What will I do? What can I do?
I believe the simplest and most successful way of promoting a better world in the future is through personal action. After this course, I believe I have expanded my knowledge of power and oppression to a new level of compassion. I recently went to my first gay bar and I believe it is the best bar in this city because it had a wide range of people who were all tolerant of one another. I will make changes in my behavior such as: I will stop using the word "gay" to mean lame or boring; I will stop laughing at jokes that are racist, sexist or homophobic no matter who is the company saying them; I will try to convince my straight friends to go to a gay bar with me; I want to start participating in activism for equality for all varying sexual orientation; I will try not to let stereotypes get the best of me; I want to have more of a variety in the people I spend time with in regards to race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, etc.; I will encourage and support those who are different from the norm; I must credit this course for finally allowing me to understand the reality of trans-gender individuals and I respect their struggle now; I no longer am willing to be acquaintances with individuals who are intolerant; I do not want to live in secrecy anymore about my reality that I am attracted to both men and women; I want to speak out against oppression when I see it happen in person; I will not be activist who uses violence; I will use my music to convey my own reality and use it to help deconstruct this oppressive reality we live in today; I want my music to reach all audiences from the oppressed to the oppressors. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make everyone tolerate if not accept and understand how it feels to be different or make others realize how different they are from what is expected of us.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Quick Post #6
1) In my social sphere, it is comprised of a diverse range of aged people. In my family, it ranges from 6 months old to 84 years old. I wish I spent more time with my grandmother and my baby cousins. I am currently working at a kindergarten school so I spend every weekday around 27 children who are six years old or under. I love children because I wish I could be excited about everything like they are because I have clinical depression. When it comes to the elder, I do not normally have that same feeling. Most elderly individuals I have met believe in outdated or narrow-minded ideas and my elderly family repeat the same ten stories every holiday.
2) Why is our society segregated on the basis of age? It is simple... the impact society has had on varying age groups makes it nearly impossible to share what we are enjoying or have enjoyed and what we believe in because we are all from different time periods. How am I privileged? I can integrate well in our technologically savvy world we live in nowadays. I am also privileged because I have no limitations on my work abilities like say an elderly man would have to worry about.
3) I found it very interesting when I went to a gay bar and there were a number of middle aged and some elderly individuals who were living it up just like the young adults were. I find it interesting that the only place of tolerance is in a gay bar for all people. Well, I guess it is not surprising. How can we promote greater respect for all age groups? Have organized interactions with people from all ages such as the video game event I hosted at a retirement home I formerly worked at. One young staff member was paired up at random with an elderly individual so we could have teams of the video game Wii Sports. Schedule events that force people to be out of their comfort zone. DO not fear. It becomes fun. The video game contest was the highest enjoyed activity by the employees and the residents.
2) Why is our society segregated on the basis of age? It is simple... the impact society has had on varying age groups makes it nearly impossible to share what we are enjoying or have enjoyed and what we believe in because we are all from different time periods. How am I privileged? I can integrate well in our technologically savvy world we live in nowadays. I am also privileged because I have no limitations on my work abilities like say an elderly man would have to worry about.
3) I found it very interesting when I went to a gay bar and there were a number of middle aged and some elderly individuals who were living it up just like the young adults were. I find it interesting that the only place of tolerance is in a gay bar for all people. Well, I guess it is not surprising. How can we promote greater respect for all age groups? Have organized interactions with people from all ages such as the video game event I hosted at a retirement home I formerly worked at. One young staff member was paired up at random with an elderly individual so we could have teams of the video game Wii Sports. Schedule events that force people to be out of their comfort zone. DO not fear. It becomes fun. The video game contest was the highest enjoyed activity by the employees and the residents.
Blog #14
Trying to ask what makes a good activist to me is like asking what makes a good musician. A good musician has integrity, relentless, vision, knows what they wish to express, has true feeling behind the music and knows how to get their music heard by the general public. I believe these fundamentals are true to an activist as well. Fortunately for the activists, they do not have to worry about corporate greed corrupting their image. Activists are lucky as Howard Zinn said because activists have truth on their side.
What can make an effective and positive activist? First, you can never get discouraged. Secondly, you can never let the problem become to emotionally involved for you. Why? I believe it is great to be passionate about what you do, but when people let emotions get the best of them, they will say things they do not mean or completely lie to keep someone from asking more questions. I have always had a fear of being an activist. I believe in equality for all people as long as they do not want to marry animals, but I have a problem with the individuals who advocate for institutional justice. I find too often that people who are active in the political community have a rather pretentious view of themselves. Do not get me wrong. You should take pride in what you do, but it should not define you or allow you to consider yourself better than those who are not activists. Personally, I fear being tied to another's actions if I joined a particular organization to protest a particular issue. I am not a people person, but I am personable.
What activists do I admire? I have never really thought about that question before. Obviously, I admire Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Simone De Beauvoir, and all the students who protested the Vietnam War. I have never participated in any protest, not because I do not believe in anything, but because I feel like nothing will change while you protest on the T-Hall lawn.
What can make an effective and positive activist? First, you can never get discouraged. Secondly, you can never let the problem become to emotionally involved for you. Why? I believe it is great to be passionate about what you do, but when people let emotions get the best of them, they will say things they do not mean or completely lie to keep someone from asking more questions. I have always had a fear of being an activist. I believe in equality for all people as long as they do not want to marry animals, but I have a problem with the individuals who advocate for institutional justice. I find too often that people who are active in the political community have a rather pretentious view of themselves. Do not get me wrong. You should take pride in what you do, but it should not define you or allow you to consider yourself better than those who are not activists. Personally, I fear being tied to another's actions if I joined a particular organization to protest a particular issue. I am not a people person, but I am personable.
What activists do I admire? I have never really thought about that question before. Obviously, I admire Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Simone De Beauvoir, and all the students who protested the Vietnam War. I have never participated in any protest, not because I do not believe in anything, but because I feel like nothing will change while you protest on the T-Hall lawn.
Blog #13
What do I believe is the root cause of ageism? I believe the root of ageism comes from many things about our society. Firstly, we live in a fast paced globalized world that is continuously asking us to move faster, work harder, move quicker and do more things throughout your day. Fellow students and I have always thought it was interesting that our world involves spending 20 hours a day doing work and somehow we are supposed to have eight hours of rest. Secondly, in our society, we are consistently trying to reverse any signs of aging. Why? We seem to hate growing old. We fear it. I always thought it was a privilege to be able to grow old. I am surprised I even made it to the age of 21 years old.
Why is this particular "-ism" so seldom talked about? I believe it is because we try to ignore old people to begin with so why would we talk about the issue of being ageist? I know that I am completely afraid of old people drivers. I believe that ther is nothing wrong with having old people annually get checked to make sure if they can still drive. Would I be willing to do that as well? Absolutely! It would make the roads safer if everyone was made to do it. In the video "Once We Were Young," I could not help but feel bad for the old woman. She seemed to be completely ignored by most individuals around her. She was completely alone in her home and did not have any company besides her cat. I believe that our new 21st century society completely ignores the elderly. We will run out of medicaid, medicare, and social security before I will be able to use it. Our society tells elderly individuals that we have no more use for you as you near the end of your days so we do not care about you. It is disgraceful.
