Jesus Camp

It is crazy that I have spent almost a month researching Evangelism, and never truly felt I "knew" this religion until last night. Doc Oc suggested I watch the documentary Jesus Camp, and it was truly eye-opening. It follows a very radical, fundamental Evangelist summer camp in North Dakota. Truthfully, it was shocking. There were children crying, seizuring, and speaking in tongues(click HERE). Parents were homeschooling children and blatantly teaching their children global warming was a hoax by liberals. Children were approaching strangers in the park and asking for their vow to accept Jesus. These same children were vowing to die in the name of Jesus Christ. I tried to be as subjective and non-judgemental as possible, but for someone so used to the North Shore, it became pretty difficult to watch. My mom had to leave the room.

While this was all so fascinating to observe, I think the biggest culture shock to me was just how important religion is in the lives of these people. They speak, breathe, and eat in the name of Jesus Christ. Everything in their lives is dictated by religion. It was eye-opening in the least, and yet I completley understand that this is not remotely close to what all Evangelists lives are like. These are the most extreme of the extreme.

I highly suggest to my peers that they look into a documentary or movie about their topic. While books are articles are fine, they can never grasp the images and footage that movies can reveal.

Junior Theme...

Only several days until the "full draft" is due, and I am lagging painfully behind. I believe it is a combination of my tendency to procrastinate and my obsessive-compulsive need to finish every step in my writing process. Right now I have an intro, an effective thesis, and a fairly decent outline. But because I am so picky about the writing process, I need to completely finish my outline with all evidence I will use so I can begin.

Despite not having officially began the writing process, I have already learned so much from this paper. Yes, I know a crazy amount of statistics and facts about Evangelism. But so far I have learned the most about me and my writing habits. As of now I am behind and very stressed. But if I have learned anything this year in American Studies, it is that sometimes stress is exactly what I need to get a paper done.

Praise the Confederacy-Hallelujah!

My Junior Theme topic is the Development of Evangelism in the South. It began with me having a pretty basic, not-too-complicated observation: Christianity is a big part of the South's culture. From there it morphed into why. Why is the South so Christian? Specifically, why is the South mostly associated with Evangelical Christianity.

I have learned a lot from my research. But what I didn't realize is how connected the development of Christianity in the South is to everything we have learned in class so far. In a blog I wrote earlier this year, I Pledge Allegiance, To The Flag, Of The Confederacy , I spoke of the rampant Confederate flag seen throughout the South and Southern culture today. I linked this to the Reconstruction- Are the reconstruction plans we had in part to blame?

After my research, I learned a lot more about the post Civil War South. In part to reaffirm their identity, and in part to ensure their wartime losses and efforts weren't in vain; the South maintained Confederate rituals well into twentieth century. They dedicated monuments to Confederate heroes, issued a Confederate Memorial Day, and had a vast array of art idolizing the Confederate army. The organizations, such as the still-exisiting United Daughters of The Confederacy, also glorified the Confederacy.

And how is religion tied in? Confederate heroes were preachers at revival meetings and viewed as martyrs. The civil war wasn't just a war for freedom, it was a war for Jesus. It is interesting how everything is tied together. This project doesn't just answer the question we initially asked. In my quest to answer that one question, I have found answers to questions we have been asking all year long in American Studies.

School of Racism

As a child, I loved the Jack Black comedy School of Rock. But while watching the movie again this weekend; I noticed very prominent racial tokenism taking place. The plot of the movie consists of a deadbeat musician, Jack Black, posing as a certified substitute teacher at an elite private elemantary school. They then proceed to form a rock band and perform in shows. While assigning each student's role in the band, he chooses very stereotypical positions for each race. Out of the three back-up singers, two are African-American girls with powerful voices. And out of the "groupies", all three are little, blonde-haired-blue eyed girls. In bands, groupies generally follow the band and have sexual relationships with the members, and are often identified as white.

Not only are these stereotypical placements, but it's also the director of the movie "playing it safe." They are avoiding controversy of having black girls appear remotely promiscuous by instead playing it safe with the stereotype that black girls are good singers. What is so scary about this scenario is that this is a movie with kids, for kids. This racial tokenism is encouraging children to develop subconscious racial stereotypes at a young age. Perhaps the best way to decrease racism in America is to stop it at its root, with our highly impressionable youth.

Not So Funny

There seemed to be a very common theme while going through our tv tokenism presentations: black comedians clearly mocking black people. Dave Chappelle, for example, acted out black musician Lil John in an extremely offensive and stereotypical manner. I laughed at his ridiculous representations, but at the same time felt a pang of guilt for laughing. Similar to the Bamboozled clips, these characters are stupified and ridiculous. The common response to this point? It's not racist because Dave Chappelle is black himself.

It's not just Dave Chappelle. It seems to be a multicultural comical strategy to encourage stereotypes on your own culture. Larry David, a famous Jewish comedian, makes countless stereotypical and offensive jewish quips and jokes. This clip (click HERE), from his show Curb Your Enthusiasm, clearly mocks a "holocaust survivor." Aziz Ansari, Indian actor and comedian, compares a chubby Indian child to a shooting star that is "fat, brown, and on the ground."

It's not just famous comedians either. I have heard the response "It's okay, I'm Jewish/Asian/etc." countless times at New Trier. There is a common notion that if you yourself are of a certain ethnicity, it gives you the right to make fun of it. '

Quite clearly, this is wrong. Mocking your own ethnicity and backing up stereotypes only gives others the belief that these stereotypes are valid. You may believe it gives you power to be able to poke fun at yourself, but in reality it just gives the public the complete power to poke fun at your entire race.

The Office, La Ofis, Le Bureau, y La Job

Lately, due to our heated class discussions on televisions, I look at the television industry in new eyes. No longer is it an industry to serve and entertain the people; but rather a money making machine meant to lure people into the world of advertisements. Every show is made with one intention: to boost ratings and thus boost advertising revenue. Many of the television shows we watch aren't original; they are merely copies of other shows successful in similar countries, the networks praying that the same success will arise in their own country. A popular, NBC network sitcom, The Office, is an example of this lack of originality.

The Office, based of the British sitcom by Ricky Gervais, has adapted versions in fourteen other countries. Countries such as China, Germany, and France all boost their own versions. The networks see the success in other countries, identify similarities between their audiences, and view potential for cashing in the big bucks. And the similarities between these countries? They are all, for the most part, economically advanced. So why is it that the people that suffer endlessly trapped in their nine-to-five office jobs go home to watch more people suffering endlessly in their nine-to-five office jobs? Is it that they can relate? Laugh at themselves? Play out office fantasies of having a more exciting office atmosphere? Or maybe the humor and wittiness of The Office is just what they need to escape from their own office.

He Said, She Said

While our class was editing various papers of anonymous classmates today, my notes weren't on how to revise my own paper. Rather, I was tracking and tallying how my classmates referred to the writer of the paper. The results were shocking. The females didn't mention gender in their references to the author, while the males generally assumed the author was a male.

So does this mean all the males in my class are sexist? I don't think so. But what does this mean?
This theme can be seen throughout pop culture. Why is g-d always referred to as a he? Why is mother nature a she? Is does seem slightly racist that the dominant, all powerful force is a male while the caring, motherly force is female. And, I do believe ,these are sexist assumptions. But I still refuse to believe my male classmates are sexist.

I'm stuck. It would be one thing if both males and females referred to the author in the same manner, but they don't. So, do males assume an anonymous is a male because their sexist, egotistical, dominant, or just from basic instinct? And why is it that females make more asexual assumptions?