Final Blog Post: What Era Are We In Now?

If I had to name the era we are in now, I would name it the social media era. I feel as if everything that surrounds our everyday lives is influenced by social media. People as young as teenagers and older are starting to watch the news less and are getting their information and news from what they are seeing on social media, such as Instagram or Twitter.

Those that are getting their news from social media are not fact checking what they are seeing and it is easy for false information to spread and gain popularity. One post could end up being reposted by many and shared around to many other followers, but that post could easily contain false or biased opinions. Because of social media allowing anyone and everyone to have an opinion and a voice, it allows those who are uneducated to share their thoughts. Social media has a way of pressuring followers to have certain beliefs, like how liberals push their agenda more onto younger generations. Everyone also assumes that issues have the same weight on someone else, but an issue might be less important to someone else who finds it important.

Social media can be good to inform those that do not watch the news if awareness needs to be spread or it can keep those up to date on what is going on if it is accurate information. But political issues are becoming trends rather than important issues. Posts are made about current issues, inflation, abortion, climate change, immigration, and other things and these are being reposted if it is considered a trend at that point. Some are sharing things on social media, but aren't doing anything to try to change something or make an impact on the issue. Like "Black Out Tuesday," what was posting a black square on social media doing other than spreading awareness. Those that are posting also might not have the knowledge to back up what they are posting. Before something political is posted, there should be research put into it.

Trends on social media show support to both political parties. But there also seems to be judgment on political beliefs being shared on social media if someone doesn't agree. Social media has allowed friendships to change since political views are being shared that might not have been shared without social media. I personally have seen many different arguments that are happening, like with abortion or if Joe Biden is fully capable to run our country. These are just everyday people having arguments publicly, sharing their opinions as facts and judging others with opposite opinions. And the fact that some like Trump cannot even share his opinions on social media is wrong, just because they were found offensive, but what if I thought the people who wanted to ban him were offensive?

You hear negative things about police, like how George Floyd was killed by police, but you don't hear about police officers that are risking their lives or being killed on duty. In April 2021, in my small hometown there was a police officer, Keith Heacook, killed from severe injuries on duty while he was responding to a fight, which was known to be an unsafe situation and they were understaffed to have another officer go along with him. You didn't hear about this on the national news. There was still an impact on social media with local residents, but nothing compared to what was posted and shared about Floyd and BLM. How does this represent police? There are people dedicated to their job, while some aren't getting paid much and constantly put themselves in harmful situations. Looking at the situation with Floyd, it looks like all police are bad. That becomes a stereotype, rather than the truth. Just because one person is bad does not mean all people are bad. That is like saying one white person is racist so all white people are racist. It is wrong on many levels.

Political issues are real issues, not trends. Social media should start to spread the idea of doing research. Real news should be followed, especially by generations that will grow up surrounded by social media. 

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Reflection

The movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is about a daughter named Joanna that comes home from a trip to Hawaii early with a surprise for her parents. She brought home her fiancé, Dr. Prentice, who is an older, African American man that she had met during her trip. This was a complete shock to her parents, as they had just met and he was older and this movie was also during the times where interracial marriage had just became legal after the decision of Loving v Va. 

Dr. Prentice had made it clear that if there were any objections from either set of parents, they would not get married. Joanna on the other hand was determined to get married no matter what anyone else thought. They had jumped into this relationship very quickly and she was sure that she was going to go with him and get married a few weeks later.

Something that stood out to me was when Dr. Prentice said to his dad “But you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.” I found this to be something very bold to say to a parent. Dr. Prentice didn’t think marrying a white women as marrying a white women but as marrying the women he loved because he didn’t think about his race as what he can and cannot do, he just thinks of himself as a person. He was given opportunities by his parents to go above and beyond with his career and his life in general. 

Mrs. Prentice had made a comment saying that the dads didn’t know what it felt like to be young and in love like how Dr. Prentice and Joanna were. Which Mr. Drayton later defends this by saying the memories of his wife were still clearly there and this helped him realize that he should accept it and give his blessing. 

Mr. Drayton turned supportive but still made it clear that they would have a lot of issues ahead of them, but their main issue was not going to be him. He was also convinced  that he could change Mr. Drayton's opinion on the situation. The dad said the biggest problem in the end would be if the two of them did not get married, which this shows how serious his support is for the couple. 

EOTO Reflection

After the mock trial in class, the other groups presented their eoto presentations. The topics that were presented were the assassination of Robert F Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Boston busing violence, the Watts riots, redlining, the fair housing act, freedom summer, the 24th amendment, war on poverty, and Shirley Chisholm.

One topic that I found super interesting was learning about Shirley Chisholm. She was the second African American women that served for the legislature in Albany, New York and she served in 1964. In 1969, she was elected first African American congresswomen and she served for seven terms. With all that she was able to accomplish, she was able to set an example for both the African American and women communities. She later ran for president and she did not get elected, but this helped her have a strong political voice for many years. I had not really thought about how in the past there were probably women that ran for president and had not been elected during this time period.

Another topic I found interesting was redlining. Redlining is financial services that are denied mortgages, insurance, and loans based on someone's race. Those in charge of prices of housing made them affordable since there was a wealth gap between races. With there being a wealth gap, healthcare was also less attainable since it was more expensive.

Something that was put into place to help with these issues was the fair housing act, which was enforced by people like the Department of Urban Housing and Development and also the Office of Fair Housing and Development and Equal Opportunity. This act was in title VIII of the civil rights act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in housing sales, rentals, and financing.

Most of the other events that happened contained violence, like both of the assassinations and the Boston busing violence. All of these events had an impact on history. Imagine all of what else Martin Luther King Jr could have accomplished if he was not assassinated. All of these events were important parts of history.