Lion King redux

This goes along with Chris's post from earlier about the Lion King. Disney has a long history of not being entirely good with the non-discrimination, non-prejudice mindset. Some of us may remember a movie called tales of Brier Rabbit. On the other hand the majority of the class will not remember this movie because it was pulled by Disney after massive public outcry about the portrayal of African-Americans in it. Additionally I have to agree with Chris's assessment of the depiction of the female lions. Female lions in a wild do almost all of the hunting, while the male lions sit on their duffs absorbing the sun. The only male lions who actively hunt on their own are those who have been kicked out of their prides. The lioness in her natural environment is one of the world's most deadly predators. Now this may not be the best for trail of females either since the mail does not work at all, but female lions are not defenseless waiting around for the males to save them.

Geoff Simmonds

Lawmakers comments stir anger

This article reminds me of what we were speaking of on Tuesday. It is a reflection of the hierarchical thought patterns of minorities, and shows both racism and stereotypical thought patterns. I found this to be an interesting article for one to look at and see a lawmaker making this assumption, and coupled with what happened with Chris Lee makes it even more interesting.

Link to article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_re_us/us_black_lawmaker_immigration

Feel free to comment on this and give your thoughts.

Geoff Simmonds

John Wayne

I was watching a old John Wayne Cowboy movie with my roomate today and was kinda shocked by the overt racism in it. In the kind of movie that many people regard as pure representation of American Culture it is really obvious in it's racist material against Native Americans. Many times during the movie the Native Americans were called savages and red men. They were also shown as a race of people that was only concentrated on the massacre of the cowboys. At one point John Wayne's charector is attacked by 4 Apache and just fights them off with a knife. At the end the women asks why he had to scalp all the Apache, he respnds that if he didnt they would have killed him and raped her and stoled her son. The Natives were shown as unintellegent and not organized, as if they just surived by simply murdering people in the west and stealing their goods. At the end of the movie, after a huge battle sequence, the cowboys rejoice that soon the calvary will arrive in the west and all the Apache will be wiped out. american culture :)

Jennifer Graham Post #4

Discrimination & Prejudice are 2 things that really bother me and that I have witnessed first hand and something that really bothers me, especially when it comes to my children. I have seen how your size can put you at a disadvantage and how you dress can make you an outcast. What really bothers me is when someone uses it to classify you in front of other people. And there doesn't seem to be a way to stop it. Its every where you go. People don't realize the psychological implications that just saying the word big or fat can have on an individual throughout their entire life. It really comes through in todays media, when someone says you're CURVY, its a bad thing.

Post #2: Stereotyping People on Government Assistance

In Chapter 3, it is mentioned that White Americans often associate African Americans with recipients of Government assistance like Welfare because this idea has been projected by the media for so long. While there are African Americans who receive assistance, they are not the only ones. As a disabled person, I receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps, Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) and Section 8 Subsidized Housing. I think it is important to recognize that these programs were created for a reason - they provide basic needs like food and shelter to those that have low incomes. To me, they are not a stereotype, but a godsend that means the difference between having or not having sustenance.

- Josh Steffen

Post #1: Born to be a Minority

Although ethnic minorities is Marger's main focus, I feel emotionally compelled to talk about people with disabilities because they are considered a minority based on their physical or mental limitations. Until I read the brief mention about this in the book, I never thought to myself, "Josh, your a minority" since I always identify myself as a disabled person, and I was born this way. From my own personal experiences, what Marger says about the disabled is certainly not untrue. Throughout my life, I have been singled out and treated differently in various situations. For instance, I was recovering from a major operation during my Sophomore year of high school and was confined to a wheelchair. I also had a teacher aide that was helping me get around the school. I handed in a paper to my History teacher, and after reading it he asked, "Did you write this?" I said, "Yes I did." He also asked my aide if she had written it for me to which she responded, "No, he does all of his own work." Had I not been disabled and in a wheelchair, I do not think this would have been an issue.

In regard to educational opportunities, the Resource Room played a major role in my K-12 academic achievements. A Resource Room is an environment in a regular school where students get specialized instruction in whatever subjects they struggle with. This is one example of an accommodation that assisted me educationally, but did not cause me to feel any less "included" or "left out" while I went to school. Another helpful program established for people with disabilities is Vocational Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) which provides funding for me to attend Fredonia. Utilizing these advocative services allows me to feel less like a minority and more a part of mainstream society.

As for opportunities in employment, I have found them to be less advantageous and equal. After going on twenty job interviews, I felt intentionally discriminated against. While I cannot be certain of discrimination, I believe that as soon as the interviewer saw I was disabled, my chances of getting the job were either not as likely or ruined. Do I think all employers discriminate against disabled people? No, but I feel that I am at a disadvantage because of something that is a part of who I am, and unfortunately out of my control. Someday, I hope to see the same progress in employment for disabled people as there has been in education.

- Josh Steffen

Stereotypes in the movies.

Over the course of last week in class we have discussed stereotypes and the damage that they do. The more and more I start to examine certain types of movies closely the more and more I see stereotypes being taught without the viewer even noticing.

