March 2010 Archives

About-face.org is a website dedicated to exposing media messages that are detrimental for the body image of girls and women. Their mission is "to equip women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect self-esteem and body image."

They focus on analysing visual images that appear on the media, in order to foster a critical mind in the viewers, particularly female viewers who are most affected by images of the "ideal woman" presented in the media, most pervasively in advertisements selling all kinds of products.

An interesting feature of this website is their "Gallery of offenders", in which they present offensive media images, including an analysis of the negative messages that they present. For example, the following image from a magazine ad, which presents a stereotypical image of female passivity, victimization, and objectivization.

The website also includes a "Gallery of winners", in which they present images that send more positive messages. For example, the following magazine ad, which presents a woman in a position of strenght.

It is an excellent resource for teaching women to look more critically at the information they receive from the media. For more information, visit: http://www.about-face.org/ 

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin is written using the journal entries kept by John Griffin (a white, middle class American from Texas) as he underwent treatment to temporarily become a black man.  Griffin, as a black man, traversed the streets of New Orleans, Birmingham, Montgomery, Atlanta, and various other cities in the Deep South.  Griffin provides a unique, up-close look into the prejudiced and racist south in 1959.  He is able to write from the mind of a white man but behind the eyes and experiences of a black man.

This book was a written hit to the funny-bone; it was some what painful to read but also uniquely enjoyable.  Growing up in the public school system, I learned with some regularity about the tragedies of the south up until the Civil Rights Movement.  If your average high school history text book and Black Like Me were sand paper, the text book would be a quick glance over with a table sander on low and Black Like Me would be an hour long elbow-greasing with a piece of thick grained sand paper.  Where the text book provides a technical, factual covering of the facts of pre-Civil Rights south, Griffin's book is one man's well written accounts of a black man's every day experiences. 

Some of the people he met and the things he saw made me wince with pitty, and I frequently found myself feeling shameful for the things my race has done.  I couldn't help but feel partially responsible for the horrendous treatment of my fellow man.  On the other hand, it was a real page turner.  Griffin is an easy to read author who is clearly well educated and opinionated but does a wonderful job at making this book a conduit by which to tell his experiences and not a platform to display his opinions and vocabulary.  I would recommend this book to any one wanting anything from an eye opening read, to a medium length page turner.

Author Tim Wise does an excellent job describing the state of racism in America (both before the age of Obama and during his 2008 presidential campaign). Wise's book is broken down into two main parts, or essays as he describes it. The first is an overview of racism and discrimination in America, citing both explicit and subtle forms of racism within the realms of employment and income, housing, education, criminal justice and law, health care, and even going into great detail of the inequality demonstrated during hurricane Katrina in 2006 and the 2008 presidential campaign. This portion of the book was mainly aimed at getting across the point that racism in America is still going strong, despite the fact that statistics show that most white Americans believe Obama's election as our president signals the end of racism in our country. Wise argues that although the election of a black man to our highest ranking position is a big step in the right direction, it does not mean that white people view black people on the same level they may see the president (he uses the analogy of Bill Cosby and the Cosby Show in terms of how white people view him differently because he does not fit the stereotype-consistent role of the "black man in America". Wise also spends a good portion of this part of the book criticizing Obama for his failure to address racism in a more direct fashion, stating that Obama has often side-stepped the issue of race in America and what needs to be done to promote more equality within the realms I mentioned above. My question regarding the first part of the book is: Is it really Obama's task to focus more of this effort on racism in America because he is our first black president? Because of the fact that he is our first black president, does it just come with the territory, whereas presidents before him were not "expected" to tackle this issue because they were old white men?

The second essay of the book focuses on what needs to be done to help alleviate modern racism (or racism 2.0, as Wise refers to it). In particular, Wise focuses on what white America needs to do in order to help promote equality in our country. He mentions five main goals for white America: 1) Take personal responsibility addressing racism and white privilege. 2) Listen to black people regarding racism. 3) Stop the denial of our disturbing history dealing with race. 4) Connect with anti-racist white culture to help promote understanding. 5) Speak up! - When you see racism, no matter how subtle, take action and make a difference.

Overall, I thought this book was a well organized argument for how racism is still a very big issue in our country and it can be seen where ever we go. Wise definitely did an excellent job getting the point across about how Obama's election to president does not mean racism is ending, it is simply not what it used to be....racism has evolved. Wise point out several instances of racism and discrimination in the book that relate to many concepts we have discussed in class, including stereotype threat, ingroup/outgroup biases, situational factors that bring out hidden prejudices, and institutional and modern racism. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good overview of where America stands in our battle against racism and discrimination.

