CREATIVITY TODAY NEEDS MORE CREATIVITY !

Many of the interesting people to talk to and talk about are creative people. They seem to have formed a culture of their own. Creativity begins when a person uses his knowledge, enhances it, and expands on that in an original way. Creative people share many traits and can be described in a lot of ways.

To begin with, creative people are more expressive than the rest. For example, artists express emotions, feelings and unusual thoughts in original and inspiring ways. This means that they are more passionate, admiring, sensitive and spiritual with no limits to their imagination. Creative people tend to break the rules, think differently, and use extreme, outlandish and fresh ideas to create original innovations which shock the audience. In other words, their mentality is different than the rest, whether it is imagination or perspective but they sure know how to think differently in order to create. They have the power to combine the most random concepts and transforming them into a fascinating practical and logical idea. Creative people are curious in general, and pay attention to detail (sometimes with a stronger memory). I don’t think that there is any creative person who is not persistent, dedicated and committed to his work. I believe that creativity by itself is enough to keep a person living his life enthusiastically to develop his ideas further more. They experience and relate to the world in unique ways exploring fresh ideas through unusual approaches. All this leads to the fact that creative people become more confident and unique than the rest.

Many people believe that we are all born creative; others think it is just a talent which only famous artists were gifted with. In either case, creativity is not as common as it used to be. A lot of people are losing their inventiveness. In many cases, it is being pulled away from them or they are being pulled away from it! The question should not be what is stopping creativity, it should be, why should creativity even exist? Honestly, nowadays there is lack of admiration and encouragement which motivate a person to create. In other words, schools, parents, and the society in general don’t seem to appreciate creativity. For example, students don’t get credit for producing something as much as the credit they receive for Acing a math exam. This relates to Sir Ken Robinson's many lectures about how schools are killing creativity. That is true actually because most schools focus on certain dull subjects starting with languages, math, and sciences on the top of their priorities (credits) with least valued ELECTIVE arts and humanities at the bottom. It seems as if the schools are making the students feel that the arts are worthless and won't help them improve in life. So people are not given the opportunity to be creative, because they are constantly being TOLD what to do and who to be whether it is by teachers, parents, media or the government. Why aren't people taught to be creative or at least think on their own?! Moreover, creativity is feared by a lot. First, people are afraid of doing mistakes which seem to be no longer accepted. On the other hand, managers for example, they might feel threatened by creative people because they could unbalance the authority in the workgroup. In other words, group-thinking is more encouraged than original ideas by a certain person. Also, it seems today that people are sooooo overwhelmed and busy with other things which are bombarded towards them such as schools, TV, video games, computers, internet, phones, jobs… so they no longer have time, space, and the mentality  to be creative. For example, people in the past (ex: my own parents) had none of our technologies today. This free time inspired them to create their own games, arts, foods, and other healthier forms of fun. They seem to be more creative than the present generation and unfortunately the future ones.

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In conclusion, many societies consider creativity a mysterious threat. Therefore people who feel this way discourage and insult those who use their imagination. One popular issue people face is fitting in their society. Now since this society is against uniqueness and originality, then people automatically give up on creativity in order to get accepted by their society. So as sad as it may sound, there is no actual reason for people to be creative anymore. 

Language & Culture Identity

Culture is a way of life which consists of many factors influencing and creating it such as traditions, music, technology, history, race, religion, and many more. The most important factor forming a person's culture in my opinion is his language. Language is the basic way to communicate with people, without it, how could we express our emotions, ideas and knowledge? Would they even exist without language? Therefore, in terms of our culture, language allows people to communicate, pass on and learn certain ideas, emotions and knowledge which define their identities.

In her article First Person, Raekha described the struggle she faced by not inheriting the Indian language from her father. She was frustrated by the fact that she couldn’t communicate with her own family. This was very challenging to her since she was an Indian by appearance but lacked the most important "tool" to learn more about her culture. Raekha was lost between 2 worlds, she was struggling between learning a culture of Indian standards, and the intensity of her western liberal British culture. She was confused, helpless, and miserable. How could she learn about her Indian culture if her own father ripped away her only tool?! Her identity was blurry. How could she become the person she was meant to be, if there was no way for her to be able to understand and learn it from her family? SHE NEEDED TO LEARN HINDI IN ORDER TO FEEL THAT SHE BELONGS TO HER CULTURE.

