Something that stuck out to me from this week’s readings was on page 157 of the Vats and Dutta piece. First of all, I appreciate that the subject of this matter is simply labeled as “#45”. Second of all- and more importantly, the idea of Critical Race Theory being banned in the White House because it is “divisive, anti-American propaganda” is shocking. I feel like this is a statement that was hopefully a little eye-opening for people who were not fully against #45, or maybe for people who were somehow not familiar with his past or personality.
This concept within the reading reminded me of some English courses at my high school. I went to a very polarized school that had almost a perfectly even mix of left and right winged people. Over time, the school board started becoming more and more conservative, and - as you could maybe guess - that came with some negative side effects. Although there were many instances just like this one of #45, the one that came to mind was when they somehow got a bunch of books banned from the English department. Any books with main characters of color, and especially books with any characters from the LGBTQ+ community. At this point, the school was trying to be more “inclusive” so those books were really new, and many of them got taken away within a year or less of being part of our curriculum. It reminded me of what happened in the white house because it’s like, “if we don’t ever show them examples, we can keep telling them our way of thought and they won’t know it’s bad!” While they obviously wouldn’t actually say that, the message of preserving this societal and cultural ignorance is being put across in both situations.
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
Blog Post 7 - Walkup
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I also appreciated the label of "45" instead of giving him the satisfaction in the article. But more importantly I found this content interesting on so many levels. The fact that Critical Race Theory was banned in the White House is disgusting. I found myself making connections back to last weeks content and how important it is to embrace everybody's culture, race and background. This is so wrong on every level and I would label it as opposite of anti-American propaganda.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add how important I think this topic is. Our "leader" deemed CRT as a bad thing. What does that say about our country and especially all of the things that we're going on during that term. I believe that change begins with our leaders so I think it is important to communicate these problem with all people. Yesterday was election midterms and I think it is so important that people are informed on political agendas which relates back to how important communication is. Our ethics are seen through those who represent us.
I thought the author's use of #45 was also unique and gave the author credibility in an idea that we have seen rising in all areas where individuals who commit or reinforce actions of hate- silencing their names. Last year, I wrote a research paper in a media class on the impact of school shootings in the media. Specifically, I was looking at how often the name of the individual who committed such crime arose across media platforms, how often these individuals were furthermore idolized by individuals who committed crimes at a later date, and the impact it could have on society if we stopped reporting on such incidences in a "glamorized" American way. This to me, is what the author is effectively doing. Rather than mentioning the name, he uses his presidential number. I believe it serves to reinforce the idea that the media shouldn't give attention to bad actors. On top of this, it was particularly interesting to hear how CRT was banned in the whitehouse. I can agree with you on the page that my school, as well, had many controversial opinions when it came to what was and what wasn't acceptable. An extreme example, albet different, that actually made national news, was our middle school had an amazing art teacher who taught to all students as equals. An idea she formulated with one of her classes was to paint a mural in the school that had this beautiful message of unity- people of all kinds and dispositions were accepted here- that was the message. However, parents in the community were furious. My local facebook group was filled with parents asking how could a middle school teacher be teaching students about what being Gay means, or being transgender means, were seen. This disgusted me, but it also reminded me how far behind in society we are to true equality. The school board ultimately made them take down this mural. It was a loss for all of students. This same concept of limiting knowledge and limiting the spread of positive-forward-moving ideas is present in what the banning of CRT in the whitehouse was.
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