Answer 4 Disscusion comments
Discussion #1
This week's discussion was about how the culture of consumerism exposes the real truth about racism in our society. Watching these videos about discrimination/racism shows how it still a problem in the United States. The Pretty Woman video showed Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) being discriminated and turned down service because she was not wearing "proper attire", and seemed like she does not have enough funds to purchases any of the clothing at the store. In Shopping While Black-Social Experiment, the actress is asked to leave the store and denied any kind of service because she had black skin color. In both of these videos, it showed how companies turned down service to their fellow customer's because they did not follow the companies culture and policies. In the Pretty Woman video, she was turned down because she was revealing "too much skin", while in Shopping While Back-Social, she was turned down because she was black. Both the videos are connected to the Walmart scenario because the situation in both Wal-Mart and the videos showed some kind of discrimination. This shows how customers that do not have similar beliefs or physical characteristic are treated differently. I believe that it was completely fair to charge and arrest him. Under no circumstance should any person should discriminate in public especially if they are trying to shop peacefully. This teenager needs to know that people do not stand for this kind of behavior. Our society is becoming more diverse than ever, and people need to start treating each other with respect. Even if the teen was "joking", he learned a big lesson. Overall, by rewatching some of these clips again, it just makes me feel a bit sad to know how people in America still have this kind of behavior
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Disscussion #2
These videos are showing the different types of judgements that people place on each other every single day. They are showing racism or even telling someone that they can’t shop in a store because of the way that they are dressed. Regardless of someone’s race or how they dress should not be the thing that causes judgment and telling someone that they are not allowed to shop in the store because of it. In the video for pretty woman they thought that she shouldn’t shop there because her outfit was very revealing and she didn’t portray herself as having money. As soon as she came back the next day dressed more modestly they approached her quickly and she told the retailers how big of a mistake they made the day before by not having her shop there. In the shopping while black video the actors were told to act racist towards the actor who was the shoppers and it was quite frightening to see just how many people stood by to watch someone being told they couldn’t shop somewhere. The videos are connected to the Walmart incident because a teenager came on the announcement system telling the entire store that all blacks must leave the store. The teenager joking or not made a very public announcement and showing racism telling the entire store that because of your skin color you are not allowed to shop somewhere. If the teenage is joking I think it was fair to charge him. I think it is fair because jokes or not racism is still really relevant and real today. It is a constant war that is being fought and letting a teenager slide when making a very public statement of that matter telling people they need to leave a store because of skin color I think would even cause a larger issue at hand. I do understand that children and teenagers make mistakes but I would like to believe that teenagers know right from wrong at that point and should know better than to make jokes of that extent.
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Disscussion #3
Both the “Pretty Women” video and the “Shopping while Black” video are examples of discrimination based on one’s appearance. The “pretty women “ video shows a women being refused service at a high end clothing store just because of the clothes she is currently wearing. The women later returns to the store wearing more different clothes and receives attention from the sales associates almost immediately. The sales associates don’t recognize her at all, almost as if they only identified their customers by their articles of clothing. The “Shopping while Black” video stages a scenario in a clothing store where a black women gets harassed for here looks and her clothes. The goal is to analyze how other customers react. Some felt it wasn’t there responsibility to get involved and others stepped in and stood up for the harassed customer. Both videos express how culture of consumerism exposes the real truth about racism in our society.
An incident occurred at a Walmart where a teen boy commandeered the public address system and announced “All blacks need to leave the store”. The boy was later arrested on bias intimidation and harassment charges. This incident and the videos are connected because racism still exists in our society. The boy at Walmart felt that black customers were not to the same “standard” as him, and that they should leave the store. Much like in the videos, the sales associate felt that customers who didn’t have the proper appearance did not meet the “standard” to shop at their stores.
Regardless of whether or not the boy was joking his actions were wrong. The charges are fair because people in the Walmart store were being harassed and intimidated. However because the boy is only sixteen, I think the parents or guardians should see some of the blame. All three of these situations represent how culture of consumerism exposes the real truth about racism in our society and how humans use material goods to construct their own identities and the identities of others.
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Disscussion 4
it is my understanding that these videos are about preconceptions and racism. The first video was a short clip from the movie "Pretty Women" and we can see that the actor (Julia Roberts) walks into a nicer clothing store and is treated less than acceptable, the women have preconceptions about her the minute she walks through the door because she is dressed a little less modestly. Situations like this absolutely happen more than people think, and most people just turn a blind eye to it. The "Black Shopping" video is the more appalling video. Preconceptions about people are bad, but when you have them because of the color of someone's skin I think it makes it ten times worse. The sad part about the racism and prejudice that go on in this video is that the bystanders watching are more worried about not being able to shop than they are with standing up for the women being discriminated against. Again I speak on what we do when we don't stand up against prejudice like this, we make it seem okay for the younger generations watching and it becomes all the more normal to them. These two videos are connected to the Wal-mart incident because all three involve racism, preconceptions, and prejudice. It is my belief that even though the teenager may have been joking that he still needs to be punished, to what extent I'm not sure but what I am sure of is that he needs to see his day in court and receive some form of punishment. He may be a naive teenager but not punishing him will give him the idea that what he did wasn't that bad, at least not bad enough to be punished through a court of law but I believe the punishment is not only necessary for him but its also necessary as a warning to others of the consequence of racism like he displayed. I believe all of the outcomes of these situations are examples of karma in a way, they all end with the person being prejudice or racist now feeling a sense of regret.
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