Screens can be Addictive....

**Courtesy of Florencia Magni**

MIT Gangnam Style!

An M.I.T. “Gangnam Style” parody video that has gone viral this week features one of the best known academics at the university -- linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky, the 83-year-old “father of modern linguistics,'' is in the video for about 7 seconds, but the cameo is priceless. Sitting in his office, Chomsky first takes a sip of what appears to be a cup of tea, and then deadpans, “Oppan Chomsky style.” 

A few other notable professors were featured, including Professor Eric Lander, one of the principle leaders of the Human Genome Project. In one scene, Lander dances around Ha, and the two then jump up onto a desk.

“He actually heard of the song before and he was really excited to do it,” Ha said, adding that Lander choreographed the moves on his own.

Ingwon Chae, who was one of the producers for the short, said he was pleasantly surprised at how some professors were so willing to help. “It was a pretty daunting task to shoot emails off to these big professors on campus,” he said.

For more information:

http://www.boston.com/yourcampus/news/mit/2012/10/noam_chomsky_appears_in_mit_gangnam_style_parody.html

Globalization, by Cole Meunier

Psy “Gangnam Style”           

Globalization, “worldwide integration and development” according to www.dictionary.com. Whether you like it or not it is here to stay. I personally think it can only occur faster. Everywhere you look there are influences from around the world whether it's art, music, or even tangible goods. With modern technology becoming readily available around the world it creates an even broader spectrum of cultures merging with one another. 

Globalization is one way that the ideology of Democracy is spread. When most people think of it (globalization), I feel that they are thinking of it from a manufacturing form of view. Whether it be bananas from South America, a new BMW from Germany, or tea from India. I personally think of it as the spreading of ideas. Sure you can get tangible goods from other countries but with the internet you can transport ideas across the ocean or country. As a nation you can only get better by comparing yourself as a whole to another. This leads to competition on a global scale making better products and the merging of ideas to become even greater than they once were.

With globalization, many new technologies have emerged to help spread ideas and culture. Look at Facebook or Twitter, it has created a place where just about anyone in the world can communicate with each other and spread ideas. Some would even point to the Arab Spring as utilizing these resources to help with their struggles of overcoming abusive dictatorships. The abused citizens started off these revolutions by organizing peaceful protests for many to join in. This became widely popular with hundreds of thousands of protestors attending these events. But of course these technologies are not only for revolutions, but have also been widely used for the spreading of art. For example Youtube has made it easier for people to engage in many different cultures.

I remember when I was a lot younger and going on Youtube and watching funny videos with friends. Over the years I have noticed the website becoming more multi-cultural with videos. It is not uncommon to see videos from Russia, Germany, or many other states around the world. In fact in recent years it has even become fairly normal from many other states become popular around the world. Take Psy, he is a South Korean rapper who has become wildly popular with his most recent video getting over 476,332,414 views in exactly three months and still rising. It has hit number one in the charts in the US, Korea, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the UK. These are all very different markets yet someone from South Korea can manage to influence all of these states. Just imagine if you can influence all states with an ideology, and emergence of cultures.

Yet Psy is not the only popular artist in the United States from another state. Volbeat is a rock band from Denmark and has become very popular in the rock scene here in the United States, but other countries are not the only ones influencing culture around the world. Many other countries are affected from the US through globalization. Look as movies and TV shows. There are tons of American shows that are either broadcasted around the world or adjusted to mesh into the culture of the nation. Look at America's Got Talent, many other states have created their own version from India to Britain to South Korea. I believe that if the world finds more things that we have in common, globalization will only occur that much faster helping create new and better products and ideas.

On Persepolis, Catcher in the Rye & How "People are People", by Jameson Goetz

Marji, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.

Before I first picked up the book, I had definitely underestimated the potential value of reading Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. The comic book, written by Marjane Satrapi, demonstrated the potential of comparative study. Political Science 299: Comparative Politics is designed as a method of studying the different governments, specifically each government's level of democratization. We may find ourselves struggling to understand the actions of leaders of foreign governments because we do not entirely understand the variety of factors, including those that deal with economics, religious motivations, and "strange" cultural practices that influence those decisions. Still, we can always find at least some level of mutual understanding with the experiences of other people. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood successfully adds that human element to our course of study. 

Catholic Nun teaching her “properly dressed” students.

Marjane Satrapi utilizes pop culture references that almost anyone can find relatable. As an alumnus of Catholic Junior High and Catholic High School, I can relate to Marji's frustration with her school's strict dress code, as well as what she perceives as her school's attempts to indoctrinate its students. When I was 14 years old, I remember becoming frustrated with what my school was teaching its students. We all asked a lot of questions, but no one seemed to appreciate our inquisitive nature. When the woman chastises Marji in the street for dressing somewhat quirky, proudly displaying her Michael Jackson and Iron Maiden memorabilia, I definitely could relate to her frustration. How would I have made it through my pre-teen years if I had not been able to proudly display my loyalty to the Minnesota Vikings or my favorite band, Nirvana?  The angst we experience when growing up is obviously a universal phenomenon.

After reading Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, I became somewhat angry, and I asked myself, "Why had I not read this sooner?" This comic book, although relevant for people of all ages, would have the greatest affect on readers the same age as Marji, the story's main character. Until I traveled to Guatemala, I don't believe I understood the true meaning of the phrase, "the universal human experience". I learned that people are people, and everyone, regardless of their background, tend to have similar desires, regrets, worries, etc.

Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye.

Although I do not want to discredit the power of traveling abroad and experiencing other cultures, I do not think that we have to wait for such opportunities to begin to understand the concept, "people are people". If I had read this book when I was 14, I believe the experience would have had a noticeable impact on my worldview. When I was in junior high, The Catcher in the Rye was not a part of our schools curriculum (I assume that the school believed that the book's content was unsuitable for a Catholic School). Still, I read the book independent of my English class at school. Reading The Catcher in the Rye was a powerful experience. Holden Caulfield, the book's main character, presented a character universally relatable for almost all teenagers; anybody who read Catcher in the Rye during their early teens understands. 

These books, The Catcher in the Rye and Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood provide an artistic experience that promotes empathy, an emotion that can have nothing but a positive effect on the world. I do not understand why these books, as well as other similar books, do not make up a larger part of middle school and secondary school curriculums. 

 “Late Thursday afternoon, after losing a series of attempts to include Hispanic history in state social studies standards, State Board of Education member Mary Helen Berlanga gazed down at a new stack of amendments — stripping victories she thought she had gained at a meeting in January, including the inclusion of Hispanic heroes of the Alamo.” The Texas Tribune