http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18034102/?GT1=9246
As of April 10, 2007, Turner County High School in Georgia held its first ever non-segregated prom. It has been a tradition at this small high school in a modest town of 4,000 people to throw separate but equal proms for both African American and white students. This last year, seniors at Turner County High decided that they wanted to break tradition. They became the first class at the school to throw an “everyone is invited” prom celebration. Both blacks and whites showed up at the scene, even though both the blacks and whites had there own close-knit cliques. First year principal Chad Stone told the students after hearing there request that if they really wanted an all-school prom that he would do it right.
Our country was built on the oppression of minorities and the privilege of the majority. Race and ethnicity have been in a constant struggle to bring equality to everyone. This school which was instilled with the qualities of a nation built on race, but they are trying there best to make up for lost time. Ever since the Civil Rights Movement, our nation has strived to reduce the gaps in privilege and the amount of oppression between black and white individuals. This school represents the ideas and hopes of everyone. We all would like a society that is does not even consider race, but the roots of oppression and stereotypes lie deep within our society. Our negative tradition of seeing only in black and white will be much harder to break than Turner County High School’s prom decisions. As junior student James Hall said “But it’s time for a change.” While may only be referring to the small controversy in a small town, his words hold true in the most controversial of ideas ever. It is time for change. It is time for equal rights to be given to everyone regardless of age, race, or sexual orientation.
The class officers, which include two African Americans and two whites, chose the theme for their tradition breaking dance. They selected: Breakaway. This word represents the need in our society to stop and realize our differences but instead of acting on them in a negative or violent manner, we need to accept it and get over it. We need to breakaway from the stereotypes that we have for each other. People need to realize that although we may look different, in this country we are all considered one ethnicity. We are Americans. While living in this society, our differences need to be put in the back seat, as we are no longer considered black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or anything else. We are all one race. Even science is catching up with this idea. Science has recently proved that there is no biological basis for race. New York Times writer Charles Petit briefly explains sciences new discovery saying, “…the very concept of race is bogus and has no basis in biology, according to most scientists” (Petit, 1998). This message has apparently been spread to Turner County High School, as they are going along with science. They don’t seem to care that history has separated blacks from whites. All they care about is that there friends and fellow students get to celebrate together, as one. (545)
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Stereotyping Sports
http://www.jonentine.com/reviews/chi_trib_04.htm
When sports began to integrate in the early 1940’s, stereotypes began their reign over the lives of the minority players. Every minority that began playing sports was open to prejudice. In an article called “Blacks, Sports, and Lingering Racial Stereotypes,” author Salim Muakkil chronicles the evolution of stereotypes in sports. How did stereotypes in sports begin? Well that depends on who you talk to. Paul Gallico, writer for the New York Daily News in the 1930’s spoke about the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association’s all-Jewish team playing basketball, “is that the game [basketball] places a premium on an alert, scheming mind, flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart aleckness." Back in the times when only white people and non-minorities were allowed to play sports, sports enthusiasts needed some way to explain why the minority players were beginning to dominate the sports world. White individuals explained why African-Americans were so good at sports saying such things as: blacks can have bursts of speed and are good because they are more animalistic in nature. At the time, these explanations were perfectly fine to show why all of the white players were getting beat, but now after all of the civil rights movements we have gone through, these stereotypes need to end. Muakkil brings up a good point saying that our current sports leaders are mostly from minorities. Barry Bonds, the William’s sisters, Kobe Bryant, Ladainian Tomlinson; these black players are all some of the greats in their sports, and they are all currently stereotyped against. These great players are great because they are black. This statement can no longer hold true. Now we should be saying, “these great players are great because they are the best in the game.” It is not only stereotyping between blacks and whites, but between men and women as well. Women have had to lead through the stereotypes in sports. In 1972 Title IX was passed and has forever changed how people look at women’s sports. Suddenly, women had equal access to everything that men had access to. Even though sports were originally not the main point of Title IX, throughout the years, the idea of what the law stood for changed to fit more towards high school and collegiate athletics. Just within the last 10 years, women have finally had the chance to play professional basketball in the WNBA, whereas the men have been playing in their own league for over 60 years. Still women are not given the respect they deserve in sports. In my high school, school officials actually made the guys play first before the girls so that the girl’s games would have some attendance from people already seated. This tactic didn’t work very well because even though the stands were packed for the guy’s game, the eventually nearly unfilled before the start of the girl’s game. I can’t tell you how many times I have been listening people talk about women’s sports, saying that women’s sports are slow and women are not fun to watch because they are not very good. This is completely untruthful; women sports are just as entertaining as men’s sports, and I know plenty of girls that could probably beat many men at any sport. These stereotypes that we have created need to be ended. Minorities are slowly becoming the majority, and are doing just as well in sporting events as are their white counterparts. The stereotypes of the minorities have reached their end, and we are starting slowly diminishing the amount of prejudice between blacks and whites, and men and women. Just like Muakkil said, “Stereotypes die hard, but die they must” (Muakkil 2002). (606)