My daughter was watching the disney movie The Lion King which I'm sure many of you have seen before. As I watched it with her I began to notice some very disturbing things about the movie. The Lion King does the same thing. The main characters are various animals but in my opinion their voices have racist stereotypes attached to them. The movie takes place on the African Sahel yet if you noticed Simba's voice is played by a white actor. The hyenas who are bad characters in the film speak english that is hard to understand and are played by Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin. To me this can be construed as being stereotypical.

I also couldn't help but notice the stereotypical depictions of females in the movie as well. The lionesses cannot protect themselves from the evil Scar and they must wait for Simba to come back as an adult male and help them. This only feeds the stereotype that women are weak and need men to protect and save them.

After noticing these things it is very apparent that even something as innocent as a disney movie may only be serving the pourpose of perpetuating stereotypes which is very negative and entirely wrong. Just some thoughts.

Chris Roberts post 4

Racism in America

I just read an article that said most Americans white and black see racism as a lingering problem in the United States. Many of the people in the poll taken for the article say that they know people who are racist but few Americans of either race, about one out of eight, consider themselves racist.

Out of curiosity I'm wondering how many people believe that racism is a lingering problem that affects them on some level of their daily lives? How many are willing to openly admit that they have people in their close circles of friends or family that are racist and if so how does it determine how you relate to these individuals especially if you do not share the same opinions?

Chris Roberts Post 3

Gingervitus

The video about Gingers from Thursdays class got me thinking about the mental ramifications one encounters when experiencing extreme discrimination. It effects all levels of thought. It makes one assume the role of inferior, of never being good enough. Just this sentiment will greatly effect the one a mind works. This constant persecution is easy to keep up as well, as after a while the treatment becomes commonplace on both sides, and the reasons for the discrimination start to seem true. The persecuted group emulates their sentiments, because they are never allowed to amount to anything more worthwhile. Someone who started as equal is made unequal just because of a distinguishing characteristic. It's a very sad thing to ponder.

Samuel Roux, Post 4

Wartime Stereotypes (Response)

I was going to post about this topic, but instead I will just elaborate on what you said. The dehumanization that exists between warring nations is something which absolutely blows my mind. It assists the human mind in wrapping its head around the atrocities that war permits. This is not what I view as destructive though, the true social destruction from this takes place away from the fighting. A perfect example of this would stem from 11/9 (I'm European). After this event, people from Middle Eastern descent were dehumanized in ways which significantly hurt their population in America. Our minds turned on an entire race of people, just from the actions of few extremists. Humans need to learn, and understand the true effects stereotypes have on society. They cause nothing but harm and alienation. We are all the same underneath our skin, and society will never fully flourish until we drop our petty preconceived notions of others.

Samuel Roux, Post 3

A major problem in society today

Going along with other peoples posts, one thing that keeps sticking in my head is the video about gingers. The video was funny and made it show how easy it is to put certain people in a certain group. But when thinking about it further it was also a little sad, I know it was a fake skit, but it also showed how easy it is to discriminate against a certain group, or put a group above another. Yea, the skit was funny, but look at Germany when the Nazis were in power, and blond hair, blue eyes were considered a superior race. When thinking about it, its just as ridiculous as discriminating against people with red hair, but this was real, and caused serious problems. Then when you think about all the people discriminated not from their hair or eye color, but their skin color, it is just as ridiculous.



Post #4 Cassandra Paternosh

Ethnicity, Education, and Books

After discussions in class it made me realize how much I never realized how big a role ethnicity still played in society today. I grew up with groups of another race, and then in my high school it was predominately white. Race was never really an issue, I witnessed issues of racism, but I always just thought it was a few students being idiots. I did not realize how much of an issue today it still is. How so many minority groups are still discriminated against and do not get the same opportunities as other groups.
Also I read another post and she discussed education and books effecting students views. It made me think how important teachers are in students lives, and how easily they could present stereotypes. Even if teachers do not do it on purpose, it is easy for them to misrepresent something to a student. Also going along with books, there are many books that teachers have students read that misrepresent certain groups. I had a strong upbringing about not judging groups, or putting them in categories, but when I think back on it, the teachers I had did not have a huge role in that. I know different teachers I had actually misrepresented certain races, and that had impacts on how certain students perceived them.

Post #3 Cassandra Paternosh

Progress in the Media

Something that has been brought up several times is racism in the media. We discussed how if there is a character on the T.V. of a minority group, they more than likely portray their stereotype. In fact, I think we only came up with about two examples that conveyed the contrary. We compared retro television shows from the past and shows that are playing now and came up with the conclusion that they tend to have the same idea: that minorities would typically play a role depicting their stereotype to some degree while the number of minorities we see on the screen has increased over time. This brought up a lot of questions in my head. What I was left wondering was the process that this occurs. So a minority is selected for to play a character in a show and they would be aware that they would be portrayed as a minority. However, is this portrayal better than no portrayal at all? The way I see it is that that those minority actors must agree to this role, thus putting their ethnicity out there in the mainstream culture. It is not as if we are shocked if we see more than one color on our T.V. screens as people most likely were in the 50’s and 60’s. What I have noticed a lot in television today is that while a show would acknowledge a particular stereotype and most likely poke fun at it, the minority character doesn’t necessarily embody that stereotype or would say something to combat it. Perhaps the mere existence of stereotypes in television can be used as tools for minorities to gain more progress in both the media and society as whole.

