Tyre Nichol’s Mother Has Set Up A Memorial Fund To Help Pay For Mental Health Services For His Family

Mass Media and Society

How does mass media affect our society? Is entertainment what drives our society moving forward, and if it is, what type of entertainment are we really pushing out there? These notes discuss how media relates and corresponds pre-existing themes, like ageism, racism, sexism, and the term ‘other-ism’ and explains the origin of the ‘mean world syndrome’ from a sociologist’s point of view.

Bail Reform

NO. 1

Back in late December, NYC’s Bail’s Reform has plenty of opportunities to free poor defendants, and be able to help wrongfully convicted people as was it’s intention--but as of right now, eliminating cash bail is sure to put too many violent criminals back on the streets, threatening public safety.

   According to the NY Times,  CNBC, and the New York Post, the new laws seem to be doing the opposite effects of helping people, whereas instead is hurting the communities where these crimes are happening. From the NY Times, it goes into defining what the bail reform actually is: ‘’New York is now the only state in the nation that requires judges to entirely disregard the threat to public safety posed by accused persons in determining whether to hold them pending trial or to impose conditions for their release. In addition, the new law constrains judges from holding repeat offenders with long records of both crime and absconding trial. It eliminates cash bail and the possibility of detention for a wide array of offenses, including weapons possession, trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs, many hate-crime assaults, the promotion of child prostitution, serial arson, and certain burglaries and robberies.’’

NO. 2

   It also floods police departments and attorney’s with intensive forms of paperwork, leading to important evidence being suppressed and ‘solid cases can be dismissed on the grounds of incomplete discovery’; So it seems that the bail reform is leading to all kinds of damages. CNBC is saying that critics of the bail reform were absolutely wrong after three weeks after the law went into effect, as some of the repeat offenders have been arrested for anti-Semetic assault and harassment, just as New York is seeing a disturbing spike in these hate crimes. ‘’In case you need to be convinced how big a political issue this could become, remember that violent crime stories are visceral in many ways. They often involve life and death, and can be easily painted in terms of “good guys” and “bad guys” with very little gray areas in between. Crime stories also have a rare ability to energize otherwise non-politically active Americans. Ask anyone who lived through the urban crime waves of the late 1960s through the 1980s to confirm that.’’

NO. 3

 The New York Post has a similar agreement, explaining the increase of anti-Semetic attacks happening and the suspects quickly being released, like the case of Tiffany Harris, which was reported on December 28, 2019, attacked three Orthodox women in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She was hauled in handcuffs before a Brooklyn judge on menacing, harassment, and attempted assault charges; but this wasn’t the first time, as she had an open harassment and assault case back in November 2018. 

    So, I agree that this new law is just going to take us into a new era of ‘fear mongering’ that poses against public safety, and that’s a major problem. I live in New York, and I want the laws to be immediately changed on proof that there is a better way of fixing the criminal justice system. I understand Governor Cuomo’s reasoning, as he doesn’t want those who are innocent to be unlawfully held in prison, but the consequences of releasing those who are a danger to the community, are to grave and too high to mistake.

Marvel is nailing it with their movies! Gotta talk about the upcoming movie #GuardiansoftheGalaxy it is on fire! And I haven't even seen it yet!

THINK BEFORE YOU BUY POISON!!

I know none of you want to see this but something has to be done! Awareness and education are key!!!

A friend of mine found this great horned owl that had eaten a poisoned rodent and died a slow terrible death.

When you’re setting out poison to kill rats, mice, ect. you’re very well setting poison out to also kill hawks, owls, etc.– basically animals that are “on your side”, helping you to eliminate those rodents.

Poisoned rodents don’t just immediately flop over and die. They’ll slowly stagger around as the poison begins to take effect, making them an easy meal for another animal to grab.

Some people might remember that I’ve posted about this before (the Great Horned owl baby found laying on the ground in April– also found too late to be saved.) This is unfortunately a common tragedy. Many people admire birds of prey, saying how beautiful they are, how they “absolutely love owls”, yet a disturbing amount are unaware that their uneducated/inconsiderate actions are leading to those birds dying an agonizing death as they slowly bleed internally.Someone I know who does wildlife rehabilitation/rescue recently got in a Red-tailed hawk that had consumed poison. They were ultimately unable to treat him, and she wasn’t even in the same room when she heard him gasping and wheezing, dying. For at least 10 years she has treated hundreds, probably thousands of animals and said it was one of the most disturbing things she’s witnessed dealing with wildlife.

Please consider what your actions may lead to. There are safer alternatives. Again, when you put out poison, you’re setting up a death for those that are naturally taking care of those rodents you want gone.

🥲

Honorable mentions:

The last SAMURAI- white.

Prince of PERSIA- white.

Just shut up.

Being poor is dangerous. Being POC while poor? Even more dangerous.

NO.1

The question, ‘‘Is being poor dangerous’, an easy question to answer for those who suffer from being poor. Yes, it is highly dangerous, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. People usually move to cities in the U.S, and cities are segregated. Each person, family, etc. has a different background, therefore they have a different connection with others unlike themselves. That means different habitus’ and different inequalities, for those who are not rich.

