Where do you draw the line to what's offensive and what's funny?

I think that if a white person told a joke making fun of white people it would be fine than if he were to tell a joke about a black person. I think it's ok if you are the race or have the hair color you can tell jokes that relate to you. Other than that it's offensive, rude or even racist. I hope I'm making sense. It's interesting that the media had to portray blondes as being dumb. Why didn't they choose another hair color or maybe just not even say that if you are a particular hair color then you are considered dumb. There are a lot of blonde men and women that are very smart and successful people. Laughing is fun and good for you. But let's not laugh when a joke is told that we don't agree with. 

Women's Sports

I think that the group that did their project on women's sports was an interesting topic. Women's sports doesn't get shown on TV as much as men's sports. To be honest I would rather watch men's sports. I think the only time I watch women's sports is during the Olympics. There are a lot of very athletic and talented women out there. It's fun to watch the Olympics because it's just amazing to see the talents that men and women have throughout the world. I think it's crazy how women or even young girls can do so many amazing tricks in gymnastics. All the flips and twists they do in the air. I think if women's sports was shown more on TV there would be a lot of people that would watch it, especially women. It would be interesting to see how many people would watch it and the ratings that channels would get.

Logos

I thought that the activity we did in class the other day was interesting. There are so many logos out there. Only after doing an activity like we did can you really imagine how many logos there are out there and we only looked for about 10-15 minutes. Just think if we had an hour to find as many logos as we could. We see logos all the time and I bet all of us could name tons of different companies by just looking at each companies' logo. Some one commented in class that we use logos to know some one's "status", like if you own a BMW then your rich. That specific example isn't always true because I know some one that owns a BMW but they aren't rich. I think we can judge people by what logos we have on our clothing, car, sunglasses, etc. I think we all are probably guilty of judging at least once in regards to logos. Our judgements aren't always correct just like the BMW = rich, that isn't true for some one I know.

Hip-hop In Class Video

I think that it's sad to see girls in hip-hop videos that are used as objects by men and hip-hop artists. It's even sad that they allow themselves to be on these music videos in the first place. How they wear inappropriate clothing and how the hip-hop artist will talk badly about them or about women in general. I'm sure their number one reason is for the money but there are a lot of other ways that they can make money. They can go to school and get an education. I thought it was interesting that some of the girls in the video that we watched were asked how they felt about hip-hop artists calling women, "hoes." They said: "Oh they weren't talking about me." They were talking about women in general, so they were talking about you. The world and the media is just getting worse as far as what is shown. Women should be more respected and I'm thankful that I learned to respect women. Having grown up with three sisters.

Racism is no good.

The reading from the new book, Black Looks by Bell Hooks was alright because it was nice to see some one's conviction about their race but I thought it was interesting that she called everyone racist. I am not racist at all. I know that everyone isn't racist but there are a lot of people that are. There are even people that tell jokes about other races. Some people would think that that is still racist but I bet some of the people that tell jokes about other races don't feel that they are racist at all. Ok, I'm going off in tangents but I figured it would be a good topic to maybe talk about.

Ads and Commercials we saw today

The ads in class today showing women dead and being sexually abused were completely horrible and wrong. That is definitely not OK. There is no reason to put these types of pictures on ads just to sell your product. For me, seeing ads like these makes me never want to buy from that company, ever. How does that sell? I really can't see how ads like these can sell.


The dove commercial we watched with the little red headed girl was interesting and most likely true. At the end, they said something like: "You better teach your daughter about beauty or else 'they' (the media) will." I think this is probably true. If a mother doesn't teach her daughter about beauty and even how pictures can be totally photo shopped then the daughter could follow what she sees in the media. She could also think that she has to do whatever it takes to look 'perfect'.

Boys and Girls or Men and Women...

I don't mind if someone calls me a boy or a man. I consider myself a man at 23 years old but if someone called me a boy I wouldn't get offended by it or go crazy about it. Some people might not like it if you called them a boy or a girl, when they would rather be called a man or a woman but I'm not one of them. I think it depends on the person or the setting. I think a lot of us say it either way. I have said before to my wife: "I'm going to hang out with my boys". Even though all of them would be considered men since most of my friends are 21 years old and older. It's just a saying. I don't think there is anything wrong with this. It does sound weird if I said: "I'm going to hang out with my men". In my opinion, that could make some people think that I am gay if I said that. Once again, we say boys and girls or men and women when it seems to sound more comfortable for us or the situation. We say men or women usually in respect to people.

Where The Girls Are, Ch. 3

This response is about not only Chapter 3 but about the book in general. I have a lot of respect for women. I have three older sisters and no brothers. Growing up with 4 women and 1 man, I learned a lot of respect for women and the way we should treat women. I agree that there should be equal rights to men and women no matter what race they are. I think if your looking to have equal rights for both male and female, why bash on men if you are a feminist? At the same time, why bash females if you are a male chauvinist? Douglas told of her and her friend's putting outside their window in huge letters: "The more I see of men, the more I like dogs." That was very low and disgusting because not all men are dogs and you can't categorize all men as dogs. Yes there are men that are. We have all seen bad things that men have done through the news or even people we know or have heard about, but there is no reason in going off about how men are dogs if you want equal rights. I just think that Douglas didn't think logically. I think that men and women or even saying women and men should have equal rights in everything and if you feel the same way, why bash either one of the sexes? Doesn't do any good.

Response to: Where The Girls Are by Susan J. Douglas

After reading what was required, I feel that Douglas is very negative about the mass media, men, and anyone that doesn't agree with her. I'm not just saying that because I'm a man. My wife read it with me and could sense the same negativity. For example Douglas says this about how the women are portrayed in the mass media: "...it urged us to be as domestic as June Cleaver, as buxom and dumb as Elly May Clampett, and as removed from politics as Lily Munster." Right there we can see that she thinks that the media is oppressive toward women. She speaks badly of June Cleavor for being a stay at home mom and saying that it's an oppressive women's role. Who would want to grow up being taught by their babysitter instead of their mom or dad? I'm not a parent yet but I wouldn't want to leave my children to be raised by some one else. I would rather have my wife and I be the ones to take care of my future children. If you want to change the world, start within the walls of your own home. Mothers have a great responsibility; motherhood is a priceless gift and privilege.

Martin Luther King Commemoration at Utah Valley University

Civil Rights in Utah media was the topic of the meeting. Out of all of the people who spoke at this meeting there was one who stuck out to me the most and that person was Albert Jones. He is a journalist and has worked for six different newspapers. The reason why he stuck out to me was not only his friendliness but because I felt that he had passion for our country and for the state of Utah. He talked about how we need to treat others the same no matter what color or race the person is. He mentioned how the newspaper, USA Today a national daily newspaper is a diverse newspaper ever since the first day they started in 1982. I agree that we should treat everyone the same no matter what race they are. This is a free country and we need to let people enjoy their freedom in this country by being respectful no matter what race they are.