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What we perceive is a function of the context in which the stimulus is presented

The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued

Robert Frost has always been known for his metaphors, and I believe that this one speaks to how people get so caught up wasting their time with anger that they forget that life is short. This realization can help people shake off their negative emotions and enjoy their day with a better perspective on life, especially knowing that death will come eventually.

This is the meaning that I took from his Poem Dust of Snow. The symbolism of a crow is usually a metaphor for death. In this poem, I believe Frost is using the crow to represent how death is inevitable and perhaps even close. The fact that a crow shakes down “the dust of snow” signifies that death is something to be consider; it is trying to get our attention and state its presence. Winter and snow is also a representation of death because it is the season that all growth halts and remains dormant. The metaphor Frost is trying to create is that death may come at any time, and this must be considered when people are living their life. The reason they must consider it is laid out in the second verse.

Right off the bat, I understand what the video is going to discuss by the site’s opening quote, “wealth inequality is much worse than Canadians think it is and a far cry from what they think it should be”. Before even watching the video, I visualized the wealth gap as being heavily weighted towards the rich leaving the poor with very little. However the visuals from the video still shocked me.

As a Canadian, I always think of Canada as being geared towards equality and justice. Compared to the states, who have a huge wealth gap, I thought that Canada was at least doing an okay job at making sure the overall wealth of the country was being distributed in a proper way. The graph showing what how wealth should be divided, as voted on by Canadians, was generally unsurprising and fair. The narrator even stated that conservatives voted for this even distribution, which showed that many Canadians believe that the “current system is skewed”. The next graph showed what Canadians think the actual wealth gap is, and it showed a much more uneven distribution than what they thought would be an ideal, even plan.

At this point I remember the initial quote, and immediately realize that the number are much more uneven than Canadians think. Instead, the reality shows that the overall wealth holds all the money and almost half of Canadians only hold 6 percent of the countries wealth. When the narrator said that a CEO of a company gets payed 206 times more than the average worker, I was shocked at the ridiculous difference. How much more does a CEO work than an average worker? Does the CEO work harder at all? They are paid more solely due to their title and the position they climbed the ladder for, meanwhile people who work just as hard get no recognition and no money. The fact that the wealth pile for the wealthiest group did not even fit on their chart was equally as shocking. The difference is truly shown with this visual in such a shocking way, but this shocking news is also our countries unfortunate reality.

. . . . The is no confidentiality, no anonymity; and perhaps no real privacy . . .

Donottrack’s first episode made me think about privacy in a whole new way. Normally, I understand that I am not completely anonymous on the internet and carry on with my business anyways. I figure that I am just one little fish in the pond, and as long as I am not doing anything wrong then what is the big deal? However this video has shown that it is a big deal, because our information can be used whenever and we will have no idea. While it may not be a big deal to one person, we have to think about this privacy issue in a bigger perspective.

Immediately I was entranced by the first episode due to the diverse, quick cut-shots of different content which to me represented the amount of junk that we consumed in our media-centic lives. Then, the dialogue began to discuss how much information we give away without even knowing it. When the narrator showed my current location in the video, I was completely blown away. I know it was because of my IP address, but the fact that that could be consumed and used so quickly by the site was surprising. When he got into the discussing “trackers”. I already know that by using the internet and technology, our browser history can be used to direct specific advertisements towards us. However, the visual of seeing the companies that can track our information was new to me. So many companies that I did not know even exist use my information, and to me this seems a little unsettling. They are complete strangers yet they know my home address. Who else can access this information? What other kind of information have I given without even realizing it? These are the questions that stuck with me after watching the Donottrack episode. In the end, thinking about these questions is the whole point of the video.

As a society who uses the media addictively, we should be more cautious about the information we release. In older generations, the web did not track their every move. We live in a new era where new mistakes can be made, and it is important to be educated about how the internet works and who is involved in it in order to protect our privacy.

A great example of Bud Light displaying their version of humor is when they decided to make their advertisement about a woman being farted on by a horse, and having her get burned from flames getting blown in her face. This kind of joke may be appealing towards a male audience, but jokes at a woman’s expense just leaves a misogynistic water mark on the image. When I watch the new Bud Light commercial trying to promote inequality awarness, I see through their glossy feminist advertisement. I personally see a company attempting to pretend they are not as misogynistic as they have been seen as in the past.

In the newest Bud Light advertisement featuring Seth Rogan and Amy Schumer, two very popular celebrities who are known to take part in activism, are shot discussing the wage gap over some frosty Bud Light. This company however is rhetorically known as having issues around gender equality, since their commercials joke about women and are geared towards the male consumer. A Washington post article stated that about 17 percent of full-time Anheuser-Busch employees were women in 2014, which was down compared to the 19 percent of women working for the company in 2011. I wonder if that percentage has gone down even more.

Now the company comes out with this political piece, probably in hopes to convince the consumer that they care about gender inequality in order to attract a broader audience. Perhaps they truly are trying to make a change for the better, but this commercial alone just does not do the trick. The female-male ratio of Anheuser-Busch is still widely uneven, and from what I have learned, it is tricky to talk about feminism from a male’s standpoint. When Amy Schumer talks about the things she has to pay extra for, she lists off very meaningless things. A car, dry cleaning, shampoo… all of these things are not the biggest concern for people who are fighting to fix the wage-gap. Then she goes on to say that Bud Light supports gender equality by making their beer cost the same for both men and women. To me, this line takes away from any attempt for activism because it makes the commercial seem insincere and forced. It is insincere because of the over-the-top reactions from Seth Rogan making the issues seem like a dramatic joke as he listens to Amy talk about the wage-gap, completely ignorant that inequality exists. It seemed forced because of the use of highly known actors that would hopefully attract the audience more instead of focusing directly on the message they are sending. The attempt is there Bud Light, but I do not think it saves you from your misogynistic ways. Try again next time.

washington post article: