Suze's Blog of all things Media

Over the past few days, hundreds of students gathered at UCLA to protest the 32% fee increase. During the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday no less than three helicopters hovered in the skies over UCLA at all times, and many police and officials were on hand to control the hoards of angry students.

According to my sources which happen to also be UCLA students, the protests were very dramatic. Although, it was relatively quiet and peaceful- as far as protests go, not only were twelve people arrested and at least one guy tasered, but it would seem there were seven or eight black protesters quarantined far away from the main protest. It would seem that the police did not feel that it was safe to allow those protesters anywhere near the heart of the protest. According to my source who was actually there “It was like going back in time forty years!”

So naturally I decided to watch the News on Thursday night to see if anything about this was mentioned. Of course not, the news discusses the students protesting yes – but in none of the videos nor students interviewed was there any sign of these quarantined blacks.

Continuing my research I have found article after article on the protest itself, but no pictures or reports suggest anything of this sort. It would seem that while is apparently still acceptable for the police to segregate blacks who may be a danger to the protest, it is not acceptable to own up to it in the media. I guess African Americans still have a ways to go…

While it’s true that the police may have had legitimate reasons for separating these protesters, if they did have just reasoning why did they hide it from the media? Call me crazy, but if you truly stand behind your actions, should you not be willing to admit it to the public?

Articles and Pictures regarding the protests:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/UCLA-Protest-Arrests-70404787.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-cuts20-2009nov20,0,7218101.story
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/ucla-students-end-a-day-of-protest-over-fee-hiks.htm

http://consumerist.com/5400720/mafia-wars-ceo-brags-about-scamming-users-from-day-one

Zynga is the company that brought Facebook addictive games such as Mafia Wars, Farmville and Yoville. Most people on Facebook have heard of these games at the very least, and a good chunk of them are addicted to at least one of them.

Recently the CEO of Zynga was at a mixer talking to some developers, during this talk he bragged about how he was scamming people through facebook, not only with the adds he displayed in the games themselves, but also in the ways the games are actually ran. For example, in Mafia Wars the player has the opportunity to buy “power boosts” which prevent them from having to wait for their ‘power’ to restore. They can also sign up for special offers with companies, that are designed to scam the user into paying hidden fees and known for downloading harmful spyware to users computers.

I don’t understand how it can be okay for Facebook to market such games proudly, when they are only out to scam people. How can this be legal?

Moreover, I have often wondered about the Ads that Facebook itself displays. Countless aids for the “Secret to whiter teeth” or “Rachel Rays Secret Diet” or “earn millions working from home” etc, how is it okay for them to sell advertisement space for this stuff? Its disgusting, and sad when you consider how many people fall for such things.

Isn’t Internet Scamming illegal? If this is the case, how can mega popular sites like Facebook promote them? This is wrong on SO many levels!

http://news.aol.com/article/eric-williams-charged-with-indecent/730688

On October 21st, Eric Williams was arrested for being naked in his own home. At 5:30 in the morning, he woke up, went downstairs, and made himself a cup of coffee in the buff; not realizing that a mother and her seven year old son were cutting through his yard.

The mother called her husband, who happened to be the police and the next thing Williams knew, he was being arrested for indecent exposure, and informed that he could end up with a year in jail and a $2000 fine.

Call me crazy, but what one does in ones own home is their own business. If someone wants to walk around naked in their own house, that is their prerogative! Its their house, and most importantly a free country. Especially at 5:30 AM, when no ones around!

The fact that a mother was cutting through HIS yard at 5:30AM, does not give her, or the cops, or anyone else the right to claim he was “trying to be seen.” Now if he were standing in front of his window, watching them – then they might have grounds. But he wasn’t, he was making coffee. It was dark. How was he supposed to know some lady and her kid were going to TRESSPASS across his yard and peer in his window at him?

Insanity!