I have chosen an online ad for music therapy programs at Sant Joan de Deu Hospital in Barcelona, Spain sponsored by Fundacion Ilusiones.  I was drawn to this artifact by the powerful imagery and the message that music can cure.  As a musician and an aspiring doctor, this deeply connects with me.  The strong images used provide so much hope and meaning, and caught my eye enough that I couldn’t help but study it in more detail.  The ad is focused on a young girl that has lost all of her hair due to treatments to fight her illness.  She is smiling in spite of her trials, and is surrounded by blue and white watercolor that looks like the sky on a partially cloudy day.  There are music notes of different rhythms overlaid that look like hair billowing in the wind.  In the bottom corner it says “Music also cures.”  This ad is raising awareness that music therapy can aid in curing severe illness, which is directed towards the general public.  It was published in February of 2007 online in Spain.  The tone is positive, uplifting, and hopeful.  The commanding imagery of a child battling cancer is a tough reality to face, and most people share the value of protecting children from harm.  This ad really plays on emotion and pathos to bring across its message of music being therapeutic.

One of the more understated, but relevant elements of Super Sad True Love Story is materialism.  On page 38, Lenny, while looking for information about Eunice, comes across her and her sister’s purchases that are mostly comprised of boutiques in L.A. and New York, footwear, and expensive socks.  During his analysis, he feels the need to save them from themselves and “the idiotic consumer culture that was bleeding them softly.”  Materialism also comes into play with the apparat models.  You aren’t cool or important if you don’t have the newest model with all of the best functions as displayed when Lenny returns from Rome and is forced to get the most updated version in order to increase his status at work.  The consumer approach of the apparat is similar to that of iPhones in the sense that the most recently released version shows status.  This plays into the social hierarchy that controls their world, and is beginning to control ours.  In our society, there is so much emphasis placed on how you look and what you have.  Due to our judgmental nature, there is a lot riding on first impressions and appearance.  As the saying goes, you must “dress to impress.”  To be someone of importance you have to look the part, which requires you to have money.  This creates a socioeconomic issue that restricts those in the lower class from reaching higher levels in many industries, and results in a vicious cycle.  The novel seems to comment on the societal obsession of consumer culture, and how this dangerous cycle is connected to the financial crisis of America.

In one year alone 480 million dollars has been lost through part one crimes, which are limited to murder, rape, and assault.  These crimes could be decreased by 30-40 percent if the Project Angelfire system is implemented according to Ross McNutt, the project’s creator.  It has the power to remove thousands of criminals off the street and increase security in our everyday lives.  Through a high-powered camera strapped to the bottom of a plane, law enforcement would have access to snapshots taken every second.  Entire crime organizations could be taken off the streets by analyzing the connections and associations in the constant surveillance.  Many believe that this system takes away our basic right to privacy, but limits and regulations could be put in place to ensure basic privacy while still allowing major crimes to be halted within hours.  This technology would allow people to go about their daily lives without having to constantly worry about the crimes constantly occurring around them, giving them a peace of mind.

Technology of this magnitude is a danger to our basic right of privacy.  The constant access to our daily lives leaves too much up in air in terms of personal safety.  This level of clearance, power given to the government is a disaster waiting to strike, and with a right as basic as our personal privacy this just cannot be trusted in their hands.  With more and more technological advances, hackers could potentially have access to everything we as a society deem precious.  This system would potentially open the door for many more to whittle away at our rights little by little.  Although many crimes could be solved, this sacrifice of our privacy brings even more issues that are simply not worth it.