While I cannot remember any specific instance in which I experienced a conflict involving race, I can apply what I learned from this text to my general experience with the issue of race. People I have encountered do tend to fall into the category of angry denial about race or a dismissal of it. The dismissal is becoming more prevalent today, as evidenced by the song “Everyone’s a little bit racist” from Avenue Q. This song does bring up a point that prejudice and indifference are ubiquitous in our society, but the nonchalant air of the characters in admitting their “racism” conveys the sense that racism is no big deal, and that the prejudices the characters have are fine or even laughable. If we could realize that the problems faced by our minority groups is not often as severe as racism, if we could change the song to “Everyone’s a little bit indifferent,” we could maintain the word racism as a powerful tool to fight discrimination instead of just a normal word, and we could communicate more effectively the problems prejudice and indifference create in our world today.
2 comments:
JP. Your blog did a much better job of explaining a circumstance while you did not a specific instance then mine did. In my blog, i talked about a story that is only vaguely relevant, however you used pieces of class to at least form a coherent argument. I disagree with your statement that we could change the name of the song to Everyone's a Little Bit Indifferent though. There are to many syllables in that and it would throw the rhythm completely off the song. I would have been interested in hearing some ways you think we could make the word more strong.
While you make some good points here, the fact that racism is not a big deal was not necessarily the issue in the song "Everyone Is a bit Racist." While this was likely one of the most superficial standpoints, the true message was more likely directed at the extent of political correctness today and the extent to which one must watch their words in regards to minorities in the attempt not to appear racist.
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