Meredith Cotter - Post #4

What is not discrimination?

One thing from class that stood out to me from class this week was the idea of the different types and levels of discrimination. There was the micro (individual), macro (institutional), and structural. The most interesting to me was the latter of the three, and the idea of unintentional, indirect discrimination. I couldn’t help but try to think of how much racism is in my life or the lives of average Americans without even knowing its there. Under the umbrella of structural discrimination is the fact that minorities who live in a more impoverished inner city environment, lack access to a better school thus hindering success later in life. While this is what Marger states, I fail to see how this can be a form discrimination. It isn’t race/ethnicity that is stopping minorities from moving into a better neighborhood so that their children can get into a better school. I see how this is a hardship, injustice even, but I feel that it shouldn’t be labeled as discrimination, even if it is unintentional discrimination.

That being said, where is the line? What isn’t construed as discrimination? During the U.S. antebellum years, could a northern abolitionist wearing a shirt woven from cotton picked by slaves be an act of discrimination? Could a student participating in a history lesson that celebrates Christopher Columbus and ignores his treatment of Native Americans be an act of discrimination? If I went and bought a pair of Nike sneakers assembled in china by cheap, sweatshop laborers under the control of an American corporation, am I discriminating? These are radical ideas, I know. But last class left me with the idea that everything is in some way connected to a racist though or discriminate action, which led me to the question of where is the line drawn between discrimination and acceptable discrimination, or even normalcy? Is this even possible in this day in age? And lastly, looking at that chart on page 70 in Marger, can one truly and honestly say that they do not discriminate?

Meredith Cotter - Post #3

We aren't born racist, we are taught it

I am an education major, and more and more through school I realize the incredible impact ones education has on them. In my multicultural education class we talk a lot about how racism and segregation and things like are often times learned in schools. People may not realize it or do it intentionally, but so many of the standardized tests are geared to fit the average white student, and draw on the life experiences many Caucasians have. Another example is in the books we read in school. So many of the books we read are also geared towards the average white American student. This becomes a problem when a certain "norm" is enforced within education, and allows students from an early age to become closed minded and see others differences as wrong or inferior. Teachers who aren't even racist could be enforcing these stereotypes and ideas without even realizing it. Education has such a huge impact in a persons life and is a huge factor in what shapes their beliefs. No school actually flat out teaches children to be racist, but its the small, "behind the scenes" factors that have such a huge impact. If people became aware of the negative message a lot of books, movies, tests, shows, etc, give to kids, I think it would help diminish racism in the long run.

Post #4
Brigit May

Post # 4 Selective Perception

I think the part of chapter 3 that stuck out the most was the section on selective perception. Not that everything in the chapter was not important but the idea that you do it and only focus on those who are portraying the stereotype is crazy. I know that there are people out there who do selectively only see the stereotype and even though they have seen those who make the stereotype false they still believe it to be true. I know that my friends dad is very racist especially towards those who are black. No matter how many people who are black he sees that are working hard and making the most honest living possible I do not feel that it will ever change his racist ways. It is just to deeply implanted in him for him to see otherwise even though there are plenty of people who are black that in no way do or have fit the stereotypes.

Classify Others As You Would Onto You Blog #3 Frank DiMaria

I was thinking a lot about the concept of understanding stereotypes and discrimination through a psychological lens. We covered theories in class, which try and explain the origins of each said actions, and define personality traits, which may or may not add up to the sum of a person who believes in stereotypes and discriminates. What I thought about in class was, how can some theorist really score a persons level of stereotypical and discriminatory tendencies. Now, I am no psychologist by any means nor do I profess to be, but when I hear about these psychologists doing experiments to measure something like, “how much a person believes in stereotypes,” or,” how racist a persons is,” I cant hardly believe that the test or scores are in any way accurate. First of all, we are taught at a young age the notion of, “political correctness.” So, even if a person feels a certain way, there is a huge chance that, within a public setting or experimentation setting, for that said individual, not to want to preserve personal face value of an upstanding citizen whom is colorblind, so to speak. I am not commenting on the unjustness of people (in a general sense), and I do believe that people are “color blind” sometimes, but the fact of the matter remains; there is always a certain bias to be assumed when taking into account testing someone regarding attributes. Then I thought about our textbook, which is pretty good at laying out ideas about ethnicity and race. But, I also thought about the last chart in the book for chapter three (also the last one on the slide show). Basically, the chart was figuring out a person’s bias based on personality traits. Well this is all well and good, but then I thought to myself, by classifying people in categories in which that said category would yield the most, for instance, stereotyping tendencies, isn’t that in itself creating another stereotype? For instance, if I were to interpret the chart literally, and only thought in a deductive sense, I would identify someone with controlling habits as more prone to display and believe in stereotypes. Therefore, all with a tendency of controlling attributes discriminates and believes in stereotypes. Ok, I am being a little extreme, but here’s the point; the way to help combat the ideas of stereotypes and resist discriminatory actions is not by categorizing people most likely to display the said injustices. The way to start and eliminate problems such as discrimination and stereotyping is through addressing the thought process of a person. I don’t think there is any way to completely eliminate ignorant thinking or judgmental tendencies (these are natural and used as primitive defense mechanisms), but if we as “scholars” truly want to make a difference in the world, we need to be the start of a conversation addressing how people think. We need to be open to others ideas, and if a person is using stereotypes to make opinions or discrimination, we can’t say, “that person is just a jerk.” We have to hear them out, and then get to the root, as humbly as we can, of the problem in the thinking process. Most of what people believe, which isn’t truth, is only because they haven’t been proposed with another way of thinking of things. People form beliefs over a period of time, so, let us not classify others, but rather learn about others and see their side first before becoming what we profess to stand up against. 

