Racism, Ayn Rand

  In the piece Rand talks about racism, and how racism is a bad thing, and we should get rid of it.  She talks about where racism originates, through groups of people.  It is one "group" thinking that a the other "group" is different, because they have a different ancestry they must be different.  Rand wants us to realize that this is a stupid reason, and that we are being racist when we do this.  Rand also talks about a group think idea, if we think of ourselves in with a group of people, we are being racist, we should think of ourselves as individuals not belonging in a set of people.  The funniest thing that Rand brings up is the fact that the "Negro" leaders are trying to fight racism, by being racist.  They want special rights or being a different race, and this is just bringing them back to being racists against others.  Overall I feel that she is trying to say do not be racist because someone else has relatives, leaders, friends, or teachers that were a racist.  She is saying to solve it and do not hold that against them think of everyone as individuals not as groups and we will be good!

  Overall I found the piece an interesting way to look at racism, and why we have it.  I liked how in the beginning she explained sort of how it all started, then led off to more recent events.  One part I got a little confused with was the with the conservatives, and liberals, I think I understand what she was trying to get to but I was lost with how they are being racist.  I also do not know how these views led into the Negro leaders being racist.  But I found this part to be humorous because she did prove a point they are trying to get rid of racism by creating new racism.  But overall I liked most of the ideas she laid out for me, and I understood most of them, and noticed some of them that are still around today.  

Humor?

I found Solution to Saturday's Puzzle boring, even though it was boring it was still funny.  I liked the ironic humor, that he uses to make fun of himself, and the lady sitting next to him.  I liked how he made fun of himself through the crossword puzzle, and also made fun of her too!  My favorite part is when he uses humor to kill off Becky, while she is hanging out of the plane and he says, "No take me!" and this is a very funny way to cope with the situation.  The part that I did not like was how slow the story took place, but I liked that he put a lot of humor into it. If you listen to it on tape then you can really tell when he is trying to be funny cause the audience laughs at the humor of the piece.

JOKE lol
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?". The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"

Ronson

I feel that Ronson had a explicit point, that even though the klansmen would not say nigger they are still inconsiderate people.  For example if they knew that Ronson was a Jew then they would have treated him much differently but since they were oblivious to that fact they treated him like any other white person.  With respect, and not demeaning as long as he did not act or sound like a Jewish person.  A thing that he got across to me in this chapter is that some of the groups are trying to keep up with todays views, not that the groups are a good thing.  To me he just relates some of  the people to "normal" everyday citizens.  This is when he portrays Thom Robb as, "having a humorous demeanor." (180)  This implicit point is put in my head, that some of these people yet being in the KKK are still changing, and trying to be better or different.  Overall I feel that he is still trying to leave me with the impression that these groups are still stupid, and that the people in them are also stupid for being in them.

This story was different to me, I have never heard of a KKK group that tried not to use the word nigger.  I thought that this was a interesting point and it was a different tatic that I have never heard of.  By tatic I mean trying to get in the public eye as a so called good group.  I find it humorous that they want to get into the public eye like they were in 1915 with the movie Birth of a Nation.  This is because like Ronson shows, people just think about all the bad things corresponded to the title of a KKK member.  I mean at least they are somewhat moving forward by not using such offensive language, but that is hardly a start.  The only confusing part that I found was why he did not want Ronson to take pictures of the ashes of the burnt cross.  But overall I liked the story because it felt intruiging I wanted to hear what they were going to do next, I also found most of it humorous.  

Bitch?!

The article we read by Beverly Gross explained the different uses of the word "Bitch".  She starts out with showing us the definition of it from the Oxford English Dictionary, and then goes through all the different dictionaries and the variety of definitions.  She explains how it has changed meaning over the centuries.  She then states that this word is the most offensive word to say to a woman.  She stays steady through the article with that almost every meaning is a very derogatory statement to females.  There is also the thing that most of the dictionaries do not have a derogatory word for men, but there are many different ways to be disrespectful to women.  There is the one example where the word "Bitch" is a good thing and that is in the African American culture.  Overall I feel that she is trying to show how we have such a derogatory word, Bitch, for women yet there is not one for men.

I found this article really intriguing because it showed many different ways we are mean to females, yet there is few ways that we degrade men.  I liked that she had multiple sources throughout the piece that showed some definitions to be close or the same, but then how expandable the word Bitch is.  So I feel this article got the point across very well, it explained all the different views, and many different points.  I do think this sort of relates to my writing only because of when I try to put my point across I try to use multiple views and points like Gross did.  Overall I feel this was a very good article and Beverly Gross wrote, and it was not confusing to me at all.