When sports began to integrate in the early 1940’s, stereotypes began their reign over the lives of the minority players. Every minority that began playing sports was open to prejudice. In an article called “Blacks, Sports, and Lingering Racial Stereotypes,” author Salim Muakkil chronicles the evolution of stereotypes in sports. How did stereotypes in sports begin? Well that depends on who you talk to. Paul Gallico, writer for the New York Daily News in the 1930’s spoke about the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association’s all-Jewish team playing basketball, “is that the game [basketball] places a premium on an alert, scheming mind, flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart aleckness." Back in the times when only white people and non-minorities were allowed to play sports, sports enthusiasts needed some way to explain why the minority players were beginning to dominate the sports world. White individuals explained why African-Americans were so good at sports saying such things as: blacks can have bursts of speed and are good because they are more animalistic in nature. At the time, these explanations were perfectly fine to show why all of the white players were getting beat, but now after all of the civil rights movements we have gone through, these stereotypes need to end. Muakkil brings up a good point saying that our current sports leaders are mostly from minorities. Barry Bonds, the William’s sisters, Kobe Bryant, Ladainian Tomlinson; these black players are all some of the greats in their sports, and they are all currently stereotyped against. These great players are great because they are black. This statement can no longer hold true. Now we should be saying, “these great players are great because they are the best in the game.” It is not only stereotyping between blacks and whites, but between men and women as well. Women have had to lead through the stereotypes in sports. In 1972 Title IX was passed and has forever changed how people look at women’s sports. Suddenly, women had equal access to everything that men had access to. Even though sports were originally not the main point of Title IX, throughout the years, the idea of what the law stood for changed to fit more towards high school and collegiate athletics. Just within the last 10 years, women have finally had the chance to play professional basketball in the WNBA, whereas the men have been playing in their own league for over 60 years. Still women are not given the respect they deserve in sports. In my high school, school officials actually made the guys play first before the girls so that the girl’s games would have some attendance from people already seated. This tactic didn’t work very well because even though the stands were packed for the guy’s game, the eventually nearly unfilled before the start of the girl’s game. I can’t tell you how many times I have been listening people talk about women’s sports, saying that women’s sports are slow and women are not fun to watch because they are not very good. This is completely untruthful; women sports are just as entertaining as men’s sports, and I know plenty of girls that could probably beat many men at any sport. These stereotypes that we have created need to be ended. Minorities are slowly becoming the majority, and are doing just as well in sporting events as are their white counterparts. The stereotypes of the minorities have reached their end, and we are starting slowly diminishing the amount of prejudice between blacks and whites, and men and women. Just like Muakkil said, “Stereotypes die hard, but die they must” (Muakkil 2002). (606)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Videogame Violence
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/
According to Newsweek, studies are now showing that videogame violence can lead to excess aggression. I can’t tell you how many times I have been watching the news, and have seen somebody criticizing the videogame industry for being too violent. Personally, I have grown up playing these games, and I am no more violent then anyone else. According to researchers at the University of Indiana, studies have shown that videogames stimulate areas of the brain that control emotions, and they also decrease brain activity in areas controlling inhibitions and self-control. The media uses this kind of research in accordance with the influence it has over the whole country to scare parents away from children and videogames. The media has the whole country under its control. It uses the power of communication to spread the bad news about video game violence. What those studies don’t tell us about is the good news about videogames. After a lot of research, I was finally able to find, amongst the masses of articles on how bad videogames violence is, articles on videogames and the positive role they can play in the lives of our youth. The media decides what it wants to share with the masses and what it doesn’t. It doesn’t want us to know that videogames can actually help in defensive driving tactics or that videogames can help gamers process and track visual stimuli over 30 percent faster than non-gamers. These sorts of statistics are always left out of the news articles even though they are from just as reliable sources, in this case the University of Rochester in NY. The media has spun this issue and has continually used their bias to report unequal information when it comes to videogames violence.