Why is this particular "-ism" so seldom talked about? I believe it is because we try to ignore old people to begin with so why would we talk about the issue of being ageist? I know that I am completely afraid of old people drivers. I believe that ther is nothing wrong with having old people annually get checked to make sure if they can still drive. Would I be willing to do that as well? Absolutely! It would make the roads safer if everyone was made to do it. In the video "Once We Were Young," I could not help but feel bad for the old woman. She seemed to be completely ignored by most individuals around her. She was completely alone in her home and did not have any company besides her cat. I believe that our new 21st century society completely ignores the elderly. We will run out of medicaid, medicare, and social security before I will be able to use it. Our society tells elderly individuals that we have no more use for you as you near the end of your days so we do not care about you. It is disgraceful.
Blog #12
After watching the video "Gimp," I am at a standstill in what I think about the video. I understand that people with disabilities have activities that they must overcome because of their disabilities. Dancing has always been a particularly demanding sport that has its participants be as light, strong and dexterous as possible. When watching "Gimp," the limitations of dance that I thought were obvious, I know I cannot dance, are a complete misconception. I have always understood that there is a genre of dance called interpretive dance. I do not understand the appeal of interpretive dance or much dancing besides raving (I write and perform electronica music). Over recent years, it has been made clear that people who are labeled with disabilities are completely capable of anything that a able-bodied person can do. People with no legs can now run. Two friends of mine have spent their lives in wheelchairs. However, they are dedicated Murderball players. All students at UNH are allowed to play Murderball because the school provides extra wheelchairs. Warning! You will get hurt. Those kids do not mess around. I believe the performance in the video makes it very clear that we should not label people as able or disabled seeing how we are all able to live our lives the way we want to regardless of physical makeup. In "The Social Construction of Disabilty," it proves the point of exactly what I mean. Considering a person to be disabled, if anything, should be considered if you are unable to have equal treatment in our society. Therefore, I purpose that if you are not a white, able-bodied, heterosexual male than you are disabled. As like everything else in this class, the social construction of handicap or handicapable have damaged the lives of all physically challenged individuals. My friends are continuously ignored, stared at or people go out of their way to provide help for my wheelchair stricken friends.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Quick Blog #5
I watched the video titled "Who Wants to be a Porn Star?" The arguments in the film all center around the abuse, torture, debasement, and submission of women in the pornography industry. Do I believe that is correct? I use to think that it was not so because the majority of porn that I watched was just a man and a woman having sex and both seeming satisfied. Recently however, free pornography websites such as "Pornhub.com" has increasing violent and demeaning pornography and the captions placed on the videos to get people to watch them are completely sexist and demeaning. It use to only take me about five minutes to find a porn I am interested in. Nowadays it takes so long to find something that does not disturb or make me feel misogynistic that I do not even bother because it is nearly impossible. I fear so much for young men who believe that pornography is how real sex happens. I knew it was real and it was disturbing but I wonder how many men will never be satisfied and become anxious over the fact that they cannot have sex like male porn stars do. I believe it promotes sexism to the core. Do I want pornography to go away entirely? Absolutely not! What?! I much rather masturbate than try to have sex as often as I masturbate because I would be full of disease by now (I'm only being realistic). What I would like to see is porn that celebrates romantic love between a man and a woman. I have found some porn that seems to be moving in that direction at a site called "x-art.com" but they are still far away from positive pornography. Can it even exist? I think so, but I think it would all need to be produced by women and made from the woman's perspective.
Blog # 11
To be honest, I never quite understood what would drive someone to feel that they need to drastically change their bodies from male to female or vice versa. That is a stereotype that I needed to overcome. In Beautiful Daughters, the thing that stuck out most to me is that to consider yourself a trans-gender you do not need to change your body to the extreme preconceived notions that I had. I always thought that trans-gender people known what it was like to be or feel like both sexes but that is completely false. One of the women in Beautiful Daughters made it very clear by saying that I never knew who it felt to be a man that is why I wanted to be a woman. It made sense after she said that.
In the Trans Woman Manifesto, I originally thought that trans-gender people were supported by feminist groups and the gay community, but it appears this is untrue in most cases because even defectors of the gender binary that do not have surgeries or the like still do not fully accept trans-gender people. I had never even heard of cissexism until reading this article. I completely agree that transphobia is a result of the "extraordinary amount of pressure on individuals to conform to all of the expectations, restrictions, assumptions, and privileges associated with the sex they are assigned at birth" (Serano 442).
We have made it clear through this course that there is no such thing as a "real" gender. It saddens me to know that the oppression of trans-gender people is a result of our gender experiences and our expectations of ours gender identities. Trans-misogyny, in my opinion, is a problem that needs to be dealt with by the trans-gender and the feminist community because the core value that they both fight against is the idea that masculinity is superior and/ or in opposition to femininity.
Homosexuality has become more tolerate in recent years but trans-gender people still do not have the ability to push new forms of media that promotes them in a positive light. I am sure that it was a huge deal for the FX network show Niptuck to have a trans-woman on the show as a love interest of a heterosexual plastic surgeon (She is a knock out too). However in the show, the surgeon becomes aware of this and is disgusted with himself which is negative for the trans-gender community.
In the Trans Woman Manifesto, I originally thought that trans-gender people were supported by feminist groups and the gay community, but it appears this is untrue in most cases because even defectors of the gender binary that do not have surgeries or the like still do not fully accept trans-gender people. I had never even heard of cissexism until reading this article. I completely agree that transphobia is a result of the "extraordinary amount of pressure on individuals to conform to all of the expectations, restrictions, assumptions, and privileges associated with the sex they are assigned at birth" (Serano 442).
We have made it clear through this course that there is no such thing as a "real" gender. It saddens me to know that the oppression of trans-gender people is a result of our gender experiences and our expectations of ours gender identities. Trans-misogyny, in my opinion, is a problem that needs to be dealt with by the trans-gender and the feminist community because the core value that they both fight against is the idea that masculinity is superior and/ or in opposition to femininity.
Homosexuality has become more tolerate in recent years but trans-gender people still do not have the ability to push new forms of media that promotes them in a positive light. I am sure that it was a huge deal for the FX network show Niptuck to have a trans-woman on the show as a love interest of a heterosexual plastic surgeon (She is a knock out too). However in the show, the surgeon becomes aware of this and is disgusted with himself which is negative for the trans-gender community.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Blog #10
The film that I watched was "Freeheld" which discusses the discrimination of a New Jersey county against gay/ lesbian couples who wish for their partners to receive state benefits that a straight couple would automatically receive. The oppression against the GLBT community can jeopardize a person's life chances in extreme ways. Such as the film "Queer Street" where the young GLBT community are forced into homeless housing and prostitution after their families rejected them for their sexual orientation and so on or the working communities discrimination against trans-gender individuals because most costumers would be taken aback by people that they cannot determine to be a male of a woman. It is particularly interesting when trans-gender individuals who pass well for the opposite sex are still rejected when an employer sees their license.
In our government, fair and balanced do not exist there or on "Fox News" either for that matter. Many states do not allow gay marriage and not the majority of states even allow civil unions. The heterosexual family is the only family consistently acknowledged by the government and consistently receive the benefits of that recognition. The GLBT couples are not considered by the majority of this countries adoption agencies to be a viable form of family and housing for an orphan. Even though the federal government does not allow discrimination in the work place, there is still by large margin discrimination by employers and there is obvious discrimination in the fabric of our government in itself.
