In the beginning we see how many “remakes” there are of songs and movies. How popular culture comes about, how it makes people like Paris Hilton famous when she never really did anything of interest to warrant such fame. How the rituals and activities that people take part in keep and hold people together. We see how there is some organized rebellion against popular culture and also that there is a dark side to it. How advertising effects and molds popular culture and how few companies control most of the media outlets (music, news and books.) How sometimes it can create social inequalities such as positioning employees who are less attractive or less well dressed to positions where they can’t be seen. We see the influences that social networking has on popular culture, i.e. Facebook, MySpace.
I found it strange that a sociological society took up the position that we should rename the sports teams that are name after Indians. That American Indians like westerns and identify more with the cowboys. It is interesting that there are very few companies that control most of the media, books and music. I was surprised to see that “Office Space” was a box office flop, that movie is awesome.
I could see the football team the Washington Redskins being considered a racial slur on American Indians but I think that to say that you can’t give any team an Indian name is silly, what are your thoughts?
Lou Coban
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I agree, 'Office Space' is a great movie. I also agree that not being able to use any Native American themed names is doesn't make much sense. Sure, some can be racial slurs, but you could also view them as paying homage to our country's (and Native American) history. When I was in middle school, the history teacher gave all the students Indian nick names, I doubt anyone was offended.
ReplyDeleteI think some can be offensive however. You just need to be aware of what is and is not. If the native american community is offended by redskin than they should not name a team that. Just go by what they say. Use names they are comfortable with. It is important to be aware of these things. I know it can seem like sometimes we are going too far not to offend anyone, but we as a society need to at least be smart about it, and try our best to embrace different cultures. Offending others only works to alienate them, and we want to avoid this.
ReplyDeleteI've had this conversation with someone not too long ago. While these team names seem innocent, it seems that the tag "indian" is exempt from the offensive list. Consider this though, what do you think the reaction would be to a newly formed college team called "The Fighting Jews"?
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