Everyone has prejudice.....everyone is crazy

Class on thursday was very interesting to me. I found it very entertaining at first that the video of the Ginger prejudice was soo crazy. Then after i left i realized that all racisms and prejudices are basically crazy. I have some prejudices as i believe everyone does. When i thought about some things that i do i felt ashamed and pretty stupid. Im gona tryo to make a better effort to see people for how they act not what they look like

American Competition Blog #4 Frank DiMaria

So, when I got home from class I was thinking about the idea of stereotypes. But, past the idea of just stereotypes, I was thinking about the idea of how stereotypes have had competitive uses in the course of history. The obvious for me as an example would be the treatment of Jews in the Holocaust, but as I thought more, I started to realize that the very existence of the United States was based off the idea of competitive stereotyping. There are many instances where this idea becomes applicable, but examining the roots of our country, Indians were stereotyped to the extent that it became common belief that they were savages and barbarous. I have looked at several accounts ranging from Columbus, to Smith, and later Cass, and even our late president Jackson, in addressing whom the Indians “actually were.” Simply put, Indians were stereotyped as a mean of personal gain for forefathers in America. The stereotypes were used as justification for actions like The Indian Removal Act. Jackson for instance, used the idea that Indians would die without the Whites help and that they were inferior by nature. Its interesting to think about the political and social impact a statement like that, from the president, would mean to a public listening to their “leader.” Men in high power (and I am generalizing to a degree) whom would have spoke of these savages surly had an impact on public opinion. Forming untruthful ideas, and persuading the public to think the same way in the belief, achieved a basic rational for personal advancement. The reason someone like Jackson got his way, was due to his persuasive nature, and ability to enforce stereotypes into mass belief. It’s a sad reality, but Jackson’s made-up reality, and driving competitiveness, laid a foreground for advancement of the American Identity.

Post #3 experiences with racial comments

In high school I experienced many with race. From reading another post it sparked me to talk about my experiences with the term "oreo". Im sure others in the class have heard this term many times as I have. It is someone who is "black" on the outside (their skin color) but they are "white" on the inside. It is a bad term to use especially because its not that they are white on the inside or because they dress or act white. It is just simply who they are and a few of my friends are what you would hear as oreos but that does not matter to me because I like who they are and I do not see how they are white on the inside. I know they have had it said to them and they have taken it in stride and just simply laughed it off even though it is a hurtful comment. I could care less if they act "white" or "black" as long as I like them for who they are it does not matter to me.

MIA Born Free video

The comedic clip we watched in class yesterday joked about the discrimination of "gingers" and quite a few other people have posted about South Park and there claims that "gingers are evil". Yet another use of people with red hair to display discrimination is the MIA music video Born Free. Where as the other examples show the discrimination in a humorous light this video shows them being rounded up by military officials taken on buses to the middle of nowhere and then blown up. And it makes me wonder why is it that people with red hair are so often used, in a humorous manner, as an example of a subjugated minority race?
http://vimeo.com/11219730
There is the video for anyone who wants to watch it, but as a warning towards the end there is some rather graphic violence.
Jenny Huot, post 4

character race

In the past year the issue of colorblind casting has come up, or just the issue of changing the race of some major, or minor characters. When the new reboot of Spider-Man was announced some person jokingly said that Donald Glover, and actor from Community and a former writer of 30 Rock should play Spider Man. The idea spread around the Internet and some people were all for it, and vocally supported the idea. But many people also were very against it since Donald Glover is African American and they claimed that changing the race of Peter Parker would fundamentally change the character and that it would ruin the movie for them.
Then more recently some people have gotten incredibly upset about the casting of Idris Elba, also a black man, in the new Thor movie, he will be playing the Norse god Heimdal. Now it should be noted that this is a Marvel movie, and in the Marvel universe the gods are actually aliens.

But anyway, do you think that established characters should should be cast as another race, would this change too much about them?
Jenny Huot, post 3

National Kick A Ginger Day

I found the video we watched in class rather funny as most of my peers did.  We laughed because this seems like something so ridiculous that it couldn't actually have any substance to it.  Why would anyone ever be discriminated against because of their hair color? Well I feel the same way about people being discriminated against because of their skin color.  It seems like such an idiotic thing to me, yet it still happens and has happened all throughout history.  Some race and ethnic relations have been getting much better, but others are still the same or still developing.  I always thought National Kick a Ginger Day was a joke that no body would ever take seriously, but after some research I found a video explaining that because of South Park's episode on ginger's, one twelve year old actually got beaten on this day in November because of this.  I have seen, and laughed along with this same South Park episode.  I never thought that anyone would ever take this as a serious thing or something to discriminate against others for, but evidently there are others out there that don't know how to separate what they see on television from reality.