In "Freeheld," the state government of New Jersey said in a press release that it had no political agenda set up for enacting this bill. Why would they need to say that? If it was a bill protecting heterosexual couples, the state government would never have put that statement in their press release. The government officials say through that statement: "Please! Please still vote for me next term even though I am furthering equality in our state!
In our government, fair and balanced do not exist there or on "Fox News" either for that matter. Many states do not allow gay marriage and not the majority of states even allow civil unions. The heterosexual family is the only family consistently acknowledged by the government and consistently receive the benefits of that recognition. The GLBT couples are not considered by the majority of this countries adoption agencies to be a viable form of family and housing for an orphan. Even though the federal government does not allow discrimination in the work place, there is still by large margin discrimination by employers and there is obvious discrimination in the fabric of our government in itself.
In "Freeheld," the state government of New Jersey said in a press release that it had no political agenda set up for enacting this bill. Why would they need to say that? If it was a bill protecting heterosexual couples, the state government would never have put that statement in their press release. The government officials say through that statement: "Please! Please still vote for me next term even though I am furthering equality in our state!
Blog #9
"Killing Us Softly"
The media has perpetuated gender roles since advertisement has existed especially during the 1950's and after. We spend 3 years of our lives watching advertisements on television which is outrageous. The majority of the time nowadays I either laugh at who absurd and odd commercials are or how stereotypical they are. Advertising tells our youth what they should strive to be or at least that is how young people interpret it whether or not they admit to affected by the images. Women are made into objects, parts of a woman are focused on in advertisements especially the breasts and the buttocks. Women in advertisement are never a subject. They always are always told they need to change their body image in all sorts of ways. This systematic approach to advertisement has left us with the indisputable link between sexism, sexual violence and the like because companies just want to make more money by selling their products. It is even worse if you are a black woman because they are portrayed in the media as objects or subhuman even more than are white women.
Does this system of advertisement support patriarchy? Absolutely! The media creates a stereotypical ideal of what it is to be a women. Therefore, if a woman does not fit that standard, then they are less of a woman. Also, if a woman fits that body type, they are never respected for anything beyond their beauty for the most part. I have no problem admitting that I have and still do associate with men who treat women as objects and nothing more, which is horrible I admit, but I do not know how to change their minds, not because I cannot relay the reality to them, I just fear they are too ignorant and would not understand. Why? It is because we learn these impossible ideals at such a young age that it seems so impossible to change their narrow-minded ideals.
When I try to think of a more diverse example of gender, my first instinct is to resort to the music industry. I do not know if this can be an example but I will give it a shot: Marilyn Manson. His entire music career is based on a queer gender identity. One extreme example from his book "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell" he states that if you preform oral sex on another man but do not get aroused it is not gay and you are only doing a service much like the way our economy is a service industry and no longer industrial for the most part. Another example I can think of are the recent images in Dove advertisements that show women of different body types besides the professional models and showing them in a happy and positive light. However the advertisements still portray women in the American feminine gender role.
The media has perpetuated gender roles since advertisement has existed especially during the 1950's and after. We spend 3 years of our lives watching advertisements on television which is outrageous. The majority of the time nowadays I either laugh at who absurd and odd commercials are or how stereotypical they are. Advertising tells our youth what they should strive to be or at least that is how young people interpret it whether or not they admit to affected by the images. Women are made into objects, parts of a woman are focused on in advertisements especially the breasts and the buttocks. Women in advertisement are never a subject. They always are always told they need to change their body image in all sorts of ways. This systematic approach to advertisement has left us with the indisputable link between sexism, sexual violence and the like because companies just want to make more money by selling their products. It is even worse if you are a black woman because they are portrayed in the media as objects or subhuman even more than are white women.
Does this system of advertisement support patriarchy? Absolutely! The media creates a stereotypical ideal of what it is to be a women. Therefore, if a woman does not fit that standard, then they are less of a woman. Also, if a woman fits that body type, they are never respected for anything beyond their beauty for the most part. I have no problem admitting that I have and still do associate with men who treat women as objects and nothing more, which is horrible I admit, but I do not know how to change their minds, not because I cannot relay the reality to them, I just fear they are too ignorant and would not understand. Why? It is because we learn these impossible ideals at such a young age that it seems so impossible to change their narrow-minded ideals.
When I try to think of a more diverse example of gender, my first instinct is to resort to the music industry. I do not know if this can be an example but I will give it a shot: Marilyn Manson. His entire music career is based on a queer gender identity. One extreme example from his book "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell" he states that if you preform oral sex on another man but do not get aroused it is not gay and you are only doing a service much like the way our economy is a service industry and no longer industrial for the most part. Another example I can think of are the recent images in Dove advertisements that show women of different body types besides the professional models and showing them in a happy and positive light. However the advertisements still portray women in the American feminine gender role.
Blog #8
The amount of oppression due to religion has been a fascinating subject to me. As a child I was brought out Roman Catholic in a primarily white Irish family. I read the bible, went to CCD, got my first Communion, but I was never confirmed. Before 9/11, we had crusades and the holocaust and after we became racist against Arabic looking individuals because our culture decided that all Arabic looking people must be terrorist. Obviously, this is not true for all of the American public all though we allow it to happen every day.
I have always been disgusted by religion. For a while, I did not believe in god when I was young because I never believed that the religion meant anything strong enough to kill each other over it. I thought we were all trying to pray to the same ideological god. I believe in spirituality through basic idea of mind-body connection and meditation while I try to put Buddhism into a twenty first century prespective because I believe that it is the least out-of-date religion. Yes, that is right. I believe religion is an out-of-date primitive understanding of our existence.
When I read "Breaking a Sacred Taboo," I am fully aware of the disparity in this country between full separation of church and state. The government provides Christianity with full recognition. For religion to be truly free in this country, we must have national religious holidays for all religions and maybe your work allows you to take the day off depending on which religion you are.
Other religions are marginalized and oppressed to such a sickening degree. I have felt this personally. I consider myself to be an atheist. I have called myself one since I was about 14 years old. As I mentioned before, my family is Roman-Catholic and Irish people to not tolerate other religious beliefs. It is simply ingrained in the culture. I announced to my extended family, stupidly during a family Christmas party, that I did not believe in god and that Jesus was probably alive at some point, but his legacy was fabricated for the development of our ancient civilization. My family told me that I must worship the devil and they took all of my Christmas present back and told me until I believed I would not receive any gifts for any religious holidays. Every time I see my family they repeatedly ask me whether I believe in god "yet" as if sooner or later it was inevitable. I can see it their eyes and in their hearts that they mean well but they do not understand my perspective. They believe that unless I accept god that I can never be happy in this life and I will have a "Flash Pass" directly to hell. I believe in the ideal of being the best person you can without oppressing or degrading anyone else.
I just never understood why that religious oppression existed because I believed and still believe that it is such an individualized understanding of human existence that, to me, had nothing to do with this planet, but has everything to do with a personal comforting affect due to the oppression of individuals due to other things. What I mean by that is religion was the hierarchy of Western civilization for so many years and allowed for political and economical hierarchies to exist through religious interpretation. Once upon a time, religion was the privilege structure of Western civilization and now it is money, race, sex, creed, sexual orientation etc. Maybe we should regress backwards, so they all one thing to fight against instead of several different struggles to overcoming? I am only joking.
