Weak Whatever.

Facebook:
1. Hodgkinson's thesis is that Facebook is being used by it's creators and directors as a method of social control, so to speak, through government monitoring and venture capitalism.
2. While not necessarily something I agree with or disagree with, I do find that, since the introduction of targeted advertisements on Facebook, the quality of the website has gone down significantly. I do find it rather ironic how targeted ads work, though. For instance, I have expressed anti-fascist and anti-police sentiments on my Facebook in the past. As a result, I see ads fairly often offering me a job as a Vermont state police officer.
Something I do agree with is the author's sentiment regarding the stupidity of people voluntarily offering information about themselves. As an activist, I feel that if the government wants my information, they should have to work for it. I don't particularly want to make their job any easier.
I do find it interesting that Facebook, which has promoted itself as a fairly liberal, casual projcet, is being directed primarily by ultra-conservatives. And while I agree with Thiel's limited-government views, I can say with no shame that I believe the idea of free market economy is bullshit.

Media Literate Mind
This article certainly raised some questions for me. Many of them seem to be semantical, such as Williams' categorization of sexual and violent imagery as contributing towards antisocial behavior. I find this troublesome due to the subjectivity of the word "antisocial". It appears that Williams is trying to reopen the argument that was made many years ago surrounding school shootings, and the influence that music, videogames, and television may have had on the shooters. This, in turn, reminds me of the interivew with Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson) in Bowling for Columbine, when Michael Moore asks him what he wuld say to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (the Columbine shooters) if he had the chance to say anything to them. Warner's response was that he wouldn't say anything. He would listen to what they had to say, and that's what nobody ever did for them.
I also have a problem with Williams' comment regarding education as "fostering a sense of compassion and mission to do good work within the larger communities to which we all belong". I see this as being true if the communities to which Williams refers to are the free-market capitalistic communities of the corporate world. As it stands, education, in my mind, is an institution that trains us to become a part of a larger system, similar to a colony of ants, where we must plug into our own little niche and ascribe to the greater beliefs of the system. This is not to say that I am trivializing media literacy, because I think it is immensely important. However, much of what can be considered media literacy, I feel, must come from our own personal experiences. It needs to involve a personal reflection on what we are exposed to.
I think the questions asked at the end were good, but could have gone more in depth, and need to be more prevalent within our society. It needs to be asked, for instance "what do you walk away from this media with?" or "what lasting impression is made?".

Killing Us softly
We've heard jean Kilbourne's name in a few of the other mediums we've studied this semester. In particular, I believe she was interviewed in Consuming Kids. This movie, Killing Us Softly 3, had a couple of good points in particular.
1. The comparison between the hair product ad and the Calvin Klein Jeans advertisement pointed out with stunning clarity the differences between advertising targeted at men and women.
2. Kilbourne makes a number of good points about the increasing objectification of women, including the numerous comparisons regarding women and money. The idea that women are there to look pretty and consume a man's money is ludicrous, in my mind.
3. Kilbourne also makes a point regarding breast sizes. From personal experience, I will say that I have a lot more respect for women who have respect for themselves and are comfortable being who they are, regardless of their physical appearance. Of my past girlfriends, I would say that all of them are beautiful, regardless of how our society sees them.
4. I was extremely intrigued by Kilbourne's association of advertising to an overlying theme of "putting women in their place" and overt sexism and patriarchy.
5. Time and again, Kilbourne reverted to an argument that this was based almost solely on power dynamics and that ad campaigns were designed to dehumanize women.