Are we all mean girls?

This may seem like a weird reference, but a lot of the discrimination we have been talking about really reminds me of the movie Mean Girls. I know that the girls in this movie don't discriminate primarily because of race, what they do discriminate against can show how ridiculous some prejudices actually are. To be in the "plastics" would be considered to be in the dominant group in this movie. In order to become part of this group one is voted in based on if they have the criteria those already in the group seem fit. In order to stay in the dominant group the members would have to follow basic dress code rules. If those rules weren't followed, the member of the group breaking the rules would be denoted to the more subordinate groups in the high school, or might not even fit it with those groups at all. Not only is there the group called "the plastics" but there are many different other groups that are described in the cafeteria scene I provided, many of these groups showing off stereotypes. As an aspiring teacher, I have come to realize the many cliques that are in high school, many that are based on ethnicity and race and others who are broken down into many other different categories, not dealing with race at all. I feel like looking at middle or high school students would be a great way to show how even at a young age, people are prone to knowing about prejudices or even being a victim of prejudice or discrimination.

Looks Don't Matter

I agree with what a lot of people said about the video we watched yesterday. The skit was funny because it was so ridiculous to think of people being discriminated against based on what color hair they have, so then why are so many people discriminated against because of what color skin they have? It makes you wonder how anyone can justify being racist towards another group of people because of the color of their skin, their race, and their ethnicity. While the skit was meant to be funny, it also is proving the point that being racist against someone because of the way they look or any other reason, is just as ridiculous as discriminating against people with red hair.



















I just found this on the internet because I wanted to look at different types of anti-discrimination campaigns that are out there. This one is from the National Office for the Fighting of Discrimination in Romania, and what it says on the bottom is, "Appearances don't make you better or worse". At first glance I did not know that it was all the same person, but that's why I think this campaign is so cool because, while he looks so different in every picture, it is still the same guy. I think this picture gets across an important message that even though people look different, we're all humans, and no one person is better than another.

Post #3
-Brigit May

Brown eyes or blue?

I felt that the video clip we watched today of Catherine Tate was very interesting because of the message it was trying to get across. I feel that the skit wasn’t only done for comedic purposes, but was made to also get the message across that it’s foolish to treat people differently because of a certain trait (hair color, skin color, eye color etc.). It brought a more humorous side to these kinds of occurrences. Things like this happen everyday (although not in such a dramatic way) to people of different races and ethnicities. People are treated differently based on a trait they have no control over. In this case it was red hair, which people could see the humor in because it sounds ridiculous to judge people based on their hair color. I thought the video had a good message to it, and portrayed discrimination in a different light.

This also reminded me of an experiment Oprah did in her show about discriminating based on eye color. This experiment ended up showing that people began to believe they were superior based on their eye color. She favored brown eyed people, and discriminated against blue eyed people. At the end of the show some of the brown eyed people believed they were actually superior to the ones with blue eyes.

Here's the link to the Oprah experiment if you want to check it out! http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Oprahs-Social-Experiment-on-Her-Audience-Video

Laura Kalinowski Post #4

Ginger-vitus (Sara Ceraso, Post 4)

Today in class we discussed discrimination and prejudice. The ginger video really made me laugh because my best friend from home happens to be a ginger. Me and my friends always make fun of her using stereotypes like "gingers have no souls." Now obviously the discrimination against Gingers is a joke and I doubt anyone really takes offense to it. But the same kinds of discrimination is taken against races and other ethnic groups. These aren't a joke.

Part of class that I felt strongly towards was the influence of mass media. So much of our everyday lives is based off of what we see on the tv, in movies, in magazines. News reports on crimes being committed by African Americans, or television sitcoms playing off of well known stereotypes allow what we believe the norm of society is to persists. I don't think stereotypes will ever disappear. Does it always necessarily have to be a bad thing? No. Many comedians have routines that most people don't take offense too, and there are jokes out there basically based on each and every race that are exchanged among friends. It's the intent of these materials that decide the "prejudice factor."

This video reminded me of todays video:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s09e11-ginger-kids

What Would You Do?

Today's lecture on prejudice and discrimination made me think a lot about what goes on around us everyday that we may not notice. If someone says a derogatory comment, do we immediately call them out as being prejudiced? I would think for most of the population the answer would be no, although there would certainly be those that would stand up to such a person. When asked about a character on TV that conformed to the stereotypes of a certain ethnic group, I couldn't think of anyone. The only person I could think of was perhaps The Big Bang Theory, with Howard Wolowitz being the stereotypical Jewish man who is babied by his mother and still lives with her. A reason I could not think of such a character off the top of my head, was that I watch more reality TV. A show that I always try to watch is What Would You Do? and ABC show that sets up scenarios in which certain injustices or something illegal is happening. The hidden cameras show how people react, why they react, and when they decide to act. The show often shows that people will react differently if the actors in the scenario are of a different, race, age, and gender. I like the show because it goes through the different kinds of discrimination and prejudice that exist in the world. If only everyone could be able to review their behavior like this. Here is a couple of clips from the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ovWSAfu0AQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cxjQ3Jt1G4

You can watch more clips at http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/

I highly recommend this show. It really does help you to understand what goes through people's mind when encountering discrimination.

