Online benefacting, or 'e-begging'

Im intrested in the world of online interactivity and how it mirrors our own, people will often invest an immense amount of time in the internet allowing it to dominate and replace real communitys and their social group. The internet, particularly on social interaction forums like YouTube and Blogtv can throw up its own celebritys, who can, and often  do, exploit their celebrity status to engender funding. This is referred to as benefacting or e-begging.

The below link is a somewhat rancerous praecis of what e begging is and how its looked down upon by people who use youtube to promote political or social viewpoints.  Its intresting to see the online community which exsists alongside the so called real world (i heard a youtuber refer to hilariously as 'the meatworld') with similer contrasting agendas and attendant vendettas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAdc131dy7E

One can make money from youtube, and indeed it is  apparently seen as legitamite to become an ad-revenue partner regardless of what you are promoting, even if  entertainment is your only agenda.

However, in my research it is seen as exploitative to ask for money when you wish to spend it on yourself, i find it intresting that our conception of morality extends in to the theoretical space of the internet, where only our thoughts define us.

At this early stage im simply rolling an idea around to see if anything can be created from contrasting online community and social interaction with non online social movement. So ill be posting general themes and topics then re editing them as more information arrives.

'taking religious orders'- very rough status at the mo'

http://www.jewfaq.org/women.htm

Women have the right to be consulted with regard to their marriage. Marital sex is regarded as the woman's right, and not the man's. Men do not have the right to beat or mistreat their wives, a right that was recognized by law in many Western countries until a few hundred years ago. In cases of rape, a woman is generally presumed not to have consented to the intercourse, even if she enjoyed it, even if she consented after the sexual act began and declined a rescue! This is in sharp contrast to American society, where even today rape victims often have to overcome public suspicion that they "asked for it" or "wanted it." Traditional Judaism recognizes that forced sexual relations within the context of marriage are rape and are not permitted; in many states in America today, rape within marriage is still not a crime.
There is no question that in traditional Judaism, the primary role of a woman is as wife and mother, keeper of the household. However, Judaism has great respect for the importance of that role and the spiritual influence that the woman has over her family. The Talmud says that when a pious man marries a wicked woman, the man becomes wicked, but when a wicked man marries a pious woman, the man becomes pious. The child of a Jewish woman and a gentile man is Jewish because of the mother's spiritual influence; the child of a Jewish man and a gentile woman is not. See Who Is a Jew? Women are exempted from all positive mitzvot ("thou shalts" as opposed to "thou shalt nots") that are time-related (that is, mitzvot that must be performed at a specific time of the day or year), because the woman's duties as wife and mother are so important that they cannot be postponed to fulfill a mitzvah. After all, a woman cannot be expected to just drop a crying baby when the time comes to perform a mitzvah. She cannot leave dinner unattended on the stove while she davens ma'ariv (evening prayer services).
It is this exemption from certain mitzvot that has led to the greatest misunderstanding of the role of women in Judaism. First, many people make the mistake of thinking that this exemption is a prohibition. On the contrary, although women are not required to perform time-based positive mitzvot, they are generally permitted to observe such mitzvot if they choose (though some are frustrated with women who insist on performing visible, prestigious optional mitzvot while they ignore mundane mandatory ones). Second, because this exemption diminishes the role of women in the synagogue, many people perceive that women have no role in Jewish religious life. This misconception derives from the mistaken assumption that Jewish religious life revolves around the synagogue. It does not; it revolves around the home, where the woman's role is every bit as important as the man's.

the counter culture doesnt not exsist-

ill be developing this exploration to examine if the counterculture was a widespread platform for social change and unique in its promotion of gay rights and womens rights ( if indeed that was the case)

media tropes part1.

' Myron' graffitti peice- re-edited 29/8/11

windows paint-26/08/2011

This digital peice is based on the Gore Vidal book and the film Myra Breckinbridge' based on the book. Since a lot of my work is about exploring the nature of language and syllogism it seemed apposite to address and include this work by one of my favourite authors.

