Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences 
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- Perhaps it's because Disney is the whitest place on earth? Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. But Walt Disney intended those parks, and his animated films, to represent rigid middle-class, conservative 'family' values. Disney is seriously ideological, despite its reputation for being innocuous family fun.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,I am writing a dissertation about the American phenomenon of rejecting criticism of popular culture with statements like, 'It's just a movie.' These kinds of statements, which are very common in U.S. culture, make it difficult for us to have serious discussions about the political ramifications of our popular culture. Americans reject criticism of popular culture all the time, whether it's Mexicans criticizing the Taco Bell dog, Puerto Ricans criticizing Seinfeld, or movie critics analyzing racial elements of Star Wars. Popular culture is much more than 'just entertainment.' Many Americans do not understand that popular culture is ideological, and that, regardless of the intent of the producers, popular culture representations affect how we as a culture perceive our cultural norms.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,I agree with you. Overall, the U.S. educational system does not teach students to think critically about our culture and our hierarchies and to transform society. It teaches students to adapt to the system as it is - like you said, to become good consumers (you wouldn't believe how much advertising there is in many U.S. high schools!) I imagine most Americans would disagree with me, though.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,I think Bigchocolateman is right. No, we as individuals aren't to "blame" for slavery (my ancestors weren't even here yet), but this country as a whole owes African Americans a great deal, not just because of the atrocities of slavery and lynching and Jim Crow laws and other forms of inhumane discrimination, but because problems linger in the African-American community because of these historical atrocities. It's only been about 30 years since African Americans became the legal equals of whites in all parts of the United States. As a direct result of years of legalized discrimination and racism, while many African Americans are doing very well, other African Americans remain in poverty. Why do some Americans think you can get rid of years of systemwide discrimination and that all of the people who suffered this discrimination will suddenly pull themselves up from their bootstraps and succeed masterfully? In my opinion, this country does not need to pay African Americans monetary restitution - that's too impractical, since all former slaves are long dead - but this country should take the responsibility to clean up the mess it created and help African Americans who are not doing so well in 1999 to succeed. And no, that's not "reverse racism" or giving African Americans an "unfair advantage." It's just undoing all the unfair disadvantages that have been created throughout this countries history.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,I've taken several non-Jewish boyfriends to family Sedars (that's what the Passover dinner and ceremony is called), and they've had a good time. Passover is a fun family holiday that's full of cultural and religious tradition. My guess is that unless your boyfriend's family is extremely religious and doesn't want him dating a 'shiksa' (non-Jewish girl), his family will be eager to share the day with you. Educate yourself a little about the holiday; ask your boyfriend questions, and do some surfing (start with www.judaism.com). There will probably be songs and prayers in Hebrew that you don't understand - don't worry about it. No one will expect you to know them. There will be lots of new foods too; Jews don't eat bread or other leavened things at Passover. You might be put off a little by chopped liver and gefillte fish with horseradish (but give them a try), but most people love matzoh ball soup. There will also be lots of wine (four glasses are consumed at various times during the ceremony), so if you don't drink, tell your boyfriend to let your parents know - there's usually grape juice provided for younger kids. Above all, be polite and show respect and interest by learning a little about the holiday and asking questions, and relax.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,I haven't had any big problems. I was an undergrad at Rutgers in New Jersey, and there were tons of Jewish people. Now I'm a grad student at the University of Minnesota, and there are few Jews here, so the big "problem" is feeling like a minority, which I didn't experience in New Jersey. I'm not religious, so it doesn't affect me much that Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur aren't days off, but that annoys me - often the first day of school is Rosh Hashana. My biggest conflict: I caused a ruckus in the school newspaper a few years ago when I wrote an angry letter complaining that the school post office sold only Christmas stamps, and didn't offer any secular stamp alternatives. I didn't word it as diplomatically as I should have (at the time, I was truly upset), and some people wrote some angry and hurtful responses. Unfortunately, your average white Midwesterner doesn't have all that much consciousness of what it's like to be different, so I think people had a lot of trouble empathizing with me. One thing to add: I always "come out" to my students as Jewish. Sadly, for many, I'm the first they've ever met.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,James, I think you misunderstand what I mean when I argue that popular culture should be understood as more than 'just entertainment.' I do not mean that people should regard pop culture as educational (although it's nice in the instances when it is.) What I mean is that popular culture is one of the primary places where people learn about the ideology of their culture - our cultural values, our hierarchies of race, class, and gender, our views on capitalism and materialism, etc. These lessons are rarely intended and rarely thought of consciously by the viewer, but cumulatively are powerful. Pop culture may not have an immediate, powerful effect on individuals, but it has a huge effect on culture as a whole. So when I say that pop culture is not 'just entertainment,' I mean that we ought to think seriously about how pop culture messages influence our culture and ideology.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,It frustrates me very much that many Americans believe movies are "just entertainment" with no political or ideological implications. (In fact, the "it's just entertainment" phenomenon is the subject of my dissertation). Look at how people freaked out when Latino groups criticized the Taco Bell dog, or when critics have discussed racial implications of films like The Seige and Star Wars. I hope Y? Forum will print more questions about the media.