In this quarter, I created a Beatles album cover for my ceiling tile, a leaf wall hanging, and a self-portrait drawn with markers. My ideas for art come from my passions or favorite things. When sketching ceiling tile ideas, I drew tiles that related to my favorite foods, bands, and people. For my fall wall hanging I incorporated a leaf I took from my favorite place, the shore, and got inspiration to paint it with bright fall colors, since my favorite season is fall. For my self portrait I was inspired by one of my favorite decades, the 80s, and tried to draw with colors and styles that reminded me of an 80s arcade floor pattern.
To create art in this marking period, I used different concepts and techniques for each assignment. With the ceiling tile, I tried to use a focal point on the Beatles, and blurred out all the background characters of the album cover by using wispy strokes of many different colors layered on top of each other. For my fall wall hanging I used the design concept of a painted leaf with warm gradient colors, and then I made it shiny and preserved both the leaf and paint by coating it in vaseline. Within my self-portrait I tried to show myself fracturing or “coming apart” at the seams of my sweater, by switching into warm colors and lines that all went in different directions, clustered all around each other. Something I learned about painting this quarter is that the finish of paint seems very rough without water mixed into it, because when I tried to stretch a certain color as I painted my ceiling tile, I noticed that with water mixed in, the paint went on so much smoother. I had not known this before, and it showed me some new aspects of painting.
For this quarter I used a variety of tools and materials to make my art: scissors, pencils, markers, colored pencils, string, tape, glue, paint, water, and paint brushes. Each of these materials either helped me physically draw my images, or enhance my artwork by cutting it apart or taping pieces together. I spent my time wisely in art, working every possible second I could to get my works of art done, and I even came in the studio at lunch for extra time to finish my ceiling tile. I made sure to be efficient with my time, and I finished most of the assignments before their due dates, but still put in hard work and effort to make my pieces with high quality. I would just like to leave people knowing that when I make art, almost every piece I do has some greater meaning or represents something about myself. Nothing about my artwork is ever simple, because a lot goes into the background thinking process to complete them.
The hood is a place where the majority of the population is African American, living in a poverty-stricken place where families live in peril day by day trying to better their lives. As I stated in my source “(“Differenecebetween.net”), “Hood” and “ghetto” are places where one does not want to live, and it’s hard for black men to get it out of them. For example, Ice Cube song “Why We Thugs”. This is a great example because throughout Ice Cube’s history he’s been through and experienced “the hood”. In his intro, it states “Yeah, every hood’s the same”, and throughout the song, he starts to explain what he means by that. The U.S government establishes gun shops and liquor stores into these poor neighborhoods, then the world wonders why people living there become thugs and gangsters.
What caused “the hood” to develop? Based off the U.S. government.org, during the 20th century, there was a policy to segregate the country making low-interest mortgages available to families through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). African American families at the time were legally entitled to these loans but were sometimes denied these loans because many of the black neighborhoods throughout the country were labeled “in decline”. Meaning black people could not get their loans to pay off good houses. After the end of World War II, the government supported white families with loans to move to suburbs, while black families were evicted from their communities to build highways. Since their homes were labeled “in decline”, the government forced these families into federal homes called “the projects”. To continue building “these projects” many more African Americans households were destroyed. As it was said in “Wikipedia/Racial Segregation” “Because these properties were summarily declared to be “in decline,” families were given pittances for their properties, and were forced into federal housing called “the projects”. To build these projects, still more single-family homes were demolished.” This is where it all began, the whites in power created their own way of living, taking care of “their people by giving them more money than they needed and placing them in great homes and neighborhoods. Meaning “the hood” is a problem because it’s a space that Blacks have been forced into by white policy While they divided African Americans from the whites, placing them in urban areas with nothing but their families with no money or work. As time moved on, it became a generational poverty, the black neighborhoods remained poor and were provided with guns and drugs and no education. It got worse and worse each year, blacks were exposed to new things and used it against each other causing more crime and white Americans deeply implicated in the “ghetto.”
Therefore, these stereotypical names all come from the wealthy white people who look at the black community as senseless “low-life” human beings. A place that they think don’t care about their education and only wants drugs and crime. But in reality, they’re the ones who really care and have been chasing for education and wealthiness for generations, and most of the time couldn’t make it because the government doesn't want to see the black community succeed. A great example for that is back when Donald Trump was running for President. When he was Toledo Ohio, Trump stated “ The violence. The death. The lack of education. No jobs. We’re going to work with the African-American community and we’re going to solve the problem of the inner city”. We’re going to bring safety back. You can’t walk out the street, you buy a loaf of bread and you end up getting shot. So we’re going to work very strongly with the African American community.” Just like Donald Trump, wealthy Americans want the world to see them as people who want better for this community, when in fact they create the inequality and problems, white institutions maintain it and white society condones it.
