning into someplace completely new where no one even knows my name.