In the reading “E-Racing difference in E-space: Black female subjectivity and the Web-based portfolio” Knadler talks about how e-spaces free people to create new identities and speak out based on how others are interacting threw electronic interchange (Kandler 237). The author is trying to explain how important it is for people to be able to express themselves in their own ways. The Internet is an easy way for people to be themselves; people may not feel as though they need to be as proper or as polite when they are communicating with others their own age and with their same backgrounds.
Also, Knadler talks about how important online communication is because the user’s sense of self is freed from social and discursive constraints and it allows for the hidden or repressed self to come out (Knadler 239). He mentions that students may conform to some degree of white norms but at the same time these students may never feel completely free to just be themselves in white environments and online blogging and web pages can provide a place for blacks to express themselves with a style of speech that doesn’t have to self-consciously fit into white standards (Kandler 243).
This is related to the website that I found and the blog postings that I mentioned because people are free to say what they want and give their opinions about certain situations without any consequences. The postings that I found on BET.com were a perfect opportunity for people of the same backgrounds or even different backgrounds to share their experiences and their opinions about a certain situation. The website is not monitored by an adult or professor making it easy for people to show their full personalities and use the language of their choice. Online people don’t feel so restricted as to what they can and cannot say unlike how they would feel if they were in a classroom or speaking with an adult. Also, when being online people aren’t able to know exactly who is speaking which leaves out the complications of age, race, gender, or class. This makes it easier for people to speak their minds without the fear of being judged by their peers. The site that I have discussed and many other websites provides a place for blacks to feel comfortable and speak using their own language. The website that I discussed shows that electronic interchange is a place where students/teens are not afraid to say what they think and feel and argue their own opinions.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
DW2a "Ghetto Handbook"
The blog website that I found was on the BET.com website. There was an article posted about a police officer who created and distributed a handbook of Ebonics. He made the handbook in order to provide other officers with the language of African Americans. The police officer called the eight-page guide ”The Ghetto Handbook” and it sparked an outrage in the black community. The handbook was said to have mocked African Americans. It gave definitions for words that are used in Ebonics, such as, foty, which is a 40 oz. bottle of beer and hood rat, which is meant for a scummy girl. The book was described as being able to teach anybody to speak as though they had just came out of the hood. The officer’s punishment is to be a short suspension and to attend sensitivity training. The discussion board was asked if they thought this was enough punishment for the cop who distributed the booklet. The blog website provided an opportunity for people to write in their thoughts and comments about the topic and get feedback as well.
I found it very interesting how different everybody’s views were and how people took different sides. Mona writes “No I do not think that the punishment is severe enough. He/she needs to be fired and made to make a public apology. Enough is enough. Black people are as equal as any other race. It saddens me that blacks are always the ones considered to be ignorant, what does this say about others?”. And the opposite view was taken by AJ who wrote “You can’t be mad at anybody for this incident. Only people you can blame is our own race. If we weren’t so ignorant that we would make up our own language people wouldn’t’ have to decipher what we are saying. It just shows how much we don’t care for education in the black community. We need to stop using this language anyway”. Someone then argued back at AJ, Black Pride writes, “AJ, making up a language is far from ignorant. The problem comes when black people speak only Ebonics and can’t speak Standard English. I don’t know what black people live around you, but we do care about education very much. If “other” people cant decipher what we say too bad for them because the language wasn’t meant for them in the first place.”
Even though the website targets African Americans it still allows people of any race to share their opinions. The website doesn’t seem to be censored, people can say whatever they way and not have to worry about repercussions. People can express themselves and not be afraid of what they say or how they say it. There were fifty-eight responses to this posted article on the first day and forty-seven on the second day, it was a very heated topic and it is nice to know that there is a place for people to speak their minds and vent their feelings.
I found it very interesting how different everybody’s views were and how people took different sides. Mona writes “No I do not think that the punishment is severe enough. He/she needs to be fired and made to make a public apology. Enough is enough. Black people are as equal as any other race. It saddens me that blacks are always the ones considered to be ignorant, what does this say about others?”. And the opposite view was taken by AJ who wrote “You can’t be mad at anybody for this incident. Only people you can blame is our own race. If we weren’t so ignorant that we would make up our own language people wouldn’t’ have to decipher what we are saying. It just shows how much we don’t care for education in the black community. We need to stop using this language anyway”. Someone then argued back at AJ, Black Pride writes, “AJ, making up a language is far from ignorant. The problem comes when black people speak only Ebonics and can’t speak Standard English. I don’t know what black people live around you, but we do care about education very much. If “other” people cant decipher what we say too bad for them because the language wasn’t meant for them in the first place.”
