We're At War With Ourselves

This is the final film project I produced for News Media. It's titled, "We're At War With Ourselves" and underlines the inner problems we seem to have that we end up communicating to othe people through violence an discrimination. I focused in particular on Xenophobia and it's ripple effects particularly with the recent attacks in Souh Africa.

It took me EXTENSIVE hours and hours of editing to reach my, final product. I decided to use music by renouned musicians including Kanye West (rapper), Destiny's Child (R&B girl group) and ofcourse the legendary Michael Jackson. Each piece of music was carefully selected because of its emotive appeal. The pictures were also strategically chosen and positioned in the film so that they could reach their maximun effect. I hope you enjoy and get some sort of idea of what message I wanted to get across.

!!!Grande Finale!!!

Well looks like we've almost come to the end of the course and people have got to start getting their big guns out. For my final project I decied to concentrate on issues pertaining to Xenophobia and nationality as these were some of the most devastating events of the year. I don't want to give too much away but expect fireworks from my final project and a lot of heart wrenching graphics as I wanted to put forth the this issue to the fullest extent. To anyone who is reading this, best of luck for your final project.

Superwomen

It is at this point that I feel it necessary to speak about women in relation to dignity in a more positive light. We live in a society dominated by patriarchy but I strongly applaud the role that women have played in the formation of society as well as their own struggle for equality. Singer/song writer Alicia Keys writes in her famous song, “Superwoman” of how women have persevered throughout time and how they continue to grow and empower themselves. My previous articles pertaining to women speak about how their dignity has been compromised and now I speak of how they are working towards getting I back. Don’t get me wrong, I am no feminist but I can definitely see a force when it is coming my way. Superwomen indeed do exist out their whether it be at home or at work. They are there, fighting the good fight and it would only be foolish of me to say I did not see it coming.

Social Origins of the Newspaper

Well the course itself is called, “News Media & the Internet Society” and in accordance with the title we had focused on the social origins of the newspaper in August. We learnt about major historical conditions that were crucial to the newspapers and these included the inventions of technologies and materials that assisted in writing news stories themselves as well as print them on paper. Generating mass literacy and incorporating various social institutions and politics in the news content created appeal to a larger demographic of readers. Paper making in England began in the mid- 1700’s with newspapers being distributed mainly at post offices.


Capitalism, Nation State as well as the public sphere all served to be those "socio-political" institutions that made the newspaper useful and marketable. The newspaper then by definition was, "a commodity that doubled as a medium to market other commodities and convey news and information".

Sara Baartman : The Metonym of South Africa

I take a very interesting course that is called "The Empires of the Modern World" and recently we had touched on the life and times of Sarah "Saartjie" Baartman. This was a woman of Khoi-San descent who was removed from South Africa and paraded around Europe by Europeans for economic gains. Baartman was seen as some sort of freak show because of her unusually large (by European standards) buttocks. She was forced to expose her genitalia and have all of these sexual connotations imposed on her. Sarah's experiences and humiliation were recognised by former president, Thabo Mbeki, to be a holistically South African experience and that her story is a South African one which we can all relate to. It is no secret that Apartheid and events leading to it have devastated our nation in ways that cannot possibly be expressed by me alone. Sarah Baartman must b remembered as a true representation of the South African experience. Sarah Baartman's remains were returned to South Africa 187 years after she was taken away and she was buried in 2002 near her place o birth in the Eastern Cape. Her grave has been declared a national heritage site.

Thabo Mbeki's Resignation

One of the biggest and most dramatic events of the year in South African history was the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki. This coming from allegations that he had usd the country's law enforcement system to undermine Jacob Zuma's chances of succeeding him. The issue I am addressing is the manner in which this resignation was enforced. Thabo Mbeki was a man deeply involved in the struggle against Apartheid government who then became our second democratic president. I am particularly upset that our country's cabinet is being used to initiate personal vendetta's. I fully understand the reasoning behind the ANC initiating Mbeki's resignation, however it makes me upset that our politicians use this medium for personal attacks at the highest level of authority of the country. What also "gets my goat" is the total disrespect by a particular ANC member towards Mbeki. Mbeki, the same man who helped pave the way for this manoic member to have a voice in politics is now being sidelined and treated like an "enemy". I fully understand the nature of humans and revenge but I also understand what it means to be a country's leader. The conduct surrounding this event was totally undignified and totally inconsistent with what I feel it means to be a leader.

Dignity - Mychal Wynn

The Occupation of Prostitution

The true story of a prostitute turned serial killer that was portrayed by Charlise Theron is one that I felt was relevant in my discussions in dignity. In this film she continued to sell herself from the age of 13 up until a point where she is raped by one of her clients. The issue I propose is how she and others like her might have viewed dignity. In such a contraversial line of business, does one remove one's morals and self from what they are doing for them not to allow it to influence their opinion of themselves? Do they reach a point where they arte so far gone that their dignity is no longer an issue. I realise that I speak now in a generalised bias about sex workers when I shouldn't be but it is difficult for me to remove societies views from this topic. I do however respect an honest living no matter what the job. It is my opinion that it is unfortunate that this particular job is drenched in stigma's as well as it being illegal in this country. I say this because I find that there are mouch more undignified occupations out there than prostitution, however I would not recommend it in today's society and especially after seeing this movie...

Marchers With Dignity

Human rights rest on human dignity. The dignity of a man is an ideal worth fighting and dying for
 -Robert Maynard-

Dignity In Being A Celebrated Personality?

We'd all be lying if we said that celebrities have not in anyway affected our lives. Somehow I also feel that we as consumers have an even bigger effect on them. At some point or another some celebrities end up compromising their dignity to please the public or keep their name in conversation. So where do they draw the line? Do they even consider issues of dignity or has their fame and fortune raised them above the leel where it's even an issue? Celebrities do what they want because we want and expect them to. We celebrate their lives to the point where they feel that their actions will not take away from the position we have put them up on. Anyway, I'm not too sure about any of this, these are just my thoughts.

Dignified? Yes or No?

On a more personal level, dignity is a measure of one's self worth. This measure is usually shown in the way a person conducts themselves, the way they view themselves as well as their personal opinion about themselves. Because dignity is so personal, ideally, there should be no set "scale" to measure what is or is not dignified. For example where a person feels enthusiastic about showing off their body, they would see their exhibition as a dignified action. A person who would have more of a conservative background would see no dignity in doing that. The problem lies when external people or other force influence your own dignity in such a way as to completely control it. Dignity is identified in our Constitution as a Basic Human Right and by virtue of that it becomes something that no other person is allowed to violate. Having said that, it is a general understanding that evey right comes with a responsibility. Our free country gives us the right to exercise our freedom in a dignified manner. However in doing this, it is your responsiblity to ensure that what you do does not infringe on the dignity of another person. If this can be achieved then the Bill of Rights is fulfilled. So are you a dignified person? Yes or no?