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Turnaround

One may lament the closing of some bookstores nationwide., specifically, the closure of big chains such as Barnes and Noble and Borders. The lament may come from the sympathy that may feel for the employees: surely they will lose their jobs. Although a study say that there is a noticeable rise in reading in America- based on e-books purchases through Amazon Kindle and other brands, the difficulty of losing is a job is very disheartening. One can infer that most bookstore employees are introverted and socially awkward. They might consider their work as a fortress, and now such fortress is being corrupted by economic failure, weak sales and steep rent prices. One could hope that they could find a fortress not in the form of unemployment benefits.

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Richard Arum, author of Academically Adrift, posits how college students are not learning from colleges in America. As the Huffingtonpost reports:"The research of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years."
One might say:"Oh how the mighty have fallen." The US before was King of everything, and now, the US lagging behind its Asian counterparts. Others might say that the cause of this is the dumbing down of Americans. Nevertheless, the US is not the best anymore.

McVictimization Begins

McVictimization Begins

The McVictim Syndrome may pertain to the finger-pointing tendencies people do to feel good about themselves. It seems to provide people solace that factors beyond their control are causing their misfortune. One of the classic examples is the obesity epidemic the Americans are going through. David Grazer who coined the term in an article he wrote for the LA Times cites that as long as Americans think that their obesity is someone else's fault, therefore, it is someone else's problems to solve.

One can imagine how childish the coping mechanisms of most Americans. The fact that they rely on false pretenses, and to displaced the blame to other causes seems to be pathetic.

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Ana Jordan, a PhD psychologist from Stanford University, led a study
that facebooking makes people sadder. The premise of this study stems from the notion that facebook users overestimate others people's happiness. Slate.com goes in depth in this study.

In one of the Stanford studies, Jordan and his fellow researchers asked 80 freshmen to report whether they or their peers had recently experienced various negative and positive emotional events. Time and again, the subjects underestimated how many negative experiences (“had a distressing fight," "felt sad because they missed people") their peers were having. They also overestimated how much fun (“going out with friends,” “attending parties") these same peers were having.

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Planned obsolescence pertains to the mechanism of products that are designed to fail. This does not pertain to the normal wear and tear of the product. Planned obsolescence appears to provide a death-date for the product, sometimes in a span of 12-18 months, in order for the company to welcome and sell the new product easily. One of the many examples is the selling of the first generation Iphone. Within the span of 12 to 18 months, there goes the much bolder, much hipper and much cooler Iphone 2nd generation. Apparently, the main purpose is for profits to soar once companies unveiled a new product. Sharon Beder, a visiting professorial fellow at the University of Wollongong, wrote in 1998: "Is planned obsolescence socially responsible?", one can infer that planned obsolescence negates social responsibility.


•work cited•
Planned obsolescence: http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/columns/engcol8.html

Slate.com: http://www.slate.com/id/2282620/

Mc Victim Syndrome: http://www.newser.com/story/107139/mcvictim-syndrome-helps-keep-americans-fat.html