When asked, slavery, segregation, systemic poverty is what caused the black community to be forced to live the lives they were given with unemployment, drug abuse, and high murder rates, having it harder for them to succeed the way they want.
Works CIted
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_neighborhood
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/27/politics/donald-trump-ghettos-african-americans/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States
When babies are first born, the grown ups there to raise them often already having an idea of what they will be. These expectations are based off of the parents talents and personalities as well as what the parents do. As a result, They are never given their own identity until the early ages of adulthood because they are told that they can not do necessarily everything that they want because they are still minors who are undecided of who they are or want to be. The same thing happens to a lot of minorities and for longer amounts of time because they are not raised the “ideal” way. It sucks to have to be seen as someone else because someone set an example before or because it happens that someone might be “judging a book by its cover”. Unfortunately, the situation is similar and common for Black males. In addition to family expectations, they face the limiting stereotypes presented to them outside of the home. This stereotype loop, perpetuated by the news media, causes them to be demonized by the rest of society.
The media in America infamously identifies and calls out Black men as if they are a strange species that no one can control. The reason that these ideas of Black men are even imaginable is because the government has allowed them to be, by believing the stereotype themselves. On television news, they are not usually seen as news anchors, or even commercial spokesmen, but criminals. Michael Myers from The Huffington Post called out one of the biggest news stations for their demonization of Black men.
One blatant example of the discrimination of Black men happens to be from tv show hosts who usually sit down and invite celebrity guests on their show to talk about problems and situations going on in the world. Bill O'Reilly has gone as far as blaming Black men for majority of the violence in America."The media will not spotlight that much of the violent crime in America is being committed by young black men. There is a violent sub-culture in the African-American community that should be exposed and confronted." Having a platform as big as Fox News broadcast that type of language was appalling. Fox allowed him to shame Black men as a whole with no repercussions. Black men are hardly ever given the chances or opportunities to become something other than the stereotypes they are given. If the tables were to have been turned and a Black man blamed White men for most of crimes in America, they definitely would have been penalized and made to issue an apology to his peers. Other Fox Show host such as Tomi Lahren and Megyn Kelly has even ridiculed the Black Lives Matter movement by making fun of the senseless murders of innocent Black men by police and other “higher authorities.” This movement was made to let people all over the country know that they valued Black Lives, and they were going to make sure that they could do as much as possible to prevent as many unlawful deaths as they could. The intentions of the group were never to make a certain group feel better than the other, but more of a motive to bring people together. By criticizing that moment and the injustice it seeks to address, the Fox host totally disregarded Black families who have lost their loved ones to police brutality.
Prevalent racial name-calling not only happens on national news channels, it also happens locally as well. The majority of the stories covered on the news are in a negative light rather than a positive one. So if the news station is in a predominantly Black area such as Philadelphia, people would see Black men plastered across the screen for supposedly committing numerous crimes. One blatant example of the discrimination of Black men happens to be from tv show hosts who usually sit down and invite celebrity guests on their show to talk about problems and situations going on in the world.
One significant difference is the way Black men are portrayed on the news for crimes versus how White men are portrayed. When a Black man’s face is plastered on the news for a crime, people will often see mugshots from previous arrests, pictures of them throwing up (what are called) “gang signs,and so called evidence from their social media accounts linking them to the crime. When a White man commits a crime and is less likely plastered across the television screen. you will see his graduation photos, family photos, and casual photos of him. America’s media uses these photos to show the world the image of scary Black men because they don’t want to see them as anything else but that.
Black men are categorized as these evil things and then told they do not qualify for certain positions and jobs when in reality the people broadcasting these stereotypes on the news are at fault. America’s news media institutionalizes the stereotype that Black men are demonized monsters. The media victimizes innocent people nationally, and seeing these negative images starts to make people think that Black men are really these evil beings. But Black men play so many roles: fathers, husbands, sons, lawyers, doctors, teachers, psychiatrist, humans. By not seeing them in their true positions, you are allowing them to fall true to their stereotypes and not be the best person that they can be.
