Patel discusses the power of large corporations to control consumers food choices. Through what i can see with the use of twitter power control is a major element that determines what is said and controlled. Twittter firstly limits what can be said with a word limit, this is further heightened with the idea of who they are influecing.  Patel (2007,p.1) begins to discusses the issues of power in corelation with the food industry it states        

“ Even when we want to buy somethnig healthy, something to keep the doctor away , we’re trapped in the very same system that has created our fast food nations”

The significance of the choice of snack i choose is largely influenced by what i see in my vrtual network and the conversations of others.   The influence then is when someone states ” having mm atm, man it feels soo good ” automatically we think yes it does taste then i eat that whilst im online.

Patel, R. ( 2007)  Stuffed and starved: markets, power and the hidden battle for the world’s food system. Schwartz Publishing: Melb, Aust. notes

The virtual network of twitter i not disconnected with the natural rather is works correlation to reality. Twitter in my experience inhances the many media and advertisements that are present in society. The provide a more virtual experience to otherwise experienced media forms, though paper and television are both interesting twitter provides a more practical and interacted approach to undertanding events to being in the know about celebrity identities. There is that threat where ties can be broken particualrly if a celebrity withdrew its account, then of course sources to proclaim stories fromt this celebrity are rumours and can only be dealt as such.  Strong ties are important in this network as they are in what buchanan describes of the natural world. The stronger ties that are made may be able to readjust and restrucutre as i just described, though Buchanan (2002,p.147) questions the outcomes if this were to occur, “Aprecipitous change in climate might push the ecosystem away from its nautal , balanced condition, boosting the numbers of some species at the expense of others”

Buchanan, M. (2002). Nexus: Small worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks. WW Norton and Co.: New York. Retrieved: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/

I can eat chocolate - Cadbury Dairy Milk - the plain one- Fair (Free) Trade endorsed by Osfam. No child labour, no palm oil that kills orangutans. Well Done Cadbury!! xxxooo

Usually the first things I do when I walk through the front door are put down my bag and raid the kitchen. While I do not snack while I am interacting on Twitter, I do find something to eat before and after I log on or off. I find that if I eat something first, I have more motivation to think about what I am writing. After I log off I am starving after all the virtual socialising. However, this eating habit also applies for when I work on assignments or my own stories. My snacks of choice are not always the healthiest of options, basically I just go for what is quick and easy: muesli bars; cookies; potato chips; ice cream; chocolate. My friends have often commented about how I can eat so much junk but still keep the same physique.

In the Patel reading for this week, it comments on how we have become ‘Fast Food Nations,’ how the power of marketing influences our choice of food. I agree with this, in the presentation of commercials and bright colourful packaging, marketing has the power to catch the buyers attention. When you go to the supermarket and see a child arguing with a parent about something they cannot have, it is usually over something unhealthy. An easy way to make money is for the child to go for the bright colours and have a tired parent give in. However, these food choices come with health risks, such as obesity and diabetes (Patel, 2007). In response to my friends, the food I eat may not seem to affect me now, but the consequences might come later.

Patel, R. (2007). Stuffed and starved: Marketing, power and the hidden battle for the world food system. Melbourne, Australia: Black Inc.

I agree that big corporations have a lot of power in food production and promotion. The recent attacks on Fast Food advertising shows society’s awareness of that. However, I also think that bad education and ignorance are to blame for the bad food choices people make.  

The American Psychological Association highlights one of the biggest problems we have that causes bad eating patterns - the psychological experience.

“There has been a recent surge of work on taste, experience, and feeding. This development reflects several factors, including behavioral work on taste aversion, which has led to a concern with how positive consequences can affect taste preferences, progress in understanding the physiological basis of taste, as well as a practical concern with human obesity and how it is affected by taste and experiential factors.”

Because of these studies, we now know that ‘rewarding’ with treats and desert after dinner is not sending a good message to children. For those of us who were bought up that way, we have to make real efforts to change our thinking totally so we can eat (and reward ourselves) better and not make the same mistake with our children!

Reference:

Capaldi, E.D. and Powley, T.L. (1990) Taste, experience, and feeding.

American Psychological Association. xiii, 275. Washington, DC, US

Retrieved:

http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1990-99060-000

My twitter experience highlights two issues from this weeks topics: Choice and Snacking.

There is a lot of choice on the twitter site particularly choice in who to follow. However, I do not exercise much choice. I limit myself to pre-conceived ideas about who or what will interest me and they are who I follow. I now realise that this has limited my overall experience and enjoyment of the site. Vandana Shiva (1997, p5) addresses this conundrum;

 “The main threat to living with diversity comes from the habit of thinking in terms of monoculture; from what I have called ‘Monocultures of the Mind’.  Monocultures of the mind make diversity disappear from perception, and consequently from the world. The disappearance of diversity is also a disappearance of alternatives – and gives rise to the TINA (there is no alternative) syndrome. How often in contemporary times total uprooting of nature, technology, communities and entire civilisation is justified on the grounds that ‘there is no alternative’.  Alternatives exist, but are excluded. Their inclusion requires a context of diversity. Shifting to diversity as a mode of thought, a context of action, allows multiple choices to emerge.”

