Blog Post #1

“If people are reading about lives that are much better than theirs, two things can happen,” Burke tells me. “They can feel worse about themselves, or they can feel motivated.” Marche, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?"

As a Facebook user, I support this quote through observation of my own thinking, which led me to compare myself to others on social media. I believe that the reason people become miserable when comparing themselves to others is because Facebook makes everyone’s lives look perfect. The thing about social media is the majority of people only post about good things in their lives. For example, when a person that is having marriage issues goes on and sees a couple looking happy together in a picture, they would rather feel envy. The Facebook user doesn’t know the troubles that couple goes through too. Feeling this way results in dissatisfaction, inevitably making a person miserable.

“Starbucks shows its ‘appreciation for the years of pleasure their coffee has shown’ not by seeking to pay workers on coffee plantations a subsistent wage but rather by donating to an aid organization.” Mathieu, "Economic Citizenship and the Rhetoric of Gourmet Coffee"

 

It is hypocritical for Starbucks to be donating to a cause, when they need to fix the economic problems with coffee plantations. The truth is that they honestly don’t care about the economic mistreatment that happens at coffee plantations. Since they want to be an “ethical global- friendly coffee purveyor” they give a donation to aid a cause so that they look “ethical.” If they honestly cared they would fix the amount of money people are getting paid. There should be a larger awareness of issues like this. It is only fair for Starbucks to fix the economic issue, and then to continue to aid other organizations as well.