Thursday, May 7, 2009

Blog #10

I decided to read the essay by Leslie Fieldler, where she is comparing Negros and homosexuals. She talks about the the issues that both of the categories have and how people used to treat both of the issues... to be continued.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Blog #9

The counsil of Cotati, Barich took a picture of himself with his face painted balck and dressed like a black person. Many people tought that it was inappropriate and very racist. He argues that it was completaly harmless and that it is ridiculous that people would even think that we meant it in a harmful way to blck people or to any other race.
I think its not that big of a deal like people say it is. He just painted his face and could have just hang out with his friends have a good time. if you really thik about it, if a black person would have painted their face white it would have never been a big deal. I think people need to stop try to pick on people for doin whatever. If he wasnt a counsil this would have never even hit people at all so then it would have been ok but now that he has something to do with the community people start talking about what he does and why.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Essay #4

Zsofia Illes


The Use of the N word

In the book that we are reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the author uses the word nigger a lot. This is very hard for some people to read because of their culture and the way they grew up things they learned and also because of their race.
In my opinion the author uses the word in the text so the readers can better understand the time period the story was written and the way people felt about racism. Even though it is offensive to some people the word makes the story more realistic than if he would have used something else just to make us more comfortable reading it. This way the book makes a bigger impact on us and we can really feel for black people at that time.
Using the word in today’s society is completely different. In the old times it was a symbol of slavery and it also showed that black people had no power in the society so they had to take everything that other races would call them or make them do. Today if you call someone that name it is probably the most disrespectful thing you can do. It reminds them of the past and also today the word has changed. The meaning is a lot different than it was before. There are also other words that offend other races. This one applies to the black community I can imagine that it is like a trigger word for them. There are trigger words for many people it doesn’t even have to be for a specific race it can be just for individuals that just by hearing it can bring out certain emotions. The word nigger brings bad memories, disrespect and strong emotions for black people that’s one of the reasons why they are so sensitive about the word.
In my life when people call me names I normally try to blow it off and not care because people who call others names they intentionally try and insult you and most of the time it doesn’t really mean much but it’s really hurt full. In one of my other classes we were talking about trigger words, the words that bring up emotions, either good or bad. One of the really common things people say now days is gay, faggot etc. referring that something is bad. Many people don’t realize that when they use these words everyday just out on the street many people around them may belong the gay community and it may be hurtful for them to hear this, relating to the word nigger the same. A trigger word for black people, brings up negative emotions.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Blog #8

Topic 1. The N Word

For my essay i still need to brainstorm a lot but i will most likely talk about how the word can be very offensive to people and the how that is, also will compare it to what are some of the words that people use to call me and how do those words make me feel, maybe that way i will have a better understanding for myself how black people feel when others call them names like this. i will also address the topic of why it is important in the book to use the word to make a deeper impact on the readers or to just show the historical time period, and how people viewed black people around them.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Blog #7

My group identified satire as talking about something serious but with a humor and sarcasim. It also has something to do with irony. A good satire is basically making fun of something to make a point, bring attention to something most people dont pay attention to...just to make them think about it.. to show them an exaggertion of the trueth. An example of satire would be The Cobert show where they make fun of polititians even thoght the topics are serious.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Blog #6

I think Jim from the book is a real character, a real person. That is the way black people talked and acted at that time period becuse they were slaves and they counln't be eduated. I dont think Jim is a minstrel because the minsterls make fun of the people that are like that. So in a way i thinks minsterls represent Jim.. maybe an over played version of Jim, beceuse they are trying to make fun of him.

Blog #5

Looking around in everyday life, i do agree with the idea that racism is way better now than it was before. people of different race are much more accapted than they were before and blanded into society. Just lookin at sings and posters and ads, there is still a lil racism hidden many places.
Also not just race but gender. Many things are more about man not women because women are stereotyped as the weeker ones and man should be the ones handeling all the important things. That has changed a lot too since wwII because the women had to enter the work force to help the country and this way they bacome much more independent. Today women can do just as much if not more than man but we still have the general idea that man should be the head of the house.