In response to the chicken and the egg discussion in class; I believe the slavery came much earlier than racism. I don't think that full blown racism was directed at African Americans until the abolition voice become strong enough to threaten the legalized slave trading. In order to keep slaves on the plantation, slave owners spread inferiority propaganda in an attempt to sway popular opinion that slaves are in fact less intelligent than their white owners and that they should remain slaves for their own good. The minstrel shows of the the 1800's are a good example of this as it portrayed free African-Americans as lazy and incompetent people. Minstrel shows became incredibly popular, and fueled the stereotype for African Americans leading into the mid 1900's.
One aspect of American culture that we did not discuss in class was shock culture. Shock culture is dominating the lives of Americans, particularly the younger generation. If you look at the TV shows, movies, and music that young people enjoy it is filled material that pushes and often exceeds the limit of what is socially acceptable. An example of this trend is Paris Hilton. She has won the attention of America through antics that are considered trashy and disgraceful to older generations. However, young people are enthralled with her allowing her to turn a DUI into a publicity stunt in which her face is on every news syndicate nearly four times a day.
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Shock Culture has unfortunately come to dominate the headlines in American Journalism,too. It sickens me that I cant read a single piece of American Journalism without first coming across some grotesque story about rape, murder, kidnapping, war or religious scandal. Why are Americans so obsessed with everything bloody and immoral? Look at our past. American history is rooted in deception, fighting and hippocracy. The New York Times and CNN are just as much to blame as Columbus and King James for the sad state of the American identity.
haha, the New York Times and CNN? Did you just grab those two news organizations randomly out of the air or because they lean slightly to the left? I agree that a lot of the news isn't bipartisan...but FOX News is worse ;p
I agree with you that racism came before slavery; however I also agree with the class discussion on Thursday that it really doesn't matter.
I also believe that slavery came before racism because Native Americans has a system of slavery before colonists and Africans had a similar system in their tribal kingdoms before slaves were exported to the new world. Yes, the systems were more like indentured servitude, but slavery came first. Racism towards slavery came when the idea of abolishing slavery came into being.
Good discussion of racism/slavery and American culture. How do you think the racist attitudes toward Native peoples relates to your discussion? Ideas of savagery and inferiority when there was never an "abolition" movement associated with Indian policy?
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