American Regress

This is the picture that I used for my final exam. I think that this picture shows regress of America. I think that the picture is supposed to be Uncle Sam at his weakest, saying that Americans are weak. It is saying that we are lost and need money, and that America is losing. In World War II Uncle Sam was a strong character, he "wanted you". In this picture he "needs your help". This shows hows America has regressed and not progressed. In the final I said that this picture shows desecration to the flag. This shows desecration to the flag, because he is wearing American flag clothes, his stripped pants, and starred shirt around his waste, are both touching the dirty ground with the weight of his body squishing it to the dirt. Also he is using the American flag hat to beg for money, having people put coins from all around in it with the filth of the McDonald's that they just got the change from. His long hair, unshaven face, and no shoes shows that he is facing the bad economy like everyone else, he is poor and in a low social class and needs help like every other average Joe in America now. The sign sitting next to him says "Anything Helps" this shows that he is so desperate that he would take anything. I think that Uncle Sam in this picture is supposed to show what America is like now, he is supposed to represent the average Americans and about the Americans who are suffering from the regression and this bad economy.

Lanuguages

Last night I was thinking about how cool it would be to speak a language fluently. My brother just got back from spending 6 months in Spain, and now is pretty much fluent in Spanish. I speak a little bit of French, Spanish, and Hebrew, but how cool would it be to be fluent in all three. My friends mom is a translator for the UN and I think that job would be so cool. She speaks like 12 different languages, and gets to travel all over the world. One of my goals in life would be to be fluent in at least one other language than English. After thinking about this yesterday, when I went to bed part of my dream was in Hebrew. I think that it is so cool if you think about that. Dreaming in another language? What does that mean? I also think that it is wierd that there are all these languages around the world, and there is not one person who can go everywhere in the world and know what everyone is saying. My brother who just got back from Barcelona, said that even in the city of Barcelona they had their own language that was completely different from Spanish. I was looking on my Facebook page, and I am friends with people from Israel and Australia, when I read what they wrote, it amazes me that people can be friends with people from other countries even if they don't always know what they are saying. Even though Australians speak English, it is not the same English that we speak, just like in England that is not the same Emglish that we speak. The world started out with only one language, or maybe no language at all, so how did all these different dialects come to be? It is mind boggling. How do some countries speak the same languages, yet they are so far away from each other, and some that are right next to each other speak completely different languages?

What is your opinion on language? Would you rather everyone in every country speak one language, or  be fluent in many languages?

Here is a link to all the different languages of the world: http://www.123world.com/languages/

Why do we watch a team that loses?

The Chicago Cubs have lost the last 7 games. Why do we continue to watch and support our team? The Cubs have been losing for a century and yet they are one of the teams in baseball that has consistent fans and the ball park is always full. Most teams even with a winning season, can barely fill half the park and the Cubs always need standing room. The Cubs have on average 40,000 fans a game and they still have that many fans even though they have lost the last 7 games. They stink and yet we still pay to watch. I am sitting at home watching the game tonight and seeing that they are winning for once, I am surprised, but do I expect a win, NO! Are you crazy, there is a slim chance that when you watch a Cubs game they are actually going to win. Even though over the past few years they have gone to the playoffs, they always seem to screw it up. I am one of those devoted Cubs fans, I have been since the day I was born. My grandparents have had season tickets for 20 years and they are still loyal and go to the games and they can still sell their tickets. People still want to watch the Cubs lose, and I am one of those people I just can not seem to understand why. The Cubs are also one of the only teams in the MLB that will have fans at every game no matter where the game is played. I think that with this bad economy people would be cutting back, but I have been to two games this year and the park is always filled and people are still buying food and souvenirs like always. 

Would you spend money to go watch a team lose in this economy?

Why do you think that people are still Cubs fans and will be forever even though they have not won a World Series in over a century?

American Flag Cubs Hat

For the past week in my Anerican Studies class we have been talking about the American Flag and how it can be represented in different ways. We have talked about how people use the flag as plates on the fourth of July and how after September 11th how a lot of Americans hung a flag, and how now a lot of those people have taken down their flags. We talked about how people when they run a marathon afterwards they drape themselves with an American Flag. Isn't that disrespectful? putting the flag all over your sweaty body. We talked about how they lay the flag over a dead soldiers coffin and how that is a honor to have the flag. We also talked about how you can not burn the flag and you can not have the flag touch the ground, and you have to fold the flag in a certain way.

