Feb. 24: Third time's the charm

My third NFTY Convention experience gave me a very different opportunity than my first two. Seeing behind the curtain at all the work that goes into creating such a memorable moment for almost 1,000 teenagers made me appreciate all the more those who came before me, and those who made my own time in NFTY something that changed my life.

I have never gotten as little sleep as I did this past week. I also have never been so active on my feet. Truly every moment of the event came with some crisis that needed to be handled, some situation that needed to be managed, and some situation that must be kept under control.

I was working with my best friends, which in and of itself isn’t an easy task. It can be so hard to separate the difference between work and play, and as a staff member, we needed to occasionally be reminded of that difference. We also needed to remember that this event was not for us; we had had our NFTY experience, and it was time to put that magic together for those who came after us.

Two major things struck me from my time working with the NFTY convention team. First is an appreciation of my past. I now have an understanding of the litany of individuals who came together to create the incredible Conventions that I attended as a participant, one in Washington D.C. and another in Dallas. The group of people who selflessly gave their time and energy to making my time in NFTY meaningful went thankless for too long, and if they are out there, here is my official thank you. I am pleased to be able to say that I took my own experience and turned it into one that hopefully made something significant for the next generation of NFTYites.

The second thing is that I realized that NFTY is a youth group, but what it precipitates is a whole life of significant involvement. For every teen present, there was an adult who gave something to them. Whether it was official as a Rabbi or Jewish educator or as part-time as a TYG advisor, it is clear that these individuals have an incredible support system of adults. That opportunity is one that is ripe for me to take. I can make this more than just a passion of my youth, but rather a realistic career and a way to continue to make a difference, even after my membership and titles have expired.

A young woman came to speak to the Convention participants on the third day, speaking about her experience as a CEO of her own company. She had started it when she was 7. Now, at 18, she is continuing her work, doing something that she is passionate about, and making a significant difference to the world, despite her lack of age. This was huge for me. I was incredibly struck by several things that she shared.  First and foremost of them is her resourcefulness. None of the things that this girl did were outside of the realm of possibility for a young child. It was when she took the initiative to string these things together that she made a huge difference for herself and for her world. That means that we, as people, don’t need to hit a certain age to make a difference; we just need to be paying attention to the opportunities that come our way.

Youth doesn’t need to be a handicap. Instead, it should be an opportunity to look at the world from a different perspective than the adults around us. I’m quickly losing my ability to identify too strongly with “youth,” but I refuse to stop looking at the world with the wide-eyed excitement of a NFTYite.

February 10: In some cases....

February is a big month for moviegoers. With the Academy Awards, a collection of aging action stars making comeback attempts, and fresh new story ideas popping up everywhere, it is a good time for the silver screen.

One such movie that came out this past week was Side Effects. Staring Channing Tatum, who is attempting to turn his career toward the more serious roles, Rooney Mara, who is coming off the big success of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Jude Law, this movie features a couple trying to get back on its feet after a jail sentence for Tatum’s character. As the story develops, the main theme that rises through is the use of prescription drugs to cure depression, and how those drugs are bought and sold.

This was a fascinating film for a multitude of reasons. Most prevalent of them is that I don’t think this movie could have existed a decade ago. We are growing more and more dependent on drugs to cure our problems. Rather than putting in the time and effort to solve some of our problems, we believe that we can be cured by a little pill that has the magical power to make everything better.

This is, of course, not to say that depression is any less legitimate. Depression is a major illness that plagues a great many people. There is, however, a vast difference between clinical depression and feeling depressed. Those feeling legitimate clinical depression need some kind of medication to balance out the chemicals that, within them, are making day to day living a virtual impossibility. Feeling depressed, however, is something that must be managed on its own.

