Rebecca Walker
Rebecca Walker is a third wave feminist as well as a graduate of Yale University. She has written several books; one being Black, White, and Jewish, and Baby Love which is her most resent. Walker was standing behind a pulpit, and as she began her speech, she talked about a lady she knew at Yale who called the pulpit “the patriarchal pulpit.” This is because she claimed that it is the relationship between the people and the speaker; it is a shield, and we have to come through it to get to the person behind it. Walker also gave it a name; the guinic pulpit (which I did not understand). She told us that she would like to come out from behind it to become more interactive with her audience, but then she would not have her papers to read from.
The title of Walker’s speech was Today is the Tomorrow that was Promised to you Yesterday. She says that there is a need for societies to be more egalitarian. According to her, people today are too focused on finances and they forget to look at where we are going into the future. Because of this, we will have trouble understanding the world, and how to change it. We need to keep in mind two questions; what future are we shaping and what seeds are we planting. Walker says that the current American media leads people to believe that if they follow what the media says, America will be a safer, cleaner, and more prosperous place to live. However, the truth is that none of us are safe, take for example September 11. “People are too focused on the illusion of progress,” said Walker.
The problem with today’s society is individualism; I, me, and mine, it is the “sacred cow of America,” said Walker. This leads Americans to divisiveness, selfishness, greed, envy, and aggression. She goes on to explain that politics can solve all the problems in the world, while at the same time create all the problems. “We are surrounded by divisiveness,” says Walker, “like a fish surrounded by water.”
Walker’s next topic was on openness. She said that we are chipping away at our most valued resource by not being open with each other; we need to be open to other ways of thinking. According to her, openness is almost non existent in today’s world. People are constantly judging others which makes it difficult to actually be open. Even Walker herself explained how she thought she was open when she was in college, but soon after realized how closed she really was. She always thought that she was right, which led her to be divisive. We can redesign ourselves by being open; divisiveness destroys each other. Walker wrapped up her speech saying that we should be on the path of life, liberty, and happiness.
Rebecca Walker’s speech was kind of deep and it was hard for me to catch on to exactly what she was saying. I did like what she said about openness because it would be a different world if everyone was more open. The unfortunate thing is, I doubt that will ever happen. People are too self-centered, as she mentioned earlier in her speech. I also expected the speech to be more about feminism, but she did not say much on that topic. It was obvious to see though that she is a very knowledgeable woman.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Blog Assignment #3
Biased News Media
Can you believe everything you hear on the news? Yes, you probably can. But, is the news giving all 100 percent of the information from stories? This is where things get questionable.
Joshua Breitbart and Ana Nogueira did a writing called An Independent Media Center of One’s Own: A Feminist Alternative to Corporate Media. The main idea of their writing is that the media, mainly the news, does not tell stories from all perspectives of people and events that occur in the world; mainly that of women and lower class people. It also talks about a website called indymedia.org. At indymedia.org anyone can go on the site and post a news story, but from the way they experienced it. The writing goes on to explain that advertising is done in certain ways to actually catch people’s attention in a particular way. “Dependent on advertising and focused on the bottom line, the media monopolies are concerned primarily with what women (and men) want insofar as they are consumers, not citizens or advocates” (p. 24). Furthermore, it talks about men having more news jobs than women. The writing also mentions the beginning and the tremendous growth Independent Media Center, which is similar to indymedia.org. The down side is that they are not yet able to reach everyone around the world. In addition, the writing explains that women and various classes are segregated in the media; including magazines, TV, and internet, and what is being done to try and help the horizons become expanded.
An Independent Media Center of One’s Own was a very insightful reading because it uncovered a lot of evidence for me. When I actually think about the topic of women in news media I realize how true everything the authors are saying is. For example, I had no idea about the protesters at George W. Bush’s inauguration. It is sad to discover how candy coated the news makes of events. In advertisements, “Women are seen as caring for stereotypical women’s issues-education and health-and are valued for the purchasing decisions they make in those areas” (p. 25). After reading this line, I started to think about it and noticed how accurate that is. For example, most, or all, the commercials for Pine Sol cleaner, the Swiffer mops and dusters, and even baby diaper commercials are all shown with women doing this work; cleaning and child care. The story about the Black Bloc was surprising because it seemed like something that would have happened years ago, but not in today’s society. It is obvious to me now why the news media is biased against women. This is because “Women account for 41 percent of all journalists, but the percentages vary greatly when categorized by issue” (p. 27), while at the same time, “women only make up 9 percent of the boards of directors of media” (p. 26). The Independent Media Center is a creative way to get other voices heard. I like that people can post absolutely anything up on the site without it being edited. If it was edited by someone that would practically defeat the purpose. It is neat to give people the opportunity to read and write uncensored information. One disadvantage of the site is that you never really know if the information is reliable. In that case, people just have to use their own judgment.
Media within the news is biased against women and certain classes. They also leave out the details of stories. Fortunately there are systems being created where people can be independent journalists and share stories about the events that were left out.
Can you believe everything you hear on the news? Yes, you probably can. But, is the news giving all 100 percent of the information from stories? This is where things get questionable.
Joshua Breitbart and Ana Nogueira did a writing called An Independent Media Center of One’s Own: A Feminist Alternative to Corporate Media. The main idea of their writing is that the media, mainly the news, does not tell stories from all perspectives of people and events that occur in the world; mainly that of women and lower class people. It also talks about a website called indymedia.org. At indymedia.org anyone can go on the site and post a news story, but from the way they experienced it. The writing goes on to explain that advertising is done in certain ways to actually catch people’s attention in a particular way. “Dependent on advertising and focused on the bottom line, the media monopolies are concerned primarily with what women (and men) want insofar as they are consumers, not citizens or advocates” (p. 24). Furthermore, it talks about men having more news jobs than women. The writing also mentions the beginning and the tremendous growth Independent Media Center, which is similar to indymedia.org. The down side is that they are not yet able to reach everyone around the world. In addition, the writing explains that women and various classes are segregated in the media; including magazines, TV, and internet, and what is being done to try and help the horizons become expanded.
An Independent Media Center of One’s Own was a very insightful reading because it uncovered a lot of evidence for me. When I actually think about the topic of women in news media I realize how true everything the authors are saying is. For example, I had no idea about the protesters at George W. Bush’s inauguration. It is sad to discover how candy coated the news makes of events. In advertisements, “Women are seen as caring for stereotypical women’s issues-education and health-and are valued for the purchasing decisions they make in those areas” (p. 25). After reading this line, I started to think about it and noticed how accurate that is. For example, most, or all, the commercials for Pine Sol cleaner, the Swiffer mops and dusters, and even baby diaper commercials are all shown with women doing this work; cleaning and child care. The story about the Black Bloc was surprising because it seemed like something that would have happened years ago, but not in today’s society. It is obvious to me now why the news media is biased against women. This is because “Women account for 41 percent of all journalists, but the percentages vary greatly when categorized by issue” (p. 27), while at the same time, “women only make up 9 percent of the boards of directors of media” (p. 26). The Independent Media Center is a creative way to get other voices heard. I like that people can post absolutely anything up on the site without it being edited. If it was edited by someone that would practically defeat the purpose. It is neat to give people the opportunity to read and write uncensored information. One disadvantage of the site is that you never really know if the information is reliable. In that case, people just have to use their own judgment.
Media within the news is biased against women and certain classes. They also leave out the details of stories. Fortunately there are systems being created where people can be independent journalists and share stories about the events that were left out.
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