Pride

What struck me most was the Ebonics ad. The image itself in grayscale with Martain Luther King jr.'s back turned with the painful statement, "I has a dream."
I must shamefully admit that it did sound like a foolish way of speaking; I has a dream. But the whole thing was skillfully rendered to shame Ebonics, even to the point where I wanted to instinctively look around and see if anybody was emotionally hurt (even though there was no one there). I thought that most Blacks took pride in Ebonics, but with all these readings I suppose I should know better now that many don't. The style of the ad successfully invoked shame and hurt; even to me who has no relation to its topic.

I was also greatly confused by the car ads. I couldn't decide their motive either way. They seem honest in their efforts, but what makes me suspicous, is what would motivate them to be so? They are very honest and friendly and open, sponsering all of these events and giving all of these benifits-- but why would they do this so suddenly? Perhaps the social benefit. They would be Heros; wise ahead of their times, it would seem. People aren't afraid to buy from heros, and I imagine they would do so liberally simply to support the cause. Clever the ads, though... they look just like any other, just with some subtle word play... except for the Volvo ad-- that certainly was not very subtle. That one was kind of... scary. I'm almost glad I didn't have to see it.

Though I could hardly understand a word he was saying (as he spoke so quickly and further numbed my senses with every curse) I understood the message about the ugly myspace pages. This idea has been introduced to me in my previous English class and also by my Dad in his web-page experimentation. He actually has a great book that shows you how to make a good web-page by showing you examples of absolutely horrible ones. I'll have to find the title and post it later-- it's a really good book. I would not give the 3rd-degree to those who design their pages poorly, but it's practicality is not justified in any way. To many flashy graphics, jumbled pictures, bright and complex backgrounds, and flashy text tend to distract and make the page hard to read and to navigate. I would not say they are ugly... but they do cause a good deal of pain at times. Such pages do not seem worth the effort to read them, even if they really are. However much you would like to express your personality in your page-- too much creative liberty and too little thought and planning can scare people away. One can express themselves just as well in simple, easy to follow formats. It's only natural to be afraid and recoil when a lot of loud and flashy images jump out at you without warning.