This weekend we were supposed to take a picture of the flag in some way and analyze it. I decided to take a picture of one of my Cubs hats. In the "C" on the hat there is an American Flag. This is the hat that they wore last September 11th. All the teams in baseball wear the same thing, it has their logo and an American Flag in it. I think that it is interesting that they have the baseball players all wear the American Flags in a suttle way. I also think that it is interesting that they would sell the hats for Americans to buy. Since baseball is an American sport and most Americans watch it, I think that it is interesting that they would choose that sport to wear an Amerian Flag. We know how the flag is used in other places and times, like times of war the flag is used to represent our country. I think that in this case where the flag is on the hat, it is there to remember what happened on September 11th. I think that it is interesting that baseball is still remembering, but other Americans are taking down their flags. In my house we used to only put the flag up aroung July 4th. Now we have the flag up all year long hanging outside our house.

Swine Flu

So a lot of people are freaking out about the swine flu, and I do not understand why. The normal flu kills around 30,000 people each year, this flu has killed almost no amount compared to that. The whole thing with if one person in your school gets sick with swine flu, the school has to close down for 7 days, that is crazy. I don't think that if one person has swine flu that the whole school would have to shut down, and even if it did have to shut down not for a whole week.  

On Friday in my Ameircan Studies class, someone said that in egypt they were killing all of their pigs because pigs are the ones that create swine flu. First of all the pigs in Egypt are meant to eat compost and they are just making their environment worse by killing all the pigs. Second, you can not actually get swine flu from pigs. 

Also in class we were talking about how the name swine flu was offensive to Arabs because swine means pig in Arabic, so they had to change the name. I think that it is stupid and who cares if the disease is named a word that translates into pig, I don't see how this is offensive, most people who speak Arabic do not eat pig any way, so they should not take it to offense. 

I think that the whole epidemic is being over done by the media and that if the media did not make a big deal of it then it would not have made people freak out. 

What do you think about all this? Do you think that the swine flu is a big deal or made to be bigger by the media? 

Junior Theme: Body Paragraphs

I have a section of my paper done, it is the middle part of my paper. I thought that it would be the easiest section to write, so I started there. I am going to share it with all of you. I hope you like, and remember it is just a rough draft. Please comment on what you think I could do better. 

The media manipulates Americans subliminally. Advertising agencies use subliminal means—means that we are not conscious of—to persuade us to buy the products and services (Berger 63). Americans are being manipulated by the media with out even knowing. When people walk into a store and are deciding what to buy they will buy the product that they were unconsciously thinking about from an advertisement.  Most people don’t know when they are being influenced by an advertisement. 8.8 hours per day is spent with the media (55). That is ridiculous; most of the time that a person is awake during the day is spent with the media. On the way to work there are billboards, radio commercials, newspaper ads, and so on. Most of an average person’s day is spent being manipulated by the media with out being aware of it. The way that the media is so successful and gets Americans to consume is by subliminal advertisements. There are secret messages with in an ad. There are ways that they make their service or product successful and people don’t even know why they are buying the product. Wilson Bryan Key in Subliminal Seduction explains that the basis of modern media effectiveness is a language within a language—one that communicates to each of us at a level beneath our conscious awareness (62). Each ad has a deeper meaning that is beneath the surface, and we do not see that meaning, but our mind does, unconsciously see the deeper meaning.

            Advertisement affects the mind; there is a deep, hidden unconscious force that manipulates the mind with out being aware of it. Berger explains that many people overestimate the role of willpower and think that nothing can happen to their minds that they do not decide or intend. He says that we must discriminate between intentional and unintentional contents of the mind (61). When watching a commercial on television most people think that they can with stand the manipulation to buy what is being advertised, but what most people don’t realize is that even if you are not consciously being manipulated by an ad, there is a deeper level that manipulates Americans without knowledge of it.  Some people think that consumers are always aware of what is going on and that the media can not manipulate them unconsciously.