Ashton Reigner
Ms. Pahomov
English 3
9 October 2017
Detrimental Donald
Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States and has been in office since January 20, 2017. Since his election, he has done and said things that have never been done by a president before, none of which has put the country in a better place than it was before he came into office. From threatening other elected officials on Twitter to raising racial tension across the nation, it’s obvious that he is not fit for the job. For many reasons he has proved he is the most detrimental president in US history, but the most frightening is his attitude towards climate change. The biggest threat Trump poses is his threat towards climate change because of his censorship of science, his restruction of the EPA, and his choice in repealing previous environmental action made in the Obama era.
Being the president elected directly after Obama, Trump chose to undo a lot of the things Obama had done. One controversial decision Trump made was pulling out of the Paris agreement. This agreement was made to limit the amount of greenhouse gases released to help counter the climate change. Not only has he repealed this agreement, but he has also repealed a ban on offshore oil drilling. This ban was put into place after the spill caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil drill in 2010 and now Trump is repealing this ban opening the opportunity for another terrible spill to occur in the future. Choices like these put the US at a risk that even some of Trump’s own supporters don’t realize we have.
Along with the risk he has been imposing with the damage from his legal decisions, he has also been toying with the idea of nuclear warfare. Even before taking office, one of Donald Trump’s favorite ways of talking to the public has been on the social media platform Twitter. On September 23, 2017, Donald Trump tweeted “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer”. This tweet was published because the Prime Minister said to the U.N. that tweets like the one presented have been interpreted as a declaration of war on North Korea and that tweet was Trump’s response. The U.S. has the capability to launch nuclear missiles and Trump would be able to make the call. Nuclear weapons instantly kill all life in the target zone. One example is when the US dropped a bomb on Hiroshima. When the bomb was dropped in 1945, it decimated everything within a 4.4 square mile radius of detonation. The 2017 U.S. Military Index shows that the U.S. still ha these nuclear capabilities but the public does not know the full extent of these capabilities. And since the time when the last bomb was dropped, technology has only improved which means any new bombs that could be dropped would be more harmful than anything the world has ever seen .Donald Trump’s immaturity and cavalierness about nuclear warfare can be more harmful to the U.S. than the citizens fully understand.
Since Trump has been in power, he has had the harmful opportunity to put more of his own relatives and closest allies in higher positions of power. One position that Trump has changed is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator. The role of the EPA administrator is to enforce and keep the environment clean and as healthy as possible. This is a very important position and Trump has selected a man by the name of Scott Pruitt to take that role. This man is not as known to the world compared to Trump but both of them have proven that they lack a full understanding of what is actually happening to the environment. Climate change is a very real thing and it is only going to get worse as time goes on. Humans in their entirety have caused a lot of the negative change and humans have to be able to realize that if they want to be able to improve the destruction they have already caused. By contrast, Scott Pruitt believes that the science proving climate change is “Far from settled.” Before being elected for the position he is in now, Scott Pruitt sued the EPA - the agency he now administers - because he wanted to remove Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Obama’s Power Plan was the first federal restriction on how much carbon pollution could be emitted from existing power plants. This was meant to reduce pollution levels up to 30%. This plan is now in the process of being completely removed now that Scott Pruitt has the power to do so. Donald Trump is the only reason Scott Pruitt now has this power.
The president’s full term lasts four full years. Donald Trump has yet to complete his first year and the U.S. is under more threat than most of its people realize. Climate change has the potential to destroy all of civilization on this planet and Donald Trump is making it worse. Not only is Trump making climate change more of a threat to the present, but he is bringing the destructive potential of nuclear warfare closer and closer to the country and other countries that don’t deserve it. Donald Trump is putting the U.S. at more risk for their lives than humans have ever been before.
SOURCES
“The Manhattan Project and the atomic bomb.” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-7/apush-us-wwii/a/the-manhattan-project-and-the-atomic-bomb.
“3 Things Scott Pruitt Has Actually Said About Climate Change.” Greenpeace USA, 19 Dec. 2016, www.greenpeace.org/usa/3-things-scott-pruitt-actually-said-climate-change/.
“EPA's Administrator.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 22 Sept. 2017, www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epas-administrator.
Zurcher, Anthony. “Donald Trump's nuclear fixation - from the 1980s to now.” BBC News, BBC, 10 Aug. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40879868.
“U.S. Nuclear Weapons Capability.” 2017 Index of U.S. Military Strength, The Heritage Foundation, index.heritage.org/military/2017/assessments/us-military-power/u-s-nuclear-weapons-capability/.
