Musical Stereotypes

The other day while listening to music with my friend in her car, we discussed how certain bands or genres of music that people listen to can give off connotations about who they are or can lead people to make assumptions about them and put them in a certain category. An example that we came up with was a girl that listens to Pop, like Ke$ha or The Black Eyed Peas, is typically a bubbly and loud teenage girl. Or maybe, if you listen to Pink Floyd you are a stoner, or listening to techno means you go clubbing a lot. It's interesting to think about your music taste and what stereotype you fit under, and whether it's true or not. Why do you think these stereotypes exist, and do you think they are necessarily true?

"How to Trick People into Thinking You're Good-looking"... really society?

The other day, my friend sent me a youtube video titled "How to Trick People into Thinking You're Good-looking." Although the video was very humorous and entertaining, I couldn't help but be bothered by the general message. The video is obviously superficial, which you can see from the title, but it was also very degrading to women. The girl that made the video attempts to make herself look better, but immediately associates that with looking like a "street-walker" or "stripper." She even says, before putting on her make-up, that "the goal is to make yourself look NOTHING like yourself." This detriments the need we all have to be ourselves, and can lead a girl watching this video to believe that in order to seem appealing, she has to cake on make-up and bleach her hair, taking on the look of a stripper.
The girl in the video also states as one of her steps "Go out and get a job that is super degrading. I picked dancing in my underwear." Regardless of whether she is or is not a stripper, the message she is sending across is very appalling. She then goes on to say, "To pump myself up for work, I like to cry over my Master's degree." This implies that in order to be attractive as a woman, you have to throw away the hard work you've done in school and in your activities, and become a stripper. We can all see how the message of this video is insulting. Every person is attractive in different ways, but this girl's ideas must stem from somewhere. Do you think that what she says is somewhat true in society?

Here is the video. Just a heads-up, it's inappropriate, but is necessary to watch if you want to comment back.

The New "Huckleberry Finn" Eliminates the "N"-word

In class, we have been discussing the new version of Huckleberry Finn, and how it has replaced every "n-word" with "slaves." The reason for this was that the character's takes on slaves was too controversial for some class rooms, and in order for the book to keep its place, the content must be removed. I, however, don't agree with this. The use of the "n"-word may be controversial, but it is an important piece of the book that shows what the times were like when it was written. Without this, it takes a certain racial component out of the novel that is vital to studying the story and analyzing it.


The use of this word in the book is offensive, but can spark discussion in class rooms on how the "n"-word should never be used in the 21st century. Purifying any book that has the "n"-word in it could make it so children and young adults never have this important conversation in their classroom.

What do you think?

Kissing the Chicken

The other day surfing the Internet, I came across a Youtube Video that really amazed me. The video is an interview of a reformed Ku Klux Klan member talking about a specific instance involving Reverend Wade Watts, who was a collaborator with Martin Luther King Jr. and the state leader for the NAACP. The former KKK member, Johnny Lee Clary, speaks of how the KKK would attempt to terrorize the Reverend, and each time they tried, he would counter it with genuine love and acceptance of the Klan. For example, Johnny led about 30 members of the KKK to a restaurant where Rev. Watts was dining, and after telling him that they were going to do to him exactly what he did to the chicken he was eating, Watts picked up the chicken and kissed it. This was such a hilarious incident, that even members of the KKK were laughing. It amazed me from Clary's stories how tolerant the Reverend was of Johnny, and that he fought off hate and torment by showing that it didn't bother him at all. It got me thinking to what this way of countering harassment could also work for. Any ideas?

Cyber-Bullying

Today, once something is posted on the Internet, it is permanently there and can show up in multiple places. Comments and pictures are often posted on blogs, facebook walls, and twitter without censorship, which can often allow personal attacks on people. This is inappropriate, and if behavior over the internet like this continues, it can cause harm to another person or people. I have heard many stories of cyber-bullying, but the one that left the biggest impression on me was the story of Megan Meier. Lori Drew, a mother from Missouri, impersonated a 16 year old boy and lead Meier into a fake relationship over Myspace. It tragically ended in Megan committing suicide because of the awful things that Drew would say to her. This news made me realize that there are unfortunately some very sick, immature, and menacing people on the Internet. This story and many others have encouraged me to find a way to prevent situations like these. There must be something the Internet can do in order to avert cyber-bullying. Would censorship be fair? I think if it meant saving Megan Meier's, and other teens such as  Phoebe Prince's life, than it is worth the slight violation of free speech on the Internet.

Advancing Technology

It's exciting for us too see changes in technology over the years. IPads, digital cameras, GPS systems and more constantly give us luxuries that past generations only dreamed about. Living with all of these new inventions has been an adventure, and it has been so interesting to remember the days where we had to wait for film to develop, or wait to receive a letter. However, the next generation will not even be slightly familiar with the technology of our youth. I came across an article on Yahoo! about what our children will never know. Everything from wires to forgotten friends is expressed in the article and will be foreign concepts to our children. It's just interesting how technology is moving so fast, soon the internet won't be fast enough for us, and we will need something to replace it. What is the demand that keeps us needing faster connections? Will progressions in certain technologies ever come to a halt?

Rich vs. Poor

Lately, I've been thinking about why some poor people have resentment towards richer people. It was hard to make sense of at first, but I came up with the idea that maybe some impoverished populations equate money with happiness, so they resent the rich thinking they have no problems, or that they are at least trivial. In America, it is common for the rich and poor to be separated, so that not much contact exists. However, on a recent business trip to Rio, Brazil, my Dad said that hundreds of impoverished people filled the streets that also contained the richest buildings. Does this sort of arrangement in society improve the relationship between rich and poor or worsen it?