MLK Wednesday

I really thought that the presentations were really good. The middle speaker(yeah embarrassing i forgot toget his name) was so impressive. During his section, i jotted down some interesting points that illustrate ways and means that media can have effect on us and also how we can be savvy users of the media in regards to communication.
1. Know who your Audience is.
2. Refuse to move.
3. USe powerful visuals.
4. Use diverse media/multpile points of view.
5. Utilize Humor, Drama and Theatrics.
6. Give a visceral experience.
and lastly...
7. Convince with reason, motivate with Emotion.

I found the last speaker had the answer to our stereotypes discussion when he said judge on content of character not color of skin. This can be applied to all stereotypes and lends itself also to the don't judge a book by it's cover. We all do it. We all judge, I still find myself doing it every day. I'll see someone wearing something that i find odd or someone who looks different to what i think is the norm and i will make a judgement on them as a person. This is not always negative, but i'm sure people have the same view of me sometimes.

After the words, "Race is not the point," were said, i found myself wondering What is the point?
I think it's trying not to make judgements on others before you know them. It's trying not to make assumptions on character just by looks.

It sounds cliche but growing up, my best friend was a black boy named Dane'. I wanted his skin color so bad. We would go to Spain every year on holiday and i knew that my skin would geg darker from prolonged exsposure to the sun, but every year i returned with darker skin but white, sun bleached hair. It was being Dane's friend that alerted me to peoples harsh judgement of others.

Growing up in quite a diverse area, my best friends were anglo-african, or Indian. I found that i was bullied sometimes for being friends with them. I was labelled as being different for hanging out with different people. People would look for things that must be wrong with me. Being white, blonde and blue eyed and having 4 sisters, i was given the gay label. He must be gay, he dresses funny and has dyed hair, I found that the Gay label was used as a slur on my character and so i always kind of resented the label. It wasn't till after secondry school that it began to matter less who you were in regards to everyone else but who you were as an individual.
It's funny that even now the word "Gay" can and is used for anything that is viewed as bad and different.
There is a comic called runaways, and there is a really interesting line of dialogue. One character explains that the team don't have superhero costumes as they are gay. Another character berates him saying that if he continues to misuse that word he would be in trouble.

I just thought it would be cool to have a t-shirt that read, "Judge on content of character, not on color of skin.