How to Stay Comfortable.
1.) Qualify your contentious opinions by always apologizing for them.
2.) Reject the notion that knowledge conveys power, and with power comes an obligation to act.
3.) Embrace the message that you cannot make a difference on your own, and remember that no one is interested in joining you. Remember that you are not qualified.
4.) When something destructive is said, stay quiet. If you have to say something, make sure you are combative instead of compassionate.
5.) Definitely don't listen to anyone who disagrees with you.
6.) Avoid relationships and experiences that may change you.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Entry Nine - Sexism
Since doing the readings for this week, one of the things I have been thinking about the most is how it is that I perpetuate the social construction of gender. In my feminist theory class we watched the film Paris is Burning which is about Drag culture in New York during the eighties and the experiences of those who participated and how they were responded to by society. Then we read an article by Judith Butler on how the performation of gender by homosexuals is criticized by "straight" society because it reminds us that gender is just a social construction, and then challenges our perceived power based on this. We have to think about how things might be different if we preferred a gender expression that didn't match our biological anatomy. Anyone can "do" female or male by behaving in the specific way society tells us men and women behave.
This really made me think about how much time I spend in my life-potentially productive time-"acting" the feminine role. I wear make-up almost every day, that's at least 20 minutes. I stereotypically love shopping for clothes (no seriously, it's a problem). At this point I'm pretty sure that love sprang from my desire to present myself to society in a gender appropriate way. I like "feminine" things. My questions is do I like them because I like them, or because I am so practiced in and accustomed to them?
Also, it really makes me cringe when I think about women's status as sexual objects. Let's face it, that's why a lot of us wear make up in the first place-to tell the world "I am a woman" we internalize the message that our job is to sexually appealing. If we are not, there are distinct social consequences. Here's a little confirmation that sexism is still alive and well:
And you should see this, it's Maxim's guide to curing a feminist.
Also, here is a great little snippet of news about the Wisconsin legislature's participation in the GOP war on women. http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/03/23/wisconsin-lawmaker-you-are-being-beaten-just-remember-things-you-love-about-your-?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RHRealityCheck.org%29
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Stumbled upon this on the internet, enjoy!
Visit this link for more on what not to do around men. How nice.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Entry Eight - Religion
I think what hit me hardest out of all the readings on religious intolerance and discrimination were the chapters on antisemitism. One of the most disturbing things was the table on page 260 which listed how Christian canonical law had set the precedent for Nazi measures that oppressed the Jews. Some of the canonical laws were almost identical to Nazi measures. For example, a canonical law from 1267 prohibited Christians from attending Jewish ceremonies, and a 1941 Gestapo directive prohibited any friendly relations with Jews.
On the heels of these readings, came the news of the recent shootings in France. The first shooting involved three soldiers, two Muslims and one of Caribbean descent, and the second at a Jewish school where a rabbi and his two children ages 4 and 5 were gunned down along with a 7-year-old girl, the daughter of the school's principal, as they arrived for school. This kind of senseless violence is deeply troubling. French police say the bullets from both shootings came from the same gun and that the shootings appear to be racially motivated. I started thinking about how to prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future... How can we raise our children to embrace differences and discuss disagreements in a peaceful way? Why do people resort to these measures? Is the perpetrator clinically insane, or just hateful and convinced of their own superiority?
I found an article on the website tolerance.org, which contains classroom activities on tolerance, research articles, essays, op-eds, and news clips that highlight issues of diversity and difference. The article I saw that I think might help us to start thinking about solving this monumental problem of intolerance is titled: "One Nation, Many Gods." It discusses how the current generation of students will face an increasingly pluralistic society as adults and that addressing issues of intolerance should begin in the school system: '"Schools are the one place where all of these different religions meet," said one educator. "It follows that religious diversity must be dealt with in school curriculum if we're going to learn to live together (One Nation, Many Gods, 2007).""
The article went on to describe a pilot program for addressing intolerance, a 9th grade level course on world religions with a prescribed curriculum. It went for a test run in the bible belt town of Modesto California, and researchers found that students who had taken the course were more tolerant of others and more willing to defend other's rights to their own religious expression than they had been in the beginning. I am, therefore, officially on the world religions requirement bandwagon! Wouldn't it be interesting if we could influence the school district to require a course on religious diversity? And for any of you who are wondering, it is legal to teach about religion in public schools.
Do you think this is a valuable use of a student's time? Of the school district's limited funds?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Entry Seven
Now that I have escaped the swirling vortex of doom that was this week of mid-terms, I have arrived to grace you with my most profound thoughts. Just kidding.
