Some throwbacks don’t want to be remembered

According to recent articles from The Verge and Time, the new streaming service, Disney+, has started to include disclaimers about the scenes in movies that show racism. Some of Disney’s older movies are centered around cultural context in which racism is present. In the description box for certain movies, the phrase “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions,” (Alexander, 2019). Movies such as Dumbo and Peter Pan show discrimination against certain races. The chairwoman of American studies at the University of Maryland at College Park, Williams-Forson, said the company “needs to follow through in making a more robust statement that this was wrong, and these depictions were wrong.”

Stereotypes have been around in Disney films for decades. In present day, there has been controversy around old Disney movies, and how they depict racial stereotypes because of the new streaming service, Disney+. One complaint of a stereotype in an old animated Disney film is a scene in the movie Dumbo. A stereotype is a belief about the personal qualities of a group of people that are usually inaccurate and overgeneralized. In this scene, a group of crows are singing about how Dumbo flies, and the main crow in the group was named Jim Crow. This was a mocking term used to insult black men since the real Jim Crow implemented controversial segregation laws.  The scene shows an example of stereotyping in the sense that the crow, Jim Crow, is verbally belittling Dumbo about his ability to fly. You can tell how times have changed due to how these stereotypes were allowed to be shown to the public back then and how there is so much controversy around the stereotypes in present day. Even though the scene is offensive, it is still being shown within the movie. 

Another movie, that is not well known to the public due to how racist it is, is the Song of the SouthRacism is when people are treated differently by others of a different race due to the assumptions made based off of their skin tone. This movie was set on a plantation in the 1940s in Georgia after the Civil War. The depictions of black people are so controversial that this movie has not been shown in years. Disney+, along with other streaming networks will not show this movie due to the racist nature.  The movie shows a plantation worker in a positive light, disregarding the horrible treatment that other workers faced.  Although the setting took place after the Civil War, a war over the use of slaves, the movie never defined the plantation worker as a slave.  However, Disney dances around the idea that he is a slave. The controversial showing glorifies being a slave which is wrong because racism pushed black people into slavery.  A reporter from Time further states that the Song of the South “…hasn’t been shown theatrically for decades, due to its racist representation of the plantation worker Uncle Remus and other characters.”(Anderson, 2019).  Racism along with stereotyping has been around for centuries in Disney movies. Not much was said back in the day when the song first came out, but currently everyone is noticing how racist these film makers were in the past.  

Alexander, Julia. “Disney Warns Viewers about Past Racism, but Not as Well as Warner Bros.” The Verge, The Verge, 13 Nov. 2019, https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/13/20963014/disney-plus-racism-cultural-disclaimer-dumbo-song-of-the-south-warner-bros-tom-jerry.

Anderson, Mae. “Disney Adds Content Warnings to Movies With Racist Tropes.” Time, Time, 16 Nov. 2019, https://time.com/5730892/disney-plus-content-warnings-racist-movies/.

Dominique Fornabaio

Frozen II Adding a Splash of Color to Arendelle!

Disney animation movies that have predominantly caucasian main characters, don’t include characters of color in their movies. The director of the new upcoming Frozen II decided they needed a change. According to articles like Blackfilm and the Chicago Tribune, they are breaking the stereotype of having the same color of characters throughout the movie by adding an African American character named Lieutenant Mattias who is being voiced by Sterling K. Brown who has played roles in Black Panther, This is Us and Waves. A stereotype is the belief about someone’s personal attributes of a group of people. The stereotype for Disney animated movies is usually if the main character is white than the rest of the characters in the movie are also white. In Frozen II, the directors went against this by putting a character of a different race in a movie that has only white characters. Brown explains that for a long time black people had to wonder if they would ever be able to see a person of color as a superhero or a main character in an animated movie. He says, “I love that there’s a character of color in this world of Arendelle,” he said. “I think for such a long time black folks have had to wonder, ‘what would it be like to have someone like me in this show, what would it be like to be Superman or Batman.’ And then you get ‘Black Panther.’ Now, we have this character,Lieutenant Mattias, who I get the chance to vocalize, and I have a little action figures and Legos, and I’m like, ‘Ah, it’s really happening.’”(Brown, 2019) 