The view that one of the characters (attempting not to spoil anything) demonstrates toward these medications is very much indicative of the cultural view of drug use in curing depression. At one point, this character asks for a pill that can make her feel better, and she does not seem to care about the side effects that may be induced. Another scene shows a doctor prescribing a medication to layer over the other in an attempt to hide the negative side effects of the first. It is only later, after a particularly bad side effect (again, protecting those who will see the film) she says that she no longer wants to take any form of medication, indicating a blame placed on the drugs, an ability to shirk the responsibility from one’s self onto the medication.

While this is only one of the great many elements of this movie, it brings up two very interesting elements of the world in which we live. Primarily, it gives us insight into the dependence that we create on drugs in an attempt to find an automatic way of feeling better. Living a happy life isn’t easy, and far too many people want to find a simple way of creating that happiness without putting in the work to make it so. This movie calls out, in some ways, the prevalence of this over-medication in the world today.

Another, far less significant part of this film is the writing that comes into play when creating media that is indicative of the changing of times. While some stories are timeless, this one is clearly geared to a very contemporary issue, and indicates a very exciting new kind of storytelling. It is incredible to see that there are new and different stories coming out, and it is exciting to see where those stories will take us.

February 3: Something to Ad

The biggest stars of the Super Bowl happen between the plays. Commercials draw the attention of sports fans and others alike. Doritos, Bud Light, and GoDaddy.com compete for the Nation’s attention at millions of dollars per thirty second time slot.

What these media messages are saying, though, actually is contradictory to what society has been saying the 364 others day of the year. It is not unusual to hear people discussing the objectification of women, the promotion of new technologies, and the status symbols of the newest, biggest ,and best. Unfortunately, you won’t see any combat coming from these highly-anticipated ads. In fact, every media message that has been critiqued in the past 50 years of advertising will be put on display.

In this year’s Super Bowl, we saw a Calvin Klein ad that showed male nudity in its most intense form permissible on television.  We saw Bar Rafaeli and Danica Patrick affirm their sex appeal and use their bodies to see a website that has nothing to do with attractive women. We saw a lifeguard having to help the helpless, bikini-clad damsel in distress, and then expect a kiss as thanks for his act of bravery.

What this says about our media intake is fairly startling. What it really says is that, those things that we so often hear are bad for us, the hostile media messages that ruin our society, actually work. The advertisers wouldn’t use them unless they were successful in selling their product. If images of attractive men and women using a particular product or doing a certain activity didn’t get the average viewer to make a purchase, they wouldn’t use those messages. It is fairly simple. Our culture is saying one thing with our mouths, and another thing with our actions.

There were, of course, some messages that do contradict some of the “negatives” that America faces. There was one commercial in which Coke showed a variety of different sayings, images, in which they promoted the better side of life, including random acts of kindness, love, and care. We saw men dressing up in dresses to play with their daughters, even if it was only to get to a bag of Doritos. We saw a heartwarming story about a man and his horse.

This leaves a very simple question. What do we really want? Do we really want the politically correct answer, images that promote equality in every way, and promote our society’s common good? Or do we want images that will entertain, that will excite, and that will, in truth, manipulate us.

In the end, I don’t have an opinion either way. My thought, however, is that there needs to be some consistency. Either we, as a culture, need to be quiet and stop yelling about the atrocities of the media industry, or we need to change our behavior. Unless some change happens in the behavior of the public in purchasing, the media outlets cannot be held accountable to change their behavior.  The industry is, first and foremost, an industry looking to make money. The longer we give them the money for affirming these social stereotypes, the longer we perpetuate them in our society.

The broadcasting industry is meant to put together content that is designed for the public interest and welfare. Unfortunately, at the moment, the public is creating for itself a very difficult situation when what would be interesting is not the same as what would be good for our welfare.

In the long run, Super Bowl ads will continue to evolve to up the ante for what will be most effective at making money and getting the attention of the public, as they have for several decades. In that evolution, it is the times for the public to make a statement by letting its buying history speak for itself. If that can’t be done, it isn’t what society really wants, in which case we need to come to terms with the stereotypes we are affirming.