Tricia Rose. The Hip-Hop Wars.
I was very interested in what Tricia Rose had to say in this article interview and NPR interview. What I was hoping would be talked about it was the 'Then and Now' type of thing. When hip-hop originated from vs. where it is now. Tricia Rose explains that hip-hop "wasn't primarly an economic industry, where people got involved more for money than for creativity." She talked about its origins being community based and having the power to cross generations. She also talked about the beginning of hip-hop as being political and "education and learning more about your history and asking questions and making better choices and trying to change society for the better." So, how did we go from this to what hip-hop is now? Now it seemingly is filled with money, power, sexism, and homophobia. At what point did we go from politics, education, and challenging listeners to think to what it has become?
Something I appreciated was the question: "There seems to be the tendency, when people complain about what they hear on the radio, for artists to say, "Well, if you don't like it, just turn it off." There's that shift in responsibility from artist to fan. Is that a disingenuous defense?"
I think this is a great question because people so often say if you don't like that music, then don't listen to it. Just because we are not listening to it, does not change the fact that the messages they are saying are still being put out there and people are still hearing them. They are still putting out messages of severe sexism, homophobia, and everything else...
I worked for an organization (Youth Pride) and the program I ran was doing homophobia 101 gigs in the state at schools. I would ask students what language they use and hear that one may consider homophobic. It seemed like each time I went out, someone had a new phrase that was being said and one day, someone said to me, "No homo." This means that if a guy is giving another guy a compliment, it is either started or ended by them saying 'no homo.' -- ya know, just for clarification purposes. It is the same for girls giving other girls compliments but I found it mostly said by the boys. Naturally I was very angry and upset about this because they are saying this not realizing the weight of the phrase. What I found in my research of this phrase is that it originated in rap songs. More recently, it is used in lil' wayne songs where he says it in a few of his tracks. That's what these kids and teenagers are listening to. If they are idolizing lil' wayne and he's saying it, then they should say it too. That's what they think. We are not explaining and inforcing the importance of critically thinking about these issues, whether it is homphobia or any of the other issues that are brought up in the music.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Rape Game
Hey-- I don't know if you guys have heard about this, but it is awful. It's a Japanese video game that is about raping women. That's the game and purpose. I posted a link to one of a few write-ups that I have read.... Horrifying and repulsing.
http://www.afterellen.com/blog/gracechu/a-new-horribly-offensive-japanese-video-game-is-being-sold-in-america
This is the basic idea of the game:
The objective of the game is to stalk a mother and her two children, described as “virgin schoolgirls,” and rape them repeatedly in every orifice until you “break” them and they become your willing sex slaves. Lovely, right? You can also recruit other men to gang rape them.
The only way to lose this game is if you impregnate one of your victims and you don’t force her to get an abortion. Also, one of the victims may randomly stab you, but only if you randomly put her in the cowgirl sex position. Otherwise, it’s just continued sexual assault with no repercussions.
http://www.afterellen.com/blog/gracechu/a-new-horribly-offensive-japanese-video-game-is-being-sold-in-america
This is the basic idea of the game:
The objective of the game is to stalk a mother and her two children, described as “virgin schoolgirls,” and rape them repeatedly in every orifice until you “break” them and they become your willing sex slaves. Lovely, right? You can also recruit other men to gang rape them.
The only way to lose this game is if you impregnate one of your victims and you don’t force her to get an abortion. Also, one of the victims may randomly stab you, but only if you randomly put her in the cowgirl sex position. Otherwise, it’s just continued sexual assault with no repercussions.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thomas Hine on The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager
As soon as I saw the title of Thomas Hine's introduction, "Are Teenagers Necessary?," I was intrigued. As we have discussed in class and as I have voiced, for some reason tennagers and the idea of being a teenager has been stigmatized. Why is this and why do adults seem to forget that they too were once teens? Hine says, "It is simply that we remember ourselves as ourselves. Being a teenager isn't an identity but a predicament most people live through." I never thought of it like that and I think that is the problem. People think of being a teenager as an identity rather than just an age of changes.