This movie is also going against the idea of racism. Racism is when a person has prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior towards people of a specific race. Because the directors included an African American in an all white character animated movie, they are going against racism. Having a character of color being added to an animated movie which usually doesn’t happen, opens up new opportunities and doors for other Disney movies to follow in their footsteps. This movie is giving people of color the opportunity to recognize that they also belong in a fairytale or myth. In an interview with Blackfilm.com, Brown says, “I love for people of color to be able to see someone who is ostensibly of color in this world, recognizing that they belong in myth and fairy tale as well.”(Brown, 2019) Everyone in the cast has been very welcoming to their new castmate and Brown couldn’t be more comfortable with a group of people. Not only does Brown love to be able to be part of the Frozen II cast but he also loves the message the movie is portraying. He says to the Chicago Tribune, “I’ve seen bits and pieces [of ‘Frozen II’], and it is every bit an action-adventure movie led by these two heroines that happen to be sisters, and they choose each other over and over again, they don’t need some dude to come save the day, they can save themselves,” he said. “I love being a part of that.” (Brown, 2019). He enjoys what he is doing and the fact that he is making his mark in Disney animation for African Americans make what he is doing and his experience that much better and inspirational.

By Kayla Lopes

Morales, W. (2019, November 14). Exclusive: Sterling K. Brown on ‘Waves’ & ‘Frozen II’. Retrieved from https://www.blackfilm.com/read/2019/11/exclusive-sterling-k-brown-on-waves-frozen-ii/.

Nyren, E. (2019, November 12). Sterling K. Brown on the importance of seeing a person of color in ‘Frozen 2’s’ Arendelle. Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-ent-sterling-k-brown-frozen-2-diversity-20191112-zmulgxgevfcihklfc7vubghh4y-story.html.

 

The One Time Being “Drake” Wasn’t Good Enough

Camp Flog Gnaw, a rap festival created by Tyler the Creator, was held this year and sparked some uproar with its attendees. According to articles written by Buzzfeed and USA Today, fans were informed that “the headliner spot was kept a surprise- the official lineup included ‘???’ in lieu of a name”; there were several speculations that the performer would be Frank Ocean (Yasharoff, 2019). Due to Frank’s very rare appearances in public, this caused many fans to be excited due to its mysterious reveal. Because of this, people expected him to perform at the festival. However, Frank Ocean did not come out; instead, Drake did. Drake is a professional rapper known globally for his music. Although he is a respected artist, the crowd was majorly upset. Drake was booed off the stage at Camp Flog Gnaw by the crowd in response to their frustration and disappointment for the absence of Frank Ocean.

The crowd surrounding Drake’s stage at the festival were angry and acted out on Drake because of displacement. Displacement is when anger is placed on someone or something else that is not the direct or actual cause of a problem. Because the fans were mad at the fact that Frank Ocean did not appear, they took their anger out on Drake and booed him. Instead of being mad at Frank, they decided to target Drake for the source of their frustration.

Because fans were angry that Frank was not there and took their anger out on Drake, in addition, they acted out in catharsis. Catharsis is the way in which people attempt to relieve their anger through action or thought. People booed Drake off the stage; even “after Drake left the stage, the crowd started chanting, ‘We want Frank!’” (LaConte, 2019). By booing, shouting and chanting, this provided the crowd to believe that they were relieving the anger and frustrations they had. However, though it seemed as if acting out would help their feelings of disappointment, it did not change their mentality or help them to feel better about the situation at hand.

Though it was disappointing that Frank Ocean was not the surprise headliner, it is incredibly rude and unfortunate that an artist was treated this way. Drake came out of his way to headline a festival and people were rude enough to boo and shout him off the stage. Though it is frustrating to expect one artist, it was never promised or confirmed. Because of this, it is awful to see that people were so ungrateful to be in the presence of another great artist.

 

References

LaConte, S. (2019, November 13). Drake Got Booed Off The Stage At A Concert And Now There’s Big Drama On Twitter. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephenlaconte/drake-booed-camp-flog-gnaw-frank-ocean-tyler-the-creator.

Yasharoff, H. (2019, November 11). Music festival curator Tyler, The Creator slams fans who booed Drake off the stage. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/11/11/drake-booed-off-camp-flog-gnaw-stage-surprise-headliner/2560244001/.