I have always been disgusted by religion. For a while, I did not believe in god when I was young because I never believed that the religion meant anything strong enough to kill each other over it. I thought we were all trying to pray to the same ideological god. I believe in spirituality through basic idea of mind-body connection and meditation while I try to put Buddhism into a twenty first century prespective because I believe that it is the least out-of-date religion. Yes, that is right. I believe religion is an out-of-date primitive understanding of our existence.
When I read "Breaking a Sacred Taboo," I am fully aware of the disparity in this country between full separation of church and state. The government provides Christianity with full recognition. For religion to be truly free in this country, we must have national religious holidays for all religions and maybe your work allows you to take the day off depending on which religion you are.
Other religions are marginalized and oppressed to such a sickening degree. I have felt this personally. I consider myself to be an atheist. I have called myself one since I was about 14 years old. As I mentioned before, my family is Roman-Catholic and Irish people to not tolerate other religious beliefs. It is simply ingrained in the culture. I announced to my extended family, stupidly during a family Christmas party, that I did not believe in god and that Jesus was probably alive at some point, but his legacy was fabricated for the development of our ancient civilization. My family told me that I must worship the devil and they took all of my Christmas present back and told me until I believed I would not receive any gifts for any religious holidays. Every time I see my family they repeatedly ask me whether I believe in god "yet" as if sooner or later it was inevitable. I can see it their eyes and in their hearts that they mean well but they do not understand my perspective. They believe that unless I accept god that I can never be happy in this life and I will have a "Flash Pass" directly to hell. I believe in the ideal of being the best person you can without oppressing or degrading anyone else.
I just never understood why that religious oppression existed because I believed and still believe that it is such an individualized understanding of human existence that, to me, had nothing to do with this planet, but has everything to do with a personal comforting affect due to the oppression of individuals due to other things. What I mean by that is religion was the hierarchy of Western civilization for so many years and allowed for political and economical hierarchies to exist through religious interpretation. Once upon a time, religion was the privilege structure of Western civilization and now it is money, race, sex, creed, sexual orientation etc. Maybe we should regress backwards, so they all one thing to fight against instead of several different struggles to overcoming? I am only joking.
Blog #7
There are hundreds of different levels of interpreting classism in America. After watching the video "People Like Us," I can not help but be sick to my stomach. My experiences of class segregation happened at a very young age. There were many reasons why that happened from the political theory that I studied in school or the structure of the American education system which clearly demonstrates with its different "clicks." I would say my first realization of class differences was when I was babysat as a child by a stay-at-home mother who had a daycare while her husband was at work (both my parents work so I thought it was strange to finally see that classic gender role construction). The toys and food in the house were so much better in my opinion that were in my house. I thought it was great. I told my parents that I wanted those things and my family told me we could not afford it. THe thing that got me the most was that a number of my wealthier childhood friends all had video game consoles and I did not. I know this is arguably a poor and somewhat snobby example of class but it was an eye opener for me.
During middle school, I became dedicated to studying the American class structure and alternatives to capitalism when I read "1984." One of my favorite books to this day. It made me realize not only the idea of big brother which I came to understand as the white, able-bodied American white male, but also the power of wealth in our culture. If I had to understand my place in this American class structure, I would obviously be lower middle-class. I do not go without, but I do not live in excess. The reason I am in college is due to financial aid from the government and without it, I would not be able to attend college. At my age now, my parents provide basic things such as taking me to the grocery store every time they visit but besides that I am on own with rent and other bills. Ever since I was 14 years old I have had a job and I have not asked my parents for money since besides the occasional thing such as food because at the end of the day I have money for a roof, but not for food or clothing, but luckily my family have provided me with that over the years.
Classism is not invisible and I do not believe it every was because it is the driving force of the American dream. Unfortunately, the American dream was supposed to tie Americans together, but now the rich and the poor are becoming even more separated. The rich get amazing tax cuts on money that I can not even fathom how to spend. I would not even know what to do with a million dollars (Vegas, baby!). We are in a recession. It is clear that the middle class is suffering which is the majority of this country while the rich are becoming richer. The American political system is driven by this exclusive group called high class. I will never understand why the wealthy people in "People Like Us" give themselves the title of classy. As if their is even a disparity between the rich because some are classy rich people while others are unsophisticated rich people. I do not understand how we even have segregation within the wealthiest people on the planet.
The thing I will never understand is why money is such a defining characteristic of our country. I understand we are one of the wealthiest countries of the world. However, only 20% of the American population has over 66% of the country's GDI in their bank accounts while the rest of the country is forced to pay higher taxes, lose jobs, lose work hours or lose their homes during our mortgage crisis. To be completely honest, I wish this country would move towards a socialist agenda but that will never happen as long as the privilege stays with those who have money and not the people who vote our officials into office. Do not trust you politicians.
During middle school, I became dedicated to studying the American class structure and alternatives to capitalism when I read "1984." One of my favorite books to this day. It made me realize not only the idea of big brother which I came to understand as the white, able-bodied American white male, but also the power of wealth in our culture. If I had to understand my place in this American class structure, I would obviously be lower middle-class. I do not go without, but I do not live in excess. The reason I am in college is due to financial aid from the government and without it, I would not be able to attend college. At my age now, my parents provide basic things such as taking me to the grocery store every time they visit but besides that I am on own with rent and other bills. Ever since I was 14 years old I have had a job and I have not asked my parents for money since besides the occasional thing such as food because at the end of the day I have money for a roof, but not for food or clothing, but luckily my family have provided me with that over the years.
Classism is not invisible and I do not believe it every was because it is the driving force of the American dream. Unfortunately, the American dream was supposed to tie Americans together, but now the rich and the poor are becoming even more separated. The rich get amazing tax cuts on money that I can not even fathom how to spend. I would not even know what to do with a million dollars (Vegas, baby!). We are in a recession. It is clear that the middle class is suffering which is the majority of this country while the rich are becoming richer. The American political system is driven by this exclusive group called high class. I will never understand why the wealthy people in "People Like Us" give themselves the title of classy. As if their is even a disparity between the rich because some are classy rich people while others are unsophisticated rich people. I do not understand how we even have segregation within the wealthiest people on the planet.
The thing I will never understand is why money is such a defining characteristic of our country. I understand we are one of the wealthiest countries of the world. However, only 20% of the American population has over 66% of the country's GDI in their bank accounts while the rest of the country is forced to pay higher taxes, lose jobs, lose work hours or lose their homes during our mortgage crisis. To be completely honest, I wish this country would move towards a socialist agenda but that will never happen as long as the privilege stays with those who have money and not the people who vote our officials into office. Do not trust you politicians.
Blog #5
White people have a responsibility to acknowledge their privilege. Johnson's chapter properly titled "Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance" discusses the vacuum of denial in the white American culture that is damaging to other races and white people as well. It is no surprise that white people are in denial of their obvious privileges that they have because they deny the experiences of others and their views of alternative realities.
Denial takes many forms and examples of which follow: the privileged group sees subordinate groups such as blacks or Hispanics actually being better off than privileged groups, or the privileged group blames the other groups for their own behavior and not due to the institutional privileges, or the oppression that subordinate groups have is their problem and not the privileged groups problem. These few were the way I thought for years growing up in a lower-middle class family. I never considered myself or my family racist, but I do know that I was raised to understand classism which I have dealt with my entire life. I denied oppression being my problem throughout my youth because I never said derogatory words. I always thought that in this country their was a problem with our class structure and at best I accepted that racism was still a problem in our country, but that it would nothing to do with my life. I could not even comprehend how badly women were oppressed even today because I thought that if I had female friends who were not lovers who I treated as equals then I was doing my part for equality.
