Hmm... A day of ups and downs

Well, my day didn't start off to hot today, Natural Hazards class is a bit of a pain in the butt (i.e. more reading and assignments than actual interesting concepts), although I should be able to scrape a relatively decent grade nonetheless.

The real interesting stuff came with my PR class. We discussed contemporary PR and ethics.  Now, for those of you who know me -which I'm sure all of you do- I am never one to shy away from the opportunity for a heated debate surrounding a topic that I feel strongly about -though I have been known to debate something just for the hell of it. Anyways, as one can imagine, elite institutes of higher learning (unlike UCLA and Notre Dum) are prime forums for such debates. 

We had quite the debate -some of which was a tad scary when you think about the fact that many of these people will be influencing the world. However, Fear not! James was there to raise a ruckus.

The debate centered around a story provided to us by Dr. Campbell (who shall be known henceforth as Shannon) which involved a certain tobacco company that spent a large amount of money in a philanthropic way, helping many people who had been recently affected by a natural disaster, providing them with food, shelter, water etc. Here's the catch, that same tobacco company turned around and spent three times... yes... 3x that amount of money to advertise what the had done to the American public. Is that ethical? Well, I won't cover the entire gamut of the debate, but I will say, there were a wide range of responses.

After the debate we moved into ways of determining exactly what ethical practice in PR really meant. The philosophies of three prominent philosophisers (yes i did just say philosophisers), Benedict Spinoza, Michel Foucault (pronounced "Foo-Ko), and Niccolo Machiavelli were featured in this segment.

I believe all three philosophies have their own inherent merit, here are my favorites:

"Men who are governed by reason... will desire for themselves nothing which they do not also desire for the rest of mankind, and consequently, are just, faithful, and honorable in their conduct."    - Benedict Spinoza

"Power produces reality and rituals of truth"      - Michel Foucault (father of post modernism)

"The harm that men would do to you lays the moral basis for the harm you must do unto them."

 - The Ungolden Rule - Machiavelli.

Now, as you can well imagine, there are many facets to each philosophy, so to say that I fully agree with one or another would be lunacy, however, as I said before, they each contain some bit of truth.

I'd like to finish up this ever so brief little post by saying that I absolutely love what I've been studying in PR lately, and a conversation with Shannon today after class cemented my resolve even further. She told me that the most successful PR practitioners have these key traits:

1. Excellent verbal/written communication skills

2. creativity

3. The ability to be analytical

4. are very powerful persuaders

well... I think i fit the bill quite nicely, look out world!

:-)

An Autobiographical look at James

James White

August 30, 2006

Journalism 190

Autobiography assignment

Oh, goodness, where to begin!! My name is James White,
I’m from San Clemente, CA, I’m a junior here at USC (having
transferred from Saddleback in Mission Viejo, CA) and majoring in PR.
Here’s a brief history of my life.

On February the 18th 1986 I was forcibly propelled from
my mother’s womb by an inept nurse, which I have since found imbued
me with certain – shall we say “adrenaline junky” qualities- but
more on that later. I grew up as a fairly normal kid in a catholic
family, having three younger brothers, an assortment of household
pets, and a TV that (thanks to a certain mother and father who will
remain nameless) was only capable of playing the same few pre-
recorded tapes of old Warner Bro’s cartoons. I will admit, it was a
stark existence -no Power Rangers or Super Nintendo for me – but
books, yes, books were a different story.

As I entered into my fourth year of studies, my mother decided that
it was time to take educational matters into her own hands, it was
then that I started a new chapter in my life –home schooling. I
spent the next four years of my life immersed in that prestigious
world of Birkenstock sandals and potpourri patterned ankle-length
dresses. It was not, however, as painfully like Little House on the
Prairie as it sounds, I was able to utilize the copious amounts of
spare time afforded by such a lifestyle to my advantage. Enter the
adrenaline junky.

