This last week I enjoyed learning about Roger Ebert. I believe this unit was probably one of our better ones, not just because it was positive compared to our unit of racism. But it kind of opened my eyes of something awesome someone did after going through something that should have crippled them. But Ebert never truly lost his voice after getting cancer in his lower jaw. Sure, he couldn't talk, but his voice was louder than ever. I also didn't realize that things like Alex, his computer that talked for him existed. My original reaction was to feel sorry for him, or pity him. But as we went on in the unit and went over what Pity is, I realized there really is no reason to pity him. Sure, he has lost a few things on the journey of life, but the only thing to pity is unhappiness which far from what Roger was like.
The big question in this unit is why some people sink or swim when faced with personal tragedy. I do think it has to do with how much preparation you have had for the personal tragedy. As in, your more likely to sink if a relative close to you dies in a freak accident out of nowhere. But even within the group of people who had that precious time to prepare, people sink. Why? It could have to do with your own character at that point in your life. If your depressed, a loss or personal tragedy will probably be the nail in the coffin. But if your self-confident and walk with a stride in your step, that's almost like an extra preparation. Other than those two theories, I can't think of any other reason. Se people might need help from others but ultimately it depends on how you feel like at some point in your life. But ultimately, the best you can do is be positive. Roger Ebert should and was applauded for what he did. He proved you can never truly lose your voice.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Review over Rasicm Unit
Over the past few weeks I have learned a lot about modern day Racism. Mostly about his hard it is to tell Institutional Racism from just plain evil. For the most part, a majority of people are not outwardly racist. I've learned and been thinking from a new perspective that modern-day racism is subconsious. This bias is forced through institutional racism. Society gives us a subconsious small dislike from an early age.
This can more easily explain the recent police brutality towards blacks. Policemen are really the only people put in the position to act on that bias. The rest of us are under the protection of the lack of tools and responsibility. But an officer's job is to be aware and look out for suspicious activity. In this way, their bias can affect their awareness. The failure to indict these police officers is most likely the result of institutional racism. As society tells you to trust the police officers and in places such as Ferguson most of them are wrongly, white. Despite most of the population of the town being black.
More specifically relating to what I researched, I have discovered the idiocy of immigration laws in our country. Starting off with John Adams' ridiculous auditions acts to suppress free speech using some laws preventing immigrants to naturalize. At one point our country allowed immigrated who lived here for 5 years to naturalize. Now, it's 14 years. Immigration indirectly relates to our racism topic because the laws and groups/clumps of foreign population creates a sort of dislike towards that group of people. The most prominent example is Mexican immigrans. Wether they are "illegal" immigrants or not, most people have a subconscious or they are aware of their dislike of Mexican immigrants.
Immigration is a touchy subject because many people disagree of what you need to be allowed to come together into another country as a citizen. That is understandable. But so often we dehumanize immigrants with terms such as "illegal" and "alien." I personally think that to help society cut down on institutional racism and strong feelings for immigrants, it starts with how we portray them. Using dehumanizing words such as "alien" doesn't help.
This can more easily explain the recent police brutality towards blacks. Policemen are really the only people put in the position to act on that bias. The rest of us are under the protection of the lack of tools and responsibility. But an officer's job is to be aware and look out for suspicious activity. In this way, their bias can affect their awareness. The failure to indict these police officers is most likely the result of institutional racism. As society tells you to trust the police officers and in places such as Ferguson most of them are wrongly, white. Despite most of the population of the town being black.
More specifically relating to what I researched, I have discovered the idiocy of immigration laws in our country. Starting off with John Adams' ridiculous auditions acts to suppress free speech using some laws preventing immigrants to naturalize. At one point our country allowed immigrated who lived here for 5 years to naturalize. Now, it's 14 years. Immigration indirectly relates to our racism topic because the laws and groups/clumps of foreign population creates a sort of dislike towards that group of people. The most prominent example is Mexican immigrans. Wether they are "illegal" immigrants or not, most people have a subconscious or they are aware of their dislike of Mexican immigrants.
Immigration is a touchy subject because many people disagree of what you need to be allowed to come together into another country as a citizen. That is understandable. But so often we dehumanize immigrants with terms such as "illegal" and "alien." I personally think that to help society cut down on institutional racism and strong feelings for immigrants, it starts with how we portray them. Using dehumanizing words such as "alien" doesn't help.
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