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,Rob, people of German descent presently aren't subject to racism and discrimination in the United States. Hispanic and biracial people are. Therefore, it doesn't mean the same thing at all if your relatives are asked to bring German food to a potluck. The same strategy was used to argue against Hispanics who protested the Taco Bell Chihuahua commercials. They said it was ridiculous for Hispanics to get so upset, because they themselves weren't offended by representations such as the "Irish" Lucky Charms leprechaun or the Budweiser "Italian" frogs. Well, Irish and Italian people don't face much racism in 1999, unlike Hispanics.Representations of power-down people have much more powerful implications than representations of power-up people. As a white man, why are you telling marginalized people they shouldn't critically analyze how others represent their culture? No offense, Rob, but I'm really sick of white people telling minorities they are being too sensitive.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,People do this in Minnesota, too. I don't think it's a machismo thing. People who have lived here all their lives just get used to freezing weather. I didn't grow up here, and I find it amusing that when it hits 20 degrees in March or so, people walk around without jackets. I walk around under a pile of sweaters and long underwear all winter, while my boyfriend, who's lived here all his life, doesn't dress much warmer than what he wears in the spring.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,When I was your age, I had a brief romantic relationship with a woman. It wasn't exactly experimentation - it was a close friendship that kind of took off and broke the boundaries. I know many heterosexual women who have had similar experiences. I suspect it's very common among young straight women to have a lesbian experience or two. Women are much more comfortable than men with romantic/sexual feelings about people of the same sex. I learned quite a bit from my lesbian experience. I learned that sexuality is not a multiple-choice, either-or thing. I also learned that relationships with women are crucial, and that heterosexual women can and should have strong emotional relationships with women. Perhaps some of your friends are going through similar experiences.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,The term "political correctness" is a slur. The term is a backlash to the multiculturalism movement. Multiculturalism, a movement that received a lot of media coverage around the early 1990s, is a movement that seeks to make power relationships more equitable by disrupting the male, white, Christian, Western, heterosexual, dominant cultural assumptions. In particular, multiculturalists on university campuses have sought to break the traditional academic emphasis on dominant culture and bring in readings and ideas from people who are marginal.In addition, multiculturalists have challenged dominant cultural practices such as sexist, racist and homophobic language and media representations. Multiculturalists try to make people realize that there are lots of things we do in our everyday lives that promote the dominant culture and exclude others.
In the early 1990s, the press bashed multiculturalism and reported as many isolated instances as it could find of extremism within this movment, such as some isolated cases of college students being reprimanded for "hate speech." As a result, the term "political correctness" caught on to describe multiculturalists. This term is used as a convenient slur to silence anyone who tries to promote a multicultural agenda, as in, "Oh, you're just being PC." This makes me furious. It's a way of shutting people up who question dominant ideology.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,When I was first reading about the Columbine shootings, I had a thought that disturbed me very much: I suddenly found myself thinking about the individuals I would have sought out to shoot if I had massacred my high school 10 years ago. Of course I never would have done this - I'm not a violent person - but it bothered me that I still have so much residual anger and pain left over from my school outcast days. I was a brainy, painfully shy loner with few social skills who was harassed until about age 16. I was incredibly lonely. Things got much better for me as an adult. I came out of my shell almost immediately in college and found friends I could really relate to. Now, I'm an emotionally healthy adult (a few bad memories aside) with many friends and a loving partner, and I'm a few months shy of a PhD.But yes, to answer your question, the alienation of outcasts is a big problem in high schools, and anyone who's been an outcast can understand (though not condone) how a couple of kids could just snap.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,I think what lots of non-Jews don't get is that "Jewish" is a culture. It's a religion, of course, and religion is an important part of a culture. Jewish culture has a rich history of traditions and customs: Language (Yiddish and Hebrew), music, food, art, stories, superstitions, cultural values.For years, Jews across Eastern Europe had much more in common with the Jews who lived in other Jewish towns (or "shtetls") for miles around than they did with their Gentile neighbors, many of whom they barely interacted with. When people ask me what my ethnicity or cultural background is, I tell them I'm Jewish. I certainly don't tell them I'm "Bessarabian," even though my grandparents came from Bessarabia, because the culture they passed on to me was Jewish culture, not Bessarabian. (Note: It's interesting that in the Y? Forum demographic form, "Jewish" is one of the options under "Religion." It's not that simple.)
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,Many heterosexual partners choose not to marry because they disagree with the ideology of the institution. It has been tainted for many years by oppressive gender roles. It has become a consumerism-fest, with $20,000 weddings and pretentious wedding registries and the expectation of the "two months' salary" engagement ring. And worst of all, in my opinion, it is tainted by the dominant belief in our culture that heterosexual, monogamous married couples are the only legitimate relationships. The expectation that one must get married to be a real adult still lives in our culture. That said, I'd like to mention that I may well get married someday, maybe - I'm about to move in with my boyfriend. But as long as the law blatantly discriminates against gays who choose to marry, I will give serious consideration to permanent domestic partnership.User Detail :
Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 28, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Media studies graduate student,