NO.2

This all has to do with the economic structure, between poor, middle class and rich. Segregation is everywhere, and in cities, it is an intermix of ethnicity, citizenship, indigeneity, and class, and when they are intertwined, they create systems of labor, respect and suffering. The physical differences in the conditions of life, especially barbaric. Throughout the hierarchy of suffering, the opportunities decrease and the social hardships increase as you go down the ladder, and depending on what race you are, the more dangerous, psychologically strenuous and physically stressful it can be. Everyone is structurally vulnerable, and each person can participate in what is called the Gray Zone.

NO.3

Primo Levi defines it as the knowledge of the corrupt system but trying to survive within it, whether you’re at the top or at the bottom, and when you are at the bottom, the system is designed to make people remain there. For Mexican workers who choose to make the difficult journey to work in the strawberry fields in Southern California, they are kept segregated by race, class, and citizenship, they have limited opportunities to afford the basic needs we use every single day, either access to affordable healthcare or able to get a decent paying job. Collective bad faith, or as Nancy Scheper-Hughes calls it, is the self deception to help you feel okay about the work you do in the moral gray zone. One example would be the strange concept of naturalization, like black deaths at the hands of police officers. A more basic definition would be seeing an oppressed people and saying that they like being oppressed, making you feel better about the injustice. Since we see it go on for so long, the moral injustice, we normalize it, or that it just part of ‘the game’. The game is to thrive, survive, and suffer in the social world, where you are both dominated and dominant. We justify it because they are different, and say it is normal.

NO.4

‘‘For decades, experts have agreed that racial disparities in health spring from pervasive social and institutional forces. The scientific literature has linked higher rates of death and disease in African Americans to such ‘social determinants’ as residential segregation, environmental waste, joblessness, unsafe housing, targeted marketing of alcohol and cigarettes, and other inequalities; Racism, other researchers suggests, acts as a classic chronic stressor, setting off the same physiological train wreck as job strain or martial conflict: higher blood pressure, elevated heart rate, increases in the stress hormone cortisol, suppressed immunity. Chronic stress is also known to encourage unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and eating too much, that themselves raise the risk of disease.’’ From How Racism Hurts—Literally.

This famed author deserves to have her writings continuously celebrated.

The racial aspects of Sci Fi, Fantasy and other forms media

NO. 1

One of the blog posts I have written before was titled ‘Mean World Syndrome’, which talked about how race and media affects everyone on a global scale. Racial aspects of sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media have long been a source of controversy. From the stereotypes of aliens in Star Trek to the whitewashing of characters in movies like Avatar, Prince of Persia, etc. these issues have been a major source of discussion in the media landscape. In many cases, racial stereotypes have been used to create a sense of ‘otherness’ for the characters of color in order to reinforce a sense of white superiority. This has led to criticism from fans, activists, and academics who have called for more representation of people of color in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media.

NO. 2

In the entertainment business, inclusivity is hard to come by, and in some cases, the representation of characters of color in these genres is inadequate and often offensive. Characters of color are often relegated to the sidelines and made to serve as the backdrop to white characters’ stories, or they are depicted as tokens and stereotypes. This lack of meaningful representation has led to a push for more diverse casts in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media. ‘‘Like many social sciences, international/intercultural/interethnic communication and media studies are primarily an Anglo-American media images have always been critically dissected, often by scholars with some kind of privileged tie to other cultures—Most makers of these blockbusters are mostly white males with English as their mother tongue, mutli-millionaires or aspiring to become one as soon as possible. They usually internalize a mid-Atlantic view of global history and geography, its central myths and legends. So many blockbusters remain ethnocentric, even today—they tend to make non-Westerners look at the world through Western eyes.’’

NO.3

In addition to representation in the stories themselves, the casting of actors to bring these characters to life has been another source of debate. Many actors of color have argued that they are often typecast into roles that are stereotypical or that do not reflect the true diversity of the world. Films or TV shows with fantasy/sci-fi themes on Netflix, like Chambers or Raising Dion are not being properly advertised because, like Inclusive Advertising: What’s Holding the Industry Back? claims, ‘‘The industry itself is not diverse: The advertising industry — across the ecosystem and at all levels — is not representative, which is itself a barrier to creating representative and inclusive content. Only 19% of in-house and 23% of agency survey respondents reported that their leader almost always considers the demographic diversity of their team when developing content. That, and individuals (in these marketing companies) lack awareness of and access to the knowledge, skills, resources, and tools to create representative and inclusive content. Individuals are confident in their ability to create representative and inclusive content, but only if provided with adequate tools and resources.’’

NO. 4

Of course, there will always be people who dislike seeing a more diverse setting, especially against the established order of Western ‘‘whiteness’’ ideologies. Ultimately, the best way to ensure diversity in these genres is to continue to create stories that feature diverse characters and cultures. If authors, producers, and casting directors make a conscious effort to create more imaginative stories that are inclusive and reflective of the real world, then audiences will be able to experience a more authentic and meaningful experience.