Britney Cantel

Republicans Point the Finger

Since the 2016 U.S. election, America has seen a large change in those who run and get elected into office. Many women and minority groups have taken their seat in Washington D.C. as U.S. citizens want to see a change from the status quo of career politicians. Of these newcomers is Ilhan Omar, a Muslim woman serving Minnesota’s 5th congressional district.

Since elected, Omar has experienced a lot of Republican backlash from questions of her U.S. citizenship to her religious choice to wear a hijab in the nation’s capital. Although she is in fact a United States citizen and has a right to wear what she chooses in D.C., for every action she seems to take towards one of her political views, Republicans dig deeper into their claims in a way to discredit her.

Earlier this month, emails from White House advisor Stephen Miller were leaked, showing hundreds of conversations Miller had with a Breitbart News reporter. In these emails, Miller was trying to push the idea of immigrants and rising crime, which has been debunked among sharing other articles from other noted white supremacist websites. With Democrats calling for his resignation, the White House stands behind Miller (Rose, 2019).

Omar, who had once tweeted about Miller calling him a white supremacist, brought this tweet back after the news of the leaked emails saying that she was right.

(Omar, 2019)

This was met with hostility from Republicans. A White House official even telling news stations that Omar’s comments “are the latest example of her well-known, well-documented, rampant anti-Semitism.” (Chiu, 2019). Republicans showed their support for these claims showing stereotype, a belief about the personal attributes of a group of people. Since Omar is of Islam faith, Republicans generalize that she is against Jewish people, without having any facts to back that up.

The Republican’s hostile take on a congresswoman calling out a White House advisor for proof of white supremacist ties begs the question: would the same anger be taken if Omar was not a Muslim woman? Most likely not as this is a clear example of discrimination, unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members, since Republicans are taking out this aggression out on Omar.

Brody Gaura

References 

Chiu, A. (2019, November 15). The GOP attacked Ilhan Omar for calling Stephen Miller a ‘white nationalist.’ She says his leaked emails prove her right. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/13/ilhan-omar-stephen-miller-leaked-emails-anti-semitic-white-nationalist/.

Omar, I. [@IlhanMN]. (2019, November 12). Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/11/26/783047584/leaked-emails-fuel-calls-for-stephen-miller-to-leave-white-house

Rose, J. (2019, November 26). Leaked Emails Fuel Calls For Stephen Miller To Leave White House. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/11/26/783047584/leaked-emails-fuel-calls-for-stephen-miller-to-leave-white-house.

 

Au Natural Beauty.

Through magazines on coffee tables, advertisement on billboards, or posts on your timeline, a variety of models are displayed everywhere for the public’s eye to see. Since mass media became one of society’s biggest influencers, we constantly find ourselves comparing and contrasting every perfection displayed to our own flaws and the repercussions have been detrimental. A resident of Tallahassee, Florida, Shoog McDaniel was one of many who suffered from this. As a nonbinary, trans using the pronoun “they”, Shoog found themselves in many difficult positions struggling with suicidal tendencies as a queer teenager. Not identifying with their peers and being the complete opposite of what everyone else defined beauty as. At the age of 18 years old, McDaniel found an escape for their mental illnesses through a pack of expired disposable cameras behind a pharmacy. This was the moment where their creativity was able to flourish into something that breaks the beauty standard beyond belief.

McDaniel’s has become one of the fewsubgroupingtrans people who dares to speak out against their stereotypeof being hidden from social media and living marginalized lifestyles. Shoog is a photographer of mainly nude, fat people posing in nature and enjoying life fully in order to embrace the human body. They explain that their message is to accentuate an idea where trans, overweight individuals should be valued just as much as any thin or straight person is through out a mass media basis. McDaniel says in her interview with Huffington Post“Most of the people that I photograph are queer and trans folks, because that is who is not represented in media but needs to be the most uplifted.”

Unfortunately, it is no secret that this is a controversial topic in the world, even Shoog addresses that they are continuouslydiscriminatedon many levels. When speaking on the stereotype threatthey elaborated on the hate mail they received which included death threat letters saying that promoting an unhealthy body should not be normalized and is harmful to the view of the public. McDaniel easily contradicts these claims by saying that they are simply trying to express the gracefulness of the bodies, “I feel like if I take a body and make a piece of art, it will be easier for some people to ingest and that it will eventually change what is limited as beautiful in the world.”

