Week 13

Privilege. It allows some to walk free while others have to pay with their life. It is what covers up the most intense issues happening in society. Privilege is never acknowledged because it makes people uncomfortable. No one likes to be called out, and recognizing one’s privilege can lead to guilt and shame fueling oppression. A never-ending cycle that can only be stopped by defying the status quo.

If the issue of oppression makes people uncomfortable, then how can we, as a society, tackle the problem? By removing what silences the oppressed, change can occur not only within individuals themselves but with the system itself. I see the media manipulating certain instances, involving minorities and the dominant group, to where the incident pins it on the less dominant group by minimizing the trouble, blaming the victim, calling it something else, or even overlooking it because everyone likes how things are going. By doing so, the more dominant group is portrayed as the better person, and the oppressed are being viewed negatively once again.

One thing I really liked is how Johnson addressed the ways to conquer oppression, and it was to simply get through it. He elaborated on how oppression is probably the worst kind of divisiveness, because silencing the oppressed from the truth can only lead to cutting ourselves from...ourselves. We do not get the chance to really know our true potential based on the current societal system the dominant white American male has placed upon us.

The first step ANYONE has to take before making a change is becoming aware. Being aware allows people to realize what is happening and learn more about the issues before they make any kind of change. If white people were a lot more aware, opposition would be bound to happen more. It’s all about taking the little risks and doing something, like Johnson mentioned. Make yourself be seen, because oppression thrives on silence. It can start off with minor actions such as not laughing at demeaning jokes about others and gradually progress into bigger and louder actions. Showing others that you are against the status quo will draw attention, and you can use this opportunity to inform others about the occurring problems. Whenever I go back home to Houston, I visit my friends and they ask about what I’ve learned and they pick up on my views and opinions about what is going on. There are times when we’re around other friends who are blatantly ignorant, and I call them out on it. Making people uncomfortable is another point Johnson brought up, because if we can’t even bring up the problem, there is gonna be no way to fix it. Ever since I started attending college, I have seen more discriminatory crimes take place on campus with the president hardly addressing the problems and instead focuses on other minor things. Recently, one of the frat houses on campus was vandalized with words like “rapist” and “racist”, and instead of focusing on why someone wrote them, he focused more on the actual action of vandalization. When administrators respond to the wrong issue at hand, it discourages people from coming forward and receiving help. When Fenves sent out the email saying that they were going to get to the bottom of who vandalized property, outrage broke out on Twitter. People were furious and were calling him out on his views. By doing only this though will not allow for action to take place. Nothing ever changes when everyone is ONLY peaceful and respectful towards authority. Johnson mentioned paths of least resistance and how they become more visible when people choose alternative paths. Much like how rules become more apparent when people break them, same goes for these alternative paths. It creates a tension and leads to change in the system whenever new paths are created.

Week 11

Apparently, I mixed up last week’s assignment with this week’s, so I’m writing about week eleven on week twelve!

I really liked how Ash spoke about how to be an ally, and how apathy is a big part of being an ally. A lot of people I interact with on a daily basis often say that they see no differences, and that they consider themselves to be “color blind” who view everyone as one race: the human race. The point that they are blatantly trying to say is that they do not care how you perceive yourself, because at the end of the day you are the same as everyone else in their eyes. According to Ash, this type of approach is filled with apathy: a trait that separates true allies from the rest. When someone is apathetic, they tend to look past, not only your differences, but as well your troubles. An actual ally will recognize what makes you different from the rest AND acknowledge the issues occurring within your community, and will use their privilege to better the problems and make a difference without overstepping. Empathy, as Verna put it, is what goes into building relationships with allies. Another thing Verna mentioned was our biases. I am guilty of having some of biases even now that I unknowingly fall back on. The only way to get over these biases is to face them head first and become uncomfortable before allowing myself to become comfortable. It can be a challenge, but like Verna said, it should not be about perfection but rather about connections we make.

Clint’s video was probably my favorite. The way he spoke about giving up his voice but realizing it is something that was given up long ago resonated with me. I know there have been several times where I wanted to speak up about something, but I was too afraid. Clint pointed out that we often pay attention to what people say rather than what they do not say, and I feel like this can be an observation that can be used daily. Pay attention to what people tolerate and what they will not speak out against. The action of them staying quiet is much louder than what they do say.

