Last Meeting

Oh the last JOUR 4250 class meeting. This year has been a crazy one. I don't talk much in class (usually because I seemed to get teamed up on whenever I did...but I digress), but I've soaked up everything we've discussed all the same.

I was skeptical at first. When I signed up for the class I figured we'd go in and do some case studies over how race and gender have affected people throughout the history of the world, but it was nothing like that -- much to my surprise (and enjoyment...case studies are a yawnfest).

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't agreed with everything that has been said in class, but that doesn't mean that good points weren't brought up along the way. I realized really quick that when controversial issues are brought up, some people won't back down from what they believe, even if everyone thinks they're wrong.

I've also noticed that just because someone perceives the world differently, it doesn't necessarily make them your enemy like I've turned them into in the past. I've disagreed with my ride to Dallas on multiple occasions, but when we talk and agree to disagree and change the conversation it turns out we actually agree on most things.It's funny how that works.

You mean you can be friends with someone who hates your ideals?! *gasp*

But in all seriousness, this has been a great class to take. While I'm the first to admit I don't agree with a lot of the class material, I'll also be the first to admit that I'm a young male from a small, rural city with a very closed mind on the way the world should work. But at the same time, I've been conflicted with my world views.

I come from a family where the men do the yard work, and my Mom and sisters take care of the laundry and cooking. If the women are outside, they're planting flowers or playing with the dogs. But in the same household, my Mom brings home a bigger portion of the "bacon." It's almost a role-reversal scenario, but no one talks about it. It's simply not a big deal. The reason the men do the yard work is because my Mom and sisters don't want to, not because they can't do it. So while it's a traditional household in some regards, it's not because it "has" to be that way.

I feel like that's a big reason college has opened my mind a tad (really, just a TINY  bit -- I don't accept change well). And after all is said and done, this class has helped me inch toward being a more accepting person, whether or not I want to be.

Latino Population in the U.S.

Okay, the title will be misleading, but I don't really care about the Latino population anywhere except my fantastical home state of Texas.

That being said...Gah, it's kind of a strange thought to think of myself as a minority. I've been the majority my whole life, so how is this going to change my life? It's a strange thing to think about, but it's a very real concern for myself and probably millions of other Texans. It's not like we're being invaded, so I'm not entirely sure why it's a scary thought process to deal with, but it is all the same.

I truly love this state. I wouldn't move if it was a radioactive heap of barren land, so I'm just going to have to figure out how to process everything. I'm going to have to watch what I say and when I say it. The whole situation reminded me of something one of my professors said this year that completely goes against everything we've been learning in Race, Gender & the Media.

He says people need to filter what they hear and not what they say, which, to a small extent, I thoroughly believe in. You can't stop an 80-year-old man from being racist. It's burned into their brain and no amount of reasoning is going to change their mind. In the same respects, you can't expect people to filter what they say if they're not used to having to do it.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't at least try to be more politically correct and sensitive toward other people's needs and culture, but at the same time -- will they be embracing ours? I guess it's hypocritical to expect them to as we didn't do anything to preserve or tolerate Native American heritage and culture.

Hell, I guess we're all screwed!

*sarcasm off*

Bamboozled!

So we got to watch (most of ) Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" in class today. I've got to admit, for never having been a huge fan of Spike Lee's work, what I watched was pretty good. And eye-opening, too. I mean, sure he went way over the top with the racial stereotypes, but it was interesting to see things like the Vaudeville show in action -- something I'd only read about previously.

Variety shows were America's premiere form of entertainment way back when, so it's only fitting that the show was about one. The actors that were supposed to be "silly" or "dumb" almost always wore black face. I remember watching a documentary over Sophie Tucker once. She was a large, Russian-Jewish immigrant with a huge voice. She was good at entertaining people, but since she was so large, they made her into a black face wearing act so she could make people laugh at the same time.

Oh yeah and she couldn't transition into movies because of her large stature -- how's that for petty and chauvinistic?

So after all is said and done, I don't know what to think of the movie. I know it wasn't American History X in terms of craziness, but it was close. It also left me wondering if (god forbid) a television show like that was cast -- how would it fare? Would we take it too seriously? Would it be racist? (yes)

I'm not sure anyone in power is THAT culturally insensitive anymore, are they?

Video Games and Sports

Alright, now this was my kind of discussion. Behind eating, these are my favorite things in the world.