“How Nuclear Bombs Affect the Environment.” How Nuclear Bombs Affect the Environment | Education - Seattle PI, education.seattlepi.com/nuclear-bombs-affect-environment-6173.html.Curious Case of Dreams.
Dreams are stories and scenarios that take place in a person’s brain during times of slumber. Although dreams aren't real, Dreams do have an impact on how humans feel when they wake up. Humans can feel sad, happy, scared, or even anxious. Dreams can feel very real at times, so real that people wish they were a reality. When humans dream, the images may seem weird and bizarre,but dreams are actually an expression of what humans truly want and can't have.
Overall studies show that whatever the human mind intakes or wants and need will show up in their dreams. In the book “The Interpretation of Dreams” written by Sigmund Freud; he quoted “our dreams are representations of our unconscious desires.” Meaning that what we truly desire will be in our dreams. Considering most people’s dreams are uncontrollable and not lucid, what can’t take place, in reality, will occur in our dreams. For example an individual could dream of something but in reality could, be something very different. Which questions :why do this? When desired that.
¨Dreams can be very personal, and it’s entirely up to you to figure them out.¨ The distinction between want and desire is that what humans desire will always transcend what humans want. Since wish fulfillment is the meaning of each and every dream, what humans actually desire will only be in dreams that it might come as a surprise because they had no clue they desired but what they wanted. Furthermore, a girl could want to be with her boyfriend for the rest of life but will continue to see the boy in the back of the class in her dreams. It would be bizarre for him to keep appearing in her dreams but it would mean she wants something from him. Their love.
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are two psychiatrist who devoted their lives to find the meaning of dreams. Both Freud and Jung had different hermeneutics on Dreams. Where Freud believed that dreams are sacred sexual desires and Jung more so that dreams had a meaning behind it.Furthermore, it's not all about sexual desires, it's about what the human wants. As Carl Jung said, “Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” Which means not only what humans want remains in their heart but also in their dreams as well.
As the author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom T. E. Lawrence said “All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity…” . Which means that people dream differently because humans need and desire differently. Conclusively regardless of what humans do in reality, dreams will tell what is really desired.
Nerd culture involves so many different elements including video games, comics, and internet memes. These things are often times bashed on by individuals who believe that they are “dumb” or they call the people “losers”. However, they may just be blind to see what nerd culture really does for the world. In fact, nerd culture has a positive impact on nerds and the people around them because it helps them find an enjoyable place in the world where they can thrive.
A typical form of nerd culture that has been popular ever since the early 50’s and 60’s is comics. Some adults see reading comics as a waste of time, but according to Scholastic, a publishing and education company, comics are extremely beneficial to children. Most children are visual learners, and it helps to see pictures that match the words. If most kids are visual learners then comics should help them with most of their studies. On the parents section of Scholastic website, the writer mentioned that a lot of plays from Shakespeare have a comic version. Children could learn about the importance and essence of a Shakespeare play without having to deal with the difficult language in the original play. This will slowly introduce the children to the topics, and as they become older they will have knowledge of Shakespeare.
Another very cliche model of the nerd culture is video games. People have made many different accusations about video games, one is that they are very unhealthy. A study done by Texas A&M University has given some insight on how video games help with stress management and lowers the chances of someone developing depression. The study involved 103 students that were all given a frustrating assignment, then they were randomized to either play a violent of nonviolent video game. The results of the study suggested that someone that plays a lot of violent games will become less hostile with something called mood management. Mood management is the consumption of some entertainment has the possibility of altering someone's mood. This suggests that video games release all of the stress that an individual is holding in. The video games acts as some sort of escape from reality. Somewhere an individual can go to do whatever they want. Although some games may be extremely graphic or horrifying to some, it may actually help others go through life with a smile on their face because it releases negative feelings instead of encouraging them.
Internet memes are especially popular among the gaming community. Meme’s are definitely frowned on by many, and are often seen as insensitive and rude. People can be both of those things, it depends on what kind of person they are. Memes can help some people with issues they have with the world or even themselves. Motherboard, a website published by Vice, wrote an article about popular memes and Facebook thread about the recent Irma issue. A line from the article reads, “As the impending disaster barrels down on the southern shores of the US, residents are turning to an unlikely source for comfort: ironic event pages.” this shows that memes can help. While everyones houses and neighborhoods are being a torn apart by Irma, they feel sad and helpless. They cannot do anything to stop what is happening. It’s out of their control. What they can do, is laugh. Laughter helps when all they can do is hope for the best. Notice the word “ironic”. The people are not laughing because they actually think that the disasters are actually funny, they are laughing to numb the pain. They would rather find comfort in laughter then sit in a laughless room where all everyone is doing is worrying.