Staci Becker- Post 4

Week of 2/10 Post 2

As I mentioned in my introductory post, most of my exposure to race and ethnicity as a child was through the media. Sadly, I cannot think of many instances where I have seen positive images of other races through the media when I was younger. I am not saying they do not exist. I am, however, suggesting that the media downplays the roles of minorities who achieve higher status yet highlights the cases in which minorities fall into the normal stereotypes. For example in the years since 9/11, I have really only notices Middle Eastern people being portrayed as a people from a backwards culture. I know this is not entirely true; however, the media coverage I can remember includes, most obviously, 9/11, the Lackawanna 6 and the Hassan trial. I am not saying there has not been any positive media coverage about peoples from the Middle East, but the negative coverage happens to be the most attention grabbing. So, I have a question for everyone: Does the media hold any responsibility here? Should they try to balance out bad media coverage on a specific race or ethnicity with positive media coverage? I am absolutely positive that all this negative exposure has enforced or reinforced prejudices, but is the media to blame? Or is anyone to blame?

Mary Daloia, Post # 3

In class last Tuesday I feel like we hit a really interesting topic with the discussion of stereotypes. When a person is viewed by other people, they are eventually put in to a certain group that the viewers think they should be in. It seems that grouping people due to our first impressions of how they act or what they may look like has become somewhat habitual for society today. I can admit that this is something I am guilty of doing every so often but at the same time it is something I don't even realize I'm always doing. This idea of not knowing that I am stereotyping people when I meet them makes me definitely wonder about things. Can we actually stop ourselves from categorizing people when we first meet them?
I feel like this would be an extremely hard thing to do, especially due to the fact that personally I don't even realize when I'm doing it at times. Then there is the fact that at first, majority of the time only you know what you are thinking about the person you are stereotyping. The only way in which it would be known that you categorized the person is if you were to take the next step and act upon your thoughts. Regardless if it was a good thing or bad thing, it could be told by the way you treat the person. That brings up another question..is it always bad to categorize a person?

Everything's Black and White

I got a lot out of Tuesdays discussion and wanted to go back and discuss it again. The idea that we as a society have come up with a stereotype of the black person. Yes we have done it with many other ethnicity's but I want to focus on this one. For some reason people have put a label on what the common "black male" looks like. This is wrong in more ways than one and has become something of a common statement for people. When a white male dresses with a big shirt and baggy jeans people do not think well maybe they are hand me downs and he can't afford new clothes or maybe that is just the way he likes to dress, no instead people say " o he is trying to look black". We have put a way people dress into a category and people will judge them without even getting to know them based 100% on how they dress. Think about in a school when a teacher sees a kid with baggy clothes and jeans most would automatically assume " ok that is going to be a problem student". This is sad because that's how our society is we base judged on looks and throw people into a category of who they are based on what they are wearing. Its the same way when you flip it around, a black male dresses in a polo and khakis and speaks a certain way, and people may say he is trying to be white. It is sad that we have come up with such a way to focus on this aspect of people and instead of seeing them for who they are we judge them before we know them. I believe slowly we may be able to make a change in this area, I know it will never happen in my generation but maybe others. People need to get passed this barrier and see people for who they are not how they talk or dress, everybody is unique and is a bit different from the next, so maybe we can start learning who people really are instead of who we think they are.


Peter Ferguson Post #4

Samuel Roux; Post 2 (Venus Hottentot)

In our discussion of the poem and movie about The Venus Hottentot, one major thought kept going through my head. This was my thoughts of the overabundance of similar reactions. I think we focused far too much on the treatment of Sarah Bartmaan and the cruelty of it all, and not enough on when it was taking place. This was the turn of the 18th Century. Europe was on a quest to discover. What they saw in the Khoi-Khoi was something they had never seen before. This concept is completely unknown to us, we're a part of a completely different world where everything is at our fingertips. We've learned beyond these primitive ways, but at the time they were startled. These explorors saw a different breed of human, of course they were interested in examining them! This one Khoi-Khoi women offered Europeans a great deal of knowledge, and to not realize this is a great shortcoming. Putting yourself in the era of your study is truly the best way to understand all points of the study.

Samuel Roux: Autobiography

My name is Samuel Roux, I'm a junior. My personal ethnic and racial heritage is a mix of French and Italian. Both my Grandmothers are mostly Italian, while both my Grandfathers are mostly French. Normally when I identify myself I say exactly what I just typed out above, although I never feel the need to do so unless it is asked of me. When I was a child, I was as oblivious as could be to racial issues. I always recognized people as different colored, but I never would have been able to understand all the stereotypical agendas that were behind these colors. It wasn't until Middle School where I started to understand these concepts, mostly through television. My parents and teachers have always preached about respect and diversity, and I have learned a great deal from them and agree with their outlook on race and ethnicity. My views have greatly changed over time, and I believe they will continue to change as I experience life. As I meet new people, I start to lose these preconceived notions that i've gained through growing up and I'm a lot less judgemental of a person because of it. Of course i've experienced racism, I experience it everyday. On the news, in the classroom, everywhere. It's hard to break away from the need to classify everything in your life, but it is essential for a better life.

