Monday, April 27, 2015

Revolution

How best should we go about improving our world? Everyone seems to have different, yet similar approaches to this question. In an article, “I Don’t Know What to Do with Good White People” by Brit Bennett, Bennett approaches this topic to say that over her life she has met many kind white humans but also later goes to say that many white people fail in intentions. Bennett argued that many white Americans now days are just trying to look like good people, trying to prove to others that they care and are truly nice. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” MLK Jr.’s main focus was on how religious communities, Christian communities, were not backing him up. Many religious communities were too afraid to stand up with MLK and his comraderies and fight for what everyone knew they deserved. MLK Jr.’s and Bennett’s articles coincide together well because MLK Jr. talks about how many white people would not stand up for blacks back in the day and Bennett talks about how many white people now are trying to over compensate with their concern. Now on the other hand, Malcolm Gladwell’s article, “Why the Revolution Won’t Be Tweeted”, focuses a lot on the comparison of revolutions tens to hundreds of years ago and the way “revolutions” are enacted now days. He focuses less on the why of revolutions and more on how revolutions are put in place. His view on the way the world communicates now is very negative and believes the first step to improving this world, which is something that would require a major revolution, is not to look to the internet that human interaction, strong tie relationships, are required. Gladwell doesn’t believe in revolutions starting through social media because social media is filled with thousands of “weak tie relationships” and if you barely or even don’t know someone what is going to make you fight for them? All three of the essays provide insight into social change/ revolutions although none provide a direct solution to our world’s problems a common idea is simple, people need to build strong relationships with their community members, all community members, and when they are in need help them and don’t just help them because it’ll make you feel/look good help because you care. 

7 comments:

  1. In “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” by Malcom Gladwell, a sit-in in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina against segregation turned into a sit-in that eventually took over the south. Gladwell introduces this sit-in and then progresses to make the argument of how social media has a huge impact on political, racial, etc. debates and circumstances. He says that social media like twitter and Facebook “make it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns” (314). Gladwell addresses many racial events in this reading to make his points more clear. Throughout this reading everything ties to social media and how it has either helped or harmed such events. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, King basically deconstructs the clergyman letter previously sent to him regarding his protests in Birmingham. King points out the reasons why the Baptists are wrong and completely disproves them with the use of logos, ethos, and pathos. King believes that the clergymen are criticizing without fully exploring the racial causes of the protests. In “I Don’t Know What to Do With Good White People”, Brit Bennett explains her personal experiences with racism throughout her life. Bennett brings up famous events such as Eric Garner’s death, Mike Brown’s death, along with personal instances where racism was at hand. Bennett’s makes a statement that being a “good white person” is becoming something that white’s are bragging about, when black people “want to seem worthy of life.” I think the main point Bennett is making is that “good white people” are constantly self-aggrandizing themselves for not being racist or taking a stand when in reality that shouldn’t be what makes you good. Putting race issues out there is only making matters worse. I think that if we are going to make this world a better place we need to address racism, but not make it a worldwide argument that could potentially tear us apart. Certain people in this world are not for change at all. They think things should remain the way they were when they were growing up. I think that eventually this world can be rejuvenated and equal, it will just take time. In my opinion the race issue can only get better from here. A big step into making a change in this world is to go about your own business and not worry so much about other people whether it’s their race, ethnicity, career, family-life, salary, etc. The less people judge, the more this world will be closer to recovery.

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  2. In the article “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Re-tweeted” by Malcolm Gladwell focuses a lot about how social changes and protest requires a huge sacrifice, and as ugly as it sounds not many people stand up for themselves anymore, many people are only brave enough to do it behind a computer screen and that's not the way to approach and “solve” a problem. In another article called “I Don’t Know What to Do with Good White People”, the author Brit Bennett talks mainly about how her whole life she has she has had the privilege to meet nice and kind white people. But later she starts talking about how she has noticed many white people are wanted to be rewarded for their “kindness”. In the last article from Martin Luther King “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is mainly about his beliefs in justice. Dr. King points responds to a bunch of clergymen who criticized him about his actions during the protest in Birmingham and addresses his intentions as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference President.

