Where is our sense of community?

I'm sitting here. trying to remember the last time i felt a sense of community in my neighborhood and i'm finding it incredibly hard... Still thinking...... I bet if i was to ask anyone my age, when they last experienced community, they would probably find it difficult as well. I'm having to go as far back to when i was 11 to recapture any sense of community, that says a lot about us as people. Right now, I don't even know anyone on my street, whereas 7 years ago, i knew just about everyone and was always in and out of people's homes. The memory that sticks out to me the most(finally remembered something) is the time some hooligans from a couple of streets further down from ours knocked over little Denise Coal's bin and we all got together put the bin back in its place and then proceeded to not only knock their bins over but also pour everything out(What a badass thing to do). We were all united and that sense of community was really buzzing in us. Think I only did that because I fancied her though, but the point is we were united.

Another memory that sticks out(They are flooding back now!!) is summer evenings, playing football on the green near my house with almost every kid, the ones who weren't playing were in wheelchairs, shout-out Aaron, Chanel and Danny. Anyways back to the point, we would be playing and then one after the other, the adults would all start coming out either to play with us or just sit on the grass and watch us as we play. There was a real sense of togetherness within us but that era is now long gone.

I remember the times when I wanted to see if my friend Larry was home i just scream his name out the window, something that if I were to do now I'm sure i would get ridiculed for. Nowadays when my little brother wants to check for his friend, he either calls, text, Facebook, bebo, tweets or skypes him, none of this requires him to get off his lazy backside and go to his frontdoor.

The Internet is a major factor in this change because that is where the younger kids who can make a neighborhood a community spend most of their time and in doing this they are turning their social activity on the internet into a community. For example, on Facebook, when someone writes something insultive about your friend on their wall, you and your group of friends will attack them in order to defend them, notice how this is similar to what my street did for Denise Coal back in the day. This leads me to my conclusion that community isn't gone. it has just moved from the streets to the internet. Even though i say this, is there not a way where a balance can be reached between the two??

Moral Panics - Illuminati

One of the biggest moral panics concerning the music industry at this moment in time is the term "ILLUMINATI". Virtually everyone living on this planet over the last 5 years must have heard the word being used and know some information about the group. I feel that without the media not a lot of people would know about this secret society. The internet especially youtube is playing a major role in getting the information to the people of the society. Basically what the media tells us is that all these really big famous artists are made to write their name in blood to sign a deal(Record Deal). They really are selling their soul to the devil and the Illuminati.

The artist must now do everything that the Illuminati tell them - they must do pyramid gestures, put satanic symbols in their videos, and rap/sing about matters that are corrupting society (money, sex, violence, women, drugs.)
In return, the Illuminati will give the artist instant fame and recognition. They promise the artist a beautiful lifestyle. However, every artist at some point regrets the contract. They become imprisoned. They cannot stop singing/rapping. They're "married to the game" - Eminem.

After this is all done the artist will then do one thing that will generate a lot of media coverage which will then throw them into stardom, e.g, Paris Hilton came out with a sextape, Lady Gaga came out with one single and rose to fame instantly, she is now an icon, etc.

Another thing that has being occuring is the fact that because the symbols of the Illuminati is freely available on the internet and the characteristics of a song affiliated to the illuminati is accesible, a lot of artists both signed and unsigned are now including these symbols in their songs to generate hype and to get the media talking about them, a tactic that is really working for these artists.

What is Culture

In my opinion, Culture is something an individual learns from ones family or friends, it is not something implanted in us from birth. It has no biological connection, because for instance if one was born in America to American parents but raised in Canada, it is the culture of the place one is raised up that one will inhabit and exhibit. Culture is a very integral part of the society because without culture there is no society. There are some cultures that only apply to one cultural group whilst there are also cultures that apply to several cultural groups, this is known as cultural universals. For example classifying people based on their gender or age is common in all cultures around the world. As we progress in this module, i hope to learn more about culture so i can further voice my opinions.