Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Racism
whether or not everyone believes so, we all are a little racist when it comes down to it. however, this does not make everyone a racist. thinking about racism made me think of where these crazy stereotypes come from. and i have decided that people are racist because of several different factors. one large problem i am holding accountable for racism in today's age is the media. through television shows, billboards, radio, and even the Internet, the media has a huge say in today's life style. while it may not be as blatant today as it has been in the past, the ideas hold strong today. another medium we can blame for these social stereotypes leading to racism is statistics. it is a fact that more women stay home and cook then men do. it is a fact that crime rates are higher for black people then for white. this does not give anyone the excuse to judge a person based on such silly implications. i have a friend whose father is 100% convinced that all black people are lazy, and i had a very long discussion about how it is simply ignorance to say such an absurd thing. and after a long debate with him i got him to "see the light", so to speak. so being a racist is not simply thinking these things in your head, but also acting on them and judging based on ignorant and silly implications.
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i agree that the media is a huge factor as to what creates certain stereotypes. We get these stereotypes by past expiernces and things we have seen and we keep them there until a new expiernce changes our mind
ReplyDeleteI agree that we cannot decide how our social contruction of reality is formed, therefore, it may result in us beeing racist. I also agree with your distinction of acting on racial ideas and just keeping them to yourself. Good post.
ReplyDeleteI like how you used racism as an example of how we judge others in society. People are easily influenced by their surroundings and often fail to form their own opinions on many issues. Our society needs to be more independent and stop stereotyping and generalizing others based off of what we hear through the media.
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