Whoo! What a heated discussion we had in class yesterday. The assignment was to capture and analyze the rhetoric in the video clip of basketball star, OJ Mayo. OJ Mayo is a new and outstanding player in the world of basketball. The video broadcasted information of him signing his first autograph at age eleven. He stared on a varsity basketball high school team while he was only in the seventh grade. Also, he received his first recruitment letter in the seventh grade from Marshall University. OJ Mayo is an impeccable player who inspires many. However, when I made the comment that I saw the video as more informal based, most of the people in the class were startled. Though, I do see where their point came across, I do not believe they saw mine. Maybe I came off too strong and didn't get them to realize what I was seeing in my eyes. The video did not motivate, encourage, or inspire me to do anything. I saw video more like one that was informing me of this basketball player and his impressive skills. I was proud and excited for him but not inspired. This is because I am not the biggest fan of basketball. I do enjoy going to the games. But I use them more as a social event to hang out with people. I do like basketball players, preferably men; but for other reasons. Rarely, do I ever sit down to watch any sport besides track and field. Now, don't get me wrong. I love sports and I enjoy watching some, but for various reasons. If OJ Mayo was a star track athlete, an interior designer and/or architect, I would have definitely been highly motivated and inspired. Yet, that is not what he is known for. I was amazed by his talents but I was not inspired by them. I am not saying he isn't or can not be an inspiration to others. He is just not an inspiration to me.
Another comment that stirred the class in defensive arguments was made by Mouktar. Mouktar stated that he hated to watch video clips like the one we were shown in class that day. Mouktar was simply implying that he did like the way the media and society broadcast African-Americans as mainly star athletes, but not much of anything else. Some people agreed with Mouktar, including myself. The conversation went on and on and took away from the assignment at hand. Walking home from class, the conversation started again. I supported Mouktar by saying that I wish to see, hear, and read about more minorities, meaning all races and ethnicities, women, children, the handicapped and the disabled doing great things in the world. I hope to see that being televised more than watching Cops or shows in that nature. But I am not the majority and majority rules. The truth is, like Josh said, most people want to read, see, and hear about the "bad stuff. It is more interesting". and I was told by another student that I should change it if I didn't want to see it or don't complain. All I could say was, "wow" to that. Seriously. How am I going to change the media by myself? It will definitely take mass objections to overcome something so overwhelming as the media. I can state my opinion. I may have supporters. But it will all come down only to being another heated discussion.
Another comment that stirred the class in defensive arguments was made by Mouktar. Mouktar stated that he hated to watch video clips like the one we were shown in class that day. Mouktar was simply implying that he did like the way the media and society broadcast African-Americans as mainly star athletes, but not much of anything else. Some people agreed with Mouktar, including myself. The conversation went on and on and took away from the assignment at hand. Walking home from class, the conversation started again. I supported Mouktar by saying that I wish to see, hear, and read about more minorities, meaning all races and ethnicities, women, children, the handicapped and the disabled doing great things in the world. I hope to see that being televised more than watching Cops or shows in that nature. But I am not the majority and majority rules. The truth is, like Josh said, most people want to read, see, and hear about the "bad stuff. It is more interesting". and I was told by another student that I should change it if I didn't want to see it or don't complain. All I could say was, "wow" to that. Seriously. How am I going to change the media by myself? It will definitely take mass objections to overcome something so overwhelming as the media. I can state my opinion. I may have supporters. But it will all come down only to being another heated discussion.
1 comment:
But how many significant altering events began with these kinds of heated discussions? Nothing will change if we do not at least begin by truly opening our eyes and minds to the ways that mass media and society relies on steretypes and people refusing to question social norms and expectations for people of various races, sexes, gender, abilities, etc. By questioning why society is the way it is, we can finally have these heated discussions. Once we have these discussion, we must refuse to accept how we live our lives and how we think, and yes, things will change. Perhaps not as soon or as readily as we want them, but certainly if we do not discuss them, then nothing will change. I hope that after leaving this class, you feel more capable of questioning the system or more likely to challenge other people's thinking.
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