As twittering is more of a chore than an enjoyable experience, I indulge in a ‘treat’ that is like a reward for my hard work and diligence. I eat chocolate. However since attending our lecture in which we were told that the cocoa bean is still farmed in other countries using child labour, I can’t eat chocolate again until I find a Free Trade source! As Atkins and Bower (2001, p 285) explain; “Eating the ‘other’ is therefore not an ‘innocent’ activity. It has economic, social and cultural implications to add to the political echoes from the past.” These political echoes are not in the past!

I also drink tea whilst on computer because I associate it with relaxation and calm. I say to myself “Aahh, I will relax and have a nice cup of tea.” It is a bit like being at a high society tea parties. Atkins and Bolwer (2001, p284) explain “…there may be some perceived status associated with the consumption of a particular item, as was originally the case with tea-drinking in Britain.”

The worst habit though is that I spend too much time studying and not enough time preparing good meals and I end up eating fast (junk) food too often. For me this is laziness, for some student with low income it is a matter of necessity. Junk food often seems cheaper. Patel (2007, p4) explains that “Across the planet the poor can’t afford to eat well.” Also, junk food is quick and convenient. Patel states (2007, p8); “’Convenience’ anaesthetises us as consumers.” We don’t think about the growers or the labourers who get the produce to us, we just grab and eat.

Reference List:

Atkins, P. and Bowler, I. (2001). ‘The origins of taste’ in Food in Society in society: economy, culture, geography. Arnold Publishers: London. Retrieved: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tabGroup=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_481341_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_19571_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3D%252Fwebapps%252FConc-camcontent-bb_bb60%252Fitems%252Fgetitem.jsp%253Fas_course_code%253D11-BA1002-CNS-INT- SP2%2526content_id%253D_481341_1%2526course_id%253D_19571_1%2526doc_id%253D30459

Shiva, V. (1997) Monocultures of the mind: perspectives on biodiversity and biotechnology. Third World Network: Malaysia.

Retrieved:

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QcstWYIcbHkC&oi=fnd&pg=PA5&dq=monoculture+limits+biodiversity&ots=vyG9D6k7qP&sig=ZrHhQKGspfspFnvNuBxBjNH1m7M#v=onepage&q&f=false

Patel, R. ( 2007)  Stuffed and starved: markets, power and the hidden battle for the world’s food system. Schwartz Publishing: Melb, Aust.

Retrieved:

https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tabGroup=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_481342_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_19571_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3D%252Fwebapps%252FConc-camcontent-bb_bb60%252Fitems%252Fgetitem.jsp%253Fas_course_code%253D11-BA1002-CNS-INT-SP2%2526content_id%253D_481342_1%2526course_id%253D_19571_1%2526doc_id%253D30397

Comment 6, Week 8

To: jdshep

I guess that snacking on fruit and nuts is perfect for the fitness network you are studying, Twitter must be the bad side Shapes and apple juice. People can be judged by how and what they eat, but I think this is just one of the areas in how a person becomes who they are. So we can use food as a power but we can’t forget that food has power over us too.

I do believe in the virtual world people can express themselves differently than what they would in real life. I for one am not the sort of person to create a different image on the web in terms of my language. Facebook for example, i try to keep it real, my randomness can be misinterpreted by people that may not know me so well however, i am who i am and im not going to change that. On my virtual network, Daily Burn, i have not expressed myself as much as i would have on facebook as i don’t know anyone on the site so i kept my comments minimal.

ourspacewednesday9am:

I think that social networks do have an aspect of freedom for the users. People have the ability to change their name and image giving them the opportunity to create a new version of themselves. From what I have seen from using different networks is that people often write what they would not…

Blog 6, Week 8

What Patel stated about corporations having power over consumers, can be linked to the Twitter Corporation in some ways. Twitter wants its users to only post with a certain amount of words, provide a basic (not in depth) summary of themselves and also to follow or be followed. So yes the Twitter Corporation does have some control over its users but not in a way that farmers are controlled by food corporations. This keeps most of Twitters users happy in a way, but at the same time it places limitations on the user.

Moving on, food and the internet is a match made in heaven, I always snack or have something to drink whilst I’m online its almost second nature. Most of the time its snack food like Arnott’s Shapes,or juice like Golden Circle, but I have never thought about these types of foods and the corporations behind them. “it’s a corporation…guided by the cardinal rule of  market capitalism: ‘buy cheap, sell dear’.” (Patel, 10). There is a vast amount of power in food corporations, they can control so much: the brand, the product, the price and even ourselves.