If people who dislike comics stopped to think about it, they would realize that nerd culture is not just about being a loser who reads comics, plays dumb games, and looks at unfunny internet memes, but has a deeper affect and positive benefit on people. Nerd culture has a beneficial effect on the world, it educates our children, helps release stress, and helps many individuals numb their pain with laughs.
Works CIted
Wright, Steven.Floridians Are Coping With Irma Using Memes and Fake Facebook Events. Motherboard. September 8, 2017.
English, Melanie. Raising Super Readers: The Benefits of Comic Books and Graphic Novels. Scholastic. October 22, 2014. http://www.scholastic.com/parents/blogs/scholastic-parents-raise-reader/raising-super-readers-benefits-comic-books-and-graphic-novels
Brendan Hall
Air Stream
English 3
November 2, 2017
What’s right or wrong in this world?
Morality means choosing the correction actions. However, when fully delving into the concept ethical behavior many will come to find out that virtue seeking typically leads into more questions than answers. How does the surrounding world impacts moral decisions? This is an essential question due to how moral standards have changed over time. Morality is also heavily based on people’s intentions. Since this is the case, how will the world ever discover an objective measurement to such a subjective based topic? How do people assure that their teachings are accurate and equal to every person? The answer to these questions are that there is no measurement for an answer to exist. Since Morality cannot be objectively measured, moral standards are simply a reflection on what their time period allowed them to do and has not fully evolved.
The idea of morality can best be summarized by socrates, “A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.” Human history proves this quote to be accurate because morality has changed but never been able to be completely objective in practice. An example of this is the Aztec Empire during the 13th Century. A common ritual practiced by the Aztec Empire was human sacrifice, and some of the rituals of human sacrifice were turned into meals. If one were to fast forward into the 21st Century in the United States they would most likely find the vast majority being against human beings being killed and eaten. . However, many influential restaurants in the United States glorify meat products. It is conceivable to assume that the consumers of these meat products are against human slaughter for food. This is a clear double standard that exists within American society, and is allowed due to the fact it is unpopular to against something normal in that culture. If morality was objective, then human beings would be just as upset at the slaughter of animals for food the same way they are at humans. However, this is an era where humans view themselves as superior to other living beings. This thought process illustrates how morality is a reflection of popular opinion instead of logic and reason.
Another movement in the history of humankind that has been mostly frowned upon in first world countries is slavery. Even countries such as the United States, who once had slaves have the majority of people, now deem it cruel and inhumane. Many people living in today’s age even believe that they would have been an abolitionists if they had lived back in that time period. However, What Americans tend to overlook is the products they receive partially due to international slave labor. According to Yahoo Finance there have been nearly three million Chinese people working slave labor to produce designer handbags and electronics to the United States. The outrage that exists about these unfair circumstances are overshadowed by the excitement for new products in common situations. Despite the overall rejection of slavery that exists within the perimeter of the U.S. there is relatively little change to be seen. The products created by these slave wages still sell incredible numbers. Gucci a company that use these workers, are worth a $12.7 billion dollars (forbes) partially due to negligence from people. A situation such as this displays the lack of objectivity and self awareness that usually exists in morality. This situation further proves that morality cannot ever be objective and it is just a reflection of the moral standards that existed in that time period.
In conclusion, morality is a concept that has puzzled even the greatest people for an entire lifetime. However, most of the deception comes from people that are unaware the deception even exists. Although people who are tolerant of society’s moral tolerance might not think that morality matters much its influence goes beyond right and wrong to human’s ability to live free and the ability to make judgements that produce a functioning society where people are less selfish.This is true because many people are fearful of being considered immoral due to the beliefs that are instilled by peers. If everyone would take a closer inspection they would understand that there is no objective measurement for morality and they are being controlled by hypocritical standards.
Sources:
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/objectiv/. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.
"Modern Morality and Ancient Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy | An encyclopedia of philosophy articles written by professional philosophers.. Web. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/anci-mod/>
"Is Morality Objective? | Issue 115 | Philosophy Now." Philosophy Now | a magazine of ideas. Web. <http://philosophynow.org/issues/115/Is_Morality_Objective >.
"The Moral Instinct - The New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/magazine/13Psychology-t.html?_r=1&ex=1200805200&en=d401354908b626b1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin >.