Even though the website targets African Americans it still allows people of any race to share their opinions. The website doesn’t seem to be censored, people can say whatever they way and not have to worry about repercussions. People can express themselves and not be afraid of what they say or how they say it. There were fifty-eight responses to this posted article on the first day and forty-seven on the second day, it was a very heated topic and it is nice to know that there is a place for people to speak their minds and vent their feelings.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
DW1b
“Many of us feel free to make judgments about others because of the ways that they use language. We make assumptions based on the way that people speak and write, presuming to know about their intelligence, their competence, their motives, and their morality.”
This passage was from the reading in Myth Education: Rational And Strategies for Teaching Against Linguistic Prejudice by Leah A. Zuidema and is stating that many people judge others quickly depending on their way of speech or their accent. If people speak slowly we tend to think that they are not very intelligent or if people speak quickly and abruptly we may think that they are rude. The words that people use can mean very different things depending on how they are said. Depending on how people use language we think we can predict how they think, feel, and act, as if we knew them. Granted, usually, the better your language skills the better we understand what is trying to be said, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re more intelligent than others.
I think that I can relate this to my relationship with my previous roommate. Just because Paula and I didn’t understand each other didn’t mean that I was smarter than her and that she was smarter than me. I misunderstood many things that Paula was trying say and I also misunderstood how she felt just because we have very different dialogues. Some things she said sounded inappropriate and rude, which I’m sure were unintentional. I remember a time, a few weeks after school had started or maybe even a month, when Paula turned to me and asked me if I thought differently of other races. At first I didn’t understand what she meant by the question, was she asking if I didn’t like her? If I didn’t like people of other orientation? Or if I was flat out prejudice against non-Caucasian people? I was questioning why she had asked me that question simply because I didn’t understand her. I assumed that she was thinking that I was prejudice, which was confusing in the sense that I had been living with her. I felt that her motive was hurtful, I took it in a very negative way, which I’m sure she wasn’t purposely trying to hurt my feelings. Today, I still don’t quite understand what was being asked or even if I had answered her properly. Based on that statement I made a judgment on how Paula felt about me when I didn’t even fully understand what was being said. Unfortunately we all make assumptions about what people say not knowing what is behind their thought.
From my experience I realize and understand that you cannot make judgments or assumptions about how people speak or write. You cannot presume to know what their motives are or how intelligent they may be. When we engage in conversation with another person we need to try to think about what they are saying and not how they are saying it.
This passage was from the reading in Myth Education: Rational And Strategies for Teaching Against Linguistic Prejudice by Leah A. Zuidema and is stating that many people judge others quickly depending on their way of speech or their accent. If people speak slowly we tend to think that they are not very intelligent or if people speak quickly and abruptly we may think that they are rude. The words that people use can mean very different things depending on how they are said. Depending on how people use language we think we can predict how they think, feel, and act, as if we knew them. Granted, usually, the better your language skills the better we understand what is trying to be said, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re more intelligent than others.
I think that I can relate this to my relationship with my previous roommate. Just because Paula and I didn’t understand each other didn’t mean that I was smarter than her and that she was smarter than me. I misunderstood many things that Paula was trying say and I also misunderstood how she felt just because we have very different dialogues. Some things she said sounded inappropriate and rude, which I’m sure were unintentional. I remember a time, a few weeks after school had started or maybe even a month, when Paula turned to me and asked me if I thought differently of other races. At first I didn’t understand what she meant by the question, was she asking if I didn’t like her? If I didn’t like people of other orientation? Or if I was flat out prejudice against non-Caucasian people? I was questioning why she had asked me that question simply because I didn’t understand her. I assumed that she was thinking that I was prejudice, which was confusing in the sense that I had been living with her. I felt that her motive was hurtful, I took it in a very negative way, which I’m sure she wasn’t purposely trying to hurt my feelings. Today, I still don’t quite understand what was being asked or even if I had answered her properly. Based on that statement I made a judgment on how Paula felt about me when I didn’t even fully understand what was being said. Unfortunately we all make assumptions about what people say not knowing what is behind their thought.
From my experience I realize and understand that you cannot make judgments or assumptions about how people speak or write. You cannot presume to know what their motives are or how intelligent they may be. When we engage in conversation with another person we need to try to think about what they are saying and not how they are saying it.
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