The truth seems to be improbable for white American males can comprehend to a point where they can positively impact and degrade the disparity between the privileged and the oppressed. We seem to support and perpetuate the status quo by making it appear normal and legitimate that whites should be the privileged. My race could not be more wrong. White people are the ones who created these divisions among the races and I do not understand how whites believe that their is not a black and brown truth that we will never understand. The truth is that we need to try to understand the reality of each race in this country and try not to place blame as we like to do in this country, but rather we need to understand each others realities to have the advantage of overcoming racial profiling. How do we start to learn alternative racial realities? A starting point I believe in is integrates neighborhoods that we do not normally have in this country.
Denial takes many forms and examples of which follow: the privileged group sees subordinate groups such as blacks or Hispanics actually being better off than privileged groups, or the privileged group blames the other groups for their own behavior and not due to the institutional privileges, or the oppression that subordinate groups have is their problem and not the privileged groups problem. These few were the way I thought for years growing up in a lower-middle class family. I never considered myself or my family racist, but I do know that I was raised to understand classism which I have dealt with my entire life. I denied oppression being my problem throughout my youth because I never said derogatory words. I always thought that in this country their was a problem with our class structure and at best I accepted that racism was still a problem in our country, but that it would nothing to do with my life. I could not even comprehend how badly women were oppressed even today because I thought that if I had female friends who were not lovers who I treated as equals then I was doing my part for equality.
The truth seems to be improbable for white American males can comprehend to a point where they can positively impact and degrade the disparity between the privileged and the oppressed. We seem to support and perpetuate the status quo by making it appear normal and legitimate that whites should be the privileged. My race could not be more wrong. White people are the ones who created these divisions among the races and I do not understand how whites believe that their is not a black and brown truth that we will never understand. The truth is that we need to try to understand the reality of each race in this country and try not to place blame as we like to do in this country, but rather we need to understand each others realities to have the advantage of overcoming racial profiling. How do we start to learn alternative racial realities? A starting point I believe in is integrates neighborhoods that we do not normally have in this country.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Quick Blog #4
As we have discussed sexism and the media, I do not know if this is very sexist at all. The problem is that this girl is ten years old and half of the things that she is talking about she is not even capable of doing such as driving and partying in clubs. I guess if you are Will Smith's child you could probably do whatever you want due to classism. I will admit that this song is catchy probably because she repeats the same line seven hundred times. What this video means to women, I only image that some women consider it a song of empowerment. Why? I believe because it is all about a young girl not caring about what she does and does it rather violently which could be perceived as a challenge against men. I do not believe that little kids even really listen to the lyrics of any pop song that comes out nowadays besides the chorus. I find it interesting that during a recession our music industry keeps pumping out music that is promotional of the capitalist society that we are slowly comng to realize is destroying the fabric of this nation. Socialism all the way, baby!!!!
Video Project Idea
This is the blog post about my video presentation that is due at the end of the weekend.
My topic will be on heteronormativity. I wanted to do something about the discrimination of sexual identity in this country. However after further consideration, I believe heteronormativity would be a good subject to discuss because I recently came out as being bisexual. This has caused a number of problems in my personal life from being exiled by friends to my mother telling me that she did not care that I was attracted to men, but that sooner or later I would have to choose between being straight or gay, but I cannot be both.
My story will consist of personal experience of myself and friends who are gays, lesbians or bisexuals. I want to give a historical western interpretation of the binary sexual orientation. It will consist of a few news articles and youtube clips within the video discussing heteronormativity further.
I will be using final cut to produce my video. I have used it a few times in the past to help my ex-girlfriend with her film production projects though I am no master at the program.
There will have to be quite an amount of research to find the history of sexual identity in Western civilization. I do believe it will be very easy to display this topic for its true colors. Heteronormativity may be one of the greatest I am facing in my life right now besides my depression...
I have already began researching different articles and news programs about the discrimination. I was allowed to film inside the Manchester gay night club called 313 for an evening to get some transitional shots as well as being able to have one man tell me about his experiences with being a homosexual in New England especiallly New Hampshire. I want the video to be serious yet at the same time I want people to be able to laugh in the end about the stupidity of our assumptions in America. Thoguh I want it to be serious and funny, I want it to be taken for both because I believe the idea of heteronormativity is both serious and funny to think about it even existing in the first place.
My topic will be on heteronormativity. I wanted to do something about the discrimination of sexual identity in this country. However after further consideration, I believe heteronormativity would be a good subject to discuss because I recently came out as being bisexual. This has caused a number of problems in my personal life from being exiled by friends to my mother telling me that she did not care that I was attracted to men, but that sooner or later I would have to choose between being straight or gay, but I cannot be both.
My story will consist of personal experience of myself and friends who are gays, lesbians or bisexuals. I want to give a historical western interpretation of the binary sexual orientation. It will consist of a few news articles and youtube clips within the video discussing heteronormativity further.
I will be using final cut to produce my video. I have used it a few times in the past to help my ex-girlfriend with her film production projects though I am no master at the program.
There will have to be quite an amount of research to find the history of sexual identity in Western civilization. I do believe it will be very easy to display this topic for its true colors. Heteronormativity may be one of the greatest I am facing in my life right now besides my depression...
I have already began researching different articles and news programs about the discrimination. I was allowed to film inside the Manchester gay night club called 313 for an evening to get some transitional shots as well as being able to have one man tell me about his experiences with being a homosexual in New England especiallly New Hampshire. I want the video to be serious yet at the same time I want people to be able to laugh in the end about the stupidity of our assumptions in America. Thoguh I want it to be serious and funny, I want it to be taken for both because I believe the idea of heteronormativity is both serious and funny to think about it even existing in the first place.
Quick Blog #3
Hello everyone, I am a bit behind on blogs so I am taking this day to catch up on what I missed during this crazy past week.
1) An experience that I have had due to my social privilege was when I was underage during my freshmen year of college. I was invited to the party however my friend would not come to the door because he was already to distracted by women and/or the fact that he was extraordinarily drunk. The frat brothers at the front door let me in because they said I was cool while they proceeded to not allow the black students in because "no one here has any black friends, sorry, dude." I would not expect any better from frat brothers (yes, I believe in stereotypes for fraternity brothers).
2) It is very difficult for me to think of any oppression I have had in my life. THis is probably due to the fact that I never really thought about myself being oppressed before. I recently came out as being bisexual not more than a month ago. Half of my friends will no longer talk to me. One of my friends called me a fashionable fag. I asked him what he meant because I have no fashion sense. He said he meant that I was a fag just because it was cool to be different nowadays.
3) Classism is the number one subject among my white family. I have witnessed classism happen to one of my friends on the top of my head. He was dating a woman who was upper-middle class. She was use to having anything and everything whenever she wanted it. She broke up the relationship with my friend because he did not have enough money for what she wanted out of life. The woman was a classic example of self-entitlement when she did nothing to deserve a penny from my friend or any other man. People of a higher social status cannot comprehend living without an extravagant lifestyle.