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  3. I agree with the way you say that each author has his/her own prospective on how to best change this world. With Brit Bennett, she uses more of the pathos approach in with the example she uses to describe her situation in "I Don't Know What to Do with Good White People." She described a time when her father was pulled over by LAPD when even he was a deputy himself. Without giving him a chance the police slapped cuffs on him. everyone is different in this world and shouldn't be judged on their race, career, salary etc. Stories like that create stereotypes and big world problems. Bennett is trying to convince that most whites are nice nowadays when I believe it varies in different situations. Martin Luther King Jr. in the "Birmingham Jail" tells us and the clergyman in the letter he failed, because the Baptist followers behind him failed too. The casual sit-ins, the quiet and non-violent ways that King preached came out to work obviously it changed history. King took a stand and fought for what he believed was wrong and now that we don't stand for racist people or situations. Racism is something that torn this country apart, but at any moment can repeat itself. Racism is still alive today, not from only whites, but in all races. If you really think about it, racism didn't happen that long ago. With King's strong language he used logos I think the most with the clergyman because King convinced him that he himself was wrong, even calling himself an "outsider."

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  4. Brianna, I totally agree when you say that everyone has a similar and different approach on this particular question. In Small change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted by Malcolm Gladwell, he mainly discusses how social media has changed the way people interact with each other. Gladwell’s main point is that protests have shifted from being “strong tie” activism to “weak tie” activism. In other words, the real changes won’t be seen in this day and age because people lack the closeness and drive that the pre-twitter generation had. Gladwell also addresses more points to make his argument clear. I absolutely agree that the media is good at spreading awareness, which is something that many people should not overlook. While author Malcolm Gladwell discusses a little bit more on how social media changes the outlook of a society, “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. His unique approach of nonviolent protesting helped create awareness of many African American individuals. Throughout king’s letter, it shows how credible and outraged he his about racism in America. On the subject of racism, in “I Don’t Know What to Do with Good White People” by Brit Bennett, she merely discusses her personal experience with racism and how it has affected her family and friends. Bennett is a credible author because she knows how it feels to go through racial discrimination therefore; she can speak upon this topic. Bennett argues that white people are not addressing the issues of racism which is leaving black people to feel as if they are unwanted and worthless. Overall, I think racism will never die down no matter how hard we try as a community to help solve this issue. Many people were right when they say “history repeats itself”. The same incident that happened to Mike Brown, Oscar Grant and Eric Garner is the same incident that happened to Emmitt till and Willie James Howard.

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  5. I completely agree when you say that everyone has a similar and different approach on this topic. In Martin Luther King Jr. letter he talks about the approach of using violence against racism. His use of vocabulary and how he phrases things was very unique and effective approach. In "I Don't Know What to Do with Good White People" by Brit Bennett, she talks a lot about her personal feelings and experiences. I'm not saying this is wrong, it was a different approach but it felt very oriented around a personal experience rather than trying to better the world and society with this awareness. In Martin Luther King Jr. 's "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" it was much more effective to the public I thought. He talks about how history repeats itself and really touched on topics everyone could relate to. It's amazing how far we have come today but at the same time to realize that this era was not that long ago.

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  6. Brianna, I agree with your statement of how Malcom Gladwell, Martin Luther King Jr., and Brit Bennett all approach the topic of how we should improve our world in the similar but different ways. Starting with Malcom Gladwell’s article Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, he creates a comparison on the “revolutions” we conduct through our many social network sites to how past revolutions urged people to get out in reality and do something for change. It is clear that he does not believe our way of communication is effective whatsoever. His underlying message to improve this world would to stop talking and trying to make things happen through a computer screen, and go and interact with others who have the same feelings about a situation as you. In the next article by Brit Bennett, I Don’t Know What to Do With Good White People, she discusses the lack of knowing people’s intentions when interacting with different people. She approaches this topic by conveying her positive experiences with white people. It is clear that her argument is that many people just try to act like a nice person, rather than having good intentions to be nice to everyone. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr., he tries to create an equal playing field between the clergymen and himself, since he is an important person of the church, and not relying it on race as much. His letter focuses on the disappointment the religious communities in Birmingham, Alabama have left him, because they are harshly criticizing their non-violent protests for being “unwise and untimely.” However, an action like this is needed when facing injustice. I feel that all three of these readings subconsciously, not read directly, harp on the need for us as a whole to work together and help each other in all situations and not just when it might benefit you or make you look good and nice as a person.

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  7. I agree with everything that you were saying in your post, and with your insight on how each author has a different outlook on the matter, yet they all seem to connect in one way or another. In “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not be Tweeted”, Malcolm Gladwell stresses the point that revolutions require a lot more than posting a status saying that you support of believe in something. Gladwell believes that social media has taken away the action side of a revolution, which, a revolution can’t even be considered anything near that powerful without action. In “I Don’t Know What to Do With Good White People” by Brit Bennett, she explains her personal experiences with racism, and her parent’s experiences. Bennett touches on the idea that many white people’s biggest concerns in life are to seem like a “good white person”, while black people are concerned about being “worthy of life”. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, King speaks out on the injustices that have been going on and responds to the clergymen that have been sending him letters regarding the protests.

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