The Pulitzer Prize winner To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless classic written by Harper Lee. The story takes place in the small southern town of Maycomb County, Alabama in the midst of The Great Depression. The narrator of this riveting story is a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, or Scout. Scout is not the typical delicate, shy, and ladylike child that society expects her to be. She is an outspoken, rambunctious and free spirited tomboy who wears overalls, plays in the outdoors alongside her older brother Jem, and is far more intelligent than most in her age group. She and her brother Jem are the children of Maycomb County defense lawyer Atticus Finch. Atticus can be considered an untraditional man in several respects. For starters he is a single father raising two children. He also encourages and stresses the importance of an education and egalitarian beliefs to Scout and Jem during a time when it was very unpopular to do so.

Throughout the text, Scout walks us through her childhood adventures in this conservative southern Alabama town alongside Jem and occasionally their best friend Dill. At first life seems simple. But when their father Atticus takes on the case of his life, they all begin to realize the severity of racial turmoil that defined American society during this time period.

  In the story, Atticus takes on the case of a Negro man named Tom Robinson. Tom is a young family man whose only crime is that he is African American. He stands accused of raping the eldest daughter of Mr. Ewells, an impoverished social misfit in Maycomb County. The Ewells are an unpopular family who live on the outskirts of Maycomb in the midst of the town's dump. They are known by everyone in the county for being aggressive, dishonest, uncivilized, unclean, and uneducated. Despite these facts they hold a great advantage over the most civilized and honest African Americans: they are white.

 Scout and Jem encounter dirty stares and insults by many of their fellow townsfolk because their father is defending a Negro. Through example however, Atticus teaches his children that the color of your skin does not define what kind of person you are. Everyone should be treated with kindness and respect. Scout and Jem manage to hold their heads high and support their father's cause. Despite the best efforts of Atticus however, Tom is convicted of raping Mr. Ewells' daughter and is sentenced to death. Scout and Jem learn the grim reality that justice for all does not exist in the ignorant and racist American culture.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful text to read when learning about stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Readers can get examples of all three of these elements throughout the entire story not just in the context of black versus white, but also society versus women, and poor whites versus everyone else. Some of the social psychological underpinnings of this novel deal with constructs such as categorization, Social Identity Theory, depersonalization and dehumanization, out-group homogeneity, social motives such as self-enhancement and control, and the list goes on.

Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful representation of the struggles experienced by generations of minorities as well as females throughout American history. From a social scientific standpoint, the novel gives social psychological novices a well rounded summary of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination along with solutions to such issues.

For my book report I read Michael Eric Dyson's Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, an analysis of the events leading up to and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This book offers insight into how Hurricane Katrina affected the city of New Orleans, and why it was that race and social status mattered in the way the country responded to Katrina.

Dyson reviews some of the social injustices which have plagued African Americans in New Orleans for decades as well as the inherent disadvantages that left African Americans stranded in the path of the storm. Many parties, including the media, FEMA, and former president George W. Bush, are called out for their mismanagement of relief efforts and coverage of Katrina. From the effects of the media coverage on public opinion of those left in the storm's wake, to the social structure that originally allowed such economic disparity in New Orleans, the events surrounding one of the worst natural disasters in recent U.S. history carry with it connections to various psychological theories of prejudice and stereotyping. Looking at this book in terms of the content learned in SPD can allow for the interpretation of the mishaps that occurred throughout the duration of Katrina, at a psychological level. We can also better understand the impact a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina has on perceptions of victims, especially when the victims are mostly poor African Americans.  

If you are interested in learning more about this particular book or other books by Michael Eric Dyson please follow the link below.
http://www.michaelericdyson.com/comehell/
 

The New York Times article "Bias Called Persistent Hurdle for Women in Sciences" describes the report by the American Association of University Women that addresses the underpresentation of women in scientific fields such as math and technology.

The report talks about the factors that may influence this underpresentation, including the controversial issue of innate differences. When discussing the differences in male and female brains, the leading author of the report, Catherine Hill, said: "None of the research convincingly links those differences to specific skills, so we don't know what they mean in terms of mathematical abilities."

Thus, the report also focused on the cultural factors that influence this phenomenon, with findings such as this: "One study of postdoctoral applicants, for example, found that women had to publish 3 more papers in prestigious journals, or 20 more in less-known publications, to be judged as productive as male applicants."

Cultural stereotypes affect the performance of women, as the findings in stereotype threat research suggest, and therefore, prevention of that effect becomes important. The authors of the report searched for ways in which women can be encouraged to enter scientific fields, finding things such as teaching girls that math is not a static ability, teaching special courses for women entering the fields, and teaching girls about stereotype threat and its effect on performance.