I think that when it comes to videogame violence, that we don’t need to just ban the release of any videogame that may seem to be too aggressive, but we need to educate the parent fairly. We need to give them the information from a purely objective standpoint so that they can make the right decision for themselves. The media needs to use its influence over the people of our country not to create more problems, but to create a more just system.
The parents need to be told that not only are some videogames violent and may cause excess aggression, but they may also help their children in ways that no other tool could. Most of all, parents need to learn how to be in control of their own children and not be controlled by the media. They need to learn that they can control how aggressive their children are. Parents shouldn’t let their six year old play halo 3 or their 5 year old to play Call of Duty 3. Education can help everyone learn what is good for their kids and what is bad. I know that if we can work together with the media that that a more reasonable solution can be created. (497)
According to Newsweek, studies are now showing that videogame violence can lead to excess aggression. I can’t tell you how many times I have been watching the news, and have seen somebody criticizing the videogame industry for being too violent. Personally, I have grown up playing these games, and I am no more violent then anyone else. According to researchers at the University of Indiana, studies have shown that videogames stimulate areas of the brain that control emotions, and they also decrease brain activity in areas controlling inhibitions and self-control. The media uses this kind of research in accordance with the influence it has over the whole country to scare parents away from children and videogames. The media has the whole country under its control. It uses the power of communication to spread the bad news about video game violence. What those studies don’t tell us about is the good news about videogames. After a lot of research, I was finally able to find, amongst the masses of articles on how bad videogames violence is, articles on videogames and the positive role they can play in the lives of our youth. The media decides what it wants to share with the masses and what it doesn’t. It doesn’t want us to know that videogames can actually help in defensive driving tactics or that videogames can help gamers process and track visual stimuli over 30 percent faster than non-gamers. These sorts of statistics are always left out of the news articles even though they are from just as reliable sources, in this case the University of Rochester in NY. The media has spun this issue and has continually used their bias to report unequal information when it comes to videogames violence.
I think that when it comes to videogame violence, that we don’t need to just ban the release of any videogame that may seem to be too aggressive, but we need to educate the parent fairly. We need to give them the information from a purely objective standpoint so that they can make the right decision for themselves. The media needs to use its influence over the people of our country not to create more problems, but to create a more just system.
The parents need to be told that not only are some videogames violent and may cause excess aggression, but they may also help their children in ways that no other tool could. Most of all, parents need to learn how to be in control of their own children and not be controlled by the media. They need to learn that they can control how aggressive their children are. Parents shouldn’t let their six year old play halo 3 or their 5 year old to play Call of Duty 3. Education can help everyone learn what is good for their kids and what is bad. I know that if we can work together with the media that that a more reasonable solution can be created. (497)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A Fast Food Culture
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19439895/site/newsweek/page/0/
Recently, Newsweek has published an article called “A Generation at Risk,” which underlines the possibility that our generation could be the first generation to have a shorter lifespan than our parents. They blame this feat on multiple issues. They say that the media represents food in a way that allows people to just keep eating. They add that parents aren’t doing enough to keep their kids healthy as well as that the availability of food has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. I say they are absolutely correct. It is appalling that one third of our adults are overweight and that almost 20% of our children are overweight (HealthGoods 2007). But since not doing anything hasn’t really helped, I believe we should take an active approach to help the youth of this country.
The one thing everyone doesn’t seem to realize is that this is our American culture, the fast food culture. Our “American-ness” has stemmed from the label that Americans, in general, overeat and are overweight because of it. The only way to get a renewed American identity is to defeat the corporations and systems that are encouraging our children to overeat. You visit almost any other nation in the world, and you will see a vast difference in not only the amount of fast food restaurants but a difference in the average waist size.
