Comment on Smurfie's Blog on modification

I completely agree with her view that people can choose whatever they want to do to their body. We have the choice and i suppose its much better to be individual that be just like everyone else i mean how boring. I like the way she has really personalised her blog, its reaaly well presented.

Click here to have a look http://smurfie-badsmurf.blogspot.com/

Comment on Louise-ann Bad comedians blog.

I completely agree with what you saying about comedians not needing to make offensive jokes. But unfortunately thats what people find funny. I mean look at films like 'Borat' or even 'Scarey Movie' this offensive politically incorrect ssattire style stuff is what people find funny. Unfortunately some comedians make jokes that are at the expense of other members of society.

See her blog for yourself http://subconcsious.blogspot.com/

End of Module Questions

Age - 18

Sex - Female

What is your degree subject (both if joint)? Social Care & Criminal Justice

Does ‘Being Bad’ relate well to the other modules you are taking? If so, how? And if not, why not? No its been completely different from any of my subjects.

Have you found ‘Being Bad’ too demanding, too easy, or at an appropropriate level? I found it fairly easy.

Do you think the list of topics covered on the module was appropriate? Yes i do the only one i suppose i didn't enjoy much was gambling.

Are there any topics not included in the module that you would like to see included? Drugs maybe.

Do you think that the format for classes has worked well? Yes

What did you think of the module team?Good set of lecturers that have taught the different aspects.

Do you think it would have been better to have had more:

Small group discussions? Yes i think this would have been good.

Discussion and debate among the class as a whole? Yes this would have given everyone the chance to put something into the class.

Information and talk from lecturers? Handouts were good but there should have been abit more information on wolf.

The approach taken in the module is interdisciplinary (drawing on perspectives from English Literature, Film Studies, Creative Writing, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies and Politics):

Do you think that interdisciplinary modules are a good idea? Yes as it can be relevant to everyone.

Do you think you have benefited from the interdisciplinary approach taken in the module? yes i have.

Would you like to see more modules that cover this kind of subject matter? yes particularly social work modules.

Are you planning to take the follow-up module PH2004 ‘It Shouldn’t Be Allowed’ at level 2? If it is available as a elective then yes.

Would you recommend ‘Being Bad’ to a friend? yes i would.

Do you think that the blogs (web logs) were a good idea? yes as it is a different approach.

What did you think of the other assessments (e.g. would it be better to have one longer assessment rather than two shorter ones?) It would be better to have one longer assessment.

What have you learned from the module? That Bad behaviour is mostly what you class as bad not necessarily, bad.

What parts of the module have you found most useful and why? The tattoo and body modification lecture was good as i have been considering getting a tattoo.

What parts do you think were a waste of time and why? The Gambling lecture was a waste because it was better to look at the more unorthodox forms of behaviour.

Are there any other comments you wish to make regarding ‘Being Bad’? No.

Drugs

http://www.talktofrank.com/drugs.aspx?id=106

Here is my opinion on the following Drugs:

Cocaine- Is not 'a hell of a drug' as Rick James once said. Its the worst of them all, purely because it seems to have the best reputation. Its glamorised, by the rich and famous. But in reality whats the big fascination if you need to do this to feel good. You need help.

Weed - Don't get me started. Big fascination with this one. You roll it up, smoke it and then all of a sudden the worlds a calm wonderful place and you suddenly at one with nature. Don't make me laugh. What about everytime your mind feels at ease its just putting strain on your mind. But its the cool thing to do isn't it. We will see how cool it is in 20 years when your in a funny farm.

Thats all really.

Gambling

Just for the record the lecturer made a remark that getting insurance could be considered Gambling. But this is not the case as not to get insurance surely is taking more of a risk.

Deal or No deal, thats gambling right there, so why don't people think it's bad. Probably because the contestants actually start with nothing.

Gambling, bad i don't know about that one. If gambling was a bad thing why would people re-mortgage their house for a chance to go to Las Vegas. Why do millions of people do the Lottery, why would the Government actually want to create a super casino.

It must be said that Gambling is one of those things that is bad if done to the extreme for example, spending your life in debt due to gambling. Gambling can be very addictive. But people don't get addicted to actually spending their money, they get addicted to the probability they could actually be better off from their efforts.

The harsh reality is that the people that tend to get all the money from Gambling are the owners of the companies that manage gambling for example, Totes and especially the national lottery. People have this hope that they will end up with as new car and a whole new life. To me the Lottery is just another tax for us to pay.

Dog fighting, animal fighting or whatever. Thats wrong i mean i'm not a lover of animals but thats really abit extreme.