Shoog’s work is one of the few outlets that trans, let alone overweight trans people have been able to experience as positive. The backlash and hate that is targeting this community has been an ongoing issue for several years now and receives little to no encouraged attention. McDaniel says “You are able to connect so much more freely, without having eyes clocking you or telling you ‘Oh you shouldn’t be this way, or you’re acting in this way that might be wrong or weird. (In nature) There is nobody looking at you, only trees” they explain how nature is part of the coping process to dealing with the inequitable criticism of their style of living and in her work in particular, “It is a very liberating place; it is why I shoot nude. It’s really about freedom and a sense of wildness, returning back to nature.”

Sterling, Anna Lucente. “This Photographer Wants To Capture The Beauty Of Fat Bodies.” HuffPost, The Huffington Post, 21 Oct. 2019, www.huffpost.com/entry/photographer-fat-bodies-shoog-mcdaniel_n_5dadd484e4b0422422c99604.

It’s Not As Bad As You Thought , It’s Worse

               The forerunner in almost all things internationally has been stalling for the past decade. The United States Of America has unfortunately been on the decline in regards to the academic sector. Only a third of fourth-graders are deemed proficient in reading this is quite literally the future of the united states, and as time goes forward literacy is decreasing. Nationally around a third of eighth-graders are proficient in reading and math. The education secretary Betsy Devos was even quoted saying the overall national results are indicative of ” a student achievement crisis.”

                       The problem is we have conformed and obeyed an archaic educational system that we continuously pour money into which is not helping the main error. Another error I would say is the conformity and obedience that takes place currently on a student’s social sphere. Kids do not read as often that is just a general fact. They form these groups and then they bully the readers of the book. This turns the landscape of education to conform with us and alter your behavior so we are more comfortable; Obey our behavioral norms and bothering and harassment stops. Children, especially at the age groups that are falling behind international peers in education, are the ones that are the most sensitive to social influences and conformity and obedience are so obviously blatant. You ask a class right now who reads, I guarantee all will not raise their hand despite them reading even if they do by some statistical miracle. This carries over as I even said prior that as it develops it becomes adult conforming to the way things are and unknowingly but actively disenfranchising America’s education.

                         The problem with conformity I would say is that it is such a hard thing to tear from as it can genuinely be a good thing. Instruction that promotes more obedience from students has especially be beneficial throughout the educational experience. In Washington, they introduced free pre-k and this has demonstrated the academic layout to come to youth.   Also, I would say the consistent boasting that America is an individual’s country and individualistic has tainted our behavior. People now think they can perform and do as they please and that the system will help pick up where we lack.

                   This is no easy task of undoing centuries of conformity and obedience, but the lagging behind of our educational system, literacy and general academic proficiency is unacceptable for a twenty-first-century society. Schools are now only five to eight-point from the national averages. There is still more alteration needed to be done to our academic system to rid our students of their conformity to illiteracy and our policymakers in their rigidity to the tradition. Officials are actively disenfranchising students and pushing them to conform with the coasters and the chillers of our generation by pushing them to graduate regardless of truancy. If we keep on this path, we will all be so damn stupid that conformity and bad/good obedience won’t matter jack diddly. 

 

Citations Page

Associated Press. “American Students’ Performance Lags on Nation’s Report Card.” Daily Herald, Daily Herald, 30 Oct. 2019, https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20191030/news/310309929/.

Matt Lauer was once a staple for mornings in households across the country. However, accusations of sexual misconduct have begun filing against the former news anchor, which have all but destroyed his reputation. Brooke Nevils, a television producer, accused Lauer of raping her while they were on assignment covering the 2014 Sochi Olympics. After the initial complaint was filed, NBC fired Lauer promptly. Lauer now claims that this accusation is incorrect and that he and Nevils shared a consensual sexual relationship. His apology went on to confirm that he had an affair with Nevils, and that he had previously admitted to having said affair. Nevils confirmed part of his statement by agreeing that they had shared a consensual sexual relationship at times, but during the Sochi Olympics he had taken advantage of her while she was intoxicated and unable to give her consent. 