Sara Ceraso, Post 3

After yesterdays discussion on how people are "expected to act," my mind immediately jumped to instances of black and white people. I figured because we already stated that in class I would try and break off of that.

I am from Long Island. So I would definitely fit in on the Jersey Shore? No. Or I am definitely part of a gang because I live so close to the city? No, absolutely not. I remember my freshman year someone actually asked me if people were scared of me when I met them. When I asked them why they thought that, they said it was because I lived near Brooklyn. I honestly just laughed. I wanted to ask her if she had ever even been to Brooklyn. I have been hearing this stuff for three years now, ever since I got to Fredonia. Now I don't act different at home than I do at school, but up in Fredonia, the second I speak people often automatically place me in a category and start making assumptions. Which is fine with me, get to know me and I bet all of those assumptions will disappear. Since I am from Long Island, I am expected to fit a certain stereotype. It doesn't offend me really, it just makes me think how close minded and media influenced everyone, including myself at times, can be.

Over the Summer I worked at Forever 21. I was one of 2 white people out of the 150 employees to work there. Didn't bother me at all. But I did notice something. Some of my friends that I had there were hispanic. Mostly everyone spoke a different language, most times I just sat trying to pick up any bit of information, it never worked. Well one friend would act a certain way in front of his other friends who were also hispanic. The way a hispanic "should act." And then when he came up to me, did a complete 360 and had a totally different personality. It is just sad that he felt the need to do that.

Ryan Fleming Post#3

Our discussion in class today really got me thinking about my experiences in high school. The topic of how there is a stereotype for how each ethnic group is supposed to act and stepping outside of those characteristics can cause disapproval is something I have witnessed multiple times. In high school one of my best friends was african american and was often called the slang word an "oreo". Meaning that she was "black" on the outside but acted "white" on the inside. This term while most people used it carelessly as a joke was still very offensive. Who my friend was as a person had nothing to do with her skin color. She was not acting "white" or "black" she was just being herself and the fact that we place personality traits with ethinicty seems ridiculous. The constant comments got to my friend and I noticed a change in her personality. Whenever she was around people who normally criticized her she began to act the way society expected her to act, rather than be made fun of. It was really upsetting to see my friend change who she was around certain people just because of what people expected from her. Many of my peers along with my friend were criticized for acting "black" or acting "white", but who decides these specific ways to act based on race? It is such an awful concept that we give into everyday and cannot hope to see change if we keep acting the way society expects us to.

Jennifer Graham Post #3

This chapter, along with today's discussion was very interesting with me. I've found myself becoming a lot more aware of how gender & ethnicity is prevalent in society. I know it was always there but I guess I always just had other things going on and never paid attention to it. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing either. After reading the chapter this weekend I could immediately find correlations in my immediate surroundings, in the way I grew up being from a Swedish background and how my Father belongs to Swedish clubs where you have to prove your heritage in order to gain membership and how only in Jamestown can you get certain ethnic foods and items.

I really enjoy our discussions in class and finding out what other people have read and what their feelings are regarding what we've discussed. Its only the 3rd week of class and i've learned a great deal already.

Laura Kalinowski Post 3

I thought that the discussion we had in class today was very interesting especially when we talked about how being a minority group isn’t always judged on population size. Many people today believe that being a minority group means that you have a smaller population size than the dominant group. I learned today that that’s not necessarily the case, and that there are other factors that determine which groups are minority and which are dominant. In some cases, the minority groups may have a larger population than the dominant group, but they’re still considered the subordinate group because of their role in society. In actuality, dominant groups are the ones that have the political authority, economic production, and set the cultural standards, not the largest population. These other factors are the reasons for the separation between the dominant and subordinate groups in a society. I feel that many people today still don't understand this concept because I have heard people saying that they can't wait until one of the minority groups has a bigger population than the caucasian Americans group because then they can be treated like the minority groups have been in the past. They have the idea that minority groups are treated based on how big the population is of their group (Hispanics are a minority group because they have a smaller population, but once their population size surpasses the white population in America, they will become the dominant group.)

Staci Becker, Post 3

In Chapter 2, there is a section on how minorities respond to subordination. I found this to be the most interesting aspect of the chapter. I had always been curious to discover just what Minorities thought of their status in some societies as being subordinate to the dominant group. In the chapter, there were different ways to categorize their responses (more categorization!). These were also discussed in class as being pluralistic minorities, who seek to maintain their cultural ways, Assimilationist minorities, who seek integration into the dominant society, Secessionist minorities who desire political independence from the dominant society, and Militant minorities, who seek to be the dominant group. I found these to be just categories. When I read this in the chapter I began to think about South Africa, and Israel as classic cases, but then I thought that maybe Ireland would work as well. I thought that Ireland would be a great case for both Secessionist minorities and Militant. The minorities in Ireland, especially Northern Ireland, are Catholic, and wish to reunite with the Irish Republic, while the protestants wish to remain with the United Kingdom (A simple explanation). This is certainly secessionist. As for being Militant, I think that Ireland fits this category as well. Last year I took a course on Terrorism and Counter terrorism. Ireland was a country that was discussed extensively. The Irish Republican Army is a well known terrorist group (or freedom fighters according to some). This group wished to unite Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic through violence.