This link provides a help service for people that have gambling problems so if you think its all glamour have a look at this

People paying money to watch that and the fact that its classed as gambling, is one of those factors that gives gambling a bad name. But i suppose people bet on boxing don't they and that two human punching each other till one of them falls over and that glamorised and even televised, so once again the question is not 'Is gambling bad' it is 'who likes gambling and who doesn't'? http://www.gamcare.org.uk/

Telling Lies

Telling lies, porkies or whatever you want to call it.


Its not a illness, its not even a bad thing depending on what you are lying about. Everyone lies, so why is THIS such a bad thing? For example Bill Clinton LIED about having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, then later admitted the truth. So if the then President of the United States can, you'd think a little white lie wouldn't be such a disgusting thing.

Being able to tell lies is a pretty bad quality to have and if you feel as if you have to lie to someone then whats the point?

Lying is bad, but so is telling the truth sometimes, there is nothing wrong with white lies such as - no you don't look fat in that, or don't worry there plenty of fish in the sea. We've all said those things to make someone feel abit better. But the thing is if we told people the honest truth all the time we'd end up being very lonely people.

If everyone in the world told the truth, the world would be a very honest place. Honesty is the best policy in very small doses. Don't get me wrong i don't want to be lied to, but can you imagine people just giving their honest opinion on everything from your hair to the way you live your life, sometimes its better to let people work out the truth for themselves. I mean i thought the idea of Father Christmas was great until i saw for myself that my Dad was clearly the one eating the mince pie on christmas eve!

Lying is not bad, in moderation like everything else as long as you are not a compulsive liar then your alright i suppose.


Lies can be terrible thing, if someone lies to you badly it can affect the way you look at people. You may class all people as bad.


But if i ask someone if i look a bit rough to be honest I'd expect them to lie and say no of course not, but i would need them to tell me the Truth.

I hate being lied to, but i can't hate lies because i have lied. I can't say lying is bad because its something that i have done myself.

For information on what lies actually mean check this out it will tell you anything you want to know
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lying (i'm not lying by the way).

And if you lie this guy right here, Jeremy Kyle undisputed king of daytime t.v (in my opinion) will come down on you like a tonne of bricks. For information on lie detectors and how they work see this link http://www.howstuffworks.com/lie-detector.htm.

Comment on Anneka's blog

Anneka's weblog is really good, i especially like her entry on the kids video. I can see from it that she was fairly disturbed by the movie. Her smoking entry is really good as its a really detailed blog.

http://anneka.blogspot.com

Body Modification

This lecture was very, very interesting. People do modify their bodies, anything from changing your hairstyle to cutting you hair. But obviously it wouldn't be this module without looking into the most disturbing and controversial forms of behaviour.

We saw some very extreme measures of body modification, involving tattoos and piercings that were a little hard to watch in places.

But the people that are doing these types of things are not bad, they are just doing their best to not conform to the conventional images of western society. Pushing the boundaries of whats socially acceptable and what isn't, this again leads to people classing it as bad. Simply because they wouldn't want a genital piecing for example.

I think that a lot of people get a tattoo thinking that its a cool, new thing to do. But i think it's just jumping on the bandwagon. By getting a tattoo your not being different your being just like the however million people that have tattoos also. That's just my opinion. I found some interesting information on this website http://people.howstuffworks.com/tattoo.htm.

Also piercings, I've got my ears pierced and that wasn't to rebel as I'm sure most women have it done too. But there are a lot of people that get around 5 or 6 piercings to stand out, but once again you blend in. Its not like no-one has ever seen the 'Madonna' or the lip piercings that everyone seems to have these days. Once again this is not rebelling against societal norms because most of society do have some form of facial piercing.

People that get them done for sexual arousal purposes or any other reason that's fine, so long as you keep it private and to yourself and don't show society. Because if society don't do it, then it's very very bad (arguably).

Being too religious.

Being too religious is not a bad thing. It's socially unacceptable, anything that the rest of society doesn't like, practice themselves (but maybe do privately) or See's as not normal is. This is why it's hard to define this as bad.

People that are too religious are seen as weird, i completely agree with this. But maybe they are seen as weird because others don't understand.

For example people that preach in Town centres, or even people that go around handing out religious leaflets are people that demonstrate alleged excessive religious behaviour.

And i can say from experience when someones come up to me with a leaflet i have always refused to take one. Not because i think what they are doing is bad. But because i think that my belief should be respected.

I think that as people we are aloud to believe anything we want. So if someone is going to be too religious they have to respect anyone else's beliefs as much as they would expect theirs to be respected.

I think that it's a good thing to have faith but sometimes people in religious cults let their beliefs take over their lives. This i think is bad, not just because i wouldn't do it but because its unhealthy in my opinion for religion to have such a hold on someones life.

Religion is meant to guide you not define you, that's just my opinion.

On religion that has made alot of news recently is scientology, for more information about this see this link http://www.scientology.org/

Bad Cinema

'Kid's' 1995,

But what was bad about it wasn't the sexual imagery or the drugs, drink and smoking. It was the rawness of it. Its been said that this film has been cleverly devised to cause scandal, that i would say was right.

