Something To Consider Blog #17 Frank DiMaria

Another thing I was thinking about was the idea of the word terror. In the book it used as verb that whiteness supposedly implores on ethnic groups. Now, I understand how whiteness represents an institutional set of beliefs, but I was trying to consider the other side of the picture. Let me play devils advocate for a second here. I am trying to understand the idea that blacks use the imagery of slavery as a point, which carries an underlining identity to the juxtaposed position in society today. I understand the connection from past to present that could be made, but on the transverse, what does this mean for whites. My point is that, should I base how I look at myself being white within the same institution confines based on early colonists who started bringing slavery as part of a the new world so long ago? What is there for whites to look back onto as a point of respect for themselves? If every time a white person tries to recollect a past and is only reminded of how bad early whites in this country were, what reason is there at all for whites to feel good about any sort of heritage? There is a definite negative connotation with “being proud of being white.” It feels strange just to even type it haha. But, nevertheless that same negative connotation may be the exact reason why whites feel a disconnection from a cultural background. Every time I look to the past I am reminded of how terrible my forefathers were across the board. I am just not sure what to make of this idea.

Class Conversation BLog #16 Frank DiMaria

After the class discussion today I thought a lot about what everyone said. And, I think it’s really good that we have an opportunity to talk about such touchy subjects within an academic setting. I guess what I just wanted to comment on was the idea of how people spoke about these issues. I am well aware of the concept of White privilege and I understand that it exists. But, with that said, what’s the best way to talk about it? Yeah, the conversation at times today did get a little intense but at least we all respected each other. I understand that the book is highlighting specific issues, but I feel that the way we in our class talked about the issue was much more conducive to talking about the issues than the way the book was presented. By the is I mean I feel as though the essays in the book were written with a big bias talking about a “us” vs. “them” concept that I feel is counter productive to talking about a touchy subject. The book seemed to make an argument that spoke in very general terms, and while reading I was more put off by the language than willing to really think about the message it was saying. I am very open to new ideas, and to talking about touchy subjects, I have to be especially considering I want to be a teacher someday, but I feel that there are many better ways to address the issues we talked about today different that the way the book laid out the points.

Learning about white privelage

I feel that learning about this will be very difficult for the whole class becuase we must recognize that there are injustices in society and that all white people benifit from them. I myself benifit from white privelage. The way that i dress and express myself was never questioned until some of my friends and coaches found out that my father was what they thought was black. My teamates on the swim team then refernced me as the black kid on the team when before i was just Justin. There are many other examples that are hard to explain but overall i think that it is difficult to see the ways that i myself have benifitted and other ways when i was denied white privelage.

Bike Lanes

So in class hearing about the big lanes and how much controversy there was over it, I decided to look up what rights the Hasidic Jews had to tell the Hipsters that they were not allowed to bike through there neighborhood due to the way they dressed. After reading it over again and seeing everything that had been done, the Hasidic Jews had absolutely no right to say anything at all nor should they have the power to remove any bike lanes or public property. The bike lanes are their for the public to use and just because there is a high population of Jews in that area and they feel as if something is wrong, they have to live with that or move to a new area. The bike lanes have been in the city of New York since before people could remember and they are not going to be moved because one religion believes that certain people dress to provocatively through the area. If you look at pictures online these people aren't riding through in inappropriate clothing either to standards we see in our area, they are wearing tight biker shorts and tight workout shirts. So from my point of view the people in this area have no right to say anything and as long as they are not on their property the issue should be dropped and they should have to live with it or move to a new area.

Pete Ferguson. Late Post.

A New Look

One thing that I have constantly enjoyed about this class is my fellow classmates opening my eyes to things I would have never realized. For example, when we talked about the show The Nanny I never would have thought to think that the main character was portraying a "typical" Jewish woman. I guess this has made me think about the world in ways that I had not before. Something as little as this has made me open my eyes to much more. I definitely enjoy when people use the media in their presentations because it makes for an interesting discussion afterwards. Seeing all the different examples in the media of the Jewish stereotype makes me think that there maybe other stereotypes in everyday life that I experience that I don't even realize. Which makes me think what is going on around me that I don't even know about? It keeps this intriguing feeling in me to find out new things as we go on.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2vqKUX/funny.jdonuts.com/2011/03/asian-aging.html

I know this might be a little late, but I found this picture the other day and I remembered that we were talking about this exact thing when we were watching Margaret Cho.  Since she was still young, Margaret was expected to be the typical skinny Asian woman.  She was going to be on T.V. and this was already a controversial issue because this would be the first all American Asian family that would be on television, but if she didn't fit the stereotypical Asian female then this would bring even more controversy, or so the network thought.  However, I find that allowing Cho to be herself, no matter how much she weighed, would be the best choice for the network.  This way she can prove to all the other Asian Americans her show reached that they do not need to fit what people think they should look like and it is good to prove that.  This cartoon that I found focused more on the grandmother that we were speaking about. It shows that it is okay for the older Asian Americans to be larger in weight because they are older and have more respect because they are wiser.  I just find this view to be skewed.   Nobody should be told what they should look like by a network, by the portrayal of their own ethnicity or by anyone else.

RE: Hipsters & the Bike Lanes

   I also found this topic rather interesting and I have mixed feelings about it.  Though I believe that everyone should be able to wear whatever they want, it's their own prerogative, I also feel that people should not go out of their way to offend another group of people with what they wear.  It's easy to say that the men could have just looked away, but as said in class the more you know you shouldn't look the more you are going to look.  In NYC there are so many different religions and ethnicities that follow certain practices in one small space that one can't go anywhere without offending someone in some way. Another thing that I was thinking about is that we, Americans, go to other countries and dress just as we would here in our country and that could be very offensive to others, but they don't say we can't come to their countries.  I feel that even though someone may be offended by the way someone dresses and then tries to ban them from their community by taking away bike lanes then they are discriminating against someone just because of what they wear.   With the removing of the the bike lanes I feel that this was a bit extreme.  Like we said in class this is not going to stop people from walking down the sidewalk in a skimpy outfit.  I guess I may be biased because I am one of those people who isn't offended by anything anyone wears and my religion doesn't say I can't look at certain people.\
     Making the statement they did on a religious holiday in that community is completely uncalled for.  It is one thing to go and repaint a line on a road during the night, but hearing that they did a protest during a religious service is completely disrespectful and it shows that these type of people have no regard for others.  There are so many other ways that statements could be made.