7.

THE Australia Culture

How can we describe THE Australia culture? Notice how I put ‘THE’ in capitals… In my personal opinion there is no set Australian culture simply because we are made up of multiple cultures. My family origins are from Italy, and we have based our lifestyle on traditions back in Italy and somewhat of their culture. However, there are some unique features to our culture that does stand out from the rest of the world such as our figure of speech, our love for sport and the famous term ‘the aussie bogan’. We are a country or culture that is “embracing of the concept of multiculturalism.” Our country has been globalized simply by us welcoming immigrants into our culture. The question is, has our culture benefitted from allowing foreigners to live amongst us or has it doomed us? From what you see on TV, in particular news reports, our culture has suffered socially with the introduction to foreigners simply because our nightlife is threatened by gangs that come from other countries, in particular Asia and Europe, that start fights between one and other, rape women, murder people and bash other civilians with out a valid reason. A country can’t be perfect though. Our culture has benefitted too from combining all cultures together with immigrants and “aspects of their home culture, including food, music and customs, which have enriched Australian society.” Now, we stand out from the rest of the world, we are a culture mixed from other cultures but include our own traditions to form a place we are proud to call home.

References:

http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-57_u-507_t-1374_c-5292/globalisation-in-australia/qld/sose-geography/the-global-citizen-ecology-and-economy/globalisation

http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/tertiary/subjects/history/australian/culture.html

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/apsa/docs_papers/Others/Conley.pdf

6.

5. The Olympics, forming us as one

The purpose of the Olympics are said “to… link sport with culture and education; promote the practice of sport and the joy found in effort, help to build a better world through sport practiced in a spirit of peace, excellence, friendship and respect. The Olympics is an excellent example where globalisation is clearly evident, where we see our verse countries forming as one big nation, supporting, encouraging and backing one and other to strive to the best of their abilities. In history, “Greek men were allowed to participate in the Olympics.” But as the years have carried on, more countries had been introduced, women have been given the right to participate and slowly our globe has been forming as one. Although it is a competition to see who comes out on top, it is also a time of celebration where we respect our differences, form friendships with one and other and unite as one to back the best athletes from our countries. It too, is rewarding for all media companies, as they’d be making massive profit from us, the supporters, whether it is by travelling to London, purchasing their sponsors food products to just sitting in front of the TV and watching it. Large profit will be coming their way. This, all the above, has created a cultural flow to the fact that we all have been united as one for the love of our sport that is played by many athletes all over the globe.

References:

http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_668.pdf

http://www.athensguide.org/olympics-history.html

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2012/07/28/1226437/390009-london-olympics-opening-ceremony.jpg

5.

4. Media ownership

I work for one of Australia’s biggest retail giants; Target, and on numerous occasions I have had customers coming to me and complaining about the items of clothing we stock for children. Oh the joys of being a supervisor. The issues these customers have with the clothing are the fact that they are very revealing and designed to suit older aged children or even youth. I agree with these customers because I look at these clothing items and compare them to what items you’d see advertised by leading brands and too, those American mum’s parading their daughters around in beauty pageants. All Target cares about is making profit, I know that personally, and they constantly compete and keep up with the demands that media deliver to maintain the demands of share holders pockets. According to Rob “The media should diversify a nation’s democracy”, his discussion paper proves interesting as he questions whether the media is really “hearing the voices of the many or simply the few.” It is clearly proven that it doesn’t with Target’s choice of stock to range as they know that they won’t make as much profit if they were to stock an item of clothing that didn’t meet the demands of the fashion industry. “Australian mass media is concentrated into the hands of a very small number of proprietors” thus providing a lesser variety of products available but yet keeping many civilians happy as they too want to keep up to the demands 

of fashion and to be noticed within society.

References:

http://cpd.org.au/2011/08/media-ownership-and-regulation-in-australia-discussion-paper/

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/philosophy/democracy/concentrated-media-ownership-a-crisis-for-democracy/

http://shop.target.com.au/girls-heart-print-tee

4.

Oh America!