Although the report indicates that the number of women in scientific fields is growing, equality has not been achieved: "But even as women earn a growing share of the doctorates in the STEM fields, the university women's report found, they do not show up, a decade later, in a proportionate number of tenured faculty positions."

For the New York Times Article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/science/22women.html

For the full report (Why so Few?) click here: http://www.aauw.org/research/whysofew.cfm

This is a clip from Family Guy from an episode where Peter's boss is sexually harassing him at work. When he tries to bring it up to his family, they say that a man can't be sexually harassed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXaILy3GE7U

The tea party is a group of Americans, who use the 1st amendment of freedom of speech as hate speech. The use of racism,bigotry, and bias towards Mexicans', Muslims', Christians', in this video is uncalled for when they first started TEA (taxed enough already) party was suppose to be about libertarian views and controversy. How does a group of Caucasian male and female about to protest with arms, there is a part were a girls is talking about the 2nd amendment right to bear arms.. but the idea of it is based on terrorism or making another group uncomfortable. Say for instance if you really look at it in the intercity such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles it is illegal to be in possession of a fire arm on the street, thus the case i am trying is it really a right to bear arms across America if gangster on the corners hold them in there waist band. If they have the right to assemble, stated in the 1st amendment.
The idea that America is leading to a socialist or communist nation, the fact that Obama is black is what people see as a threat to the American nation. The history of the United States presidency has always been under Caucasian rule, until President Obama was elected. But it start with G. W. Bush, having a cabinet of different minorities Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Alberto Gonzales, Melquiadez Rafael Martinez, Alphoso Jackson, Elaine Chao, and Carlos Gutierrez. The fact that Bush had minorities in his cabinet were part of a puppet show, or the fact the the Vice President Dick Cheney how own the biggest oil and engineering company that was contracted to rebuild Iraq, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbDfYzq_HaQis something that most people don't see it the profit of war. If we as American new that were going to got to war then why in the hell do we have a company that belongs to the vice president, in Iraq rebuilding. It war in Iraq was all for oil, to lie the pockets with money..
 the topic of new world order started with the Iraq war, in getting a group of nations together to start one central government were different nations come together as one were the elite use there superiority over the average man.. and in my eyes this is what we should be worried about rather then, calling Obama a socialist he was elected based on what the people wanted for government, and that was their voices heard.. as far as same sex marriage, health care, better wages to live a better life, the fact that he bailed out companies with millions of dollars that were giving themselves bonuses in the millions was wrong on there part. If tax payer monies were used then all Americans should have a say in or get stocks in that company, but will that happen no.... that is were everyone starts bitching..

For health care, which passed a few day ago everyone is complaining about it part of the  socialist movement that Obama is running. If Canada, Europe, Cuba which is a third world country  can have free health care then why can we as American, if we are a super power that leads all other nations, then why do we have homeless, no health care, decline in education, people going hungry everyday. In my opinion is based on being self-centered not caring enough about another person or thinking "if doesn't effect me, then i don't care."

So the question I purpose to you is "does society truly believe in this across America, or our the fundamental society of ethics done away?      
    

Last night Dr. Cornel West spoke at GBPAC ( http://www.uni.edu/cme/events/spring2010/032510_cwest.htm ) I made a special point to see it because of his special ability as an orator and his unmatched intellectual and philosophical prowess. I would suggest a visit to his website or a search on Youtube for some of West's presentations and publications. In my opinion, we spend way too much time hearing from pundits and politicians, acquiring information that is cut and packaged into bite sized pieces that are easily digestible into our comfortable worldviews. We do not spend enough time looking for those individuals that are intellectually stirring and provocative. West is a living example of one of those public intellectuals. His philosophy is a testament to the idea that the path to social justice is a multi-faceted and inter-disciplinary objective, grounded in the intellectuals of history and in the complex dynamic of contemporary society.       

 http://www.cornelwest.com/     

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100325/ap_on_re_us/us_prodigy_study_abroad

 

I thought that this was an interesting article when I stubbled upon it.  The article talks about this 13 year old boy who goes to college at the University of Connecticut, he had planned on studying abroad in South Africa for one of his majors, but college said that he was too young to go.  His mother and he were trying to make arragements where she could accompany him to South Africa so he could do his studies that were imparative for his future plans.  So him and his mother are claiming age discrimination against the college. 

 

I thought that this was a very interesting concept.  My relatives have a foreign exchange student staying with them who is in the 7th grade.  But the college wont let a student, who they have always treated like any other student, to go to South Africa to further his studies that he has worked hard to accomplish.  He has shown maturity to handle himself in college but now the college is making him into a sort of out-group because of his age.  Saying that he doesn't have the maturity to handle studying in South Africa.  He has tried to make accomodations so that he will be able to study.