Language allows the learning of religion, concepts, standards, and beliefs. By learning her father's language, Raekha would finally be able to perceive the world the way he did, to understand why he cried when he listened to certain songs, why he laughed with his Indian friends. She simply wanted to have a sense of belonging to her family, community, culture, and finally to her true identity. Language can either be a barrier or the key to a person's identity depending on how it is used. Her father, wanting to protect her in Britain, gave her the weapon of the English language without being distracted by Hindi. He protected her for a short while in school and such. But the truth is that he was going to scar her for the rest of her life. As she grew older, she ended up going back to India. She felt embarrassed, crippled, and most of all… hurt. English, once a weapon, became a barrier between Raekha and her family. She was judged hard by them because they assumed that she abandoned her own culture. To them, language was simply passed on. But to her, it was detached without even getting to choose.

In conclusion, a person cannot understand his culture without learning its language. There are many people out there like Raekha who haven't learnt anything about their cultural identity because they were consumed and pushed to fit in a different community. But each person will ask himself someday: who am I? Some will "just try" to fight in order learn their culture starting by their language. This will definitely be a magnificent journey to finding their self-identity.  

Blissful Coke

Polar bears, Christmas trucks, Happiness Factory, Avatar, Jinx... what do they all have in common? When I think of them and add some RED to the picture, I think of Coca-Cola. One of the most creative and attractive advertisements I have seen are those for Coca-Cola. they make you smile, don't they?

Take the Polar Bears commercial for example, who would argue that it did not create a peaceful inspiring and pleasant feeling while watching it? The main attractive techniques used were the background music, pleasant colors, and simply the story of bears' family all unified by Coca-Cola. What is also interesting about this commercial is that it targets small kids' age groups so that they become overwhelmed by this product from when they are young.

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But Coca-Cola does not only target kids, it also addressed teenagers which are the main consumers. Now there is the Coca-Cola Avatar commercial. What a smart way to associate contemporary ideas into marketing! Avatar is recognized by more and more people, but adding Coca-Cola to it makes it seem as if it is everywhere at any time! The message from this commercial is opening Coca-Cola creates happiness

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Thirdly, there is the Coca-Cola Jinx commercial which I personally found different from the rest, which is not a good thing... It targets adult age groups focusing on reality and politics... POLITICS!!Republics and Democratic is the last thing I would want as advertisement. I also did not like this video because it is not creative and animated like the rest. The audience became used to the previous vigorous breath-taking  advertisements, to the extent that this commercial simply did not fit in. 

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There is also another political point of view regarding this product. Many Arabs rejected this product due to its past association with Israel. Many prefer Pepsi (competitor) which stayed out of Israel.

Coca-Cola has done a remarkable job advertising the product. But through employing my knowledge so far about the 2 sides of the media, I discovered a new aspect of Coca-Cola. In fact I was shocked when I realized that when it started, Coca-Cola's main ingredients were cocaine and caffeine! The brand name Coca-Cola is derived from the coca leaf, and caffeine from kola nut. Currently, Coca-Cola has the coca flavor by using leftovers from the cocaine extractions instead of the fresh cocaine leaves. That is obtained from Mallinckrodt, which is the only country in the U.S. licensed to purify cocaine for medical use. The Coca-Cola factory won they case raised by the U.S. government to remove cocaine from its formula.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Use_of_stimulants_in_formula)

Now this leads to the question; Would people stop consuming Coca-Cola if they discovered the truth? Or would the media make them unconsciously accept Coca-Cola selling them happiness throughdrugs?

IRONY IN MEDIA

One of the unforgettable events in my life is meeting Nick Vujicic. Nick is a 25 year old man, but has no arms and no legs. He has accomplished more than most people even twice his age. He is a speaker who goes from one country to another in order to share with students, teachers, men and women about his massive achievements in life, inspiring them to follow their dreams. Having heard his lecture, there are many things which I know I will remember forever. For example, Nick said that when you want to do something and the whole world tell you that you can't, then "get a second opinion". Nick encourages people that everything is possible and opportunities arouse from failures. All people need inspiration and we must all focus on our strengths and not weaknesses. Nick said that he has something which no-one could take away from, that is his beautiful and gorgeous eyes.

I was so touched and inspired by Nick's lecture, and I went up stage and gave him a hug. I told him, "Your eyes ARE beautiful". He replied, "Thank you, I love you". I was shivering after that moment because of this admirable person who is a true hero and role-model.

In my opinion, Nick Vujicic deserves admiration for his strength, determination and endurance. But I got irritated when I saw people hugging him for the sake of taking a picture with him. I mean by that, that they used his publicity and fame. They were so excited to take a picture with Nick Vejucic in order to share this picture on Facebook, or their BlackBerries.