You really couldn't honestly say that the film wasn't a realistic depiction of how teenagers and people can be in today's society because sadly it was.

Whats shocking in the film is Telly and Casper's casual attitudes towards drink, drugs and more importantly sex.

It wasn't a bad film, the film was not evil or deviant, i think its just there to bring to peoples attention that fact that we like to think children and teenagers are innocent, this is more socially acceptable.

But children ad teenagers can be deviant just because a film decides to look at things from this angle does not necessarily mean it is bad. The film is just very socially unacceptable.

But amongst this films controversy i think it sends a message that people need to be aware of Sexually Transmitted diseases and how easily they can be transported from one person to the next. This film is good at raising awareness of that, so its not all bad.

For a review of this film see http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Kids.html

I think that Bad cinema involves films that are just very controversial and upset certain if not all members of society, the same could be said of bad television or books and even art.

But to me Bad cinema involves films that are simply difficult to watch but because they are offensive but because they are rubbish. For more information on rubbish films check this outhttp://www.razzies.com/default.asp

Comment on Marlenes Blog

After reading Marlene's blog on the being too religious lecture, i loved the way that she has included her own views and life experiences. She's used relevent images and links in her blog. Keep it up.

http://marlene26.blogspot.com/

Comment on Megan's Blog

Megan's blog is really good. She adds her own thoughts about how the lecture has been for her. She uses relavent images and links. I havent really got a bad thing to say about it to be fair. Keep it up. xx

http://www.being-badwlv.blogspot.com/

Bandits and Outlaws

Robin hood the prince of theives. One of the most famous Outlaws. Is viewed as a national hero due to him stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

http://www.robinhood.ltd.uk/robinhood/factorfiction.html

This fictional or true character is very much socioally accepted as a hero.

Whats gets me is, why are people like Robin Hood so loved by society when their behaviour is anything but good.

This makes me think why are people that do things that are considered 'Bad' by society then idolised.

I found the lecture very interesting as it made me question, my own morals. It was interesting to look at the outlaws and bandits in terms of political and revolutionary aspects.

Infidelity

This was a really interesting topic. We watched a clip of the film 'The unbearable lightness of being' this was interesting as it was fairly old and to contrast this we watched a clip of a modern film 'Closer'.

The unbearable lightness of being led to two questions being asked, firstly we were asked why does Franz find it humiliating to cheat on his wife in the Same Town? I replied that Franz was considering his own feelings but was also in denial as it doesn't matter where you are your humiliating your wife by sleeping with someone behind her back as it is.

A contrast to this is that in 'Closer' the woman had cheated on her partner in the house that she shared with him.

The second gentleman in the film 'Thomas' does not appear to consider his wife's feelings, he appears to show no guilt that he is having an affair. Thomas responds to the person that he is with, not thinking about how he is making his wife feel.

Everyone has their own definition of adultery, the character in the film Sabina endorsed a particular definition of adultery. She saw betrayal as breaking free from her father/ It was based on her own circumstances, however betrayal for me is more to do with breaking down the trust you have with someone apposed to breaking away.

This song and the video is about a girl being unfaithful to her partner 'Rhianna, 'Unfaithful' :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgZgubuT2DM.

The question is whether or not infidelity is a bad thing? Yes it is.,It can break up marriages and break peoples hearts.

It seems to me that things that are bad are mixed up with what society doesent approve of.

For more information about infidelity check this link out :http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/0-9/4health/teenlife/rel_infidelity.html

Prostitution?

After watching an extract of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', we were asked to consider afew questions so I'll just answers them.

1. Is it prostitution to take money from someone who expecting sex then not supply it?

Well it's not prostitution, technically but you shouldn't really lead someone on if they are expecting more. However if the women's in control of the situation then it may not be a bad thing. However 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'

2. If it isn't prostitution then is it more or less socially acceptable? Its more socially acceptable than prostitution, because its not money for sex. Its more money 'you think your going to get sex', but your not sorry mate.

3.If it is prostitution, then how much is a reasonable charge? Very tricky to answer this one I'm guessing about 500 quid.

Theres a great article in the guardian about people paying for sex in the Guardian see here http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1306267,00.html

Comment on Ellie's Blog

Ellies coming up on some good ideas for her blog.

However i think she needs to include more information on her views of the topics covered on the lecture, maybe she hasn't got round to this yet, either way great start.

http://whatyouclassasbad.blogspot.com/

Masturpation/Self abuse

http://www.solotouch.com/

So is masturbation really a cultural problem like smoking, i don't think it is. Millions of people admit to smoking, i mean people do it in public places. So i wouldn't accept this statement.