I found what he said about the rise of teens interesting. Teenagers are the "symbol of Americans' rising aspirations, the reprosityof hopes, the one who will realize the American dream. And inevitably, the teenager is a dissapointment, whose combinations of adult capacities and juvenile irresponsibility sows personal heartbreak and social chaos." I haven't thought about being a teenager in this way before. I agree with what he is saying here. Perhaps we as a society and as adults put too much pressure on our teenagers. The reality is that teenagers are classified as such from age 13-19. That is a lot of years and a lot of changing that is happening. At what point in those years do our standards for them change? In those years, they are finding themselves. They are trying to navigate and find who they are. At the beginning of their teen years, they are entering high school-- four years that will change them and throw them for a loop. Then, they are turning 18 and entering college, or the military, or the 'real world.' Suddenly when they turn that age, they have even more added responsibilities and expectations.
As I was reading on, in the first chapter, Hine tells the story of the 18-year-old girl who gave birth in the bathroom the night of her prom and put the baby in a plastic bag and threw him away. That story I vaguely remember hearing about when it happened and I was just as sick reading it now as I was then, if not more. I think it could potentially be a good example for talking about teenagers but I don't really know where he took it. I found that part of the article a little disjointed and I struggled to understand him bringing it all together.
Hine goes on to talk about a study done in a 1997 survey. It said that "90% of adults said that young people are failing to learn such values as honesty, responsibility, and respect, and two thirds agreed that the next generation will be worse than the last." I am not surprised by these resulty, unfortunately, but my question is "why?" Why specifically do adults think this and is anything being done to show adults, or rather remind them what teenage life is life?
One thing I did like about the article was his comparison of teenagers now to teenagers of the 1970s and 1980s. He says that contemporary teenagers are coping very well despite challenges. He gives examples, such as they are healthier than ever, the high levels of alcohol and drug use is still below the levels of 25 years ago, the drop-out rate is lower and more kids than ever are going to college and that they just express greater optimism about their lives. While there are still many problems out there, such as the drug and alcohol intake of teenagers, it was nice to hear someone giving teenagers some credit.
"It's good to feel hopeful about the prospects for the young and to feel confident that today's and tomorrow's teenagers will turn out all right."
I found what he said about the rise of teens interesting. Teenagers are the "symbol of Americans' rising aspirations, the reprosityof hopes, the one who will realize the American dream. And inevitably, the teenager is a dissapointment, whose combinations of adult capacities and juvenile irresponsibility sows personal heartbreak and social chaos." I haven't thought about being a teenager in this way before. I agree with what he is saying here. Perhaps we as a society and as adults put too much pressure on our teenagers. The reality is that teenagers are classified as such from age 13-19. That is a lot of years and a lot of changing that is happening. At what point in those years do our standards for them change? In those years, they are finding themselves. They are trying to navigate and find who they are. At the beginning of their teen years, they are entering high school-- four years that will change them and throw them for a loop. Then, they are turning 18 and entering college, or the military, or the 'real world.' Suddenly when they turn that age, they have even more added responsibilities and expectations.
As I was reading on, in the first chapter, Hine tells the story of the 18-year-old girl who gave birth in the bathroom the night of her prom and put the baby in a plastic bag and threw him away. That story I vaguely remember hearing about when it happened and I was just as sick reading it now as I was then, if not more. I think it could potentially be a good example for talking about teenagers but I don't really know where he took it. I found that part of the article a little disjointed and I struggled to understand him bringing it all together.
Hine goes on to talk about a study done in a 1997 survey. It said that "90% of adults said that young people are failing to learn such values as honesty, responsibility, and respect, and two thirds agreed that the next generation will be worse than the last." I am not surprised by these resulty, unfortunately, but my question is "why?" Why specifically do adults think this and is anything being done to show adults, or rather remind them what teenage life is life?
One thing I did like about the article was his comparison of teenagers now to teenagers of the 1970s and 1980s. He says that contemporary teenagers are coping very well despite challenges. He gives examples, such as they are healthier than ever, the high levels of alcohol and drug use is still below the levels of 25 years ago, the drop-out rate is lower and more kids than ever are going to college and that they just express greater optimism about their lives. While there are still many problems out there, such as the drug and alcohol intake of teenagers, it was nice to hear someone giving teenagers some credit.
"It's good to feel hopeful about the prospects for the young and to feel confident that today's and tomorrow's teenagers will turn out all right."
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Media Literacy
Media Literacy
As I googled 'Media Literacy,' many websites and links came up.
Medialiteracy.com:
Brands R Us: How Advertising Works.