            Not only does the media manipulate Americans subliminally to over consume, Americans are also influenced by what others do too. When one person is subliminally manipulated by the media, then others are subliminally manipulated by that person. It is a chain reaction that the media manipulates, leading Americans into over consuming. Humans are inherently social animals, and individuals greatly influence each other (Perner). When one person wears a designers’ clothes, then all their friends want those designers’ clothes also, when one buys many follow, which leads to over consuming. Without even realizing it everyone is influencing someone else and someone is influencing that person, so it is a cycle of wanting and over consuming. Berger states that we are always marketing ourselves to others and they are always marketing themselves to us, this is the manipulation which leads to over consumption (66). People are unaware that they are being influenced by other people. They see a skinny pretty lady or a strong man wearing something and they think that they unconsciously think that if they buy that product that they will look like that too. Thus when that person walks into the store they will see the outfit and without thinking they will buy because they unconsciously know about the other person wearing the outfit, even if the person is unaware of it. 

Junior Theme Intro

This is my rough draft of my Intro, please comment with suggestions of what you think I need to fix or what you think I did really well.

Americans on average spend one entire year of their life watching television commercials (Berger 57). That’s not including all the other forms of advertising like print ads in magazines, or newspapers, or radio ads. Throughout history Americans have become more and more materialistic and have become over consumers; the media does not help. From the Industrial Revolution and through World War II Americans have always been consumers and now with this bad economy you would think that it would change, but once a consumer always a consumer. There is a basic level of consumption out there that is not going to change (Underhill). We continue to consume at a greater rate each day (Potter). One purpose of the media is to manipulate the behavior of Americans and get them to use or buy the product being advertised. This is why the media is very influential in the way that Americans consume. The media manipulates Americans subliminally and blatantly which leads Americans into over consuming. Advertising tells Americans what they should want to have, and with almost no self control they consume. Americans are unable to escape the constant presence of the media.

Junior Theme

I am on the right track. I have my introduction and my thesis, and I am interviewing my person tonight. I am almost done with my book. I feel good. I feel like I am on pace. We have the ACT and the PSAE tomorrow and Thurday, and we get out of school at like 1:00pm so I am going to go home and write my body paragraphs. I am feeling good about my junior theme.

Junior Theme

I have my question which is Why does the media manipulate Americans into over consuming? I think that this is pretty much my final question. I have the person that I am interviewing, which is Dr. Brian Winsink. He is a professor at Cornell and is the author of Mindless Eating and he also teaches courses on Consumer behavior and has lots of other great achievements in his lifetime. I am excited to interview him. I am still working on my thesis and Intro paragraph. I am not quite sure what my answer to my question is, and I think that it is throwing me off that I know that it might change while writing this paper. If anyone has any ideas for how to go about writing my thesis please help.

Junior Theme

I am having some trouble coming up with a thesis to my junior theme questions which is why are Americans consumers? I changed it from why are Americans consumer focused? I think that it makes more sense to talk about why Americans are consumers than why they are consumer focused. So far I have information about history and consumerism and I also have the idea that a big part of consumerism in advertisement. I can not think of an idea to put it into a thesis or have an introduction. I think that I want to state my question into the introduction as a rhetorical question. Any Ideas please feel free to comment.

Also I was wondering if anyone had an idea of a person that I could interview. I already emailed Paco Underhill who wrote the book Why We Buy. If anyone has any ideas of a person of type of person that I can interview. Please comment.

Junior Theme

I think that I pretty much have the question for my junior theme. It is Why are Americans consumer focused? I think that it is a good question. I am going to look at the pre-1920s when Americans were not consumer focused and at the Industrial Revolution, and now with the economic crisis the rates of savings and consumer debt and how they have changed over time. I think that it is going to be an interesting topic. I think that learning about this topic might actually help me for the future to not be so consumer focused because I will learn about the debt that Americans get in and it will teach me the bad about consumerism. If anyone has any ideas of what else I should look into or anything that will help me on my junior theme, feel free to comment.

Psychology of Advertising

This week in my American Studies class we got our prompt for what we have to do for our junior themes. I was thinking that I wanted to do something with America and how Americans are so materialistic. Then I thought that with in that topic I could look at consumerism in America, and the psychology of advertising. I began to think about the psychology of advertising and how when I watch TV and I see all these infomercials, I always wonder if anyone actually buys the product that is being sold on the TV. I never have even considered calling in to the people on TV to ask for the product, because I feel like they are going to scam you. People must call in other wise it would be a waste of time and money to be having these infomercials. I think that it is amazing that when an American sees an ad they feel as if they need that product, but if they had not seen the ad they would have never thought about buying the product before. Advertising is basically a scam to try and make people buy a product that most people do not actually need in life. Advertising is an interest of mine because it shows how that mind works, if a famous person has a product, then you need the product too, if the product has a catchy song to it then everyone knows the product. Like McDonald's, everyone knows that their slogan is "I'm Lovin' it" and most people know the phone number to Empire or Luna the carpet places. This is all because of their advertising and how they market their product. I am excited to start my junior theme on this topic so that I can have further discoveries about the psychology of advertising.