The book is about a transexual and is a semi comic satire intended to dissect the counterculture and explore through metafiction ( more apparent  when Vidal was censored and forced to eliminate 'pornographic ' words, cannily replacing them with the names of the supreme court judges who ruled against him) its effects on the ideals of an older generation.

The movie adaptation was an all star cast  but was a flop and has survived only as a non ironic Russ Meyer-esque camp-a-thon.

I  want to further develop the idea of censorship as a means of control  and the lack of thought and hypocrisy inherit in such an idea when it comes to lifestyle between adults .

The press makes it own lunch. ( yellow journalism)

This peice i think is worthy of further production, both the title and the text peice are intresting explorations of the press need to make a story rather than report facts. It comes from a title in The Guardian on the woman who scolded looting youths in her local neighbourhood in London. The real title was 'The Hackney Heroine- talks about confronting the rioters'. Im quite intrested in how the press makes a meal of a youtube video, making it seem much more important than it is, and replacing this with real hard facts. One could argue that its as a result of lack of funds for decent investigative journalists in favour of cheap tabloid style creations . And the need , in a rolling 'open all hours' news forum, to provide fresh information and content when there isnt any.
This naturally leads editors to veer toward sensationalism and creating a story , building on it like a narrative. In effect they make the news rather than report it, which becomes propoganda based on whoever is in control and their social or political agenda.

With the current investigation in to Rupert Murdochs phone hacking through is tabloid empire we can see the danger of letting one person get too much influence over what we see and hear.
This theme that i intend to expand will answer some of my fears and questions in a digital format, which i am finding increasingly usefull.

tesco takes over a church-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028609/Tescos-pennies-heaven-church-supermarket.html

london riots peice

Roug draft. digital media 21.08.11
influenced by Verblens theory of the leasure class.

sexual capitol peice

digital media-20/08/11.

'how can she slap?'- the orginal meme i refrenced.- re-edited 29/8/11

memeNoun/mēm/

1. An element of a culture or behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation.

I've since discovered the Dadagiri reality tv show was scripted ( which comes as no suprise), all television shows are edited at the very least. The scripting on reality tv shows that traditionally have low standards of  intelligence and  the lack of pretentions to quality  is particularly egregious, with the lowest common denominator winning every time.

The clip itself, edited by its yt channel is disturbing, a woman, one of the hosts, shouts and swears aggressivly at a contest then slaps him. The contestant reacts and slaps her back, the crew rush in and beat him up, or restrain the other host its hard to tell in the confusion of bodys. With no further information as to its origin it becomes just another shocking video of violence once can find anywhere on the Internet.

I had to research the show and hosts to garner its origin and intent, i doubt the people who developed the meme did the same. The video footage becomes a tool, the distance of the viewer from the act, which we can now rewind, stop and edit loses its shock value as it gains its interactivity status.

Memes can have political and social satirical intent , indeed the power of focused ridicule can change social direction in a way proselytising cannot.

Though in the case of  the Dadagiri meme it was intended purely as a temporary internet joke, but the views of the commenters on the video are intresting, showing a mysognism which cannot be explained away as purely testosterone driven  teenage boys.

We know however, from millgrams experiments that anonymity and a freedom to express ones base instincts without fear of punishment or censure means people will often exhibit anti social behaviour. Of intrest is the current idea that when one is allowed to behave morally unchecked the limbic system of the brain, that regulates social interatctions and group behaviour, becomes atrophied. It seems to be a case of 'morality-use it or lose it'.

Im working on ideas that i will be posting shortly to further develop and explore the idea of memes and internet as a passage for these modern phenonemah.

http://sundersartwork.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-can-she-slap.html
The link to the art based on this.

how can she slap?.

digital peice combining internet memes of shocking behaviour and linking them to the 'real life' societal abuse both backed  by governemt and media oligarchs. I may have been the only one shocked by the indian show 'dadagiri' but i was  more disturbed by the comments of viewers who took mysoginistic pleasure in watching a woman get slapped or contestants being humilated for a prize. We can link this voyerustic sadism with the replication of the abu ghraib abuse images.