I can say that food corporations such as Nestle rely not only on the consumers but on exchange/trade too, because it is trade/exchange that makes a company dominant and wealthy. The art of buying low and selling high keeps big companies strong, but in effect it can weaken the farmers and other workers that supply a company.

Resources from Learn JCU:

https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tabGroup=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_481342_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_19571_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3D%252Fwebapps%252FConc-camcontent-bb_bb60%252Fitems%252Fgetitem.jsp%253Fas_course_code%253D11-BA1002-CNS-INT-SP2%2526content_id%253D_481342_1%2526course_id%253D_19571_1%2526doc_id%253D30397

After 6 weeks i still find this confusing! but hey im all for new experiences i just now know this is not something i will continue on hahaha. 

Blog 6

While interacting with my online network i don’t tend to snack, if i do however, it is on a piece of fruit or some almonds. The choice for this is simple, i am interacting on a fitness network thus eating bad food is not encouraged. Drawing on Atkins and Bowlers (2001) article the opening sentence reflects what drives food consumption ‘In matters of food consumption we are at the same time driven and constrained by biological necessity and socio-cultural factors.” That is, to my understanding, when you feel hungry and your body requires food for fuel, these are the biological factors that contribute to what food you will be consuming. As opposed to the socio-cultural factors to when you are at a function with friends or stress eating you tend to eat for no reason. Food gives you a form of identity, the old saying ‘you are what you eat’ which, i believe, stands strongly in today’s society and can also tell you a lot about a person. Food can also give you a form of power, there are jobs which involve food such as a nutritionist or a farmer whom produces the food, which is a crucial step as this is where the food process starts before it hits the sops then your table.

References

Atkins, P and Bowler, I (2001). ‘The origins of taste’. Arnold publishing:London

I think that social networks do have an aspect of freedom for the users. People have the ability to change their name and image giving them the opportunity to create a new version of themselves. From what I have seen from using different networks is that people often write what they would not usually say out loud in a face to face conversation. In recreating themselves anonymously the users are able to be as free or eccentric as they wish to be, within reason. It is an opportunity that may not occur in reality.

Lovelock writes in The Ages of Gaia that, “only the old can happily make fools of themselves.” I disagree with this quote. Every day I manage to make a fool of myself in some way, mostly accidentally, sometimes on purpose. I think that if we did not goof around and make fools of ourselves, life would become rather tedious. Admittedly, in younger people there may be the issue of peer pressure and other adolescent issues that can make foolishness seem humiliating, whereas older people have passed this stage of life and are able to just laugh at their foolishness. This is where Twitter and other networks appeal to the users; they are able to virtually recreate their reputations and personalities.

Lovelock, J. (1995). The ages of Gaia: A biography of our living Earth. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

When you read through the MetaFilter, there are many different networks involved, including weak and strong ties. According to (Buchanan 2002)

“What makes the network perspective so powerful is that it reaches beyond the details of this or that setting, beyond computers, airports or organisms, to identify deep and influential principles of organisation at work ‘behind the scenes’.”

I find this interesting because when I go through the different networks on MetaFilter, there are a lot of different “behind the scenes” work that goes into this site. This includes all the html settings as well as all the people who work hard to ensure everything is correct.

Buchanan, M. (2002). “Small Worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks.”

 In real life, I am a polite person, with a big touch of inappropriateness at the best of times. Writing or typing, gives me a chance to think or delete before I put my big foot in my mouth.

According to (Game and Metcalfe 1996)

“…speech is regarded as natural and authentic, and writing is a representation of speech; writing can be an accurate representation, but within it lie the possibilities of deviation and decoration – impurity.”

I find that if I have something that I am passionate about, I am always better off to write it down first before speaking. Does this make the words impure? Im not sure, but I do know I keep more friends that way.

Game, A. and Metcalfe, A. (1996). “Passionate Sociology.”

Comment Five (Week 7)

To fleatme9

I can definatly agree with what you say about twitter and nature, because i too felt that Twitter does have minor connections to the natural world, but they do not affect it. There are plenty of pages on Twitter to do with nature and its supporters/activists, although these pages are interesting they ‘as you said’ can’t act but instead discuss. So Twitter does have connections to nature, but it rarely acts within.

I have found it difficult to navigate the Metafilter, as it seems ordered in one way, but hard to navigate. There is a specific language, and it seems to show by the fact that there is a MetaFilter Wiki. To add the word “Wiki” would seem to add the connotation that this is a sort of online encyclopedia.

As discussed by (Tuan 1991)

“Naming is power – the creative power to call something into being, to render the invisible visible, to impart a certain character to things…”

This shows that had Metafilter decided to call their ‘encyclopedia’ Metafilter Google, it would have a different sort of power, and most likely would be utilized as more of a search engine, than a encyclopedia.

Tuan, Y.-F. (1991). “Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative Descriptive Approach.” Association of American Geographers 81(4): 684 - 696.