#outrage

I was 8 years old sitting on the freezing gymnasium floor in the dead middle of January. Lunch was in 10 minutes but we had already finished our activities for the period. It was time for 'Telephone'. The message that was intended to be passed along was "My favorite food is peanut butter". Julie Masters was the last in line who ended up with "My sister loves pancakes". How is that even possible? And I'm not sure I completely grasped the phenomenon of "warping messages" until I joined Twitter, where everything is subject to warping. Not all is fair in love and Twitter.

The latest Twitter-sphere madness is all thanks to Newsweek. They just released an edition with "#MUSLIMRAGE" as the cover headline. If you happen to be a college student, the phrase "muslim rage" sounds like a really inappropriate fraternity party theme. If you are the rest of the world, that phrase should sound less like a kegger and more like a racial slur. Obviously, Newsweek had one goal in mind: get people talking. I imagine the people at Newsweek were hoping to divert some of Americans' attention away from the Lindsay Lohan versus Amanda Bynes battle-of-the-twentysomething-trainwreck. They certainly achieved their goal, but I have to wonder at what expense?

PRDaily.com provides a buffet of Twitter responses about Newsweek's attempt to reinvent their image, attract a younger demographic, all while indirectly making a mockery of the Muslim population. I do not imagine that "Lost nephew at the airport but cant yell for him because his name is Jihad. #MuslimRage " was the conversation they were intending to start.

My point here? Generating a hashtag like "#muslimrage" is socially irresponsible. The conversation is now circulating tacky, racist comments, hilarious jokes, and too much commotion about everything except what Newsweek's article was about. 2012 is not the time to be taking chances like this, especially with Twitter, my generation's advanced 'Telephone' game. If we, humanity, are aiming at equality for races, genders, and everything in between and outside, #muslimrage is not the way to go about it.

Browse through other feedback and the entire story HERE!

So many fishes in the pond of life

Diversity is spelled G-L-E-E

 

 

 

 

Same-sex couples, a Jewish girl, football players, a boy in a wheelchair, "Jesus" kid...you name it, they have it represented. Glee, the show about a high school musical performance club, has done more than a brilliant job of not only giving every race, gender, sexual orientation, or trend a run on camera, but of also battling big issues for the American teen: homosexuality, bullying, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, social anxieties, pregnancy, eating disorders, depression, and the ever-common Britney Spears obsession.

I don't know how they manage to cover all bases so flawlessly, but they do it...every week. This show gives me hope for the future of media.

 

Last class we discussed minority representation in the media and I volunteered an opinion, which was less than well-received. I left class a mess thinking that all of Sid Rich LH4 thought I was the typical insensitive, white, ignorant sorority girl who missed the entire point of the reading. But, while people may think that...it's not true and I think I might have just gone about my point badly. So let's try this again.

   ...:... Minorities are under-represented in the media. There is no mistaking that and it rings true across all eras of history. But news outlets created to appease to 24-37 year old well-educated, urban Latinos doesn't do much to close the gap of representation First of all, that demographic is most likely to be reading other news outlets. Secondly, that demographic is still excluding an ENORMOUS chunk of the Latino community. Third, I wouldn't be surprised if the affulent, white men that are still running these media outlets (notorious for less-than-equal opportunity inclusion) see these specialized, segregated outlets as a way out of doing their jobs to meet the representation quota. I am ALL about every single person being catered to. I have a brother with Down Syndrome, so I know all about exclusion. But if you are thinking about our global community, outlets like the one we discussed in class do not bring us any closer to minimizing that gap between the over and under-represented.

 

Glee, however, DOES help minimize that gap and give hope to all sorts of people with all sorts of fabulous qualities and real-life issues. This is a show on a major network, FOX, and has some of the highest TV ratings. It pushes the envelope, but never fails to make everyone important. And that is what our society needs more of; not "specialized" content for specific readers, but content that fosters UNITY among all people. Because at the end of the day, we are HUMANS and it is the health of humanity that should be on the fore-front of the media agenda.

 

Media is meant for all, not just you and certainly, not just me.

 

Glee thinks YOU are beautiful

 

 

 

 

 

 



A right is a right is a right.

 Or at least that is what I was taught in 4th grade Social Studies.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness," is what the Declaration of Independence promises. These 'unalienable' rights are endowed to men and women, regardless of race. But some Americans believe that prison inmates arent privy to those rights. Luckily, US District Judge Mark Wolff doesn't think that and is believed to be the first federal judge to order prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/04/massachusetts-judge-approves-taxpayer-funded-sex-change-for-inmate/#ixzz25mwVdHg5

This issue is controversial on so many levels- its nauseating. What frustrates me is that this is something a lot of people are really concerned about. Why?! The sex-reassignment surgery doesn't hurt anyone and there are FAR, FAR worse things that our taxes pay for. I know Michelle is in prison for murder, but without this medical attention, her psychological state will only worsen.