The Atlantic article was a really interesting read for me, especially since I identify myself as a leftist. This generation is one of the most unique groups to have been involved in politics, and this past election really allowed us to voice ourselves. Sure, the results of the election were not ideal, but the push that was initiated by the nomination of Bernie Sanders really allowed millennials to voice the issues that are affecting our generation thanks to past generations. The revolution of rising expectations is what happens when issues have been prolonged and shut out in the dark for too long. The issues were always there, but there comes a point where we try and try to do something about it, but nobody is complying to work with the hopeful. I feel like with the presidential election of Trump, this is what happened. Even under Obama’s presidency, there was still a lot of systematic oppression happening, and everyone was so hopeful for a presidency from someone like Bernie because of how much the country was slowly progressing, but the day that Trump was elected, protests took place and the people spoke out. To this day, five months after the election, people are still out here trying to make a difference at twice the speed.

Week 12

The theme for this week made me to feel inspired to go out and make a difference! The first TED talk by Drew, Everyday Leadership, was one of those videos that you will think about from time to time and mention to people when you are on the topic. It was short, but that lollipop moment he spoke about has managed to stay on my mind. I admit, the concept of leadership for me intimidates me – well it did – until Drew put it in perspective for me. Leadership should not be a topic that easily frightens us, we do not necessarily have to go out and change the world; to do something different every day can influence the world around us. To those who have given us that lollipop moment, we should thank them and let them know how important that moment was to us. We all like to be appreciated, and to have someone tell you that can only encourage you to embrace that leadership and to continue to distribute those moments.

Nate’s video put the pieces together. Everything in our everyday lives can be considered tools, because…well…they always have been. The tricky part is regulation: how do we regulate the tools in our lives to better the atmosphere around us? We create habits that stem from our habitat, so why not put these tools to use and better both? Every generation has been different than the next, and it shows throughout the years. We have to be the generation that changes everything, because at this rate we are regressing and by far too much. Nate mentioned healthcare and how society in the U.S. tends to value you more if you are sick. People SHOULD go to the doctor every six months to receive a check-up, but we all know that is nearly impossible. Even then, people hardly go to the doctor whenever they are sick because of how expensive it may be, or possibly finding out something IS wrong and now they have to pay for the care and medication they need. The focus should go to the outcome of situations and work towards bettering the outcome rather than the output society puts forth.

The Hidden Influence of Social Network changed my outlook on networking and just staying connected. Knowing how everyone around us is connected fascinates me, because we are all an influence of our world! If my friend’s sister is happy, then chances are I will be happy. This kind of reminds me of what Drew talked about, and how one little thing can change the environment surrounding us. I have always heard that who you hang around with influences who you are, and I believe it. No matter how much people deny it, you manage to pick up habits from the people you surround yourself with. Emotional contagion is something very real that I, myself, have experienced. Once I surrounded myself with those who have drive and positivity instilled in their life, I was able to pick up on their little habits and emotions that, in the long run, have influenced me for the better. Everything is interconnected, the entire world runs off of social networks, all that matters is who we choose to associate ourselves with and how we should let their healthy habits overcome us in order to pass it on! 

Week 10

The readings for this only proves my point based on institutional discrimination and racism. Whenever someone tries to argue that minorities can be racist towards white people, I immediately start discussing on why that cannot be real. Reverse racism is a fairytale, but people still want to believe it! In the reading, Discrimination Comes in Many Forms, reading about the differences between individual versus institutional discrimination made the picture a little clearer. Knowing that minorities could not be racist towards white people, I could never really add on to that point whenever people would ask things along the lines of, “Well, what if a minority refuses service to a white family?” I never knew exactly how to answer it mainly because I did not know what term would appropriately fit that until I read about individual and institutional discrimination. Reading that mostly white students, and honestly a lot of the white population in general, are more difficult to convince them that institutional discrimination existed in more recent times extending throughout the 90’s kind of surprised me. At the same time when I think about it, it should not though and looking at the results of the Gallup poll only makes the previous point more concrete. It goes to show that fish do not notice water; in other words, white people do not realize the privilege they are given, and their views show how closed off they can be when it comes down to social issues that are not necessarily affecting them but it is affecting the world around them. How blinded could they be when 1/3 of them answered that discrimination is not a big issue in the community, and 2/3 of Black people answered that it is a serious issue?