Religion

The other day I was talking with my grandpa about religion. We started talking about how most wars are fought over religion. I thought about what if the world only had one religion, what would we have to fight about? I kept pondering the idea of a one religion world, or a no religion world. I wonder if it would make the world better or worse? What would happen to the human race? I think that in parts of the world it would be a lot more peaceful like in the Middle East. Without religion to fight over and a battle of who gets what land because you were raised to think that the other people are the bad guys. Like Israel and the Gaza Strip. What do you think would happen if the World only had one religion? Do you think it would be better if the world had no religion? I think that the World would be a lot more peaceful, but countries would still probably find something to fight about.

South wins Civil War

In class today we were talking about the reconstruction after the Civil War and whether or not it was a failure or a success. This got me thinking about what today would be like if the south had won the Civil War, and how my life would have changed. I know that we live in the North and slaves were free in the North, but how would you feel if the United States were not unified? What if there were still slaves in the South? I think that my life would be completely different. I have many friends who are black and that would not be thinkable, and I also don't know if I would approve of what was happening in the South and how could you act if you think that half of your country is wrong, is it unpatriotic to think that what half of your country is doing is wrong. If the South won the Civil War would they have taken over the North? Since the North made the South abolish slavery, if the South won, would the make the North have slavery?
What are your thoughts?
How would our lives as we know it be changed if the South would have won the Civil War?

Propaganda of New Trier

In American Studies today we talked a little bit about propaganda and persuasion, and we also talked about what New Trier wants to be portrayed like and the different signs and posters that are all around, I went to each class looking more critically and more alert of my surroundings. I always noticed the signs of all the languages in the P stairwell, but I never knew what they said, and I don't think that I have ever seen the one that is in English, I am sure that they have it somewhere, but I think that it is funny that New Trier puts up all the different language signs in the busiest stairwell, so that they can show all the people that come that New Trier is a diverse place with many different cultures and languages. I know that this was mentioned in class today, but I think that it is funny that on the announcements they only say if New Trier was first or second in State, and in the gyms there are only flags that have state champion wins and it is for basically every sport that New Trier offers. Most schools are excited if they get to regionals, but at New Trier it is basically win State or lose. I think that they only have all the State champions because they want to show other schools that we are better than they are and we will beat them. We also talked about the different copies of paintings that are many classrooms and I think that this is also funny, because who ever put them up are saying that we are intellectual and forcing other people to think that we are intellectual by putting up a few paintings. New Trier wants to be known and wants to be good at everything and it is an incentive to go to New Trier and be good at everything because you go there.
What do you notice when you walk through the halls? What propaganda does New Trier use?

First Ever

This weekend I was on an airplane and the movie that they were showing was called Flash of Genius. The movie was about the guy who invented the timed wind shield wipers. It was a big deal because this guy tried to sell his wipers to car companies and no one would buy it. Then Ford decided to copy the model and make their own with out giving the guy any credit. So with when the man finds out that Ford stole his model he sues them for all that he has, and now to this day every wiper that is made on a car his family (since he is dead) gets paid a certain amount of money. I thought that it was funny that they made a movie of this guy’s story, and it had Hollywood stars in it also. In my American Studies class we were talking about how people talk about first ever, for example like Christopher Columbus and how people think he is the first ever to come to America. In American Studies we were also talking how a lady was suing McDonalds because she spilled her coffee and got burned and there was no caution on the cup that the coffee was hot. I thought that it was amazing that someone who was the “first ever” can get money and recognition by a movie and there are people who actually are the firsts that no one knows about. If you have any incite on “first evers” or know of a “first ever” that no one knows about, I would like to know and so would other people who read this blog. 

And the Oscar goes to...