1) An experience that I have had due to my social privilege was when I was underage during my freshmen year of college. I was invited to the party however my friend would not come to the door because he was already to distracted by women and/or the fact that he was extraordinarily drunk. The frat brothers at the front door let me in because they said I was cool while they proceeded to not allow the black students in because "no one here has any black friends, sorry, dude." I would not expect any better from frat brothers (yes, I believe in stereotypes for fraternity brothers).
2) It is very difficult for me to think of any oppression I have had in my life. THis is probably due to the fact that I never really thought about myself being oppressed before. I recently came out as being bisexual not more than a month ago. Half of my friends will no longer talk to me. One of my friends called me a fashionable fag. I asked him what he meant because I have no fashion sense. He said he meant that I was a fag just because it was cool to be different nowadays.
3) Classism is the number one subject among my white family. I have witnessed classism happen to one of my friends on the top of my head. He was dating a woman who was upper-middle class. She was use to having anything and everything whenever she wanted it. She broke up the relationship with my friend because he did not have enough money for what she wanted out of life. The woman was a classic example of self-entitlement when she did nothing to deserve a penny from my friend or any other man. People of a higher social status cannot comprehend living without an extravagant lifestyle.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Question F
I would like to respond to the first option for today's blog which is the reading from "Readings for Diversity and Social Justice." Most of the information in the beginning was a repeat of the last week in our discussion. To be entirely honest, There was not anything that I would argue against. This is part because I am open-minded and it is also because when I disagree with a certain idea about discrimination in America, I feel that it is a result of my whiteness upbringing. Whether or not that is true is entirely up for debate (especially in my head).
Notes that I do agree with about the reading are are as follows: race is, obviously, a sociopolitical construction. We naturally as human beings want to categorize everything and it happens that this natural urge creates stereotypes and hierarchy. Racist practices endure in the United States whether or not individuals are aware of it. The legacies of racism continue through entrenched and persistent economic, political, and social disparities. I have not thought much about the idea of nativism in the United States. Clearly, it is a major issue in this country now that illegal immigration is continuously discussed in the news. Just in the fact that the media calls the Mexicans illegal immigrants makes them discriminatory especially when this country was founded on difference or at least the land of difference for whites... unfortunately.
The majority of people live in socially segregated communities as if it is natural for all social groups to naturally gravitate towards each other. I found it interesting a little quote from "Can We Talk?" by Beverly Daniel Tatum. It read: "Sometimes the assumptions we make about others come not from what we have been told or what we have seen on television or in books, but rather from what we have not been told. Prejudice is a basic negative categorization developed in all citizens of the country. Such as, I need to be the face of objective reasoning and though it would be nice, most white people are not intellectually superior than any other category of human beings. When will the United States admit that whiteness is not even the majority of its citizens anymore? There will be a revolution in this country if the new white minority does not acknowledge the country needs greater equally politically and economically. Now that's a cause worth fighting for!
Notes that I do agree with about the reading are are as follows: race is, obviously, a sociopolitical construction. We naturally as human beings want to categorize everything and it happens that this natural urge creates stereotypes and hierarchy. Racist practices endure in the United States whether or not individuals are aware of it. The legacies of racism continue through entrenched and persistent economic, political, and social disparities. I have not thought much about the idea of nativism in the United States. Clearly, it is a major issue in this country now that illegal immigration is continuously discussed in the news. Just in the fact that the media calls the Mexicans illegal immigrants makes them discriminatory especially when this country was founded on difference or at least the land of difference for whites... unfortunately.
The majority of people live in socially segregated communities as if it is natural for all social groups to naturally gravitate towards each other. I found it interesting a little quote from "Can We Talk?" by Beverly Daniel Tatum. It read: "Sometimes the assumptions we make about others come not from what we have been told or what we have seen on television or in books, but rather from what we have not been told. Prejudice is a basic negative categorization developed in all citizens of the country. Such as, I need to be the face of objective reasoning and though it would be nice, most white people are not intellectually superior than any other category of human beings. When will the United States admit that whiteness is not even the majority of its citizens anymore? There will be a revolution in this country if the new white minority does not acknowledge the country needs greater equally politically and economically. Now that's a cause worth fighting for!
Quick Blog #2
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.libproxy.unh.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00292.x/full
Above is the HTML link to an article discussing the sexism of "gangsta rap" music. It is a sociological study that asks the question: "Does exposure to
misogynistic rap music result in increased sexism among its listeners?" It relates well to our discussion about sexism in music over Bell Hook's assertions and the essay choice that was available for last weeks weekend essay. The problem with the research is that presently it seems difficult to be able to gauge exactly how much this affects young males in the world through promoting violence and sexism against women. As a result, the article goes into what is called "Stereotype priming" which is basically a sophisticated what of saying pre-exposure to misogynistic music. The various studies done in the article mainly focus on benevolent sexism and hostile sexism. It is very interesting their results. I am not going to say what it is because I hate ruining endings for people.
Above is the HTML link to an article discussing the sexism of "gangsta rap" music. It is a sociological study that asks the question: "Does exposure to
misogynistic rap music result in increased sexism among its listeners?" It relates well to our discussion about sexism in music over Bell Hook's assertions and the essay choice that was available for last weeks weekend essay. The problem with the research is that presently it seems difficult to be able to gauge exactly how much this affects young males in the world through promoting violence and sexism against women. As a result, the article goes into what is called "Stereotype priming" which is basically a sophisticated what of saying pre-exposure to misogynistic music. The various studies done in the article mainly focus on benevolent sexism and hostile sexism. It is very interesting their results. I am not going to say what it is because I hate ruining endings for people.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Blog #4
The Stanford Prison experiment placed subjects into either the role of a guard or a prisoner. From a sociological perspective, the guards are oppressors while the prisoners are subjected to oppression by the guards. The people were meant to believe the entire prisoner was an experiment and nothing more. The first day brought about little excitement in the test subjects both the guards and prisoners because the reality of freedom to end the experiment at any point was apparent in their mind. As the days progressed, the guards become forceful in the eyes of the prisoners due to the actions of one purposefully aggressive guard. However, some guards never committed any acts of degrading behavior yet did not stand up against the oppressive guards while they had the same level of power. The prisoners eventually became convinced they could not leave and became submissive.
This scientific experiment is completely applicable to the white, male, and able-bodied dominance of America and the rest of the world. When watching the video of the children beating up the car, it was sicken to have the police called twice due to a family of African Americans that were asleep in a car while their was only one call for a group of white children vandalizing a car in daylight. People made the assumptions that blacks were outsiders in the community because it was primarily white. The show made the audience aware of the reality that whites are privileged to commit more acts of crime when people walk by and do nothing due to racism or the basic fear for safety. Police exhibited similar behavior with racial profiling when watching drivers on the road. So in the end, privilege due to race or sex is still a basic fundamental to the way over society works even though there is no more slavery.
It is startling to imagine people behaving in such a manner regardless of their core beliefs. People easily adapt and accept their position of power when in an institutional setting. In the Johnson reading, it is clear that people of power have to accept the internal and external struggle of having privilege and power and adapt to being mindful of our individual actions and thoughts due to it. The idea that every person be able to do this every time they interact with someone else or in a group is completely illogical until every one is taught by the very institution that causing the oppression.
The problem with contemporary society is the country does not seem to be able to identify the issue until a form of media tells them what to care about. One would think people should establish what to fight for objectively. Unfortunately for equality to exist, individualism has to be sacrificed. However, it does not mean you are not allowed to express yourself or you have to hide your identity relative to the world. It means self-worth cannot interfere with the collective good. Collective good does not identity with any bigotry of any kind and it is centered around the survival and happiness of the human race .
