Before even discussing the effects of race and how people form perceptions of race , we must look at the origins of the very topic and what it actually means. In the article “race is a social construct, scientist argue” by Meagan Gannon it talks about where the idea of race came from and how it was used to seperate people. We as a society assume race is essential to the idea of a human being when the truth is that race is a man made ideaology to separate people. All the ways to control people as a systematic ideaogly comes from the ideaology of racism, without racism this world would not be the way it is as we see it. The systematic things such as “talking white” or “talking black” is formed through the media around us to put people in certain advantages and disadvantages to manipulate the future of this country. Are you following me? If you ever felt like their was disadvantages with your personality because of your upbringing it is mostly from this. I always say that the idea of this country is beautiful. Everyone to be equal with the same opportunitys to prosper but the truth that's not the way it is. Racism equals ideology plus power and that's where we are. People are so afraid to talk about these issues so they pretend that we are in a post racial world and it's been like this for a while. We live in the “system” and in order to fix the system, we need to be open about everything that's been going on. In South Africa an amazing thing that they did was have a truth and reconciliation commission which acknowledged the oppression of their people during apartheid which was an amazing start. A good start is talking about the effects of images in the media.
Problem with power
In movies and television that we have discussed before have a good way to send a message to its audience that in a beautiful way for it to show the reflection of human beings and society as a whole. Several movies show that when a person or a group of people come to have too much power they can become unaware of the injustice effects that they send to their citizens. In an example of this is in the movie planet of the apes movie either the 1968 version or the 2011 version, this movie sends a lot of subliminal messages to its audience. In the article “the racial politics behind ‘planet of the apes’” by Mychal Denzel smith talks about what the planet of the apes movie could really mean and how it connects to what goes on in society. The article is basically showing how in the movie the apes were being mistreated, rose up and ended being just like the people they were rebelling against. The table have turned as the man was treated like an animal and the apes being superior. Some conspiracies say that this is a representative of the black culture and what could happen at the time during the civil rights movement. Interesting how the movie release was April 27,1968 and exactly a week later the most powerful black man on the planet was assassinated. History shows us that when a person gets to a certain level of power they tend to abuse it. It's not a race thing, a culture thing or even a gender thing, it's a human thing. Power is such a constant obsession that when a person or group of people contain it they will do anything to not let it go. Everyone wants power in this world but do they really want it.
Past , present and the future
What is racism , where did it come from and why did it come about. These are the questions that go through my mind on a daily basis. Things from the past help figure out the path we are going in the future. In the scholarly article “the mind of adolf hitler” by Edward green it explains the rise of adolf hitler and the basis of the whole thing. This article is interesting to me because it explains this story from its origins. In the mid ages loosely because of the Bible, christians could not do certain professions that involved handling money so who was left with those jobs , Jewish people. This is where the stereotype of Jewish people being wealthy came from and carried on since then. So at the times of depression in Germany , Hitler and his following truly believed that the Jewish people were the root of the problem. So what they did was convince a whole nation to eliminate the Jewish. This was played by genocide which led to the death of 6 million jews. This is a story that represents a lot of things that are still going on to this day in our society. The real racism, not the one that the media makes you believe it is , is when you truly believe you can't succeed if another race does. Which if you really think about it is fear. Fear of another group of people taking your spot. Hitler had a whole media campaign to destroy the image of Jewish before he actually destroyed their race, so it would be justifiable. Does this sound familiar? Perception of race from images you get in the media is connected to this style of control. A world without people controlling the media is a world we haven't seen yet.
The mass media
The past and present connect in a way that we seem to Have not fully got to understand yet. We see the connections in situations throughout history to now but never seem to really connect the dots. In the article “a historical overview of the effects of new mass media” by quint randle it talks the history of how news has gotten displayed in our country. Reading this article made me realize a lot of things. The platforms are different throughout history but the reactions to the news that we take in are fairly the same. What does that tell us? That's a question I think this article was trying to get us to ask. The article talks about magazines, books and television and the different advances that happen within these innovations. But the impact of these innovations always been sensational. Why is this important? It's crazy to think that the media plays a small role in our lives when the truth is that it really does. When you think of the most impactful media campaigns and movies that had a huge influence on society such as 1915s “birth of a nation” about the klu klux klan and political campaigns such as George bush with the “super predator” and Nancy Reagans “just say no” campaign it has different meanings and goals but all have the same initial reaction. This article explains that and shows with the advances of new outlets of new the way that if you change your platform news is portrayed differently when the truth is it's the same. It's like if you get the news you can't go on a trip with your friends it sounds different when your mom says it compared to your dad but at the end of the day it's the same results. So with reading this article and having close observations , I ask myself did things really change?