"Are your favorite products created by slave labor? New report indicates it's possible." Yahoo Finance - Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Web. <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/are-your-favorite-products-created-by-slave-labor--new-report-indicates-it-s-possible-144633547.html>.
The Problem of Internalized Racism
Racism, in itself, is a divisive and deeply-rooted custom in the United States whose presence causes a blatant disruption of core American beliefs in freedom and equality. In recent years, racial controversy has found its way to political and social platforms, resulting in numerous protests and riots. Unfortunately, it is rather common for one to think that racism is a belief that should be categorized as a race-to-race issue, almost as if it is an interaction between two different parties. However, there is a very problematic form of racism that is not as discoursed in today’s world: internalized racism. Internalized racism is defined by sociologist Stuart Hall as, “the ‘subjection’ of the victims of racism to the mystifications of the very racist ideology which imprison and define them.” For years, psychologists have conducted social experiments to grow closer to an understanding of what causes it and its branching effects. The ultimate conclusion is clear: internalized racism is prevalent in the black community because it is rooted in the raging self-esteem struggles sparked by centuries of unjust prejudice and belittlement.
In the 1940s, African-American psychologists Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted a series of experiments on black children with one overlying objective in mind: to study how substandard the black perception of self is and how the social status quo affects this perception. What they found would prove pivotal in the course of American history, serving as expert witness evidence for Briggs v. Elliott (1952) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Using a brown and a white doll as stand-ins for humans, the Clarks asked young children which doll is more beautiful, which doll they rather play with, which doll is the “nicer” doll, and which doll is the “bad” doll. Results showed that the black children showed a pronounced preference for the white doll in every manner. This finding was revolutionary at the time because it shed light to a phenomenon that was unproven and not quite understood. Not only did the kids have an apparent understanding of race, they at a young age had already internalized the idea the black people are inferior to white people. The Clarks concluded that this mentality was perpetuated by the infamous “separate but equal” legal doctrine that was employed in schools and in the general public at the time. This historical policy was, in fact, not heeded well. The mistreatment of blacks continued to thrive, and many whites thought of “separate but equal” as sanction for segregation under the law. Segregation is one of the many oppressive systems that had lasting emotional and mental effects on black Americans. These effects have been categorized as a new mental illness coined Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. PTSS suggests that years of physical pain, mass incarceration, Jim Crow laws, and emotional abuse have created a fear complex in the mentality of black Americans that warp their cognition of self and the world around them. According to psychologist Dr. Joy DeGruy, this form of untreated PTSD can be passed on genetically from generation to generation. This leads to the mental aspects of it being inescapable, and though far removed from the slavery generation, black people are able to carry mental traits of their ancestors. For example, Uncle Tom syndrome is a psychological concept that refers to the coping skill of submissiveness as response to a threat or animosity in order to preserve oneself from pain. This survival technique was developed by many American slaves, sacrificing their self-esteem and respect for a vague feeling of safety. This mental submissiveness to the oppressor has been passed down, another reason for the high prevalence of black internalized racism. Since it is embedded in genetics, it would be difficult for a generation to rid themselves of the self-oppressing mindset.
In 1903, W.E.B DuBois coined the term internalized racism. DuBois began to look into his sociological theory of double consciousness, a psychological concept that suggests that the human identity is capable of being divided into several parts. DuBois proposed that black Americans have a hard time uniting their black identity with their American identity due to years of social repression in America, leading many to devalue one of those aspects of their humanness. He believed that blacks are likely to see themselves through the lens of society, since the public worldview is so prevailing. Therefore, it is common for black Americans to consider themselves inferior or subpar. It is regular human psychology to believe something after being told it enough times. The Illusory Truth Effect is the idea that “repetition of an assertion increases the degree of belief in that assertion. (Hertwig, “The Reiteration Effect in Hindsight Bias”)” This effect helps sociologist come to a deeper understanding of what internalized racism is and how it spreads. Since America’s black population have often been reminded of their inferiority to white Americans (lynchings, segregation etc.), the tendency of blacks to condemn their own race as inferior is higher because, for much of American history, it has been the general worldview of the country. The psychological aspect of internalized racism is actually a normal human reaction to social views, which is why the national prejudicial notions of black Americans influences how many black Americans perceive themselves.