Everyone should check out this website and the accompanying video! This has changed my entire view on the history of the United States in terms of racial relations between white people and black people. Is it possible that we have all been brainwashed through years of exposure to the superiority-inferiority of the two races? Would this explain why so many people still hold strong prejudices and/or are outright bigots?

http://www.stopthebrainwash.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBQPORReWY&feature=player_embedded

I think that we, as a society, need to take a long look in the mirror and figure out where we have been in order to decide what we really are today. This does not only include the white race, but the black race as well. The perpetuating harm that is being done today through the media has ties to early advertising of slaves, mockery of black people, and early silent films. However, we do not even realize this because of how long this propoganda has been around. I don't know about you, but I totally buy into what Tom Burrell is getting at through this website. Check out Kim's post on Burrell's NPR interview if you want to hear more from him.

 

Paul Mooney is one of the Kings of comedy. He has written stand up comedy for Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Saturday night live and many other venues. He is mainly known for his active stance in confronting racism in America through Stand up Comedy and going on different talk shows to address these issues faced by society today. Paul has a strait forward or blunt approach he takes which makes most White people uncomfortable and upset. There are a lot of good youtube videos that go into greater detail with his views. Do you think by him being direct about these issues help or harm the message he is trying to portray?

Here's an article that was on MSNBC's page: http://www.thegrio.com/opinion/the-state-of-black-america-unemployed.php

Some of the statistics here are pretty bad. "African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed, and in some areas of the country, nearly one in four young black men are out of work." The recession has affected some people more than others. What can be done to alleviate this problem?

"Goldman Sachs Group Inc was sued for alleged bias by a former vice president, who said the Wall Street bank consigned her to a "mommy track" that led to her firing while she was on maternity leave."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2417890320100324

When trying to figure out what my weekly post should be I Google searched "stereotyping in the media" and the first thing to pop up was this Canadian website.  It has an index of some areas in which the media stereotypes and what to look for, why it is harmful, even about white privilege.

Look through this site and some of the links and let me know what you think. 

Do resources like this that inform others about media bias/stereotypes make a difference?  IF so, why aren't there more of these kind of programs out there?

How big of a role does media play in our every day bias and stereotyping?

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/index.cfm

This is one of the first petitions I have seen that has the particular goal of trying to curb Tea Party hate-speech. There have been several posts on here about the Tea Party movement being racist, but I think more importantly there is an unacceptable amount of downright hateful rhetoric coming from the protesters. For an example see below:

http://www.bing.com/videos/?FORM=MFEVID&publ=2BE19A43-506C-4905-B386-894988BC18EB&crea=STND_MFEVID_core_HuffPo_CustomVidLink_1x1&q=tea+party+hate&docid=1710637056421

This link is a plea for signatures by a group on Facebook called Cuentame. I suggest you go to their page and check out some of their videos. It's pretty cool stuff they're doing. You could sign the petition too if you wanted. http://www.facebook.com/cuentame?action_id=1494448&akid=.1122584.lu_Vgz&v=app_10339498918#!/cuentame

Here is their video posted on Huffington Post today.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/latino-group-pushes-petit_n_511476.html 

So, I am a Micheal Jackson fan...and you can think whatever you want about him, but he has made a great impact on our music that we have today.

When I went to buy a cd of his that had recently broken, I didn't realize that one of the songs was going to be censored. The song is titled "They Don't Care About Us" and you can find the lyrics on the site below:
http://www.elyrics.net/read/m/michael-jackson-lyrics/they-don_t-care-about-us-lyrics.html

the two words that they censor are "jew" and "kike".. if you want to listen to the song you can go here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNJL6nfu__Q

 

The point of this song is in the message, and I was really suprised to find that they were covering up these words. I feel like this really connects with our class where we put all of the hateful words on the board. By covering these words up, what kind of message are they trying to promote? He is trying to bring up these issues to the forefront, by blocking them out there is only a greater hate for the words.
What do you think about censorship? Are there times when it is ok to leave things uncensored? Are there times where things NEED to be said? 

 http://www.northern-iowan.org/ku-klux-klan-1.2188683
The Northern Iowan put this Article on the front page; the Thursday before spring break.  If there is truly an idea or an image that UNI is trying to preserve in saying Diversity Matters or UNI.  It starts with us as students speaking out against bigotry, racist ideology, discrimination, or being stereotyped.   I truly understand the 1st Amendment Right of "Freedom of Press/ Speech", but at what cost is that freedom really freedom. If it shows a bias towards homosexual or minorities, is it not an infringement on the rights of a people. We may not be seen what the administration is doing but the fact that they are standing and saying that these actions will not tolerated here on campus is a start, but this massage needs to be sent to all department heads, and down the line but mostly in the news paper where they feel that it is necessary to put this out to the public.