After reading this story, I decided it would be fun to drive around and see just how many fast food restaurants there are within 10 min of my house. I was astonished to find 9 different restaurants where this unhealthy food is being served. I say, let’s not only help this epidemic by helping our children make the right decisions about eating and exercising, but let us go one step further and fight the bulge right at its home. We NEED to target these fast food, or fat food, restaurants and have them stop this plague of obesity. They will all respond the same way, “we do understand that these obesity levels need to be lowered, that is why we are introducing our new and improved low fat hamburgers and these healthy choice salads.” Have you ever looked at the nutrition facts that most fast food restaurants have hidden away in the corner where no one will look. I went into a McDonalds and looked at the “healthy choice” salads, which have been introduced by a lot of today’s fast food chains, and they have close to the same or more calories than some of the hamburgers. The CEO’s of the multinational corporations seem to think that just by adding more green food into their meals that it would be perfectly healthy for everyone to eat. Obviously not.
Now I know that this wave of fat is not just the fault of the fast food industry. I admit, that every once and a while, even though I know the consequences of my actions, that I will pull up to the drive through at my local McDonalds or Taco Bell and grab lunch. So I understand that more needs to be done about changing our culture. To create this new identity, we need to recognize that this fast food society we live in is only causing us problems, and that something needs to be done to educate our youth and their parents about the consequences of being overweight and about the options they have to stay healthy. But to start our new and improved culture out right we also need to get rid of the people who encourage us eat unhealthy, who provide us with options to be lazy, and who draw us in with colorful buildings and fuzzy store mascots all which make us grow more and more overweight. Let us make a new identity for ourselves, and let us regain what is rightfully ours. Smaller clothes. (644)
Recently, Newsweek has published an article called “A Generation at Risk,” which underlines the possibility that our generation could be the first generation to have a shorter lifespan than our parents. They blame this feat on multiple issues. They say that the media represents food in a way that allows people to just keep eating. They add that parents aren’t doing enough to keep their kids healthy as well as that the availability of food has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. I say they are absolutely correct. It is appalling that one third of our adults are overweight and that almost 20% of our children are overweight (HealthGoods 2007). But since not doing anything hasn’t really helped, I believe we should take an active approach to help the youth of this country.
The one thing everyone doesn’t seem to realize is that this is our American culture, the fast food culture. Our “American-ness” has stemmed from the label that Americans, in general, overeat and are overweight because of it. The only way to get a renewed American identity is to defeat the corporations and systems that are encouraging our children to overeat. You visit almost any other nation in the world, and you will see a vast difference in not only the amount of fast food restaurants but a difference in the average waist size.
After reading this story, I decided it would be fun to drive around and see just how many fast food restaurants there are within 10 min of my house. I was astonished to find 9 different restaurants where this unhealthy food is being served. I say, let’s not only help this epidemic by helping our children make the right decisions about eating and exercising, but let us go one step further and fight the bulge right at its home. We NEED to target these fast food, or fat food, restaurants and have them stop this plague of obesity. They will all respond the same way, “we do understand that these obesity levels need to be lowered, that is why we are introducing our new and improved low fat hamburgers and these healthy choice salads.” Have you ever looked at the nutrition facts that most fast food restaurants have hidden away in the corner where no one will look. I went into a McDonalds and looked at the “healthy choice” salads, which have been introduced by a lot of today’s fast food chains, and they have close to the same or more calories than some of the hamburgers. The CEO’s of the multinational corporations seem to think that just by adding more green food into their meals that it would be perfectly healthy for everyone to eat. Obviously not.
Now I know that this wave of fat is not just the fault of the fast food industry. I admit, that every once and a while, even though I know the consequences of my actions, that I will pull up to the drive through at my local McDonalds or Taco Bell and grab lunch. So I understand that more needs to be done about changing our culture. To create this new identity, we need to recognize that this fast food society we live in is only causing us problems, and that something needs to be done to educate our youth and their parents about the consequences of being overweight and about the options they have to stay healthy. But to start our new and improved culture out right we also need to get rid of the people who encourage us eat unhealthy, who provide us with options to be lazy, and who draw us in with colorful buildings and fuzzy store mascots all which make us grow more and more overweight. Let us make a new identity for ourselves, and let us regain what is rightfully ours. Smaller clothes. (644)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
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