Racism

In Rand's piece on racism, she describes her own views on what qualifies as racist.  She believes that racism is judging people as a racial group, or by their ancestor.  First she explains how she believes that collectivism causes racism.  That when people think of other people in society as a group, it causes racism.  She then goes on to explain how the implementation of capitalism has been a step in the right direction.  Capitalism views everyone as an individual and Rand believes that that is the only way that to help the issue of racism.  She states that the problem of racism is "currently" getting worse.  Because there were some "Negroes"in leadership positions, that they were making the problem of racism worse by implementing the idea of quotas.  She said that they are giving special powers to certain racial groups, which only makes racism worse because it doesn't treat people like individuals, but as a group based on the race. Finally, she says that passing the civil rights bill would be the greatest evil of all because it would take away the rights of the individual.

This piece was interesting because I have never heard this extreme view on racism before.  Rand did have some good points about how people should not be judged for what their ancestors have done as a group, but I think she takes it too far maybe? I don't think it qualifies as racism for someone to be proud and boast about their ancestors.  I agree with Rand however on her view on quotas.  I have always thought that quotas seemed wrong and that they do not help racism.  Quotas do not view people as individuals, but separate them out according to their race.  At the beginning of her piece, I thought that she did support her arguments, but at the end it seemed that she didn't support her ideas enough.  Overall, her piece was well written and definitely invoked emotion, but was very extreme.

Sedaris

Solution to Saturday's Puzzle by David Sedaris is probably my favorite humorous piece that I have read. I was so excited when I saw that this was our next assignment, because I probably know this piece by heart I have heard it so many times from my Mom and brother! My mom owns this book but unfortunately I have not read it yet, although I have been planning to. The humor in this piece definitely comes from Sedaris' sarcasm.  He uses the crossword puzzle for humor by writing what he would like to say to her, but can't.  My personal favorite example is when he describes how, before the trip, he truly hoped that there would be grocery store close to where they were staying so their vacation would turn out great. And mine and my mother's favorite part to quote, "Why don't you go get your toenails done, buy yourself a nice pair of cut offs..." Also, a cough drop falling from your mouth onto the crotch of a stranger on a plane where you can't get away. Sedaris only adds to the humor of the  story with his witty crossword answers and commentary. 

My joke:

Hi my name's Cliff.

Drop over sometime.

The Klansman Who Won't Say the N-Word Review

Ronson's main objective in this chapter from The Klansman Who Won't Say the N-Word is to bring to light the fact that not all people involved in the Klu Klux Klan are how they are represented in Hollywood.  He illustrates how genuinely friendly, nonaggressive, and easy-going the leader of the KKK is. Ronson does not base his information on opinions, considering he is Jewish, but only writes about the facts that he observed when he spent time with the Klan.  Although there is still some use of words such as "Jew" and "nigger," the Klan is very different compared to the way they are represented in Hollywood.  Ronson wants the readers to realize that there can be false representations of a group of people in the media.
I found this chapter incredibly interesting.  The fact that they did not know that Ronson was Jewish also made it incredibly humorous! It was interesting because Ronson gave the reader almost no bad impressions of the KKK. I enjoyed this text very much because I have never learned anything about the KKK besides what I have seen in the movies, which is always very hostile and scary. This piece definitely changed my view of the members of the Klu Klux Klan.  I now understand that they are normal humans who can fit into society, and not crazy, violent, and hateful people who only live with their Klan members, and I think that this was Ronson's main point.

BITCH

One of Beverly Gross' main point in her piece, Bitch, is that this label on women is a way of keeping women "in their place."  The label solidifies the idea that men are dominant and women are submissive.  She states definitions of the word from many different dictionaries and in almost all of the definitions, it is referring to a female who is bossy, selfish, or cruel.  She says that men feel threatened by women who are successful and that they use it to keep their power over women.  The label is a demeaning term that is incredibly offensive to women in any circumstances.
I believe that this piece is very outdated.  Today, many women embrace being a bitch and even call themselves one, proudly.  Being a bitch to a woman means that they are successful and powerful and don't let anything stand in their way. As in, "Hell yeah! I'm one powerful bitch!"  Personally, I do not think that the term is used by men to show that they are more powerful.  I hear men being called bitches or referred to as bitchy just as often as i hear it about women.  I think that because women use it proudly, it has turned the word around completely and the word has lost it's hurtful meaning, which Gross does refer to with the example of Madonna at the end of her piece.  It is definitely still used in a negative way, but it is used in a positive or humorous way much more often in my generation and age group.  But, in reviewing this article as a piece of writing, I thought it was very effective to use all of the definitions throughout the piece to truly get her point across. Her piece would have been more convincing if I were from an older generation I believe.