Now that it was put out on the front page, shows that there is an active KKK organization here in Cedar Falls/Waterloo but across the state of Iowa in ten different cities.  Now the subject and idea is actually out their instead of trying to deny it as they did in the past, it is up to the people to see where they want to go from here.  Here on campus for the first time in history a verity of different organizations our coming together never to fight and stand for a just cause.  We our tired of being underrepresented or feel that at times administration, is more worried about the mighty dollar rather than its students; and now we all have a voice as student who our standing against oppression.     

I found this article today about someone announcing over the intercom for all Black people to leave a Wal-Mart. They're unsure if it was an employee a customer, but it hasn't been the first time I've heard a story about an act of discrimination occurring at Wal-Mart.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124828546

"Ad man Tom Burrell calls out negative images of African Americans in the media for perpetuating the myth of black inferiority."

This is a clip of a Hispanic guy going solo against a group of racist protesters. They keep telling him to go back to his country and he fires back saying he is indigenous to the continent and that they should go back to Europe. Their logic is flawed and they keep calling him a coward even though he's one man standing up to a group of people.

Would you have the guts to stand up to a group of people like this? Do you think his presence fueled their fire?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCL2IqgjSc

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/57389/bias-incidents-at-u.c.-campuses-raising-alarm-of-bigotry/

I thought this was a fitting article after reading Billig. Do you think the incidents on some of California's campuses could be attributed to pockets of hate or something else (the article mentions media attention and adolescence as a couple)?

UPDATE:

Thursday 3/25 times are full.

These same times are now available for Thursday April 1.

Respond to this post as a comment, indicating which time you are taking on April 1. It's important that you put April 1 in your response so that people reviewing the comments can tell which times are still available. See original post (below) for times and other info.

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Please make an appointment with me for one of these times on Thursday 3/25. We will go over your progress in the course (individual assignments and the project). Come to my office in Baker 348.

Respond to this post as a comment indicating which time you prefer, and pay attention to the comments ahead of you where times may have gotten taken.

10:15am

10:45am

11:15am

11:45am

12:15pm

12:45pm

1:15pm

1:45pm

2:45pm

3:15pm

3:45pm

4:15pm

Read the draft policy that was sent to you via email. Use these headings when commenting to this post.

What are your general thoughts on the policy?

What is particularly good?

Anything not-so-good, or troubling?

What recommendations do you have for improvement in concept or wording?

Choose one recommendation and cite research literature that supports that aspect of the policy TO BE RETAINED.

Choose one recommendation and cite research literature that supports that aspect of the policy TO BE REMOVED.

 

What surprised you most about this video? What did you learn about the everyday workings of stereotypes, prejudice and/or discrimination?

 

Briefly review the Billig paper, your opinion on in and then answer these questions:

Why is extreme prejudice (bigotry) difficult to study? Why is it that the social cognitive approach has difficulty accounting for extreme prejudice? What do you think are the best ways to tackle the study of extreme prejudice/bigotry?

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=487661&gt1=28102

ATLANTA (AP) -- A Georgia man who posted a video of himself on the Internet holding a sign that said "Elton John must die" has been arrested for making terroristic threats.

"What Elton John has done is desecrated the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ," Horsley said in the video.

This is an article from NBC Sports about comments Torii Hunter made:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/torii-hunter-black-dominican-players-are-imposters.html.php

Here's one of the main quotes that Torii Hunter said from the article:

"People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American," Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says. "They're not us. They're impostors.

The racial categorization going on here is pretty clear, especially from the "us" comment. But to call these players "imposters??" Hunter is getting some bad press from these comments, as well. Some of the other comments he made in this article are pretty outrageous too. What are everyone's thoughts on this?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/09/howard-stern-gabourey-sid_n_492102.html

Howard Stern unleashed a vicious attack on Gabourey Sidibe on his Sirius satellite show on Monday.

"There's the most enormous, fat black chick I've ever seen. She is enormous. Everyone's pretending she's a part of show business and she's never going to be in another movie," he said. "She should have gotten the Best Actress award because she's never going to have another shot. What movie is she gonna be in?"

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-march-9-2010/gaywatch---virginia-edition

This is a clip from the daily show from the 9th.  It is about a new executive order given by the governor of Virginia and the state attorney about what groups will be considered protected by the state.  LGBT individuals have been left out of this order and a message has been sent to the universities telling them they should not consider this group as being protected.   Same sex partners are also no longer allowed to extend their state benefits to their partners.