Although internalized racism may only seem relevant to minority communities, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about race relations because it causes conflicting viewpoints of what should be done for the betterment of these relations, which hinders progress in general. Internalized racism amplifies racist ideals to the point that it may be difficult to make consensual changes to fix infamous racial issues, such as police brutality and criminal profiling. It is vital to understand that the more people against racism, the more that can be done to ensure that it is not passed down to the next generation. Examining and preventing its causes will slowly decrease its commonality, since its general cause is the internal absorption of oppressive attitudes. Living as a minority in a country against minority progression is immensely detrimental to the ego and feelings of belonging. However, in social times of trial, it is vital to honor the words of the wise W.E.B. DuBois, “In all things purely social we can be as separate as the five fingers, and yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”
Works CIted
Loury, Glenn C. “An American Tragedy: The Legacy of Slavery Lingers in Our Cities’ Ghettos.” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2016, www.brookings.edu/articles/an-american-tragedy-the-legacy-of-slavery-lingers-in-our-cities-ghettos/.
“Segregation Ruled Unequal, and Therefore Unconstitutional.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, July 2007, www.apa.org/research/action/segregation.aspx.
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Baldwin, Joseph A.. “Theory and Research Concerning the Notion of Black Self-Hatred: A Review and Reinterpretation.” Journal of Black Psychology, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/009579847900500201.
Nittle, Nadra Kareem. “What Is the Definition of Internalized Racism?” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/what-is-internalized-racism-2834958.
Commitment, A Major Key
Stores that produce the most revenue are typically the ones that are the most convenient for customers. These stores provide a space where customers want to spend their money because of good quality of their service. Walmart and Target, two big box steady retail stores, make efforts to lure their customers with advertisements that guarantee the costumer’s satisfaction. Although they both guarantee satisfaction, there is clear evidence that proves Walmart is a better source for shoppers than Target because of their commitment to their customers above all else.
One way that Walmart shows their customers that they value them is through policies such as their loyalty programing. According to the news on Walmart's website, Walmart’s 3-2-1, is a new way save money for Walmart prepaid and Walmart money cards. Their 3-2-1 rewards program includes, 3% back on purchases made on Walmart.com. It also offers 2% back on fuel purchases at Walmart gas stations and 1 % back on purchases made at Walmart stores. In comparison, Target’s has a savings system called Cartwheel Perks. Cartwheel Perks is a program which allows Target shoppers to earn points every time a purchase is made and redeem the points for apparel, food, and other items. As reported by couponsinthenews.com, Target’s program is currently in the process of ending because of they are making adjustments regarding to issues that was found by the perk users. The negative feedback that states as such, “experiencing pricing errors when buying items.” Target shutting down their program, leaves both the old user and the new user with nothing to depend on when purchasing items. Loyalty programs brings more customers to the store because of the discounts the program provides.
Besides customer service, another key component to Wal Mart's business is advertising. Advertisement creates an immediate impact that will keep customers engaged to what is called the “better buy.” Social media accounts make contributions to relevant benefits and opportunities for the customer. Walmart is socially involved but also uses the media nationally and locally. For example, Walmart reaches out to other store locations around the world by establishing Facebook pages for each located store. Interfering with social media accounts, promotes a company or brand, genuine intentions to create a motivation for customers so they can be interested. Most importantly, these social accounts provides a platform for their customer’s voices to be heard and taken seriously. For instance, Walmart has a website where mothers can talk about their shopping experiences. Target’s Twitter and Facebook social media accounts has community involvement that is equal to social involvement. Being socially involved with the community is a positive because it shows sincerity and shows support to the customers in the community. However, Target receives more negative feedback based on a customer's shopping experience found on consumeraffairs.com.
Walmart’s mission is phrases that they commit to build opportunities to customers and communities worldwide:, Save Money, Live better .On the contrary, Target consistently fulfills the Expect More. Pay Less brand. These two persuasive slogans that have different meanings. However the proof that is shown is that Walmart follows through on their slogan and constantly dominates Target. Based on the research given by investopedia.com, WMT, Walmart Store Inc, is the world’s largest retail company with 10,700 stores, with 4,500 of those store in the U.S. Target has 1,806 stores that are only to be found in the U.S. Wal-Mart’s total assets were $203.7 billion, about five times larger than Target’s comparatively $41.4 billion. Consequently, Walmart is the “elephant in the room” when it comes to market capitalization, which is $240 billion, three times larger than Target’s $79 billion.
Commitment is a key point in a relationship because it shows reliance and loyalty from one to another. Although, commitment may only seem important to customers, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about saving a buck or two. This becomes especially evident for those who attempt to make a profit off of their relationships. Advertisment, revenue, and saving programs are all essential principles to a customer - store relationship. This shows that Walmart is faithful to their customers because they have not abandon the one thing that customers value.