we are what we believe
The new media world is a beautiful place but it's scary to think about in the long run. The mass media has a huge influence on what we believe and we say about different cultures and races around the world. It's hard to determine the truth in the seas of lies that form stereotypes about different groups of people. In the book “the new Jim crow” by Michelle Alexander breaks this ideology down perfectly. A quote from “the new Jim crow” states” The genius of the current caste system, and what most distinguishes it from its predecessors, is that it appears voluntary. People choose to commit crimes, and that's why they are locked up or locked out, we are told. This feature makes the politics of responsibility particularly tempting, as it appears the system can be avoided with good behavior. But herein lies the trap. All people make mistakes. All of us are sinners. All of us are criminals”.(Michelle alexander). This chapter in which is discussing this makes the point that we are all born with the same emotions and behaviors , the only difference is that you are born into a standard that society already laid down for you. Its sad to think that people are born criminals or just human beings when the truth is that they are human beings just like you and me. The funny thing is that people believe that these things are just coincidences that the people in power benefit from the destroyed images of different cultures, because when everyone in society believes a group of people are evil, why help them. I said this before the way the government gets away with treating people injusticely is to make everyone else believe that they didn't deserve justice to begin with. When you think about that it explains a lot of the terrible things that been happening in recent years.
Whats worst the images we see or the ones we don’t?
What’s worst the images that we see all around us or the ones that we don’t. In my life I always thought it was the images we seen on the news or on social media because of how they can pain the picture of a human being without it being totally true. In the article "the side of depression we don't often see" by Alexa Erickson it talks about what is shown and not known with the difficulties of depression. Even though it talks bout a different subject it's about the same concept of things we don't see. after seeing some images that I have never seen before it changed my whole perspective. I feel as though that we should live in a world that gives us all the information so then we can conclude ourselves. Images such as protests in Muslim based country’s that are just as upset about the terror attacks on the united states as we are. I’m sure if everyone got the knowledge of both sides of perspectives this country would be different. Since the election of Donald trump we have seen a division within this country that we haven’t seen in a long time. With social media, bigger than ever, news anchors say that this was a big factor in his election. With the new president of the united states shows an example of everything that I have been talking about through these blogs. With the political propaganda and the use of social media in his running and presidency that us as country has never seen before. This is not every supporter of Donald trump but a portion of the voters that voted for him have a strong-minded opinion on race, gender and equality which are predominately young voters. Is it a coincidence that the people that I’m talking about are in the new wave of the social media era? I can almost guarantee the images they see of people are there timeline shaped their minds.
Pictures that represent us
A picture is worth a thousand words or that's what they say. Its baffling the pictures they use when you google certain races. When I was in high school we had a homework assignment that would ultimately open my eyes forever. We had to look up convicted criminals pics for the African American race and then look up convicted criminals pics for the white American and compare the differences. Going to this assignment I didn't think their would be any difference but boy was I wrong. They changed it now because of controversy about this but a few years ago when you googled pictures of criminals of a white man you would usually find him with his family laughing or just smiling, but when you looked up a picture of a African American man when convicted it always shows the mugshot or the meanest picture you can find of him. This is a problem with media and it gets addressed in several articles. For an example in the article “ the media's stereotypical portrayals of race” by Sam Fulwood talks about how the news, magazines, television etc. shows the standard for different races. Basically showing that every race has a standard set around them by the media which influences their decisions in their life. When a person grows up in a certain level of expectations they are going to do their best to meet that. So what happens when a person grows up with no expectations? This relates back to the beginning of the blog because of the fact that one race is shown to be evil and ill intentioned from the jump while the other is shown to be a nice human being that just made a mistake. If I'm a person that grows in a society that doing wrong is the norm than it's going to be hard for me to do right
The big screen
The Friday night date you take to the movies is very nice time and seems harmless until you realize all of the hidden messages inside the films we see. In the article “race and cinema” by Diane negra and Zelie azava talks about how races are represented in films and the effects that come along with making these motion pictures. Movies/television, books and social media are the most impactful piece of media of this day in age. If you believe that film has no effects on forming your perceptions of people take a look at history for a minute. Look at the book “the clansman” that later turned into the 1915 movie “birth of a nation” and how big of a role this movie played in society. This wasn't just a movie that was at the theaters , this was a certified blockbuster at the time. This film was such a hit it had a private screening for the sitting president at the time Woodrow Wilson at the White House. This film is said to be responsible for the rebirth of the klu klux klan and developing stereotypes for African Americans for generations up until now. Stereotypes such as blacks being animalistic and a very famous scene of a woman jumping off a cliff from the fear of being raped by an African American man was a very big impactful moment in the way blacks were perceived after that. It's not just with African Americans that this is a problem, this is a problem with every race within representation. This is exactly what we are talking about when we are discussing the idea of race and what it actually means. The point of race was made to find a way to seperate people and all these aspects that I am discussing is branches of that .