The Academy Awards are on tonight and there are many different ways that it could go. Most years, they have a comedian be the host, like in previous years, they have had Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, and Chris Rock. This year they are having Hugh Jackman be the host. Everyone loves Hugh Jackman but can he really host the Academy Awards? He is not a funny guy. Will he be able to live up to the great expectation and myth that the Academy Awards host has to live up to? I think that it will be an interesting night, to see how he tackles the Academy Awards, and if he does comedy or makes it a serious thing. Also the whole thing with Heath Ledger and whether or not he should get the award for best supporting actor or not. There are many different ways that you could reason. Obviously he is going to win, no doubt. But if he were still alive would he even be nominated? How would you feel if you were one of the other people in the category of best supporting actor, if you won you would feel bad, and if you lose, you are losing to a dead guy. Also who will accept the award for Heath. I know that when his daughter turns 18 she gets to have the award if he wins (he will), but until then because she is like 4 or something now, who gets it? What will happen to it? Also it is amazing that a movie like Slumdog Millionaire, which probably cost very little to make will win for best motion picture. I thought that it was a good movie, but it is so cool, that a director who is no one, and it starred people who are no bodies can win for best motion picture. That is really cool. 

What are other controversies of the Oscars? can you think of any. 

Lincoln's B-Day

This past Thursday was the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. In my American Studies class we went and listened to teachers talk about Lincoln and about the different mythologies that people have about Abraham Lincoln. It was very interesting. I had no idea that Lincoln died on Good Friday. I think that it is amazing the coincidence of that. Lincoln was not very well liked or appreciated before he died, but afterwards he was honored and was considered a martyr. Before listening to the speakers, I had no idea that Lincoln was compared to Jesus and Moses, I think that it is amazing that a president can be compared to biblical characters. I don't know for sure, but I don't think that there are any other presidents that are compared to such big biblical characters like Moses and Jesus. I really did not know much about Lincoln before listening to the speakers and it was very interesting. I learned that he has two sons that died and their deaths was a public mourning for the Lincoln family. Every Thursday Lincoln would go into one of his sons room, because he had died on a Thursday. I never knew that Lincoln wanted his son to be buried in Springfield so Lincoln and his family were going to go on a train to Springfield with the casket, but then Lincoln was shot and him and his son were on the same car of the train on the way to Springfield both in their caskets. I think that it is amazing that he was with his son, which is what he wanted but not in the way that he wanted it to be. 

There are many myths about Lincoln also. We are not told any of that when we learn about him in elementary school, we are taught about the shooting in the theater and how he was shot. After he was shot he lived for about another 8 hours, I never knew that. They moved him to a place across the street from the theater and there was only enough space in that room for like 10 people and in all the stories and pictures, they show hundreds of people by Lincoln in his death bed, I think that the myth of all these people being by Lincoln on his death bed is kind of a funny thing to believe in because when a person is dying why would other people want to be around him unless they were really close to him or his family. 

I think that it is amazing that I never knew most of this stuff until we went and saw the teachers speak about the history of Lincoln. I kind of wish that there were no myths, and when you learn things you learn all the facts and that they are all true.

Mythology of Race

Today in American Studies class we were talking about different races and what defines race. I thought that this topic was very interesting and before discussing this I thought that I knew what race was, but after our discussion in class I was really confused and had to rethink everything that I thought before. Mr. Bolos said that growing up he was told their were five races: white, black, brown, yellow, and red. When I heard this I was beside myself, I had never thought that there could only be five races in the world, before our discussion I thought that there were many races and that there was no way that someone could name them. I did not think that colors could describe a race. I think that race is more than just the color of someones skin, it is where they are from, where they were raised, and their physical features. Using Mr. Bolos as an example again, he is Greek American, he told us that he was born in America but raised Greek, so I would say that his race is Greek, he did not think as himself as American growing up, so his race is not American. I think that ethinicity plays a part into race and how we chose what races we have in the world. Is a race the way you look, or the way you potray yourself? I think that it depends on the person. What would you say Obamas race is? He is dark skinned, his dad is black and his mom is white, raised by his grandmother, born in Hawaii, and raised in Illinois.
What is your opinion on race?
How many races do you think we have in the world? Can you name them all?
How do you define race?