Our Australian culture is considered by the following statement: an “emphasis on physical as opposed to mental achievement, the concept of mateship, Australian idiom, language and humor.” We have developed a youth culture where we talk like bogans, drink ourselves stupid, party and enjoy the company of our mates. But when you study carefully into the concept of the Australia culture, you realize the close or EXACT depiction that our culture is derived from the country that influences not only their own behavior but the rest of the world in relation to media… Y’all know it as America. From what I see, or from my personal lifestyle, we draw our behaviors and interactions from many shows that are firstly streamed in the US and gradually make their way around the world. I am speaking particularly of one show that I know a lot of youth watch, that myself, watch and greatly relate to, it is one of MTV’s favs... Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore is best described as ‘regionalism at its best.’ Guido’s and Guidette’s working out, partying, using fowl language, fighting and brawling and using and abusing people. Relating back to my opening statement, our culture, nowadays, I believe has been influenced greatly by MTV shows like Jersey Shore and other shows that incorporate American culture into it. I notice our youth enjoy to party hard, drink til they are stupid and hook up with ‘grenades’ and so on. America and its great ideas of reality lifestyle shows greatly influence the culture of youth in Australia. Thank you America, “you suck dick for skittles.”

Jersey Shore, ‘Australian’ style:

References

http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/tertiary/subjects/history/australian/culture.html

http://www.ironbarkresources.com/articles/guild2004americanisation.htm

http://www.frankwbaker.com/using_reality_tv.htm

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/03/24/jersey-shore-lingo-dictionary-of-snooki-pauly-d-situation-more.html

3.

 We all are sad and constant users and abusers of globalisation. It didn’t really hit me that I am a major dependent of globalisation and media forms until I started studying media. I too realised just before I started writing this, when I was doing my research that I have been dependent on globalisation for a period way too long. I always, when in public, get so annoyed at the people around me because I don’t see their faces. They’re too caught up in their latest gadgets with their eyes glued onto them. But I got thinking about it, and realized that I can’t judge them because I do exactly the same as them. My head is constantly glued to my phone or computer. I am a sad dependent on technology that connects me to my peers in a globalisation situation. I have friends who live overseas, they’re from Italy, I rely on Facebook and my phone to keep contact with them. What I’m getting at is that, “globalization encourages productivity and product diversity.” So I take back my opening sentence to instead say, globalisation has inevitably benefited the many communities around the globe by giving us the opportunity to connect and form our many diverse cultures and traditions to create a better flowing global community.

“The integration of rich and poor nations is not a zero-sum game where the gains of one come at the expense of the other. Driven by the rapid democratization of information, technology, and finance, globalization is turning out to be a remarkably progressive, liberating force.” 

DOUGLAS S. NOONAN

References:

http://suite101.com/article/panacea-or-worker-exploitation-a29571

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/MagikGuy/Globalisation.jpg

http://www.free-eco.org/insights/articles/the-benefits-of-globalization.html

2.

Wk 1. Globalisation flows

Before I begin writing, I’d like to show you this video first:

Globalisation is best described in my opinion by “the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world”. “Things such as airplanes, cheap telephone service, email and computers… have made the world more interdependent than ever”. Our world is slowly forming as one as we are slowly getting a better understanding of each others cultures, beliefs, religions and lifestyles. One in particular is our favorite food we like to eat. Each country is famous for it’s own gourmet dishes. For example Italy is famous for it’s pizza and pasta. Too, McDonald’s has become a big favorite in most countries around the world. It is a delicious example of globalisation in action as its menu is basically the same in every country and it shares different meals from different countries. It is a cultural flow that is combining the world into one by introducing each countries food traditions into other countries. As we grow a likening to this particular countries food, we want, at times, to get a better understanding of it or incorporate it into our everyday life, so we research their culture and backgrounds with thanks to the internet and Google, information flows, again combining the world into one by including different cultures into our own.

Is forming the globe as one giant, same culture and tradition community

 going to benefit this planet or be the doom of us?

Only globalisation and reading on in this will be able to answer that for you…

References:

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/globalization.html#ixzz21iUH0vuD

http://www.globalpolicy.org/globalization/defining-globalization.html 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeXvtz0_Ex0

1.

Hey YO,
I'm Sam and this is my blog..
I'm a tad technological incapable as I've only figured out how to use Blogger just now.
So here are my first four blogs. YAY!


Enjoy :)