I have grown to absolutely abhor the way in which some feel that the word "rape" is appropriate to describe things that aren't rape. To me, it is another example of inappropriate equivocation that cheapens the act of rape. To my knowledge (and the dictionary's) the word "rape" should be used only in two instances. The first is to describe the act of forcible intercourse upon an unwilling individual. The second is to describe a violent seizure, abuse, or plundering of something (i.e. the rape of a countryside). You can see in the examples given in the link that there is, at best, a conflation of the two definitions, and at worst a blatant disrespect for the actual act of person-to-person rape.

http://jezebel.com/5409284/figure-of-speech 

Finally, frequent usage of derogatory or pejorative language has been shown to cause more negative attitudes toward the target of the comment (Simon & Greenberg, 1996). Moreover, there continue to be staggering statistics regarding instances of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence in this country especially in colleges and universities (see RAINN website). None of these statistics includes "President Obama raping the American people's values" "Big businesses being raped" or "the private sector being raped by the government", because those are hyperboles that are being used to shock and therefore desensitize people to the actual issue of rape. This is sexism. This is unreported or confronted sexism. 

Uh Oh. Watch the racists freak out. What's it like when the majority becomes the numerical minority?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/10/more-minority-babies-will_n_492742.html

"Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years."

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124491340

"

Martin Gill and his partner are seeking to adopt two brothers, ages 5 and 9. The boys have lived with the two men for five years as foster children. For most of that time, the Miami couple has been in court fighting for something Florida forbids gay couples: the right to adopt children."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR2010030303895_pf.html

 

Recently, a sorority of white girls won the national step dancing championship. This is significant because this is a type of dance that is primarily dominated by African American culture, so the upset win did just that....upset people. There is some controversy of the white girls impedeing on black culture. The judges actually awarded the 2nd place team the same amount of money as the winning team because of the number of complaints about the results of the competition. What do you think about this? If anyone is eligible to compete in the competition, why is there such an outrage over white women winning it? Do you agree with the actions that have taken place following this, or do you think this could have been handled differently?

http://www.uni.edu/diversity/index.shtml

"At the University of Northern Iowa, our mission is to create and maintain an inclusive educational environment which prepares students to thrive in a diverse, global environment."

http://www.uni.edu/cme/

"We foster success in racial and ethnic minority students, contribute to the cultural competence of all students, and promote an appreciation of diversity in the University community."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122864641

"The autopilot mode can be useful when we're multitasking, but it can also lead us to make unsupported snap judgments about people in the world around us."

Menthol cigarettes have been heavily marketed to African Americans. And menthol cigarettes may be more addicted and more deadly than regular cigarettes.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122868470

"Nicotine is definitely addictive, but scientists have been debating for several decades the effect of menthol in hooking people on tobacco. Some researchers suspect that menthol allows smokers to take deeper drags or puffs on cigarettes, drawing in greater amounts of nicotine and its byproducts."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cubias/why-latinos-are-so-pessim_b_427635.html

"A recent Pew Research Center poll found that "one year after the election of President Barack Obama, black optimism about America has surged, while Hispanics have become more skeptical about race relations."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-tea-party-is-all-abou_b_484229.html

"The tea party is almost entirely about race, and there's no comparative group on the left that's similarly motivated by bigotry, ignorance and racial hatred."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-catholics-gay-parents,0,7661246.story

 

This is an article about a preschooler who was not allowed to re-enroll in a Catholic school because of the sexual orientation of his parents. It is hard to believe that something like this happened in such a socially liberal town like Boulder, CO. What do you think of the school's "reasoning" for not allowing this student to come back? There is probably a certain degree of hypocrisy going on here.....if the school were to find out that one of its students or faculty was gay, would they react the same way?

Given the variety and amount of work you are doing for this class, I'm thinking the easiest way to evaluate you (at the end of it all), is to have you pull together a portfolio of your work for the class.

A portfolio documents work products and the effort engaged in doing that work.

You should include in your portfolio the required elements: 9 blog comments, 9 blog posts, a couple of other special assignment posts, 8 article analyses, 3 movie analyses, your book report, and your project.  You may also want to include a section that has other blog posts and comments that you did (beyond the required). You may include *anything* that you believe displays your effort, skills, and knowledge in the course.

I don't want the portfolio itself to be a lot of extra work..just a place to document the work you have done.

You can show it to me anytime along the way, with the final portfolio due at the final.

 

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rusty-weiss/2010/02/01/rush-racism-media-stunned-black-woman-could-win-over-limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh surprised the media in voting for a Black women at the Miss America Pageant in which she actually won. He has been labeled as a racist by many sources and people. Rush has a conservative talk show where he expresses his opinion about various issues going on in America and the world. The other judges were Vivica A. Fox and Shawn Johnson. Do you think Rush's vote was sincere or do you think he was singled out by the other judges? Another questioned to keep in mind is if he picked her to convince people that he wasn't a racist.