I know many people would love to take a picture with other famous figures such as performers, or actors, and many people want to take pictures next to famous landmarks such as Eiffel Tower or the Egyptian Pyramids. I don't mind that, because it is considered a "cool", and keeping a good memory. Normally, people take pictures for 3 reasons, to remember, to share and to show. But maybe I am over-reacting to people taking pictures with Nick Vejucic because I think he deserves to be treated equally, and respectfully. He should NOT be treated as if he were an attractive figure or like a media attraction object. I think he should be treated in a more valued manner because he IS unique and not the same as the other celebrities.

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MY GOALS FOR THIS SCHOOL YEAR

Another school year has begun, and I'm already staying up to get my homework done. What is unique about this year is that it is my senior year J and what is even more special is that I am a full diploma student. I am trying my preeminent ability to survive this second year of IB and pass with acceptable and satisfactory scores.

Similar to each year, I lay down certain long-term goals for myself both personal and associated with school for me to achieve by the end of the year. I discovered that this is pretty motivating and practical. In every class, I have internal as well as external assessments I am accountable for.

In English A2, these evaluations vary between oral commentaries, presentations, exams, written commentaries and more… My core ambition for this class is to excel in all the assessments. This is not as easy as it sounds given that it is expected from me –Riham El Ghoussainy– to excel in most subjects if not all. This calls for a great effort since all subjects demand hard work from me. I learnt and became more skillful at many handy advanced studying techniques during the first year of IB, and developed my studying habits to turn into an improved and more efficient student. For example, my organization skills became better, and I'm making my best effort to forestall procrastination.

In this particular class, I am eager to engage in the topics which we are going to take, research and explore them, read additional connected items in order to refurbish my understanding and knowledge as well as scrutinize different aspects of the topic, and most importantly, try to relate them to myself and culture. This will hopefully improve my thinking which leads to better reflections and results.

Even though I might not get the highest scores in this subject eventually, but at least I will be definite that I had tried the best of my capabilities under my conditions, leaving me with no regrets or doubts. 

The Resistance in relation to 1984

      The poem “The Resistance” is written by Bellamy, Matt, and it relates greatly to the novel 1984 by George Orwell. To begin with, a great theme in the novel was LOVE between Winston and Julia. As mentioned in the poem, “Love is our resistance”, implies that the emotions of love and faithfulness between Winston and Julia will allow them to keep resisting and breaking the rules of the world they live in. knowing of their crime, Winston and Julia are wondering when will the time be when they get caught. Every night, they are in danger because they were breaking the law by thinking, reading, socializing, having sex, going to the Proles, and loving each other. By “will our world come tumbling down” and “will the walls start caving in”, the writer of the poem describes this couple’s fear of the consequences of their actions when the thought police catches them.

     This relates to another theme in 1984 which is the nature of power. The Party focuses on implementing fear in its people so that they do not even think of disobeying the rules. But as Winston and Julia kept constantly breaking the laws, they were expecting anytime the thought police to come upon them. By saying, “Is our secret safe tonight, is this our last embrace?” again implies the huge risks they are taking, in order to be together. Fear is the greatest theme in the poem as well as the novel. By saying, “Quell your prayers for love and peace, You'll wake the thought police, We can hide the truth inside”, Winston is afraid of the thought-police as he rather keeping the “truth” inside his heart and brain than the great suffering that WILL occur to them WHEN they get caught. The poem also says, “it’s outta control”. “It” refers to the actions this couple was doing; they broke the law, but that didn’t stop them. It is like human extinct where they felt satisfaction & compensation in terms of what they were doing.

      “But it could have been right” means that the laws that prevented them from acting as human being should not exist, because loving, thinking and expressing oneself are all human rights. But in the totalitarian world and government, it was considered to be “wrong”. At the same time, the Big Brother in the novel wanted all people to believe that they were living in a Utopian world where everyone lives in harmony and everything done or NOT done is for the best. But in Winston’s opinion, the world he was living in was more like dystopian because it only appears to be a harmonious but in reality it is a suppression of people’s thoughts and emotions.

      In conclusion, this couple’s resistance is love. It is as if Love has finally conquered their fear of the Party. But at the same time, they know that sooner or later, the thought police will capture them so they must enjoy every second they have left together.