I found this article really interesting. Advertising/brands are so influencial on everyone in some way, but on teenagers especially. The article says, "The fact is, when all is said and done, most people don't believe, don't remember, don't even notice, most advertising." I think this is true but there is no doubt that it is still important on our society. Powerfully put, "...But pointing a finger at the advertising industry will change nothing. Wishing and hoping that the advertising industry will lose its innocence and suddenly leap into modern times in recognition of the situation we are all in is futile. And while the advertising industry is part and parcel of an industrial civilization now in decline, this doesn't mean we should expect the number of advertising messages and collective power of those messages to also decline in the very near future. If anything, it means we can expect an increase in the number of those messages. For the advertising industry, along with the main body of industrial society, is struggling for survival. It may be drowning, but it has not yet sunk. And in a last-ditch effort to save itself, it will flail about more wildly and make more noise than ever, as we might expect from any drowning individual." What we must change is us. We are the problem. We either help create this reality, or we help maintain it.
http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom/index.shtml"
It is estimated thatNorth American children spend twice as much time over the course of a year watching television as they do in school. A recent study found that U.S. children spend over four and a half hours a day using television, computers and video games." I had assumed that the percentage for this would be great, but I did not realize it would be quite this high. When a child watches twice as much time engaged in television as they do in school, how could they not be strongly impacted and unknowingly influenced? At some point, we need to challenge this and actively work on fighting it.
http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article408.html
John Culkin, SJ: The Man Who Invented Media Literacy. John Culkin (1928-1993) was one of the first educators in the U.S. to initiate explicit media education curriculum in schools. He wrote, ""The attainment of (media) literacy involves more that mere warnings about the effects of the mass media and more even than constant exposure to the better offerings of these media. This is an issue demanding more than good will alone; it requires understanding. And training in understanding is the task of the school!" He also stated, "Above all, Culkin wanted to teach teachers to think in new ways." While I think that he is right, and appreciate his dedication to this issue, we cannot disregard a parent's responsibility. While our teachers are in the schools, it is the parents that are educating at home. I believe this should be a shared responsibility. It is too important and too influencial to be taken lightly, or to be handled by only one adult figure in thier lives.
As I googled 'Media Literacy,' many websites and links came up.
Medialiteracy.com:
Brands R Us: How Advertising Works.
I found this article really interesting. Advertising/brands are so influencial on everyone in some way, but on teenagers especially. The article says, "The fact is, when all is said and done, most people don't believe, don't remember, don't even notice, most advertising." I think this is true but there is no doubt that it is still important on our society. Powerfully put, "...But pointing a finger at the advertising industry will change nothing. Wishing and hoping that the advertising industry will lose its innocence and suddenly leap into modern times in recognition of the situation we are all in is futile. And while the advertising industry is part and parcel of an industrial civilization now in decline, this doesn't mean we should expect the number of advertising messages and collective power of those messages to also decline in the very near future. If anything, it means we can expect an increase in the number of those messages. For the advertising industry, along with the main body of industrial society, is struggling for survival. It may be drowning, but it has not yet sunk. And in a last-ditch effort to save itself, it will flail about more wildly and make more noise than ever, as we might expect from any drowning individual." What we must change is us. We are the problem. We either help create this reality, or we help maintain it.
http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom/index.shtml"
It is estimated thatNorth American children spend twice as much time over the course of a year watching television as they do in school. A recent study found that U.S. children spend over four and a half hours a day using television, computers and video games." I had assumed that the percentage for this would be great, but I did not realize it would be quite this high. When a child watches twice as much time engaged in television as they do in school, how could they not be strongly impacted and unknowingly influenced? At some point, we need to challenge this and actively work on fighting it.
http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article408.html
John Culkin, SJ: The Man Who Invented Media Literacy. John Culkin (1928-1993) was one of the first educators in the U.S. to initiate explicit media education curriculum in schools. He wrote, ""The attainment of (media) literacy involves more that mere warnings about the effects of the mass media and more even than constant exposure to the better offerings of these media. This is an issue demanding more than good will alone; it requires understanding. And training in understanding is the task of the school!" He also stated, "Above all, Culkin wanted to teach teachers to think in new ways." While I think that he is right, and appreciate his dedication to this issue, we cannot disregard a parent's responsibility. While our teachers are in the schools, it is the parents that are educating at home. I believe this should be a shared responsibility. It is too important and too influencial to be taken lightly, or to be handled by only one adult figure in thier lives.
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