I get it, women are (typically) portrayed in video games as vixens. Objects of the male characters attention only long enough to save them because they're not capable of it themselves. I'm not sure why it's that way -- but it's always been that way!

My favorite video game of all time is one that was actually in the article we read. The Legend of Zelda (I have a tattoo on my arm from this game) is your everyday "go save the princess by defeating the bad guy" type of game. It wasn't the first, but I'd venture a guess and say it was one of the first universally represented games of its kind, maybe behind the original Donkey Kong.

However, I also play other games where women are shown in different ways. Albeit still dressed scantily, the female characters in Everquest can be controlled by the players. Each person has their own avatar which they run around and fight baddies with. If you wish to be female, you can be female! And your level of prowess in the game is completely up to you. Male characters don't have strength increases over females and they aren't harder to kill or angrier in battle. They're all equal.

So why I do think the video game industry is a little over the top in its portrayal of women, I'd like to point out that there is still hope!

Men and violence

Today we watched a documentary type show about men and masculinity. It talked about why men behave the way they do in order to be "masculine" and where our thoughts come from.

Honestly, I thought the guy was a little over the top, but he still made good points. Men today do act aggressively to show how macho they are. I do it, and I'm a very passive person. It made me wonder if that's why me and my friends always reply something along the lines of "Don't do it or I'll kick you ass!" Did we pick that up from TV shows? Music? Probably both.

And the statistics -- well they were scary to say the least. I guess in the back of my mind I always knew they'd be that skewed toward male violence versus women violence, but I just didn't quantify it. 

But at the same time, I think the guy just read a little too much into himself. You can't put all the blame on media we consume. Parental guiding is a huge issue in America right now, and without the proper parenting, it doesn't matter how much Eminem your child listens to or how many time they watch Goodfellas. The bottom line is that violence is a problem -- but overall, I think it stems more from home life than it does our media consumption.

Rap and Misogyny

Okay, just to preface this blog, I’m that typical white boy who loves Eminem. I’m not sure if it’s a subconscious thing or if I just think he’s the best – but I do think he’s the best rapper around today. But are his lyrics homophobic and misogynistic? 

Most definitely in some of his songs. 

The thing I like about him is that he also sings about some real stuff. He had a song called Mosh that talked about the Bush/Kerry presidential election. He has songs talking about his daughters. And he has songs about the loss of two of his close, personal friends Bugz and Proof.

But yes, he has a song about killing his ex-wife and plenty about doing bad things to his mother and other women throughout his lifetime.

So where do you stop taking his lyrics seriously? I don’t know any more than the next person, but I would say that he at least tries to talk about things other than “bitches and hoes.”

Take another rapper I like, Ludacris. I think the guy puts words together very well, but he is your typical rapper. He rarely talks about anything other than money and women. And when he does, it’s usually a rap “love” song if there is such a thing. He’s had a couple of songs that weren’t like that. Take Blow It Out for example, where he’s basically firing back at people who have disrespected him throughout the years, like Bill O’Reilly.

But the majority of his songs are pretty cliché for the rap genre.

So maybe Eminem seems to be angry at the world, but that’s his prerogative and who are we to judge it? I’d rather listen to an angry rapper than another song about how much money Rapper_A has or how many women Rapper_B has slept with in the past week.

But what rules all is that there is money in what most rappers sing about. There is a market for what they’re pushing, and as long as the money stays there, the songs won’t change.

Discrimination or protection?

So, we had a fairly heated argument in my Race, Gender and Media class the other night. Someone (damn you, whoever you are!) brought up the Lara Logan situation and the conversation for the night snowballed from there.

One position was that maybe Lara Logan shouldn’t have put herself in the situation she was in to begin with, which I feel is totally wrong. She had security, but I’m fairly certain it wasn’t her prerogative to get separated from them. Beyond that, and as a personal aside, I don’t feel like she had competent (or maybe just too few) security since the situation escalated to what it did.

Now, the teacher, who was a (female) night reporter for the cop beat when she was younger brought up that she (and any female) should be able to take any job they wish without the risk of something happening to her. Or at least that’s how I took it, the classroom was a tad chaotic with everyone talking about something a little bit different I think.

So my position is this: Women you can have whatever job you want. By all means, take the tough jobs, because I sure as hell don’t want the dangerous ones. But with that being said, if you sign up for something dangerous, you know what you’re getting yourself into. When you’re dealing with a mob of people, you should expect that it’s a highly volatile situation and take every precaution to protect yourself.