This scientific experiment is completely applicable to the white, male, and able-bodied dominance of America and the rest of the world. When watching the video of the children beating up the car, it was sicken to have the police called twice due to a family of African Americans that were asleep in a car while their was only one call for a group of white children vandalizing a car in daylight. People made the assumptions that blacks were outsiders in the community because it was primarily white. The show made the audience aware of the reality that whites are privileged to commit more acts of crime when people walk by and do nothing due to racism or the basic fear for safety. Police exhibited similar behavior with racial profiling when watching drivers on the road. So in the end, privilege due to race or sex is still a basic fundamental to the way over society works even though there is no more slavery.
It is startling to imagine people behaving in such a manner regardless of their core beliefs. People easily adapt and accept their position of power when in an institutional setting. In the Johnson reading, it is clear that people of power have to accept the internal and external struggle of having privilege and power and adapt to being mindful of our individual actions and thoughts due to it. The idea that every person be able to do this every time they interact with someone else or in a group is completely illogical until every one is taught by the very institution that causing the oppression.
The problem with contemporary society is the country does not seem to be able to identify the issue until a form of media tells them what to care about. One would think people should establish what to fight for objectively. Unfortunately for equality to exist, individualism has to be sacrificed. However, it does not mean you are not allowed to express yourself or you have to hide your identity relative to the world. It means self-worth cannot interfere with the collective good. Collective good does not identity with any bigotry of any kind and it is centered around the survival and happiness of the human race .
Blog #3
Kimmel, in his video, wishes to critique the classic idea of the book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." The idea that communication between men and women is so difficult to accomplish that we should be from separate planets. He argued that in our society we want to believe there is a fundamental difference between men and women. He explains that this assumptions is complete incorrect and as an average men and women are far more similar than different. The questionnaire about a woman's expectation of a man administered in 1970 and 2005 was interesting to me. It encapsulated a problem I have with male identity with the general assumptions made by these women however correct they may be.
Women were the one's to bring gender to the public eye. Man are still not conditioned to realize the reality of gender in the day to day because we are privileged. The one who is privileged normally does not recognize their privilege. In three generations, the expectations of women have dramatically changed. Some fundamental examples come into play: marriage- women want to be able to balance a family and work life; sexual liberation- more women masturbate and less fake orgasm than 20 years ago. Men must recognize that the world is changing for greater equality, but for that to happen men must be able to broaden or re-define masculinity.
Men have to realize the classic idea of masculinity in America is causing privilege and, in terms of family, making marriages unsuccessful and a health risk. Kimmel states "Nurturing is not some mystical state of being, it is the quantity time, not quality time. The mundane things of raising a family are nurturing. Kimmel addresses two American models for marriage: the passion-romance model and the friendship-partnership model. While passion-romance is based on a sense of poweerlessness, the dynamic that makes a friendship-partnership model is the peer relationship based on respect and equal responsibility of the children.
With respect to Kimmel's argument, I could not be happier with the findings of the sociological research presented in his speech. I was shocked to find such a clear demonstration of how to better every life on this earth through intuitive parenting. It makes a man wonder if men as a whole will be able to accept the diversity we need to the term masculinity. I image a war of the sexes if men do not understand the privilege they have before them to balance power between all people. A quote from Johnson's "Privilege, Power, and Difference makes me feel what I imagine: "The problem is the same culture of denial and neglect that permeates society as a whole. Little by little, day by day, the struggle to earn a living or a degree and maintain a sense of dignity and self-worth in the face of one sign after another that they don't really matter or belong wears people down, sapping morale and draining talent" (p. 65).
When I think of the American sense of what it is to be a real man, I feel trapped and isolated. The definition of masculinity is a problem while I am not the cliche male. Kimmel ends the speech by saying, "Feminism is the first time where men finally get to be free." I really hope so because I honestly get depressed by the man people expect me to be and what I want to be while being a man all the same.
Women were the one's to bring gender to the public eye. Man are still not conditioned to realize the reality of gender in the day to day because we are privileged. The one who is privileged normally does not recognize their privilege. In three generations, the expectations of women have dramatically changed. Some fundamental examples come into play: marriage- women want to be able to balance a family and work life; sexual liberation- more women masturbate and less fake orgasm than 20 years ago. Men must recognize that the world is changing for greater equality, but for that to happen men must be able to broaden or re-define masculinity.
Men have to realize the classic idea of masculinity in America is causing privilege and, in terms of family, making marriages unsuccessful and a health risk. Kimmel states "Nurturing is not some mystical state of being, it is the quantity time, not quality time. The mundane things of raising a family are nurturing. Kimmel addresses two American models for marriage: the passion-romance model and the friendship-partnership model. While passion-romance is based on a sense of poweerlessness, the dynamic that makes a friendship-partnership model is the peer relationship based on respect and equal responsibility of the children.
With respect to Kimmel's argument, I could not be happier with the findings of the sociological research presented in his speech. I was shocked to find such a clear demonstration of how to better every life on this earth through intuitive parenting. It makes a man wonder if men as a whole will be able to accept the diversity we need to the term masculinity. I image a war of the sexes if men do not understand the privilege they have before them to balance power between all people. A quote from Johnson's "Privilege, Power, and Difference makes me feel what I imagine: "The problem is the same culture of denial and neglect that permeates society as a whole. Little by little, day by day, the struggle to earn a living or a degree and maintain a sense of dignity and self-worth in the face of one sign after another that they don't really matter or belong wears people down, sapping morale and draining talent" (p. 65).
When I think of the American sense of what it is to be a real man, I feel trapped and isolated. The definition of masculinity is a problem while I am not the cliche male. Kimmel ends the speech by saying, "Feminism is the first time where men finally get to be free." I really hope so because I honestly get depressed by the man people expect me to be and what I want to be while being a man all the same.
Lady Gaga Response
Popular music in America has a large number of women in it's industry. There are many women in music who label themselves as feminists. Ke$ha and Lady Gaga are woman who have said some interesting one liners in Los Angeles Times that are basic and limited progressive statements to justify their success in the industry and warrant more people to become fans. However, the music industry is just another capitalist machine regardless of the faces that are presented to the public such as Ke$ha or Lady Gaga. I believe that Ke$ha is an untalented white trash version of Lady Gaga while Lady Gaga is an overly dramatized public figure, acting outlandishly for women and the gay rights movement. I will never understand why musicians give their political thoughts or intentionally try to justify a political statement in a song that could be made by a thirteen year old with Garageband on their Apple laptops. Political movements through music totally ended to dramatically affecting the public when the year turned 1980: an era of singing about the splendor of American Capitalism.
Blog #2
When it comes to Feminists, there are a wide variety of stereotypes associated with them. Many people I have spoken about feminism believed that they were sexists against men. All feminists wanted women to conquer over men yet it was interesting that men I asked stuck to the social norms of being a man or woman. Any woman I asked made it obvious that they wanted equality, but none of them ever gave me an example beyond sexism.
Trying to define feminism seemed like a mystery when one reads about radical feminism that is only a cover for addressing homosexuality or about socialist feminism that considers women rights to be fundamental to the equality of the human race, but feminism is one category of general equality for all men and women to live in world of equal opportunity. Someone who is mindful of the equal opportunity rights of women who understands opportunity has no limits in a world made of institutionally constructed realities.
