"My own father spent his life backing up, apologizing for the space he took up in the world. He took the hillbilly stereotype to heart and all of his life believed that he was backward and inferior -- a despair I, too, have been trying to escape all of my life."(O'Brien, 2003)
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This is a great example of how stereotypes can shape an individual's life. I selected this quote because I see a lot of ways people try to fit into the mold created for them. It is really sad to see, but it is a trend that is hard to break. This idea of stereotypes occur a lot in high school, which is a crucial time for all people. America is supposed to stress individualizaion, but yet it seems to emphasize more on the negative end of things. Other groups like Goths, Christians, and Muslims are often set aside and "picked on" because of their ways of life. A great example I have found is a quote tied to a youtube video. The video doesn't apply necessarily to the example, but the quote tied to the video does.
"I'm not even a Christian and I love this song. I respect Christians immensely. They get abused from every direction and yet they still stand tall and continue to believe in what they CHOOSE to believe in." (TheLawlington, 2011)
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~I feel in we, as a society, need to strive to be unified and use each other's uniqueness in order to achieve greater ambition~
References:
O'Brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html?src=pm
TheLawlington, Initials. (2011, May). [Online Forum Comment]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPrK3FP9Yrs
Thanks for sharing this Ernest! It is beautiful!
ReplyDelete-- "America is supposed to stress individualizaion, but yet it seems to emphasize more on the negative end of things."
ReplyDeleteI agree with your quote 100%. As Americans we are given the freedom of speech, etc. However, when people do express themselves freely for example, religion, way of dress, etc. they are stereotyped.
When you are in high school and trying to stand out and not fit the mold you get picked on and called weird. I think as teachers we should be more aware of this and not allow our students to degrade each other in our classroom. I understand that most teachers already do this but I have sat in many classrooms where the teacher was too afraid to stand up to the bullies. I can remember being in my high school English class and listening to this guy pick on another student. I stood up & took up for the guy he was picking on. My teacher saw me do this and gave me 5 bonus points. Teachers should encourage students to help each other and not overlook the mean comments.
ReplyDeleteIt saddens me as well that this constant bullying continues to worsen in today's society. Undeniably, it's a huge problem that can not be ignored, especially in our schools. Personally, I completely agree with what Ernest said. We need to strive to be unified. I believe in order to do that we must cease looking at the things that make us different and instead focus on our commonalities.
ReplyDelete