Racism in the Media

Yesterday in class we talked about the issue of racism. It started with the NFL Monday night football commercials that were clearly targeted at Latinos. But really racism and "integration" in the media goes beyond commercials. In movies and television shows, it is ever present. But sometimes I feel that integeration is forced. It seems that people in the media want a diversivied cast so they put one or two minorities in the show. But sometimes the integration just looks forced. But on the other hand I wonder if they are just trying to portray accuracy in the shows. I went to Jamaica recently, and all the billboards there had blacks in the ads. Obviously Jamaicans are dark-skinned, but I would be surpised if a billboard there had a white person in it. Some examples I've experienced:

• Nickelodean - When I was younger, I religiously watched shows like the Rugrats, All That, Blues Clues and Doug. There were really no shows that included people of different races besides the Rugrats which offered one black family that were somewhat distant neighbors, and visited maybe every five episodes or so. You might argue that Doug was not so bad because characters were blue and yellow and green.



• Disney Channel - The Disney channel really does do a better job than Nick at 'integrating' more races into their shows. The Famous Jett Jackson, Kenan and Kel, and the Proud Family all have mostly black characters. Still Asian or Latino characters were few and far between.



• Desperate Housewives - Desperate Housewives probably made a smart move by making one of the housewives Latino. She is still the shallowest of the bunch, but there is some representation. For a short bit, there was a black family. But one of the sons was a murderer, and he was eventually killed and the family moved.



• Grey's Anatomy - Grey's Anatomy has done a very good job at representing all walks of life. The Chief of Medicine is an African-American man, and same with the intern's boss, Bailey. Also, one of the best interns and Meredith's best friend is an asian woman. For a prime time TV show, they do a good job.

• An Ikea Commercial - An Ikea commercial I watched in the past year or so portrayed different types of families in their homes. Obviously they were not real families, but they did a great job at including all walks of life. One 'family' in particular that I remember was two men and a young daughter. My dad was astonished by the forwardness of this ad, but I applaud Ikea for accepting all people and not being afraid to air the commercial.

Without Memories There Is No Future

Today in class we listened to a podcast about memories. We listened to the in and outs of how they are formed, but more importantly we learned about a drug that 'erases' memories. The hosts explained how the drug was first tested on rats using a technique similar to Pavlov's dog. Then the researchers realized they were able to erase a memory after it was made. Having this power is very controversial, and I wished we had more time to talk about it in class today.
The power to erase or alter memories used to be something straight out of a science fiction movie. But now that technology and medicine are advancing at alarming rates, it's a reality. I agree with Stephanie when she said this drug should never be used. Personally I believe that it should never even be made because of the possibility of abuse. Also I want to bring up the point about how all we are is a string of memories. What is seperating me from a random girl on the street? Nothing really except our experiences and the memories we keep from them. Some people want to bring up how these memories are not completely gone, just lessened a little bit. But the fact of the matter is that our history is not only our memories, but how we respond and react to them. Taking away the emotion of the memory is almost as bad as taking away the memory itself. I definately do not approve of this drug even in extreme cases.

Nine Eleven

Everyone can agree the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers were tragic. One thing that is harder to agree on is where to place the blame, if there even is any to place. Most people don't want to admit America could be at fault. People look at the middle east and some look at God. Jerry Falwell blames a little bit of the American people, and a little bit of God. "...God will not be mocked...I really believe that the Pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way-all of them who have tried to secularize America-I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" Well I'm sure that he really believes this statement, it is a little outlandish. Blaming women who have abortions for the attacks is a little far-fetched.

Connotation vs. Dennotation

Every now and then, I like to check CNN.com to keep myself updated on wordly news. Usually I find myself just browsing the health section for interesting news. But today when I opened the home page, one headline caught my attention. It was entitled Bush On Iraq: 'We're Kicking Ass. Being President of the United States, I thought this was an odd thing for him to say openly in an interview, hence my reading of the article. It claimed that Bush reportedly said that comment to Australia Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile. While most people agree Bush is human, this is somewhat out of form for him. Then this got me thinking about the connotation and dennotation of words we talked about in class on Tuesday. The dennotation of the comment is obviously that the war in Iraq is under control. However he has stated this many times, but never in this manner. The connotation is that Bush could possibly want to show more control of the situation, so instead of acting polite he swears to sound "mature". This may be an odd way of showing control, but acutally swearing to get attention is pretty common. For example, I know I do it when I'm fighting with my parents or in situations where I want attention. Clearly Bush was out of line by saying that to a world leader, but I'm sure it was an isolated incident.