The documentary had me yelling at my laptop because of how mad the ways of these prison institutions made me! Institutions everywhere LOVE to use incarceration as a scare tactic, because they believe that fear will make the people listen. In reality, the opposite tends to happen. Back in high school, arrests were made a lot for almost anything. It is a pattern I see in many public schools, especially those located in lower-income areas, and all it does it repress the reasons why students did what they did. Same goes for those with a drug addiction problem. My first year in my intro to social work class, one of the first things we discussed was how the prison system handles recovering addicts. Countries that tried to follow the United States scare tactics would often fail and end up with more people in their prisons, but once they decided to focus on actually helping the inmates recover through medical care, rehabilitation, and even decriminalization, the results showed signs of progression for the prison system. Not as much money was spent on throwing recovering addicts in prison, the ones who were already there were receiving proper care, and those who were seeking help were no longer afraid to ask for it without fear of incarceration. I do not see the US using this practice because at the rate they are going, the institutions here are more for the capital and profit rather than the health of the people. 

Week 9: Stigma

The readings and videos for this week really brought light to the stigma imposed on genders, and for some it was the intersectionality of gender and race. In There's Something Absolutely Wrong With What We Do To Boys Before They Grow Into Men, the boys talked about how toxic it was to not show emotion. The concept of “being a man” is concluded as keeping a straight face and never showing any signs of weakness. In schools, teachers assume that the reason boys act up is because they want to be trouble makers, but based on what the guys were talking about, it seems to be that a lot of the times they bottle everything up with no outlet and lash out when they start to become overwhelmed. Becoming isolated due to their lack of communication could start as early as elementary school and their troublesome behavior could really be signs of depression that carry over throughout the years. Teachers, staff, and even parents turn a blind eye to these early signs, and it only worsens the longer it is ignored.

Cyntoia’s story really got to me, especially since she herself was able to talk about the case and her feelings on it. She protected herself based on self-defense, and the court still decided to try her as an adult at sixteen, and rule her as guilty sentencing her to life in prison. Cyntoia experienced a tough life growing up, and it only became more difficult once she started reaching her teenage years. When she pulled out the list she made of people she had sex with throughout her life, it surprised me at how many people there were on the list that she did not want to have sex with versus those that she did. A total of thirty-six people was on the list, four of them she liked, and twenty-eight of them were unwanted. When the crew asked her why she cut her hair, she said “I don’t wanna be pretty anymore. It only causes trouble”, it broke me (Birman, 2011). The fact that a sixteen-year-old wants to change her appearance based on her experiences with men hurts because she’s not doing anything wrong to have that happen to her. The part that got to me was her response when asked about her view of men; she concluded that all they wanted was acceptance and admiration. Her dad only wanted money so he left, Kutthroat wanted to use her to earn money for a truck, and Johnny wanted to make love with desire (Birman, 2011). The case never seemed to look at the actions of the men that harmed her because such actions seems to be pretty common amongst the men.

            The Pro Infirmis video made me tear up a little honestly. The faces of admiration the people had once their mannequins were complete was too pure and wholesome! I believe that there needs to be more a more diverse representation for all to feel included.

            Hearing the stories of the girls on A Girl Like Me was sad at some points. Many of them felt like they had to prove themselves by changing their physical state based on what they had been told throughout their lives. The different expectations set on these girls is terrible; the more these issues become ignored the more they become a taboo (Davis, 2005).

            The Myth of the Gay Agenda TED Talk was comical, but Ganderson made his point loud and clear. People have this certain outlook on the LGBTQ+ community that sets toxic stigmas onto us that can put our lives in danger; this “lifestyle” that society talks about is no different than someone else’s, and many people fail to realize that.