I’d have to say, it all started when I was 7 years old. My brothers
and I inherited a trampoline from a kindly neighbor who’s own
children had out-grown its use. Now, this was not your ordinary
trampoline by any standards, oh no, it was a 15-foot wide behemoth,
and a veritable gateway into heaven for four young boys.

The trampoline let loose that inner adrenaline junky that had been
forced upon me at birth and prompted me to start doing crazy things
like martial arts, pyrotechnics, and fabricating lawnmower engine
powered push scooters. Later, it caused me to (though I can’t quite
figure out the connection) enter into the Boy Scouts of America.

At the age of 12, my daily schedule was as fully packed as any modern-
day corporate executive’s could hope to be. By the age of 16, I’d
achieved both my Eagle Scout and a 3rd degree brown belt in adult
tournament level Karate and it was again time for a shift of phase in
life.

I made up my mind that I was going to reintegrate myself into the
social fabric of life by attending a real honest to goodness high
school, which, after some good catholic prayer and thoughtfulness,
ended up being Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana. While I was at
Mater Dei I decided to go against the grain and join the varsity
cheer leading squad -both for the beautiful women, and the chance to
use my gymnastic abilities in a competitive arena. By the time
sophomore year rolled around, I’d helped my squad achieve a national
championship and was completely sick of the 45-minute commute to and
from school every day. I decided it was time for a change and
transferred to San Clemente High School and never looked back.

At San Clemente, I got hooked on video/film production and through
that, sucked into the world of computers and technology. I proceeded
to start my own (unofficial) multimedia company, providing commercial
production, web design and general tech support services to
businesses in and around my area.

When it came time for SAT’s and college applications I once again
decided to go against the grain, opting instead to bypass the
Freshman application process at USC and go to junior college for two
years, after which time I would apply to USC as a transfer student.

During my tenure at junior college, before I was accepted into USC, I
worked for Maggetti Productions on video projects for Volvo, Mazda,
Saleen and Kawasaki. I worked a fulltime job for Toshiba North
America doing technical training modules for their national website,
and worked with Motive Marketing on the campaign for The Chronicles
of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Someday I would love to be a film actor, but chances are I’ll end up
owning my own business and managing investments or something
respectable like that. Through Journalism 190 I hope to gain a larger
perspective on the intricacies of the world of communications - and
meet some really cool people in the process. Thanks for sticking with
me until the end, hopefully it was an enjoyable ride, you now have a
somewhat compressed picture of who James White really is.

Finally going to sleep!!

Wow, it's 1:40 in the a.m. Who woulda thunk that I, James White,
would have EVER done homework until such an ungodly hour - maybe
browsing ebay, hacking, or im'ing - just not homework ;-). Tomorrow
consists of class from 12-3 and then there's a shindig at our savior
catholic center for new and returning students that starts with mass
at 5pm. The president of the school (who's daughter recently
converted to Catholicism) will be there to do a meet and greet and
hobnob with the best of us ever so cool Catholic folk. Ok, it's time
for me to hit the sac -a time of the day that i've come to look
forward to more than I ever have in my life because of my wonderful
memory foam pad (thanks mom and dad). I love you all and think about
you all the time.

James

IM League Ultimate Frisbee

Just got in the door from my first Ultimate frisbee practice/game.
Man, I am really out of shape!! It's ok though, I'm not nearly as bad
as some of the people that came out. This is going to be great
cardio, every Tuesday night from 9-11pm I'm gonna be sprinting
headlong up and down the field after a little plastic disk (sounds
almost roman doesn't it?). Hope everyone is well. James out.

Knowing People

Ok, I'm working on some homework for PR class right now and this girl
comes up to sit next to me and say hi, the catch is, I have no idea
who she is, even though she seems to REALLY know me. I ran into her
once before at the bookstore while buying books and she was waving at
me furiously then like she'd known me for a long time. I feel
terrible not knowing who she is and I really don't want to let her
know that by asking, "uh, how the heck do i know you?" Apparently
from our brief conversation just now, she's in a couple of my
classes, so i'll have to pay attention I guess.