Do I define myself as a feminist? I respect what each individual woman wants to define herself as in this world. I believe there are necessary changes that need to happen in government, capitalism, media, etc. for in the very least America to give equal opportunity to women and any way I could assist in that I would be delighted. However, I can not say that I am perfect. However mindful I may be though, sooner or later I will have advanced over a woman because of the system we currently have. I have guilty for this, but it being an institution how can an individual help themselves? It is a part of live to be selfish occasionally. Do not get me wrong though, it is only an accident because I only think about winning in the heat of the moment and not your race, creed, gender, sexual orientation. It must be the last bit of the capitalist in me that I accept as a part of me.
Johnson's chapter titled "Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination is self explanatory. For equality to exist for the entire human race, capitalism is not an effective institution. It fails miserably in distribute of wealth which is fundamental to the equal opportunity of all people. "The richest top 20 percent of all households receives 56 percent of [America's gross domestic income (GDI)] ...and the richest 40 percent receives 78 percent, leaving less than a quarter of all income to be divided among the remaining 60 percent of all households (p.44). Therefore even though the Soviet Union was a failed state for their application of communism, Karl Marx is fundamentally correct in theory on what the world needs economically for equal opportunity.
Trying to define feminism seemed like a mystery when one reads about radical feminism that is only a cover for addressing homosexuality or about socialist feminism that considers women rights to be fundamental to the equality of the human race, but feminism is one category of general equality for all men and women to live in world of equal opportunity. Someone who is mindful of the equal opportunity rights of women who understands opportunity has no limits in a world made of institutionally constructed realities.
Do I define myself as a feminist? I respect what each individual woman wants to define herself as in this world. I believe there are necessary changes that need to happen in government, capitalism, media, etc. for in the very least America to give equal opportunity to women and any way I could assist in that I would be delighted. However, I can not say that I am perfect. However mindful I may be though, sooner or later I will have advanced over a woman because of the system we currently have. I have guilty for this, but it being an institution how can an individual help themselves? It is a part of live to be selfish occasionally. Do not get me wrong though, it is only an accident because I only think about winning in the heat of the moment and not your race, creed, gender, sexual orientation. It must be the last bit of the capitalist in me that I accept as a part of me.
Johnson's chapter titled "Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination is self explanatory. For equality to exist for the entire human race, capitalism is not an effective institution. It fails miserably in distribute of wealth which is fundamental to the equal opportunity of all people. "The richest top 20 percent of all households receives 56 percent of [America's gross domestic income (GDI)] ...and the richest 40 percent receives 78 percent, leaving less than a quarter of all income to be divided among the remaining 60 percent of all households (p.44). Therefore even though the Soviet Union was a failed state for their application of communism, Karl Marx is fundamentally correct in theory on what the world needs economically for equal opportunity.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Blog #1 for WS 405
Question A: In the video available on Youtube by Bell Hooks, she discusses the idea that the media perpetuates a "white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy." The term is not used on an individual basis, but on the institutional identity of American media. However, it is not an exclusive term to American media, but the superior American culture as a whole. I particularly enjoyed the sections on Spike Lee and Madonna though I will focus only on Madonna. She discusses her thoughts on the actions of Madonna through her popularity as a pop singer. In the beginning, Madonna identified herself as a feminist and tried to break certain boundaries for women in an industry dominated by men. Hook has a problem with Madonna once her career was already off the ground because, according to Hook, she embraced the sexism, racism, and patriarchal identity for women so that she could accumulate further wealth. I have no problem at all agreeing with Hook's assertions especially when analyzing the music industry. Even now, we are subjected to the Rihanna and Eminem song that seems to glorify domestic violence and all the while we have Lady Gaga trying to push herself as an activist in the gay community and feminist movement. I think she is just another Madonna waiting to happen once we no longer care about the ridiculous outfits she is so accustomed to wearing.
I believe it is very simple to understand why these ideas in behavior are perpetuated is due to a rather simple formula. Most of the money of the world is in the hands of a select few and the majority of them being white males. The reason why they perpetuate power and privilege is this manner is because they want to hold onto their earnings. However, I do not believe that the blame can be placed on businessmen; they are just as faceless as the corporations they represent. The problem is the consumer. The consumer of this material are young kids, teenagers, young adults; the people who hold little power beyond the manipulative abilities they have over their parents to buy them those iTunes tracks. The absence of power, certainty, and control in a society based on those principles allows it to happen to our youth.
There are a few comments I wish to make on the video. Saying that the word racism lets the white people retain the power by having the discussion centered around them is a stretch. I understand that in this country white were the oppressors and still to a degree are the oppressors. However, I believe her use of the word is too national in context. Also, what happened to general racism? I am pretty sure that no one can escape the reality of racism no matter what race you are.
Secondly, I cannot help but feel ashamed of my race when Hook discussed the idea of commodity blackness and exotic blackness. I do understand the part about light skinned black women being an exotic commodity in rap videos. I personally do not find black women in general attractive that is just a personally preference, not racist. I felt as if she was going to equate this idea of commodity blackness as the new slavery of the black women.
Thirdly, Spike Lee's films have for the most part terrible stories. I believe a number of his films he makes black people seem just as naive, irrational or cliche as the white directors of Hollywood. Maybe he was just adhering to studio protocol when it came to "Do the Right Thing" but that movie infuriates me.
Fourthly, I am white and a male. I believe she could have talked about a wider variance in racial profiling in American culture and sexual identity or gender. I do not know why I always have to check that white box nor do I understand that they have Asian American, but does that mean oriental, Indian, or Russian?
I believe it is very simple to understand why these ideas in behavior are perpetuated is due to a rather simple formula. Most of the money of the world is in the hands of a select few and the majority of them being white males. The reason why they perpetuate power and privilege is this manner is because they want to hold onto their earnings. However, I do not believe that the blame can be placed on businessmen; they are just as faceless as the corporations they represent. The problem is the consumer. The consumer of this material are young kids, teenagers, young adults; the people who hold little power beyond the manipulative abilities they have over their parents to buy them those iTunes tracks. The absence of power, certainty, and control in a society based on those principles allows it to happen to our youth.
There are a few comments I wish to make on the video. Saying that the word racism lets the white people retain the power by having the discussion centered around them is a stretch. I understand that in this country white were the oppressors and still to a degree are the oppressors. However, I believe her use of the word is too national in context. Also, what happened to general racism? I am pretty sure that no one can escape the reality of racism no matter what race you are.
Secondly, I cannot help but feel ashamed of my race when Hook discussed the idea of commodity blackness and exotic blackness. I do understand the part about light skinned black women being an exotic commodity in rap videos. I personally do not find black women in general attractive that is just a personally preference, not racist. I felt as if she was going to equate this idea of commodity blackness as the new slavery of the black women.
Thirdly, Spike Lee's films have for the most part terrible stories. I believe a number of his films he makes black people seem just as naive, irrational or cliche as the white directors of Hollywood. Maybe he was just adhering to studio protocol when it came to "Do the Right Thing" but that movie infuriates me.
Fourthly, I am white and a male. I believe she could have talked about a wider variance in racial profiling in American culture and sexual identity or gender. I do not know why I always have to check that white box nor do I understand that they have Asian American, but does that mean oriental, Indian, or Russian?
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