Thanksgiving Stereotypes

Watching the Thanksgiving edition of the Jay Leno show last night, I was taken aback by the blatant Native America stereotype used in one of his bits. In the bit, Leno goes door-to-door on Thanksgiving, and at one house, brings with him three "Native Americans" as guests. In the show, the "Native Americans" are men dressed in ridiculous looking headdresses, feathers, and face and body paint. As if this stereotypical representation of the "Indian warrior" wasn't enough, the three "Native Americans" immediately open up a poker table and begin playing cards, making fun of the ownership of casinos by Native Americans, and presenting a stereotype that all Native Americans own casinos and know nothing else but gambling.

We see this stereotypical representation of Native Americans constantly throughout the Thanksgiving season, and we have unfortunately become accustomed to it, but Jay Leno, as many do, takes it far past the Thanksgiving "Pilgrims and Indians" story, exaggerating the stereotypical outfits, behavior, and names of Native Americans even further, and adding a supposed obsession with gambling and casinos. In conjunction with the Walsh article, even with supposed objective historical representations of the encounter between Pilgrims and Native Americans, we see the subtle reinforcement of the primacy of white male hegemony, but with obvious, exaggerated stereotypes such as those used in The Jay Leno Show, this reinforcement is blatant and overpowering. Through representations of race in the media, we can see how our society discusses these issues, and in the case of Native Americans, our discussion of race is extremely inadequate and almost entirely stereotypical.

As of 11/27/09, this episode is not yet posted on NBC.com, but it should be soon. Click HERE to view clips or whole episodes of The Jay Leno Show on NBC.com.

Click-Through Activism With Real World Results

Flipping through the channels today, I saw a story on Channel 7 News, entitled "Cuffed on Campus." The story was about the students at Cape Cod Technical High School who organized a sit-in in protest of a speech given to them by their new dean during a lunch period when the students were served only cheese sandwiches as punishment for not cleaning up the day before. In the speech, the dean reportedly referred to the students in a derogatory manner, calling them "pigs" among other things. In response to their punishment and the speech from the new dean, some of the students created a Facebook group which eventually led to a school-wide organized sit-in, which resulted in the arrest of two students.

Click HERE for the Channel 7 News article and video

When the newscaster mentioned that the sit-in was organized through a Facebook group, I couldn't help but think of click-through activism. Unlike most groups on Facebook that promote a cause, this group led to fast, highly organized action. Although this is a reatively small scale example of click-through activism having real world effects, it is a demonstration of the potential of Facebook groups to organize an actual movement, when all of the members are emotionally invested in the cause.

Mocking "Click-Through Activism"

After reading the Washington Post article about "Click-through Activism," I was curious to find out what types of groups were currently popular on Facebook, and what kinds of causes they supported. In the process of browsing groups, I came across a group that mocks this "Click-through Activism" that is so common on Facebook.

The group is entitled, "An Arbitrary Number of People Demanding that Some Sort of Action Be Taken." Click HERE to view the page.

The description of the group is as follows:

"We Demand Immediate Action on This Crucial Issue!

If nothing is done then however many of us are in this group will be very displeased. We may even comment to express our anger, possibly with bad punctuation or spelling to further communicate our individual but quite possibly collective emotion.

Something Must Be Done About This!"

I found this group, which has over 95,000 members (now including me) to be hilarious, mostly because of its accuracy in capturing the essence of most Facebook groups that claim to support a cause. With its satirical representation of a so-called "activist" Facebook group, this group brings up many of the problems and shortcomings of "Click-through Activism." It mocks the fact that while people who participate in "Click-through Activism" do so to "express themselves as individuals," it is really because of an eagerness to fit in with the collective and an aimless desire to be a part of a cause that they join these groups. The specific cause itself is unimportant, as we saw in the Washington Post article which mentions a psychologist who created a group supporting an entirely fictitious cause, the prevention of the leveling of Copenhagen's Stork Fountain to make room for an H&M clothing store. Within a week or so, the group had over 27,000 members, despite the fact that it was clearly stated on the groups page that the cause was made up. This experiment demonstrates the blind desire of Facebook users to "express themselves" by supporting a cause. Any cause will do.

The group, "An Arbitrary Number of People Demanding that Some Sort of Action Be Taken," also mocks the pointless and ineffective way that most "activist" groups express their anger and emotion about a cause, i.e. via mispelled and poorly punctuated comments that rarely lead to any actual protest or external activism.

I will surely keep this satire in mind the next time I decide whether or not to join a group. The popularity of Facebook gives it the potential to have a real life influence, but until its users start taking the groups and causes seriously, start joining groups for the right reasons, and start making a commitment to support the groups they join, Facebook groups will remain a joke.

What Kind of Tech User am I?

Here are the results of my tech user quiz from PewInternet.org :

You are an Media Mover

"If you are a Media Mover, you have a wide range of online and mobile habits, and you are bound to find or create an information nugget, such as a digital photo, and pass it on. These social exchanges are central to your use of information and communication technology. Cyberspace, as a path to personal productivity or an outlet for creativity, is less important to you.

Overall, this result is quite accurate. I do have a wide range of online and mobile habits and I do tend to use technology and cyberspace primarily for social purposes. While I of course use cyberspace and the Internet for academic purposes, I feel media/technology/cyberspace is often more of a distraction than a creative aid. Cyberspace as a "path to personal productivity" is virtually nonexistent in my life. In fact, while I enjoy using cyberspace, I feel that it actually takes away from my productivity.