War is Peace

         War is not Peace, but in 1984 by George Orwell, it became peace. The word “war” itself lost its meaning and became misleading to refer to peace. To begin with, in the book there were 3 main dictatorships in control: Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceana. This means that there will always be 2 of them allied against the 3^rd, which leads to a state of continuous war. It could be said that this constant war implies that war itself ceased to exist and it became peace. That is because in the past, the purpose of wars was to gain new resources (land, oil, workers…) or for political gain. But in the created world in the novel, there was no need to fight for resources given that there were only 3 powers, each with enough resources. Also the purpose of war was to keep society united instead of fights of territory.

       The concept of Double-think in the novel is also related to “war is peace” although it is a paradox. Quoted from the novel about Goldstein referring to black & white: 

… But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink. Doublethink is basically the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. (Chapter 9)

This means that the Party follows a strategy which is focusing on a common enemy becomes a reason and a motive for peace and union in the society. This also distracted from the fact that they are in fact not living happily in their own society, which reduces rebellion and difficulty for the Big Brother. What the government did was exaggerate small victories for the people in order to convince them of the strong country they live in and give them a sense of satisfaction.

Basically, the result would be somehow similar if the 3 powers agreed to live peacefully, but that could give the people a bigger opportunity to wake up, express themselves and even rebel.

Taken from the Washington Post:

… It's a little reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984, where the three slogans of the ruling party were "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength." Since the disclosures about Bush's warrantless domestic surveillance program, Bush critics have been citing that other dominant slogan from Orwell's book: "Big Brother is Watching You." But there are plenty of potential Orwell analogies in Bush's use of language, and his historical revisionism, as well.

War Is Peace. The Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2006. Web. 7 Apr. 2010. .

.. and That's How the Rest of Us Roll Away From Domino's

The media is a constructing as well as a destructing tool for businesses, societies and relationships. Online reputation needs careful management. The internet expands and reaches huge numbers of people very fast. This means it could develop the business’s reputation very fast or destroy it very fast.

In order to destroy a company’s image, it does not take a lot of work. In fact, it could be as simple as a YouTube video. Kristy Lynn Hammonds (31) and Michael Anthony/Setzer (32) are two employees in Domino’s Pizza. They were arrested and faced criminal charges for creating a sick video and posting it on YouTube! They did gross and nasty things to Domino’s customers’ food as the video attached will show. They violated all sorts of health codes and standards of decency.

Their charge was contaminating customers’ food.

Their revolting video included Setzer sticking a piece of cheese in his nose then putting it in a sandwich. He also pulled down his pants, wiped a sponge on himself and then washed the dishes with that sponge. They also said in the video, “In about five minutes it’ll be sent out on delivery where somebody will be eating these, yes, eating them, and little did they know that cheese was in his nose and that there was some lethal gas that ended up on their salami. Now that’s how we roll at Domino’s.”

By the time the video was posted on Monday and taken down on Wednesday, millions of people had viewed the clip and Domino’s reputation was already damaged, and the damage of the brand was done. The perception of the quality of Domino’s food shifted drastically from positive to negative, where people are second-guessing Domino’s food. “… Is a nightmare. It is the toughest situation for a company to face in terms of digital crisis”, as said by Paul Gallagher, managing director/head of US crisis practice. Domino’s restaurant had to be closed down.

What was Domino’s reaction? Domino’s response was through social media. They created a Twitter account to be part of the online community. Domino’s spokesman, Tim McIntyre said that Domino’s was going to hold a civil lawsuit. Also, the CEO had to post another video condemning what these two employees did.

So, with social media sites like YouTube that give every employee a global platform, it's critical that business strategies exist to deal with potential bad behavior.

Apollo Moon Landing: Fake or Factual?

Is the Moon landing of Apollo one of the greatest frauds ever?

What would the motives of the US government and media to fake the Apollo Moon Landing? Most reason could be summarized in 3 ideas: Distraction, Cold War Prestige, and MONEY. First, the US government benefited from taking people's distraction away from the Vietnam War which was occuring at the tiem as the US ceased its involvement in the Vietnam War. By Cold War Prestige, I mean that the US felt that it was important to win the "space race" againt Russia. This could improve their publicity, image, and strength as viewed by the USSr and the world (propaganda). It would have been easy for the US to fake the moon landing and guarantee success. Moreover, in terms of money, the NASA raised about 30 billion dolors to go to the moon! This could have ben used to pay many people motivating them for manipulation.