Works CIted
Memphis, TN Damean of, et al. “Walmart MoneyCard.” ConsumerAffairs, www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/wal-mart-moneycard.html.
"Retail Advertising." Adage.Com, 2017, http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/retail-advertising/98854/.
"Retail Advertising." Adage.Com, 2017, http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/retail-advertising/98854/.
Target Officially Kills Off Cartwheel Perks.” Coupons in the News, 20 July 2017, couponsinthenews.com/2017/07/19/thanks-scammers-target-officially-kills-off-cartwheel-perks/.
FRM, Elvin Mirzayev CFA. “Target Vs. Walmart: Who's Winning The Big Box War?” Investopedia, 7 July 2015, www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/070715/target-vs-walmart-whos-winning-big-box-war.asp.
Call Them What They Are (The analysis of the word terrorist)
Who counts as a terrorist? After the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the use of the word terrorism and terrorist has skyrocketed to the forefront of the news outlets vocabulary whenever an attack happens. However even though terrorism has been tragically performed by people of all races, only people who are black and brown get called terrorist. The news media is more hesitant to call white people who commit crimes terrorist because it helps separate white people from the terrible incidents that happened in this country and keeps a white supremacist regime alive.
The word terrorism is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “the systematic use of terror, especially as means of coercion.” Then the dictionary goes on to define the word terrorist as “ an advocate for practitioner of terrorism” This means that any time a person intentionally harms people with intent to make them do something or make a statement, they are a terrorist and committing terrorism blatantly. However, there have been debates in the media between news outlets on deciding what incidents to call terrorism. It’s been common for people who commit terrorism in their own country, domestic terrorism, to not be labeled “terrorist’ by the media, because new reporters allow these people to get “name passes” so the United States doesn’t look as bad in hindsight.
Since what seems like the beginning of time, it seem like this label has been reserved for back, brown, and muslim people. Based on the data from the Google Ngram Viewer, which measures the mention of a word in text and media in different years, the word terrorism which had a slight downfall in the mid nineties had a boost in mentions in the year 2001. This has also lead to people associating terrorism and terrorist with people who are Muslim. This label has pinned the word to a specific race of people. From a survey done in 2015 by Pewresearch.org it was estimated that there are about 1.8 billion Muslim people in the world. Of that 1.8 billion, 3.3 million of them live in the United States. That is way too many people to try to accurately to label all people of as a stereotype.
As an alternative to the name terrorist, labels of mentally ill have been given to white people who have committed the same acts as their non-white “terrorist” counterparts . Individuals that have been privileged to get the label of “sick” have been able to escape punishment, while people of color don’t have the chance to define themselves before a label is slapped on them. According to the Washington Post, when white male Dylan Roof fatally shot 9 members of Emanuel AME Church, the media outlets immediately started to label him as mentally ill. It seemed that white people that were called mentally ill were only given that title when they committed crimes against people of color but that is not the case. In December of 2012 a man named Adam Lanza went into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 28 people, most of the victims were children and white children at that. Yet again the media did not call him a terrorist, he was labeled as mentally ill. Also 2017 when 64 year old Stephen Paddock killed 59 people at a Las Vegas concert he was called a “lone wolf” This allowed white people to be separated from terrible acts by saying that no “normal” white person could have done this they had to have something wrong with them.
The media’s avoidance of the “terrorist” term is problematic because when someone distances themselves from the truth it only makes them weaker and less aware. It is important that people are either given appropriate labels or no labels at all. If a situation arises that involves “the systematic use of terror especially as means of coercion” the person that commited the crime should be called a terrorist regardless of their race, religion, or country of origin. Although the average American might not think that who gets that label of terrorist matters much,its influence goes beyond just a news story to how groups of people are viewed in society. It can have a detrimental effect on how future generation of those people view themselves as a whole.
Works CIted
Shane, Scott. “Terrorizing if Not Clearly Terrorist: What to Call the Las Vegas Attack?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/us/politics/terrorism-las-vegas-attack.html.
Tylt, The. “Is there a double standard for who gets called a terrorist?” The Tylt, The Tylt, 27 Sept. 2016, thetylt.com/culture/is-there-a-double-standard-for-who-gets-called-a-terrorist.
“Terrorism.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism.
Butler, Anthea. “Shooters of color are called 'terrorists' and 'thugs.' Why are white shooters called 'mentally ill'?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 June 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/18/call-the-charleston-church-shooting-what-it-is-terrorism/?utm_term=.502243741417.