Self-Reflection
The section from last week on classism was extremely difficult for me as I had expected. I felt myself turning red and feeling heat on my face during class discussion. As I'm sure you have surmised, I grew up in a very poor household and that has had a profound impact on the person that I am. In some ways I'm very grateful for some of the experiences I had and lessons I learned as a result. For example, I can entertain myself with almost nothin' for hours. I know how to feed myself and I know how to work hard. In other ways, my class background has influenced some character flaws that I am working on. I tend to be judgmental of others who I perceive as having more resources than I do. I have been startled to see in myself over time the very same behaviors towards higher classes that I was afraid they would have towards me. The only person I have ever truly and for an extended period of time disliked in my lifetime was a girl I knew when I was in early adolescence whose family happened to be pretty affluent. She made some comments to me that made me feel poor; I guess I never really got over it. How petty of me.
Reading Response
The textbook chapters on classism kind of put research behind my furious yet generally unexplored political leanings. I especially was interested in how indebtedness keeps people in a cycle of poverty. I had a very angry reaction to the portion on pawn shops and cash advance loans. It is unconscionable in my mind to take such blatant advantage of others who are in a desperate circumstance. That ties into the message of the documentary we watched last week. I had seen Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price before, but since I tend to fall asleep during movies I missed a lot of the captions, which I found during this second viewing to contain a lot of particularly important, shocking and relevant information. So on this go-round, it really hit home. I have lived in a community in which small business have been destroyed by Wal-mart. My boyfriend (Andrew) was a Sam's Club employee for about a year, and I can verify that everyone was treated poorly. Andrew and his friend were both fired when they had a disagreement with a supervisor over their hours being tampered with. Sam's used the friends absences as an excuse to fire him, but his only unexcused absence was for the day his wife gave birth to their first child.
Solution?
I am a solution focused, goal oriented individual. I related well to the TED talk from Monday's class. Generating ideas for solutions to social problems is one of the primary ways that I experience a sense of self-efficacy. Although I think it is important to prioritize issues, I think that the corporate culture of wal-mart is shown to be detrimental to many people the world over. I would like to find out if any kind of consumer petition has been circulated to apply pressure to wal-mart executives. It may also be beneficial to write Op-Eds to major newspapers in order to garner publicity. I am a big believer in consciousness raising. I think if more people are aware of the issue and perhaps boycott walmart products, it may lead wal-mart to re-evaluate their policies. I personally don't think I will be shopping at wal-mart in the future. I just can't continue to support them in good conscience.
Self-Reflection
The section from last week on classism was extremely difficult for me as I had expected. I felt myself turning red and feeling heat on my face during class discussion. As I'm sure you have surmised, I grew up in a very poor household and that has had a profound impact on the person that I am. In some ways I'm very grateful for some of the experiences I had and lessons I learned as a result. For example, I can entertain myself with almost nothin' for hours. I know how to feed myself and I know how to work hard. In other ways, my class background has influenced some character flaws that I am working on. I tend to be judgmental of others who I perceive as having more resources than I do. I have been startled to see in myself over time the very same behaviors towards higher classes that I was afraid they would have towards me. The only person I have ever truly and for an extended period of time disliked in my lifetime was a girl I knew when I was in early adolescence whose family happened to be pretty affluent. She made some comments to me that made me feel poor; I guess I never really got over it. How petty of me.
Reading Response
The textbook chapters on classism kind of put research behind my furious yet generally unexplored political leanings. I especially was interested in how indebtedness keeps people in a cycle of poverty. I had a very angry reaction to the portion on pawn shops and cash advance loans. It is unconscionable in my mind to take such blatant advantage of others who are in a desperate circumstance. That ties into the message of the documentary we watched last week. I had seen Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price before, but since I tend to fall asleep during movies I missed a lot of the captions, which I found during this second viewing to contain a lot of particularly important, shocking and relevant information. So on this go-round, it really hit home. I have lived in a community in which small business have been destroyed by Wal-mart. My boyfriend (Andrew) was a Sam's Club employee for about a year, and I can verify that everyone was treated poorly. Andrew and his friend were both fired when they had a disagreement with a supervisor over their hours being tampered with. Sam's used the friends absences as an excuse to fire him, but his only unexcused absence was for the day his wife gave birth to their first child.
Solution?
I am a solution focused, goal oriented individual. I related well to the TED talk from Monday's class. Generating ideas for solutions to social problems is one of the primary ways that I experience a sense of self-efficacy. Although I think it is important to prioritize issues, I think that the corporate culture of wal-mart is shown to be detrimental to many people the world over. I would like to find out if any kind of consumer petition has been circulated to apply pressure to wal-mart executives. It may also be beneficial to write Op-Eds to major newspapers in order to garner publicity. I am a big believer in consciousness raising. I think if more people are aware of the issue and perhaps boycott walmart products, it may lead wal-mart to re-evaluate their policies. I personally don't think I will be shopping at wal-mart in the future. I just can't continue to support them in good conscience.
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