In "I Don't Know What to Do With Good White People" by Brit Bennett, Bennett writes about her struggle with trying to determine whether or not good white people are just naturally good people, or if they're trying to make themselves feel good. She flashes back to stories told by her mom and grandmother of the way things were before Jim Crow Laws were abolished and relates them back to modern day crimes, such as the murders of Eric Garner and Mike Brown. Bennett says about the police officers to killed these men and many other victims, "the phrase [he means well] is so condescending, so cloyingly sweet, so hollow, that I'd almost rather anyone say anything else about me than how awful I am despite how good I intend to be." I agree with this because it truly is condescending. Innocent, young African-American citizens are dying by the hands of those we go to save us. And what's sad, is that their murders are justified by the simple phrase "he meant well". These victims were siblings, sons/daughters, fathers/mothers, and when they were brutally and senselessly murdered, their family's lives were changed forever. Not only that, but how could they trust the police now if they're in trouble? The police killed their beloved relative. And as far as the good white people who share anti-racism posts on social media, do they really agree with the post's message? I see it as yes, but not all of them. Some of these so-called 'good white people' only do it to seem like a good person to their friends on social media. They think that if their friends see it, they'll think "wow he/she is such a great person, so aware of today's issues". But if a black person does it, they're over-exaggerating, and they are playing the victim card.
"Small Change by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell starts off by addressing our nation's ugly past. He tells the readers about sit-ins and how popular they grew to be. Also, how dangerous they came to be. He compares the differences between activism now and activism back in the 1960's during the Civil Rights Movement. He uses the story of Sameer Bhatia, a young college student who was diagnosed with leukemia who needed a bone-marrow transplant. One of Bhatia's close friends used social media to raise awareness of Bhatia's need for a bone-marrow donor. Through this approach, Bhatia was able to find himself a match. Gladwell explains why this approach is so successful, "by not asking too much of them. That’s the only way you can get someone you don’t really know to do something on your behalf." Gladwell adds his opinion on the modern day form of activism saying, "It shifts our energies from organizations that promote strategic and disciplined activity and toward those which promote resilience and adaptability. It makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact." I agree with this because people can tweet all day #BlackLivesMatter but it never really does anything. Think about it, most people scroll down their feeds and see the infamous hashtag and continue on scrolling. It doesn't have the same impact as the infamous sit-ins, it's not a strong impact at all. It just sits there, remaining 17 out of the 140 characters on Twitter, being just as irrelevant as a tweet about hot dogs. I think that if we really want to progress as a nation, we have to engage in more active activism.
I totally agree with what you said about twitter. While I see the use for the hashtags and the twitter activists I think that if you don't pair that up with, like you said, more active activism. I also think these are pretty cool paired together bc while different they're also very similar. I really liked these readings bc they used pathos without being whiney and over emotional and also ethos and pathos very efficiently.
ReplyDeleteThese two readings are paired together because with them, you can see both sides of things. In Brit Bennet’s article, she talks about how she views the people on social media when they post things acting like they are supporting black people. She views these actions as sort of selfish and that they are just doing it to make themselves feel good. While the other essay, by Gladwell, talks about showing what you’re saying. He believes that nowadays, it is harder for activism to have an impact because of social media and the internet. I think that this is true because most people would rather try to do something on the internet than go out and show it, but by just being an online activist leads to people thinking you’re fake, like Bennet discusses. I honestly think people that tweet things, like what Marisa talked about, are just wanting attention and I don’t believe that they are truly sincere.
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