Thursday, July 23, 2009

Why I Study American Culture: Two days in the News


The day before yesterday I was flabbergasted to see that Skip Gates, the preeminent senior Professor at Harvard had been handcuffed and arrested, seemingly a victim of a police officer who didn’t appreciate an “uppity attitude” from a black man, even one who was profiled in his own home, after producing a university I.D..

Who knows how angry Prof. Gates might have been, or what he did or did not say, but you can bet your ass that a senior white professor wouldn’t have been cuffed and arrested for showing his displeasure. Hence, in the circus-show that is our American mass media, we now have an opportunity to discuss several important, salient social issues: the current status of race relations in the Obama era, how social psychology explains more subtle, almost unconscious forms of racism (in other words, why the officer might have unwittingly have expected Prof. Gates to be more deferential), and the presence and practice of race-based profiling by law enforcement.

Obama even weighed in saying that the cops acted “stupidly” in arresting Prof. Gates. So now, if you look on the internet or the TV, there are a lot of talking heads weighing in on the issue. Personally, I’m afraid to watch Fox News (or anybody else for that matter), but at the very least, I welcome the discussion. I’m curious to see how it goes.

Decent coverage of the incident exists here.

On a different, but related, note - yesterday, I read about how the most popular, famous, sideline reporter in sports journalism, Erin Andrews of ESPN fame, was secretly videotaped while changing clothes in her hotel room. Videotaping anybody in their hotel room is an invasion of privacy, but Andrews was filmed when she was completely naked. The low-life who committed this act then had the audacity to put it on the web – where it was quickly duplicated and spread.

If you hadn’t guessed, Erin Andrews is very beautiful (which is, perhaps, a prerequisite for becoming one of the top female reporters at ESPN). I feel sad for her personally, but I feel even more sad for the message this sends to every other woman who is working in a male-dominated industry (like professional and college sports reporting). They are likely feeling something similar to what Andrews is feeling: Objectified. Devalued.

For a teacher like myself, this incident provides yet another opportunity to discuss how the category of “gender” is useful in describing the power relations that structure our everyday lives. In this incident we gain insight on how maleness and masculinity are operating in sports culture. We get a reminder of how pervasive patriarchy is. And for the sports fans out there, we get a chance to discuss (albeit briefly and not using too many big words) why it may not be appropriate for ESPN to constantly focus on her looks, her body, her brand – ostensibly done with her consent (but clearly not her pleasure) in order to appeal to their male viewers.

This second controversy offers another “teachable” moment. Like the Skip Gates incident, the Erin Andrews incident is certainly regrettable. But, because they attract so much attention, they provide interesting and accessible cases for us all to pontificate about how gender and race touch our everyday lives. Just be careful where you look for a serious discussion of these issues. The clowns on the television rarely offer much in the way of thoughtful analysis. That is where us teachers can step in to fill the gap.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Why I Like Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter puts his money where his mouth is. RESPECT.