Columbus cartoon

For this media item I decided to search for something about Christopher Columbus. I wanted to find a video on him because Zinn’s paper really had me questioning his journey. Many of Zinn’s remarks about who Columbus was as a person and the real story about American history were new to me so I wanted to learn more. I found a cool 5 minute video on youtube about Columbus from the Mel-O-Toons production company.

To begin, this video was old school and also a cartoon video. With that in mind, this video was probably meant more for kids although I found it to be great and I’m 20. Anyway, the relevance of this video being a cartoon is that this video contradicted much of the hard truth that Zinn shared in his article. First, a main distinction was surprising to me. In Zinn’s article he talked about how Columbus was on his way to Asia in search for gold while this cartoon said he was looking for India. That is a pretty big error for one of them to make and I’m no history buff so I don’t know who to believe. Also, Zinn questioned the integrity of Columbus while this fun loving video with sweet music made him look like a hero.

Furthermore, I love the end of the video when the narrator says “on that day in 1492 when Columbus first spotted America”. I found this to be very funny since Zinn has recently persuaded me otherwise, and that Rodrigo was the one that spotted the land and Columbus just took the credit. And finally the video had to point out that the Europeans had white skin and when Columbus and his men came to an already vacant America they found people with darker skin. Let me guess, the people who made that video where American. They just had to throw that in there. We Americans must not notice how much we focus on skin color and race, but boy it sure seems like a lot when you look at it from the outside.

This cartoon was great and fit in perfectly with what I was trying to get out of this media assignment. It also helped further confuse me about the history of this country. Was he looking for Asia or India? Anyway, I think that this video also answers the DQ about what we should share with our youth. Obviously this cartoon is intended for the youth and like we teach or young today about Columbus, none of it has to do with Zinn’s opinions-the violence, greed, and lies. None of the killed Indians, quest for money, or dishonesty about who first spotted America. I now do think that Columbus wasn’t as great and genuine person, but if you asked me 10 years ago I would have told you differently.

Here is the website link to check out this great 5 minute cartoon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuvRFZ4Mxbo

White Privilege

The media item that I chose for this entry was found in the Ethnic Newswatch resource through the on-line BGSU library system. The title of this newspaper article is “White Privilege” and the author is Robert Jensen. After completing the first week in this class I thought that the idea of privilege was significant so I decided to search for a media piece with this topic in mind. The search brought me to this article that was written in 1999 and published in a Nashville, Tennessee newspaper. Another reason why I selected this article is because I like what Jensen had to share about his own personal experiences with privilege and that made me look back at my life and think about any times I might have experienced it as well.

Jensen opens his article by speaking with a young student from the University of Texas about affirmative action. Jensen supports this and this kid does not. Jensen argues the idea that if we live in a world of unearned white privilege, then why does affirmative action exist to “levels the playing field”? In other words, if the whites show privilege to other whites only then why is there affirmative action. Obviously every law or rule made in this country is not strictly for the white race or this country would only be all whites. Who would want to live in a country where everything or everyone is against you?

Continuing on, Jensen associates white privilege with racism. He talks about his entire life and how he always has been surrounded by mostly white people and about how maybe he got away with some things because he was white. So he brings up a very interesting question. Would a black or Hispanic person been treated the same why if they were in my position? Well, if he was experiencing privilege because he was white then no. What this means is that these people who would have oppressed the black or Hispanic in a certain situation would have been being racist against the non-privileged race. He admits then that he has received many benefits for being white and comments that the white race should not be afraid to say that they have gained from white privilege. Overall, Jensen’s writings reminded me very much of the ideas that Johnson was trying to get across.

I personally believe that privilege is not something that all cultures and societies deal with. It seems like America and the white privilege is far worse that any other country or race out there. I just wonder what specifically about Americans makes us care so much about being different. What’s so bad about it? It could be that we carry the label as the best country in the world and we are so cocky and greedy that we are scared of others being successful. When I thought about my life and if I experienced white privilege nothing came to the top of my head. Then I realized that my life is much different then Jensen’s because I have lived around my non-white societies before. So if I did live farther south or in more white neighborhoods then I can see myself as having to face situations like that before.

Here is the website link to the article “White Privilege”.

http://0proquest.umi.com.maurice.bgsu.edu/pqdweb?index=2&did=495734521&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1183141084&clientId=3340