Where this seemed to hit the nerves of some people was that they took it as I said you should expect to get sexually assaulted. That’s not what I meant at all, but instead that you should be prepared for anything. You wouldn’t take a job at the local oil field and not expect that, however small the chances are, you might get blown off the face of the earth in a freak accident.

That’s what this was – an isolated incident that Nostradamus couldn’t have even predicted. But it’s still a risk you take.

Point of view

What's the deal with point of view? Why is it that I can see something,  but someone else sees it in a completely different light? It's all in our heads. Maybe we're reading too much into it. Or maybe, just maybe, there is actually something to this.

In my Race, Gender and the Media class the other night, we were going over this article where they painted two professional women in completely different ways. One was in a sultry, red dress and the other in a white, powerful women's suit. I saw the contrast and I jumped to conclusions, too. But in the long run, it probably wouldn't have bothered me had classmates gotten so vocal over it. But after class discussion, it did bother me.

Which leads me to the reason I am talking about this:

I wasn't thinking about this until my girlfriend and I had an argument over what the best Disney movies were when we were kids. I voted Space Jam (which she says isn't Disney...and technically she's right) and she voted something that I don't remember because I was entirely too busy defending my beloved Space Jam (I think she might have picked Beauty and the Beast).

Okay, yes I know that Space Jam isn't a Disney movie, it's Warner Brothers.  But my argument was that anything in those huge, plastic VHS containers that was aimed at kids should be classified as a Disney movie. We had several of these around the house. My mom would say, "Okay, kids. Pick a Disney movie and watch it." I always ran for Space Jam before my sisters could pick something terrible like Mulan or Lady and the Tramp.

But we had tons of movies we all considered "Disney" because of that case it was in. Charlie Brown's Christmas special, a few Scooby-Doo movies and any of the Nickelodeon movies in those sweet orange boxes.

So beyond my movie disagreement, what else do people see that others don't? Is that why advertisers have to retract so many ads? I don't find most of them offensive at all, but obviously someone did or they'd never take them off air.

Or maybe that's why people have to be so careful to be politically correct these days. You'll offend someone, and we wouldn't want that.

Maybe that explains why my mom thinks playing with matches is dangerous? Okay, you're right. I am dangerous with matches.

I think our nation's skin has collectively grown thinner in the last few decades, but maybe that's a good thing. Shouldn't you always take other people into consideration? That's for you to decide.

Oh, and don't be a Disney purist.

Women in sportscasting.

We got on the subject of women in sportscasting today in class, and it made me wonder how bad women have it.

When I think of women in sportscasting I immediately think of two women in particular -- Erin Andrews and Jenn Sterger. Is that fair? I'm sure it's not, but that's who my brain jumps to. It seems that most female sportscasters are inherently attractive. Is that fair? Definitely not, but it seems to be a trend.

Ugly men get the same job every day, just look at Michael Strahan. Okay, in fairness I'm not even sure what he looks like because I can't stop staring at his teeth.

So where does this put us? The industry is obviously male-dominated. Women's sports don't garner the same attention as men's sports, and whatever the reasons are (no comment here!), I feel like that leaves the door open for more men in the industry.

Personally, if I'm watching a men's sport like football or men's basketball, I'd rather listen to a man talk about it. On the other hand, if I'm watching a women's sport like softball or women's tennis, I'd rather hear a female talking about it. If I'm watching the WNBA...who am I kidding, I don't watch the WNBA, sorry ladies!

I don't know what we can do, but seeing as I'd ultimately prefer to end up in the sports industry for my career, I'd love to not have my work environment viewed as sexist. Sports have always  been dominated by men, both in viewing and participation, but does that mean men should get the first look at jobs in the field? I don't know.

Things Antoine Dodson taught me

So, before walking into JOUR 4250 for the first time, I was in the same boat as millions of people worldwide. You see, we all think Auto-Tune the News is hilarious, and it is. But it's concerning that we also never gave a second thought to the fact that Antoine Dodson's sister was nearly raped in this incident. Like many others, I simply forgot what the story was about because Dodson's antics were over the top and, frankly, hilarious.

So, like I said, before class Monday night, I hadn't thought about it and now I have. I read somewhere that Antoine Dodson has 20,000+ friends on Facebook. And he's also getting his own TV show. WHAT?! I'm flabbergasted (I never get to use this word!) that he shoots to fame over this. But after all is said and done, I don't really disagree with the way the news coverage was handled. Censorship was brought up in class, and I feel like covering up Dodson would have been just that.