I found this article that talks about how homosexuals that live in states that ban same-sex marriage have an increased risk for developing mental disorders. I don't find this surprising because it's basically telling a person they are wrong for doing something that seems completely natural to them. It also infringes on their personal rights and is essentially telling them that it is unlawful to be with the person they love.

Does this surprise you at all? Do you think that studies like this will aid in passing same-sex marriage laws or will people continue to ignore the evidence? How would you feel if the gov't told you cou couldn't be married for some reason you felt you had no control over?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Policies-up-risk-of-psychiatric-disorder-in-gays-lesbians/articleshow/5640204.cms

Larry Wilmore is a comic who does a lot of race humor.  He has a bit on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" as the "Senior Black Correspondent", he's written for The Office, and done stand up.  In this clip, he is on The Daily Show talking about how white people should "play the race card" now that roles have reversed and we have a black president.  It's a funny clip and I really appreciate Wilmore's humor.  However, that's not the only reason why I wanted to show it to you all.  It's particularly humorous because there is such a drastic role reversal. 
 http://www.thedailytube.com/video/20841/larry-wilmore-plays-the-race-card

Why do we see things like this has funny?  Why such a touchy subject so easy to laugh at?

The case of 17 year old Chelsea King has been making headlines all over the news. A few days ago, Chelsea King, an honors student at a local San Diego high school was reported missing after not returning home from a jog. Her father found her BMW and other belongings at a trail overlooking a lake. Sadly, today they reportedly found her body in a shallow grave. She was sexually assaulted and then murdered. They currently have a registered sex offender named John Gardner in custody for the rape and murder of this teenage girl.

In this article: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587622,00.html, they go in to great detail about the massive search conducted to find Chelsea.

"The San Diego County Sheriff's Department, along with the FBI and law enforcement from Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties, launched on all-out search for Chelsea using helicopters, infrared devices and search dogs to scour the park's rugged terain."

I personally have never seen this kind of response for missing person's who are of lower SES status and/minorities. A few months back I read an article in my hometown's newspaper about a 16 year old high school student who went missing in El Paso, Texas. The young lady had texted her mom to pick her up at school but when she got there, her daughter was nowhere to be found. The woman later received a message from her daughter saying that she was in Juarez and needed to be picked up there. Sadly, the young woman has not been seen or heard of since October. There were no massive searches by anybody, no helicopters, no info-red camera's, nothing. These poor parents have been all over Juarez, recently named the most dangerous city in the world, looking in hospitals and shelters in the hopes of finding their daughter.

Why is it that the cases of these rich, white, upper middle class victims make the headlines all over the national news while others do not?

 

 

The Southern Poverty Law Center's annual report just came out, and it reported that there was a 244% increase in the amount of "Patriot" groups forming. These groups espouse anti-government conspiracy theories and blind Patriotic messages of upholding the constitution. This rise blamed on the state of the economy, frustrations of unemployment, and derivations of rhetoric coming out of the Tea Party movement.There was a 40% overall increase in hate groups throughout the U.S. in the past year. The report also sites a number of crimes connected to these hate groups in the past year.

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-report-number-of-patriot-groups-militias-surges-by-244-in-past-year

In the report they talked about a moving toward a bit of a threshold. In my opinion I very much believe that this report is related to the events at the various universities. I think that frustration, especially economic frustration is a potent variable when it comes to expressing prejudice and hate toward the out-group. Moreover, when frustration is fueled by conspiracy theories, fear mongering, and misinformation, the corollaries are to sure to be hateful and harmful.
 


    

Here's a link to the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35677130/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

I thought I'd post this update since we have been talking about this in class. I think the administration's response to these incidents have been good, but I think they need to do more. If you get a chance, read the Chancellor's statement (I think it is in another blog post). She uses a lot of "we" language. It is creating a common group identity as UC San Diego students.

What else should be done to address these problems? What statements would you issue to the public about these events?

If you look up "Epic Beard Man" and sign into youtube you can watch this video with what they are saying alongside it. This fight seemed to spring from a missunderstanding. The black man was upset and pushed the old guy too far, causing the fight. There are many race-related fights happen in our country, but many probably going underreported. It is interesting to see how the black man carries himself in the beginning, and then how he acts after his pride has been trashed. Do you think this man was just trying to uphold a stereotype based on this fact? Do you think the man was justified for beating him up? What about why the fight started, do you think this was totally just based on racism or was something else involved?