Myths of Sports

Is there such thing as a myth of sports? Think about it. Think about what is happening this Sunday. In case you don't know, it is Superbowl Sunday, one of the most watched sporting events of the year. It is ridiculous what people buy in to. This myth that the Superbowl is so exciting and that everyone needs to watch it. There is a fight over the commercials and who gets to host it(TV channel). I think that this year fox is hosting it and they have to pay a lot of money to be able to have the Superbowl on their channel. I think that people just buy into the myth that this game will determine the rest of their life and nothing else can happen on this Sunday except the game. I know that in my family we have a huge party that my parents have been throwing for 25 years and that the hundred people or so that come all buy into the myth also. I probably buy into the myth as well. What about the myth of athletes, they get paid millions of dollars for entertaining. Doing what they are good at. Why don't doctors or teachers get paid that much? Why do people support the myth of athletes and go and support them at their sporting event? I don't think that people control the myths that they believe in, I think that they are just handed something and buy into it with no real thought. What do you think?

Obama's first week on the job

In case you are just an oblivious person and has no idea what has been going on in the United States for the past few months, you should know that we now have a new president. Not only do we have a new president but it is a historic occasion, he is the closest thing that we have had to an African American president, he is half African American and half white. He is the closest thing that we have to a president that does not fit the norm. Every president that we have had has been white and mostly old and has had the same type of look, but I don't think that you can say that with our newest president Barack Obama. On Tuesday it will have been his first week as the president of the United States of America. I wonder how it feels, how can a man go from living in Chicago and being in politics for only a few years to running our country and change the perspective of the U.S. It is a huge change that I am happy that will happen in my lifetime. A few years ago when Hilary Clinton was rumored to run for president people thought that it was a joke. I remember my family at the dinning room table and my uncles and dad laughing about it. At that time no one even knew who Obama was let alone that he was going to become our next president.
Not only is he changing American, but he is changing his life and his children's lives forever. The younger daughter is really young like 6 or 7 and if Obama only id president for one term she will only be 10 or 11 when he is done. She might not even remember some of what happened, but there will be people watching her for the rest of her life. It is strange to think that normal children who just went to a normal school, suddenly get to live in the White House, I wish that I was their friend. I heard that they had a sleep over with all of their friends from Chicago in the White House and they did a scavenger hunt through out the house and their were like their favorite celebrities and stuff their (how cool). How awesome would it be to do what ever you like and meet who ever you want to. It seems that they were just thrown into the situation not saying that it is a bad situation to be thrown into, but I doubt that they had a say in whether or not their dad was to run for president or whether they wanted to move to Washington D.C. they did not have a choice and what if they did not want to, no one thinks about the kids. They will probably rarely ever see their dad and all they get for that is a puppy. I think that it would suck if I got a puppy instead of seeing my dad even if he was the president. One week so far at the white house I wonder how they feel.
I wonder what the big first change Obama will make. Taxes, Economic crisis, war on terror... there are so many issues that he has discussed, and so many things that he has promised and I know that they will not happen right away, but what will the first major thing Obama will do as president.
I guess we will see and find out what is in store for the U.S. with Obama as our new president.

Identity- What does it mean to you?

In my American Studies class, we started a new theme, Mythology and Identity. When the word identity was mentioned, it got me thinking. What does identity mean to me and my life? I have no idea what I want to do when I am older, where I will attend college, what my job will be, if I will have a family, or where I am going to live. The word identity is an interesting word to me, does it physically mean what we do and who we make our selves to be, or is it what we were made into. Can your identity change over time, or once you are something are you that forever? Is your Identity something that you can protect?

In my American Studies class we had to relate TV Tokenism to mythology and identity, by doing so I learned that your identity is something that might not only belong to you, but can be stereotyped into a group of people. Like in TV Tokenism where African Americans were portrayed negatively and their mythology had not really changed, people thought that their identity was the same as it has been for years.

Your identity can be determined in many ways, but how do other people determine it? Can the mythology of your past determine your identity?

Racism or Not?

During the past two days in my American Studies class we have been talking about African Americans and how they are portrayed in television shows specifically in drama TV. Is it better to have no African American people in a TV show, or have one and not give them any role or screen time and be demeaning to them? Before we looked at these shows in class I thought that TV was better and that African American people had big roles and were actually wanted in TV. Now I think that they are only there so that the television companies can be politically correct and say that they are representing a minority. 24 is one of my favorite TV shows, and before today I thought that the African American president in the show was one of the main characters in the first few seasons, but after watching a clip from that pilot episode and seeing that the screen time of the African American president is only like 2 minutes in the whole one hour episode.

How many drama television shows are like this, where the African American people are stereotyped, or portrayed negatively? Will American get better, will television make dramas where African Americans are good and main characters where all eyes are on them? What can we as viewers do to help? Where are the lines of racism drawn?