Ireland certainly isn't the only example. I am curious to see if anyone else had any examples for these categories of the response to subordination.

I feel that many of the minorities may be tempted to try the militant route, out of anger and desperation. If secessionist does not achieve results, the next route may be to militarize and begin a war. This does achieve some results, mostly in making the dominant groups feel threatened which will lead to more violence. There is not a perfect way for the minorities to respond to the problem of subordination. But I feel that if these problems continue to exist, then violence and conflict will only increase. Can anyone think of a solution?

Millions for Entertainment

Today in class we got to discussing minorities and the dominant race. I brought up professional sports and music because in our society today people like Lebron James, Aaron Rodgers, Derek Jeter, Eminem, and others are people that we "look up" to. It is sad what they are going to do in Los Angeles, and I believe that there is no way of stopping it with the way we run our nation. Professional athletes and musicians are the ones making the most money today. Millions and millions of dollars are going toward them for our entertainment. What happened to the days of going outside and doing something to be entertained instead of sitting on the couch watching television. Now don't get me wrong I obviously listen to music and I am a big sports buff but there comes a point that you need to realize we are handing out money to the wrong people. NO athlete should be making millions of dollars to hit a baseball, shoot a basketball, and etc. The fact of the matter is all of these athletes, doctors, dentist, and the highest paying jobs in our society have to receive some form of EDUCATION, and for the work that teachers put forth on top of time and effort to help students succeed in all these professions, is worth much more money than any athlete. Teachers give back more than any dollar amount is worth and they are the lowest paid in that aspect. I realize its just talk because of how bad it has gotten not much will ever change but I believe we need to TRY and adjust where our money is being spent and focus more on the future of our students and that lies solely on their education.

Pete Ferguson Post #3

Week of 2/7 Post 1

I thought this chapter was particularly interesting because Marger presented the dynamics between minorities and majorities in a way that I have never heard before. In chapter 2, I found the idea that a nation’s ethnic minority does not necessarily mean the group is a minority numerically. I always assumed the dominant group was the group with the larger number. I think it would be interesting to witness a population like, as Marger mentions, South Africa where whites are the minority in number yet are considered the majority in social stratification. I wonder if that would ever happen in the United States. Would white males maintain their social status if they became the minority?
Furthermore, I never considered myself, a women, to be a minority. Maybe it is because I haven’t entered into the professional world yet, but, personally, I have never encountered a situation where I have not been given as many opportunities because I am a woman.
I would like to research more into the “glass ceiling” for minorities, including women. I think it would be interesting to find statistics and academic articles on social stratification as far as employment opportunities. I’ve heard about inequality in the work place through other classes but I would like to get into it a little more. It seems to strange to me that in 2011 we allow these inequalities to continue.

Ashley Miranda Post 2

One of the things that has become very prevalent to me, especially since beginning this class, is the portrayal of race and ethnicity in the media. In "Recitatif" Toni Morrison doesn't come out and tell the reader which character is which race. Today's readers, a generation living in a modern society and are affected by this media more often than not, see portrayals of the descriptions Morrison gives us on T.V. and in other media and automatically assume racial roles to each of the characters without even actually knowing. "The Venus Hottentot" shows an actual portrayal of a stereotype made public. The story of a real woman was revealed to the world in the form of a circus sideshow because of people's beliefs that all women of the Khoi people have different physical features than their own. Because Sarah Baartman didn't fit into Europe's perfect picture of a woman she was put on display, written about in newspapers and even had pictures painted of her to make an example of her. I feel this is an example of the dehumanization of a woman, in this case women of Khoi, through stereotyping them as only sexual beings. The only parts of Sarah that anyone was interested in was her sexual features. They didn't care about her culture or her intelligence, just the artificial physicalities that were put on display for typical white Europeans to ridicule and report about in their newspapers. I believe that the media is the basis for people's beliefs that every single person they encounter must be categorized. I'm not sure if this is because we are trained to feel this way or if it makes us feel more comfortable with out relationships with these people, but in one way or another we all do it.

One thing that we need to remember is that ethnic and racial background are not the only ways to classify people. those who are in power often make the attempt to separate other people from them by pointing out things that are different. This can be most noticed by looking at the differences of religion or sex. What happened with Sarah Bartman was inexplicably cruel but unfortunately not an isolated incident. Would only be so lucky that it was only one, although one is too many. it is only through drawing attention to these sorts of actions that the general population begins to realize that these sorts of things happen. The only stories that the media will tell you are those that they believe they can sell. The simple fact is that acts of everyday discrimination would never make the news.