The Modern Racist Paradigm is an eye-opening documentary about race and the inferior feelings that minorities feel about themselves and their ethnicity because of the media's idealization of the white race, particularly the white man. See it here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9142171923095749295.
It's a captivating and sometimes heartbreaking look into the extremes people go to to be accepted by the dominant group. I rather think it's like being in high school, and so many peoples' experience of wanting to be in the "in crowd." I hadn't even thought about how outside forces have such a big influence on how you view your own race. But I found that the argument that religion and the media reinforce the "norm" of the white race rings true to me.
I agreed with that idea and the parts focused on that idea, but what I didn't buy into are the parts focusing on a white ethnicity being the standard of Beauty and Culture. I thought that was very skewed on the part of the documentary to prove its central point.
After all, what about tanning creams and the rise in prevalence of tanning salons, and white people constantly sunning themselves at the beach for that perfect tan (some even becoming orange)? We don't say that they're trying to be black. White people themselves get made fun of and thought weak if they're too white (think shirt tan). And what about women who use eyeliner to elongate their eyes (flick a line up at the end of their eyes) like Rihanna and Olivia Wilde (of House)? We don't say they're trying to look more Asian or exotic, but they do, and it makes them more appealing. If a white guy dates an Asian girl, he must find her appealing. Does that mean he's self-hating and idealizes Asians over whites? How come she's the only self-hating one? White people also get a lot of nose jobs, so what standard are they going for? It would appear that white people have their own share of body neuroses too. And a lot of them.
As for culture, what about white people trying to rap and do martial arts or salsa or bellydance or yoga? Isn't that them trying to be black or Asian or Latino or Middle Eastern or Indian? And what about the standard of food? When you think of good food, you don't think white food. You think French and Italian maybe, but also Chinese, Mexican, Japanese - that's standard fare. In England, they say the best places to eat are Indian food because English food sucks. White people say this. Have you ever tried Scottish haggis? bleh.
I think in the end it comes down to the fact that we take on things about other cultures that we like and translate it to our culture, they take things from our cultures that they like and translate it to their culture, and the problem lies not so much in doing that, but in the extreme attitudes some people develop when they idealize the other and despise themselves. But self-hating is universal. The grass is always greener on the other side no matter who you are. You can blame other people but ultimately you're the one who decides to love yourself or not.
I agreed with that idea and the parts focused on that idea, but what I didn't buy into are the parts focusing on a white ethnicity being the standard of Beauty and Culture. I thought that was very skewed on the part of the documentary to prove its central point.
After all, what about tanning creams and the rise in prevalence of tanning salons, and white people constantly sunning themselves at the beach for that perfect tan (some even becoming orange)? We don't say that they're trying to be black. White people themselves get made fun of and thought weak if they're too white (think shirt tan). And what about women who use eyeliner to elongate their eyes (flick a line up at the end of their eyes) like Rihanna and Olivia Wilde (of House)? We don't say they're trying to look more Asian or exotic, but they do, and it makes them more appealing. If a white guy dates an Asian girl, he must find her appealing. Does that mean he's self-hating and idealizes Asians over whites? How come she's the only self-hating one? White people also get a lot of nose jobs, so what standard are they going for? It would appear that white people have their own share of body neuroses too. And a lot of them.
As for culture, what about white people trying to rap and do martial arts or salsa or bellydance or yoga? Isn't that them trying to be black or Asian or Latino or Middle Eastern or Indian? And what about the standard of food? When you think of good food, you don't think white food. You think French and Italian maybe, but also Chinese, Mexican, Japanese - that's standard fare. In England, they say the best places to eat are Indian food because English food sucks. White people say this. Have you ever tried Scottish haggis? bleh.
I think in the end it comes down to the fact that we take on things about other cultures that we like and translate it to our culture, they take things from our cultures that they like and translate it to their culture, and the problem lies not so much in doing that, but in the extreme attitudes some people develop when they idealize the other and despise themselves. But self-hating is universal. The grass is always greener on the other side no matter who you are. You can blame other people but ultimately you're the one who decides to love yourself or not.
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