Thursday, December 15, 2011

Race

This week in sociology, we focused mainly on racism. While watching the movie "Crash," we all gained a greater perspective on how almost everyone is racist, but on a subtle level. Because of the society we grow up in, we are shaped to harbor these stereotypes. We often take these generalizations into consideration when we make daily decisions. For example, a woman in the movie decided to hold her purse tighter and move closer to her husband when two black men passed by the couple. She, from years of brainwashing, believed that she needed to steer clear of them in order to protect herself. This is a great example of implicit racism. She was definitely wrong to do this, but her assumptions ended up being correct. The men stole their car and threatened her. Being black myself, I wasn't too happy that her thoughts were right. I wanted the black men to overcome their stereotypes, but I eventually realized that this wasn't the goal of the movie. The movie was supposed to get us to realize that (whether incorrect or not) we all have some hint of prejudice in us. So, we need first realize these stereotypes and then work towards avoiding them.
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4 comments:

  1. SteveDecember 15, 2011 at 6:17 PM

    I agree, society plays a big role in shaping the stereotypes we have.

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  2. FaithDecember 16, 2011 at 7:05 AM

    Agree with you, we all have this mindset that society put in our heads and we are raciest even thinking about it. I agree again that we should start to realize what we do and try to change it bit by bit.

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  3. beccanDecember 16, 2011 at 9:13 AM

    I agree with you Tiff in that the men need to overcome their stereotypes about who really commits crimes these days but it is the media and entertainment business who are creating the stereotypes for people and if they don't stop then how will we.

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  4. SalDecember 30, 2011 at 7:03 PM

    I hope in the end you thought the movie was thoughtful and provocative. I think there were a lot of scenes in the movie (like the one you mentioned with the purse) where the movie makers were playing with the attitudes of the viewer. They wanted to create those moments when we as viewers had to choose one way or the other and then they would prove us wrong in some instances. Which is probably a generally true statement about how society really is - we are all wrong sometimes in our assumptions during everyday life.

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