Here are some reasons to be skeptical about moon landing. It was said that Neil Armstrong was the first person to step on the moon. But the picture take by NASA was taken looking up at Armstrong as he was stepping on the moon. This means that the photographer must have been lying on the planet, while taking the picture. Now if Armstrong was the first man on the moon, who was taking the picture? How is it possible that the flag and the astronaut were both brighty lit when their side was to the light? In all the shots taken, the stars do not show. But even if there is an explanation  for no stars, many photos seem to have multiple light sources shining on the surroundings, casting shadows in different directions, even though there is only one (bright enough) light source visible on the moon which is the Sun.. And why is the flag fluttering if there is no air or wind on the moon? The Lander weighed 17 tons and yet the astronaut's feet seem to have made a bigger dent in the dust.

Does this make you skeptical enough? If it doesn't, there are more ideas to make us question the "honest" NASA moon landing.

Take the quality of the pictures for example, it is incredibly high! But at the time the moon landing occured, they did not have advanced technologies in their cameras for such good exposure. Also, the film stock was not affected by the intense peaks and powerful cosmic radiation on the moon. The moon's surface during the daytime is so hot that the camera films should have melted.

The most interesting part I found was how the American flag and signs referring to US are brightly lit and focused on. Government seeking publicity much?

The pictures taken are main things to be skeptical about which means that we cannot "blindly" believe what we SEE! could this be the greatest government conspiracy? Was the moon walking filmed in a studio? Do you believe the Moon Landing Hoax?

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~akapadia/moon.html

It is human nature to believe what we hear. We trust the media and don’t question it because assumingly, we believe that they present information which is well researched and honest. That is also because we do not have many choices to check that information ourselves. The public listens to the media all the time, whether they are aware of that or not, until they reach the level that they believe anything they are told by the media.  Media is a method to send messages to people. But lately, people stopped forming their own opinions about what is going on in the world. For example, the media tell us what and who is important, who should run a country, and about authority.

When it comes to politics, media has a huge impact; good and bad. For example, media could help the politician in developing his career but can also destroy it. Although is it wrong, but bias is created because most media are owned by rich people who could be politicians. Media could alter the truth by working its way around it or elaborating the actual facts. For example, the media could hide certain aspects of politicians’ actions which we are not “supposed” to know about. At the same time, the media is able to create scandals and destroying that politician. So basically, the media makes profit by controlling the careers of politicians or by telling us what we want to hear. But media should be forced to be 100% truthful about what they are telling the public, not less and not more in order to deserve out trust.

Some examples of the effects of media in politics are inaugurations of presidents, wars, and “man’s first step on the moon (if that even happened). Coming from Lebanon which is a very diverse political and religious country (17 different religions), I have seen many ways the media influenced people’s opinions about politics. For example, there are at least 4 different TV stations which belong to certain politicians to promote certain ideas, where each TV station would interpret facts differently. I have lately received an email which represents this case in Lebanon. It says that the main event was that a Lebanese was hit by a car on the road between Lebanon and Syria. One station would interpret this as having this Lebanese citizen assassinated for being against Syria; another station would report this as a Lebanese sacrifice against the Israel; and another one would say that America aimed to kill this Lebanese citizen. So this not only describes the conditions in Lebanon but the world. The media is a very affective and dangerous tool influencing people’s minds.

        In conclusion, there must be more restrictions and laws for the media describing what they are supposed to publish or don’t publish. They have an ethical responsibility towards the public, where everyone is touched by what the media do or don't do. But the question is, would politics even exist the way they do without the media?

The Media

I honestly cannot understand why people trust the media. Many people find it difficult to trust others in their own families or neighborhoods, so how come it is possible for them to trust such a mysterious and extreme stranger called the 'media'.
Are they following the rest? Do they feel inferior to the immense authority which is the media? Or do the media show them what they want to see? Media have two sides, at least one of them is altering the truth.
Media come out everyday. There are many forms of media like entertainment, marketing, music... etc. Other than telling us news for example, the media tell us what we are supposed to care about tomorrow.
Mainly, the media have become part of the system. They control our thoughts, interests, and principals making us overwhelmed by all the info we have to digest... The media tell us what we want to hear, but the SERIOUS stuff is not for the audience to know about, the media take care of it...

The media's main goal is to gain ca$h...they would go over the limits to increase profit, they lie and create stories. All of them belong to much larger and wealthier corporations using people and seeking money as well.
But there are always ways to get rid of those who ask questions, think deeply and independently about what the media are presenting to them.
This was a very short description of what I think of the media... The media can easily alter the truth, but yet we are still addicted and attached to them. Why? It seems like the media are doing a great job in showing us what we want to see.