Replicated in the middle east to rouse public support and outrage for the american led invasion and copied and pasted in the west as humerous screensavers and one line jokes on talk shows and blog sites. Im increasingly intrested in wether the distance and anonymity whilst maintaining a user interactivity never seen before ( in terms of the ability to copy, share and edit and comment) means the viewer excercises their worst humanity in sadism not their best ( outrage, campaigning).
Here is a link to the original story of the abuse scandal,  it is a 60 minutes news special.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA43BhdXUmw
Also here is another piece i made on the dada giri/ abu ghraib work.
http://sundersartwork.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-can-she-slap-orgin-of-meme-i.html

tv tropes reversed1 In which we see male leads who are overweight with lead females.

 

Ask yourself, are these male leads depicted as repulsive because they are overweight, do the female leads act with disgust toward their bodies or sexuality?

Would an overweight  female lead in a film be allowed to date a typical male lead?, 

Do the overweight male leads have an obsession with food?

Are they depicted as sucessful socially with careers?

This post is in edit

Please leave comments if you have them i always reply thanks.

fat women art not worthy of love.-edited 12.7.13

Digital peice: windows paint 18/08/11
Im intrested in using the immediacy of windows paint to challenge the immediate assumptions of televison, more so now its widely dispersed through the internet. I intend to create a series of these text peices, that will challenge such tropes.
Below is the link to the second piece of art on this theme.

http://sundersartwork.blogspot.com/2011/08/tv-tropes-reversed1.html



The fat woman not worthy of love trope is seen all the time in the media, she will be a comic punchline, or a figure of tragedy. On no account will she be sexy, sexual, desired or taken seriously. This is not the case for men who are allowed to be flawed and have those flaws seen as desirable traits.

 Carmen Ferrara from the t.v series Popular.

 Conchita from the movie Donnie Darko
Are both examples of American films in which overweight women are depicted as tragic figures their bodies being a source of deep unhappiness, their sexuality treated as monstrous and their intelligence,romantic status depicted as comedic.

However, this may be something endemic to American culture, in my country England we do have fat women as romantic leads, their sexuality is not depicted as something to be repulsed by and they are not marginalised in films or t.v

Vicar of Dibley. The lead character played by Dawn French routinely dates men, and is romantically pursued by men without her sexuality being laughed at .

 A selection of the handsome male leads who pursue the Vicar of Dibley.

The sitcom :Miranda with the lead actress and her characters boyfriend.

The british sitcomes i looked at did not have the lead characters obsessed with food either.

I wonder if it might be an American cultural problem, i shall have to research more on other countries.

Please leave comments, i would love to hear your views on this topic.
Thanks for viewing my work.

Cameron riot rough

windows paint-15.08/11
im thinking to put Camer-morons body on top of Robocopusasupercop.

ebay art project3

I like the idea of everything and anything being for sale on ebay, there have alread been numerous scams and crooks caught in the act. So it serves as a great metaphor for the things we see everyday that are up for sale.

Digital peice - windows paint-11-08-11

rough draft

ebay project.

Windows paint-11-08-11
Im working on a series of digital peices which allows me fluidty of thought and production often these are just ideas ready to  be developed in to further peices.

skivying under da' sea.

Digital peice on windows paint. I want to adapt this to include elements of disney characters particularly the little mermaid and jar jar binks and the crows from Dumbo.

four legs good, two legs toff.

digital peice on windows paint-10-08011

It always disturbs me to see the toff supporters out in the sun willingly funding a jolly for unelected peerage and wealth.The propoganda in support of the 'royals' and therefore the staus quo of privelige is constant in our society, i want to try and examine this media and how it effects us, allowing us to disregard history. This is a rough design for a larger theme.

Theres no money in the kitty chum...p.

Digital peice, on windows paint.10-08-11

The initial design stages are here, i want to work on some of the collage to create a better visual.

We are always told that money is tight, and subscribe to boom and bust

yet we are in three wars and the waste of any government we have is shocking.

We are a trillion pound economy, we can afford free higher education, we can afford a nhs that treats us all. We can afford a state pension that allows people stability.

im working on an equation , described in visual terms that explains this theme.