The situation that transpired between Lauer and Nevils following the Sochi Olympics embodies the idea of a cultural norm. Nevils experienced sexual assault and was afraid to report it in fear of losing her job or having her career suffer from the consequences. Lauer assaulted Nevils and went on with his life as if there wasn’t a problem with his actions. This is a common issue with powerful males in today’s culture that has been increasingly more popular as time goes on.  However, in today’s society, we have been able to observe women reporting the assaults that have happened to them and having their offenders get properly reprimanded. This is a norm in our society because it is something that happens almost daily, and it has gotten to the point where upon reading the news it is no longer shocking to read stories of sexual assault accusations. The interaction has become normalized by our society.

Lauer and Nevils also embody an example of gender roles. Nevils was fearful at the thought of filing her accusation because of the way it would negatively impact her and her career. Lauer was almost able to continue being the star of the Today Show and have the ability to hurt countless other people because his victim was scared to accuse him. This coincides with the roles that men and women typically play in theses scenarios; women living in constant fear over their assault while their male perpetrators walk free as if nothing happened. There are exceptions to this stereotypical relationship of sorts, but nonetheless Lauer and Nevils showcase this by embodying the idea that the victim, which is most often the women, is expected to move past it and coexist with their assaulter. In this case, Lauer and Nevils were coworkers, and Nevils was expected to return to work on a daily basis to work alongside the man who caused her intense damage. 

Sexual assault is no longer an acceptable cultural norm and the reaction to younger generations showcases the fact that situations similar to the one regarding Matt Lauer and Brooke Nevils will no longer be considered tolerable. The idea that a woman can undergo a traumatic experience such as what Nevils had to experience and feel as if she has to live with it in secret out of fear for her career is simply unacceptable. As much as it is a shame that these situations happen almost on a regular basis, it is rather cathartic to know that they are being handled with more respect and more seriously than in the past. This is an interesting way to consider the idea that cultural norms shift over time, and with this shift associated roles change as well.

 

Abbruzzese, J. (2019, October 9). Matt Lauer denies sexual assault allegation. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1064206.

Feed it, Don’t Eat it.

 

Feed it, Don’t Eat it

Maria DiZenzo

 

Health and fitness is becoming a new trend that has been gaining increasing popularity throughout the years. Recently, many companies have been launching vegan options in an effort to better accommodate the non-meat

Image result for vegan burger nestleand/or dairy eating population. Plant-based diets have since increased to 11% in the past year alone (Wiener-Bronner, 2019.) According to the CNN article, Jefferies, an American multinational investment bank, claimed that this initiative “could reach about $140 billion in sales over the next decade, capturing about 10% of the global meat industry, up from $14 billion currently” (Wiener-Bronner, 2019; Jefferies, 2019.) The first company to launch vegan choices aside from their normal foods is Nestle. Nestle is leaning into the plant-based trend by offering new vegan options for bacon and cheddar cheese. Along with this announcement, Nestle also decided that they would launch a plant-based patty that looks and tastes exactly like meat called the “Awesome Burger” (Wiener-Bronner, 2019.) Along with launching these three new products, Nestle is expanding its company to restaurants in order to keep up with and compete with other companies also engaging in the rapidly growing plant-based products initiative. Another reason behind the plant-based alternatives is because people want to eat fewer animal products to reduce greenhouse emissions. The meat industry believes that within the next decade, the alternative meat sector could reach about $140 billion in sales (Wiener-Bronner, 2019.) Many other companies along with Nestle including Kroger, Hormel Foods, Spam and AppleGate, Tyson, and Kellogg have come out with new vegan options as well  (Wiener-Bronner, 2019.)

After reading this, you may be questioning what is making people want to jump onto the band-wagon of this vegan plant-based diet? Well, the answer to that is conformity. Conformity is when someone changes the way they behave in an effort to be congruent with the actions or ideas of a group. Nowadays, it is very common that people are deciding to change their diets to plant-based because the health and fitness trend is becoming so popular. People are researching all the chemicals and products they are consuming when they eat meat and dairy and are deciding that it is not the lifestyle they want for themselves. This concept relates to the article because vegan diets are becoming more and more popular. Many people are learning about the health benefits of less meat, so they are conforming to what society is doing. The more people that start these diets, the more people start to conform to this vegan diet as well. Normative social influence, which branches off of conformity, is when a group does not want to be left out, and they want to be accepted by others. This concept relates to our article because the reason why the vegan trend is becoming increasingly popular is due to the general population engaging in normative social influence. The general population is noticing more and more people engaging in vegan habits, and in an effort to feel accepted by this group, they start to conform and change their diet to a vegan one. Therefore, this act of conforming to the vegan population then reduces the rejection they may have felt from the vegan population if they did not conform. Another concept that would relate to this article is evaluation apprehension. Evaluation apprehension refers to an individual’s concern for how others are evaluating them. This relates to our article because Nestle, and all of the other companies who embarked on this vegan initiative, did so because they were concerned about how they would be evaluated by the growing vegan/health/fitness population. From the company rolling in three new products, if this task is easy to do, then coming out with another new vegan product would not impair the companies ability to do so. If successfully releasing a new product becomes a difficult task to accomplish, then that would impair the company’s behavior negatively. Therefore, due to their concern for how they would be evaluated and how that evaluation would affect their company’s growth, they embarked on the vegan initiative.  