                With all of the talk we had in class and in the news about colleges and the graduation rates with minority students being considerably lower.  I found an article that discussed the busing in high schools.  This is taking place in North Carolina and in a high school they want to end their busing system and diversity policy.  This has caused a lot of controversy among minority groups.  Their policy used economic information to create diversity within the schools.  This plan is up for vote this week to end it.  The president of the NAACP in North Carolina disagrees with this idea.  He was quoted as saying:

"All of the research shows that when you create highly re-segregated schools, you create high poverty schools, high teacher turn-over, low-teacher quality schools and that affects education directly. We have thirty-nine failing high schools already in North Carolina. Ninety-nine percent of those schools are ninety-percent re-segregated, so we know what happens."

http://www.fsrn.org/audio/north-carolina-school-board-votes-ending-diversity-policy/6308

            I find that taking the busing possibility away will not help these children in getting the best education then they can get.  Since this school bases their diversity on socioeconomic status, it will be the kids who live in poverty, which will have to go back to these schools that aren't as dedicated to education as the schools which are over the poverty line.

It seems that music videos have always presented sexual images. For example, it is difficult to forget the semi-naked women who accompanied 1980s rock bands in their videos that were shown all over the world. But lately it seems that sexual images are used by both men and women: female singers are increasingly presenting themselves with less clothing and sexier dance moves.

In her article "How pop became porn", Liz Jones talks about pop star Shakira's latest video for her song "She Wolf", in which the singer appears in her most sexually explicit video so far, almost naked and dancing very provocatively inside a cage. She writes with concern: "The images can be seen in the video for her single, She Wolf, which will be watched obsessively, again and again, by thousands of young men and women, many of whom will form the opinion that writhing in a cage is precisely the way 'sexy' women should behave."

Shakira is a very interesting case. She started her career in her native Colombia, writing songs written by herself and playing the guitar. Over the years, as she has become better known internationally, she has undergone a transformation, changing her appearance and her musical style, and making sexier videos. Jones writes: "When I asked Shakira, the Latin American superstar, how she can square being sexy, wearing skimpy clothes, with her charitable work championing children in the developing world, she replied indignantly: 'Of course I can square it! I think my image is one of being powerful, in control.'"

Shakira is not the only female pop star doing this kind of videos, and this raises some questions: Are over-sexualized images of female singers really empowering women? Or are the images of semi-naked women in cages or crawling on the floor perpetuating old stereotypes of women as submissive sexual objects? Considering how often these type of videos are seen by people of all ages in many countries, the answers to these questions are extremely relevant.

To read the full article, including information about the initiative in the U.K. to ban sexually explicit videos before 9 p.m., click here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1254145/LIZ-JONES-How-pop-porn.html

http://olympics.thestar.com/2010/article/773211--canucks-show-sense-of-humour-at-games-closing

This is an article that discusses some of the characteristics of the closing ceremonies in Vancouver a couple of days ago.

"There were marching Mounties in miniskirts. Tabletop hockey players. The iconic "Hockey Night in Canada" theme. Dancing canoes, red-clad lumberjacks and giant inflatable beavers.

Michael Buble -- never opposed to poking fun at himself -- even rode atop a massive motorized Mountie's hat while performing The Maple Leaf Forever."

These are all common stereotypes of Canada.....It is kind of cool how Canada is embracing /poking fun at some of the stereotypes about their country, but how do you think this would fly with some other cultures? Is it because these stereotypes are not considered at all negative that this is more accepted than what it could be? Do you think this would offend any Canadians that do not particularly identify with these cultural stereotypes?

On the way home from school today I was listing to NPR and heard this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p006czyf (start listing at about 26:35) story on BBC News Hour.  It is a story about how anti abortion activists are starting a new campaign claiming that groups like Planned parenthood are targeting African American women for abortions to reduce their population. 

There is an interview with a representative of planned parenthood who talks about the work they do with low income people in inner cities to give them the choice of when to have a child.  The other interview is with a member of the Georgia right to life group who happens to be a niece of Martin Luther King Jr.  After he initial claims of "just knowing" this is happening she doesn't really back it up and starts going back to the normal antiabortionist lines about the rights of the child.

What do you think about this story?  Also do you think that the right to life activist is using her family's historical importance to sway this argument? 

An instructor was fired for saying nigger during class, in the context of his lecture. How do you feel about this? Just cause? Or political correctness and hypersensitivity at work?

http://www.thetowerlight.com/adjunct-faculty-member-fired-following-racial-slur-1.2174910

"While reviewing a chapter about identity and the body, Zaruba referred to himself as "a nigger on the corporate plantation." (Zaruba is white).

Yep. You guessed it. The pressure is on for organizations to appear diverse. And they'll photoshop if necessary.

http://www.11points.com/Misc/11_Photos_Where_Black_People_Were_Awkwardly_Photoshopped_In_or_Out