There are afew things that mates just don't speak about. And this is definitely one of them. You can call someone a 'wanker' and that's a pretty offensive thing, but what do you call a women that does it. Maybe its assumed that women don't or won't.

Masturbation is a very taboo topic, it seems that this module should be called 'what is being bad?'. I mean this behaviour isn't killing anyone, its not a form of evil but it is frowned upon and classed as bad by a lot of people.

Masturbation has been deemed by the following crude phrase's:

Jerk the Gherkin

Bash the bishop

Choke the monkey

Toss the salad

Turning Japenese http://punkmodpop.free.fr/vapors_pic.htm

That's all i could think of in the lecture as i don't really think about it much.

Its not something that i think is bad, but i think its something that should be private and kept that way. People can talk about sex, but sex with themselves is seen as weird especially if your a bloke however not so much with women.

I think society is very quiet about it, amongst other things.

The lecture didn't shock me, but i think made me aware of how much of a tricky issue it is.

To Stalk or Not to Stalk that is the question...

After watching a very funny extract of an episode of 'Peep Show' (Channel 4) in thursday's lecture, i was left very amused and fairly disturbed. Why i hear you ask, because the main guy in the show has a crush on a woman that he works with, but he takes it upon himself to hack into her email account to see what she has been saying. This to me is abit 'stalkerish' i mean those are private emails. Then i got thinking if that was in a real life situation how bad would that be, is it really bad or is it just 'a concerned interest in someones activities'.

I think that a concerned interest in someones activities can become stalking if they begin to take over someones life, if the person that takes an interest needs to intruse in someone elses affairs constantly to see whats going on this is not physically stalking but pretty close.

In terms of observance being allowable or inappropriate it makes me think of 'Hollyoaks on Channel 4' there is a storyline going on at the moment where one of the characters Will is inappropriately observing Zoe. He has fixed cameras in her room where he can see her movements whenever she is in the room, this involves taking her clothes off. This is a good example of how an observance of someone can be innappropriate when that persons privacy is being violated and especially when that person is unaware that they are being observed.

Shoplifting

People that shoplift do so for a variety of reasons, as was seen in 'family guy' its done due to a kind of spur of the moment thing and can evolve into an addiction. According to some research more than 3.5 million people have admitted shoplifting in the past 5 years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4477596.stm

Whats interesting is that people who can afford to buy things still choose not to pay for them, for example Hollywood Actress Winona Ryder was convicted of shoplifting.

People who can afford this may do it due to it being an addiction or even a cry for attention, or eve people who have the money shoplift because they feel they are higher up in society.

In my opinion shoplifting is not the same as a strategically planned armed robbery. It can happen in large businesses or even small shops. It can happen with rich people or even the poor.

It can be just as addictive as smoking for some people or even a guilty pleasure like Masturbation...

But that's a totally different lecture!

Ciggies...

Kate Moss does it, Pete Doherty can't get enough of it, I'm hooked on it and so are my mates.



Tobacco, cigarettes,We all smoke, knowing full well its bad for us. Every cigarette packet i buy tells me that smoking kills. I don't find it hard to light up in public, but for some reason, smokers have this edge and sexiness about them that non-smokers don't have. Smoking is seen as a bad thing by those that don't smoke, where as smokers see it as the norm. It ties in really to being bad as like i said in my first blog, varying from person to person.



My parents don't smoke they always taught me and my brother that smoking was wrong, that people that smoked were bad people. Who would have guessed that about a decade later i'd become one of those 'bad' people.



I don't think smoking is bad, i think that most things accepted and practised by wider society can't be that bad. I think thats the long-term effects of smoking are very bad, but all smokers are aware of what it does and can do to them.







Perhaps this is due to how smoking is portrayed in T.V and films. Smoking which is part of that glamorous lifestyle, can give a character that edge, it can even be a trademark of a sex symbol for example Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast and Tiffanys'. Its something that when put in films and television and even books people from all walks of life can identify with it.



Its a private pleasure that is wholly public. Children that live with parents that smoke are http://www.ash.org.uk/exposed to passive smoking for several hours a day are three times more likely to develop the disease as adults than children brought up in a smoke-free household, not only that but these children are also much more likely to smoke themselves than children who live in smoke - free households.

In hindsite i cant realy cast a judgement on whether smokings bad or not, the lecture was based mostly areas like film to government warnings. If i said smoking was not a bad thing would i be biased or is it really not a bad thing?

Being bad or not? Confessions of the student.

I think i went into this module with an open mind and judging by the nature of the first lecture i think that was an excellent idea.

There were Revelations not for the faint hearted or politically correct! What was really interesting was that some of the 'confessions' that people had anonymously made were to me not that bad.

I guess bad behaviour varies from person to person. One persons bad behaviour could be another persons good i suppose. But to round it up it was an excellent start to the module and i can see this is going to be a great opportunity for me to think freely and openly about what i consider to be bad.