 

References 

Wiener-Bronner, D. (2019, October 10). Nestlé launches vegan alternatives to bacon and cheese. 

Retrieved October 31, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/10/business/nestle-vegan-bacon-cheese/index.html

 

Teamwork makes the dreamwork… or does it?

Picture this: One minute you’re on your way home from work, dozing off on the train. The next minute, you’re startled by the shouting of police officers yelling commands. Guns are being pointed in every direction, and every person on the train is a potential target. The passengers’ faces flicker with worry, the way the subway stops flicker when signifying a destination. Within minutes, the tranquil train is overcome with anxiety and dread.   

This very incident unfolded on the Lexington 4 train, as passengers witnessed a young boy being held at gunpoint. When police officers rushed onto the train brandishing weapons, passengers feared for their lives and quickly got out of their seats to huddle together. All except one. In the middle of this chaos, a young boy remained seated with his shaky hands held up over his head.

His name is Adrian Napier, a 19-year-old boy who was caught jumping a turnstile. When a group of officers approached him, Napier fled onto an incoming train. (Shepherd 2019). Unbeknownst to him, NYPD backup was called, and eventually 10-15 officers swarmed the train with guns pointing towards Napier and the other passengers. They tackled Napier and pushed him onto the ground, despite him being completely unarmed and compliant.

So, what happened? How did this small crime transform into something so deadly so quickly?

Deindividuation occurs in groups that foster responsiveness to group norms, whether good or bad. Police officers primarily share one goal: to enforce the law. However, when people are in bigger group settings, they tend to disregard personal views — such as the way to treat suspects — in order to focus on the goal at hand. When a large group of people work together as a singular unit, they might lose themselves, or lose a piece of who they are. 

According to Meyers (2018), “It is harder to imagine a single rock fan screaming deliriously at a private rock concert, or a single police officer beating a defenseless offender or suspect.” The same can be applied to police brutality: police officers may respond to their teammates’ abuse of authority by mirroring the same actions. This can lead to scary — and sometimes, life threatening — situations. They may disregard common protocol when they are in high stress situations Deindividuation and groupthink typically go hand in hand.  Groupthink is the practice by which group members disregard thinking for themselves, and are more concerned with group agreement. This tends to arise in situations that encourage conformity and high cohesiveness.In law enforcement, there is little to no time to think about the decisions you make before you make them. This can lead officers to hide personal concerns in order to maintain harmony and order.

When we make the decision to join groups — whether its becoming a student at a university, joining a club, or becoming an employee — we lose a piece of our identity. You are not just “you” anymore; you are another employee, another police officer, and this can take away from who you really are. In law enforcement, this can create a diffusion of responsibility, making officers not feel as guilty if they mistreat a suspect or criminal. Similarly, the actions within a police unit can influence the police officers and make them lose their sense of selves. This can result in officers who simply go along with following orders, even if those orders are not exactly moral, in order to enforce the law. The police officers were so engrossed in taking down this “criminal” that they forgot who he truly was: a teenage boy who couldn’t pay the $2.75 fare. 

I am in no way trying to defend Napier; I definitely believe that his actions warrant some form of consequence. At the same time, however, I believe that the police officers blew the situation entirely out of proportion. By becoming engrossed in enforcing the law, the police officers put many people’s lives in danger and struck fear into the hearts of people that they were trying so desperately to protect.

Myers, D. G., Twenge, J.M. (2018). Exploring Social Psychology (Eighth Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Nehorai, E. (2019, October 25). In case you’re wondering how an arrest in NYC goes down. pic.twitter.com/dAstrtMntz. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/PopChassid/status/1187838293104304130?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1188139071316615169&ref_url=https://twitter.com/YoliZama/status/1188139071316615169.

