Allan Johnson's "Privilege, Power, and Difference" was, to me, somewhat repetitive. I felt that he made some good points that I did agree with but instead of putting his thoughts into a 2 or 3 page work he made it super long. His main ideas were that some people, namely white male heterosexuals, have greater opportunities than others just because of the fact that they have these characteristics.
One quote that I thought was good was on page 6... "We need to feel that we belong to something bigger than ourselves, whether it's a family or a team or a society. We lok to other people to tell us that we measure up, that we matter, that we're okay. We have a huge capacity to be creative and generous and loving." I feel that this quote is very true in general to everyone because humans are definetly social beings and we need the acceptance of others to validate ourselves, for whatever reason, and if we arent given that validity we somehow feel we dont belong.
Another that stuck out to me was when Johnson was speaking about racial profiling. I think I said something about it during class, how I felt it was still true today...but heres the quote... "The simple truth is that when I go shopping , I'll probably get waited on faster and better than she will. I'll beneift from the cultural assumption that I'm a serious customer who doesnt need to be followed around to keep me from stealing something. The clerk wont ask me for three kinds of ID before accepting my check or accepting my credit card."
This final quote I thought to be somewhat eye opening to me. I never really thought of race in this way but Johnson's outlook was interesting. "...skin pigmentation varies from one person to another. What he is saying is that unless you live in a culture that recognizes those differences as significant nd meaningful, they are socially irrelevant and therefore do not exist. A 'black woman' in Africa, therefore, who has not experiences white racism, does not think of herself as black or experience herself as black, nor do the people around her. African, yes; a woman, yes. But not as a black woman."
Overall I think "Privilege, Power, and Difference" was interesting and informative, however he repeated some things so many times that it got almost irritating. =)
One quote that I thought was good was on page 6... "We need to feel that we belong to something bigger than ourselves, whether it's a family or a team or a society. We lok to other people to tell us that we measure up, that we matter, that we're okay. We have a huge capacity to be creative and generous and loving." I feel that this quote is very true in general to everyone because humans are definetly social beings and we need the acceptance of others to validate ourselves, for whatever reason, and if we arent given that validity we somehow feel we dont belong.
Another that stuck out to me was when Johnson was speaking about racial profiling. I think I said something about it during class, how I felt it was still true today...but heres the quote... "The simple truth is that when I go shopping , I'll probably get waited on faster and better than she will. I'll beneift from the cultural assumption that I'm a serious customer who doesnt need to be followed around to keep me from stealing something. The clerk wont ask me for three kinds of ID before accepting my check or accepting my credit card."
This final quote I thought to be somewhat eye opening to me. I never really thought of race in this way but Johnson's outlook was interesting. "...skin pigmentation varies from one person to another. What he is saying is that unless you live in a culture that recognizes those differences as significant nd meaningful, they are socially irrelevant and therefore do not exist. A 'black woman' in Africa, therefore, who has not experiences white racism, does not think of herself as black or experience herself as black, nor do the people around her. African, yes; a woman, yes. But not as a black woman."
Overall I think "Privilege, Power, and Difference" was interesting and informative, however he repeated some things so many times that it got almost irritating. =)
No comments:
Post a Comment