dangerous hatred in the US

The article we read is about whether or not president Obama being black plays a role into the US health care reform.  This article clearly illustrates that even though we now have a black president, racism is still a major issue in America. There are still many people in America who hate blacks, so being that our president is black puts him up for hatred just because of the color of his skin. Also, because we live in a media frenzy society it is very easy to broadcast this hatred on a national level.   I feel like president Obama was well aware that when he decided to run for president, if elected, situations like this would occur frequently. I also feel like he is taking everything in stride and will continue to run our country the best way he see's fit and not let racism play apart into his decision making

Is hate speech in the media affecting our culture?

This weeks issue deals with hate speech in the media and how it affects our culture.  Being that our Nation has a great deal of hate related problems, I dont think that our society so much has a problem with hate speech as long as the media can control the image of the person dishing out the hate. For example: when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and Kanye West stated that the reason the people of New Orleans hadnt been rescued yet was because George Bush hated black people, Kanye was "bashed" by the media for doing so.  However when David Duke, the grand wizard of the KKK, ran for president he was known for giving hate related speeches but yet the media made him seem like a good man and a well qualifed canidate. Also, since today society is very "media-frenzy" what people see in the media is what is usually the general perception is believed about whats being depicted.  So when people are hated on and depicted in a negative way it is unfortuante but they become a victim to popular media belief.

Do media represent realistic images of arabs?

In Unit 1 Issue 3 we are asked the question if the media represents realistic images of Arabs? After the attacks on 9/11 the image that is portrayed of Arabs in todays society is usually the same. Arabs are portrayed as Muslim terrorist who hate America.  This image can is constantly portrayed on televison networks such as the News, Fox's comedy hit family guy...etc  In issue 3 Gal Beckerman argues that thorugh blogs arabs are attempting to challenge current stereotypes associated with them. However, the problem with this is their blogs arent as effective in giving the people a perception of them as the News and other national headlines can. If the only image of Arabs presented on the news is a negative one then that is the perception people will often associate with Arabs. Having had a friend who's father is a Muslim from the Middle East I know first hand that no not all images shown in the media are true. My friends father has been in America for years and is very "Americanized." He leads his life like a model American citizen and is still a man of his culture because he repects where he came from. However becuase of the images shown in the media he is often discriminated against because of his name and the way he looks even though he dresses American everyday. The images shown in the media of terrorism should only reflect the individuals involved.

do video games encourage violent behavior?

We are asked the question if video games encourage violent behavior or not?  Reading futher we find that Craig Anderson takes the position of yes video games do encourage violent behavior. He goes on to state that through his extensive research he found that video games do bring out more aggression and violence than other media content. As we continue reading we find that Henry Jenkins takes the position of no video games do not encourage violence. Through his research Jenkins stated that he did not find a correlation between violence and video games.  After hearing both arguements I could neither agree or disagree with either side. I believe that video games encourage violence only if the person playing the game allows it to. I have played a ton of violent video games in my lifetime and never once have I felt the need to duplicate what I saw on the game.  If somebody playing a violent video game did feel the need to immitate the violence they saw on the game then it is that individual personal choice to allow the game to influence him. Video games only encourage violent behavior if a persons allows it to.