Shepherd, K. (2019, October 29). Police filmed tackling and pointing guns at teenager who dodged £2 train fare. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-york-police-subway-fare-dodging-guns-video-brooklyn-a9175556.html.

Azell Rodriguez

Messing up my DRIP

October 31, 2019

Being a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), there are many rules and regulations that have to be followed. The NBA is one of the most wealthiest and most known associations in the world. Even though it’s seen as entertainment, for the company and players it’s more as a business. These players sign certain contracts where they make millions of dollars and sign off against certain rules. The NBA and its commissioner Adam Silver has a lot of power and can make some scary decisions.  These athletes sometimes like to take matters into their own hands and sometimes do things that the NBA doesn’t like, such as only being able to dress up classy with a suit for courtside games, unable to wear fancy jewelry, and different amount of accessories. If the NBA doesn’t agree or if players don’t follow the rules they can either be fined by the league or suspended for sometime without pay.

Having that type of power can affect a lot of people, and for these players this is their job, most of them players haven’t finished college. Basketball is all they know, they wouldn’t know how to do anything else. Being suspended for sometime usually comes without pay which forces these players to follow the rules even if something doesn’t seem that important. In one case with the NBA, they fined some athletes for not hiding their tattoos. Don’t get me wrong, these players also like to have their voice be heard, so they will speak up when they feel like the NBA is cooperating like they should. The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), is where players throughout the league are selected to represent the players in their own right. Before the start of the 2019 season, the NBA notified all players the banning of the ninja style headbands, and for many players that rubbed them the wrong way. The NBA’s main reason for banning these headbands were “teams having raised concerns regarding safety and consistency of size, length and how they are tied, which requires a thorough review before consideration of any rule change (Saddler).” Another interesting point, the headbands were made by nike, which is a manufacturer for the NBA,  it was a nike product so it didn’t make sense why the NBA forced players not to wear them, Mike Scott said “Who knows why the league has decided to no longer allow these headbands. It’s even more confusing given that Nike is the manufacturer of this particular piece of sartorial flair, and the idea that the NBA would take money out of the hands of its apparel partner is sort of odd (Delgado).” Players right away took to twitter, complaining about how the NBA doesn’t want their players dressing unprofessionally. 

This move by the NBA shows them using their power and knowing these players would follow by the rules anyways. This action by the NBA displays the concept of obedience, which is a  type of compliance involving acting in accord with a direct order or command, these players had no other choice than to follow the rules. As stated before the players really don’t have any other choice with this ban of headbands for the league, if they continue to wear it, it will eventually lead into fines and suspensions, and with the season just starting no player wants to miss games when they don’t have to. When Milgram brought up obedience, he spoke on different situations. With the NBA they used the concept of legitimacy of authority, these players know the league has all the power in their own future, they know what consequences come with wearing these headbands.

What’s interesting about the decision of banning headbands, the NBA only looks out for themselves as a business and not the benefits of the players. With this action it shows another display of the lowball technique, which is a tactic for getting people to agree to something. People who agree to an initial request will often still comply when the requester ups the ante. Throughout training camp and practice, there was a dress code that allowed these used of headbands, which players felt excited about bringing out new colors and designs on these headbands. When the ban came to light the NBA knew players like “Jimmy Butler, Jrue Holiday, and Mike Scott, had embraced the look but would also feel a certain way with the banning of them (Saddler).” The NBA knew these players in reality wouldn’t fight back because they’re not going to want to lose their job over headbands, but most players felt it was harmless to the game. This gave the NBA an upper hand on these players knowing they still want to be paid and basketball isn’t just a job but a lifestyle to these guys.

Delgado, Dane. “NBA Reportedly Bans Ninja-Style Headbands in 2019-20.” ProBasketballTalk, NBC Sports, 8 Sept. 2019, nba.nbcsports.com/2019/09/08/nba-reportedly-bans-ninja-style-headbands-in-2019-20/.

Brice-Saddler, Michael. “Analysis | An Ode to the NBA’s ‘Ninja-Style’ Headbands: Gone but Not Forgotten.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 Sept. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/09/11/an-ode-nbas-ninja-style-headbands-gone-not-forgotten/.

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