Sunday, August 24, 2014

August 24th: Our Biggest Problem

I feel like every blog I write starts with “I saw on Facebook.”

The truth is, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other forms of new media are the ways that people share what is important to them. It is an open forum that allows people to not only put out thoughts, opinions, and feelings, but gives their friends the chance to weigh in, to validate those experiences.

This week, it has been fascinating and downright upsetting to see how the world is falling apart. There are riots going on in Missouri, people being shot because someone was shot (yes, it makes sense for violence to lead to more violence). There are bombs being thrown every hour in the Middle East, with Israel defending itself from terrorist strikes. There are people dunking water on their heads, hoping to raise awareness and money for a disease that is ruining lives across the country and the world.

Yet, the story that most baffles me is the one that popped up less than 24 hours after Taylor Swift released her newest music video. People began to argue with Taylor. Yes, you read that right. With the world crashing down around us, there were those who insisted that Taylor Swift was one of the major global problems in need of immediate attention.

Here’s the background information. Taylor’s new video, “Shake It Off,” was released on Monday. The video shows the country-pop star singing as she attempts (rather unsuccessfully) to dance alongside many different kinds of dance. She is a ballerina in one shot, a modern dancer in another, and a hip-hop/rap star in another. The lyrics of the song, which talk about how she doesn’t let what people say about to her get to her, embody “shaking off” the bad things, and focusing on just being you.



Who could have a problem with a role model like Taylor singing about being one’s self, loving one’s self, and owning it with flare? A whole lot of people, apparently.

Within 24 hours, the internet was abuzz with people clamoring to call out Swift’s horrific example of cultural appropriation. She, in her wickedly offensive, and clearly hateful video, goes so far as to wear a flat brim hat, walk around in a letterman jacket with a hood, wear basketball shoes, and, get this, have a boom-box on her shoulder. She even allowed women to twerk! How dare she?!

Here’s the question, though. What could she have done that WOULDN’T have caused a stir? If she had put together this video, with cultural appropriation issues in mind, and left off the scenes with rap and hip hop themed outfits and dance moves, she would have been destroyed by the same people for not giving those genres fair attention, which clearly is an example of racism. Doing what she did, we clearly see she got accused of “perpetuating a black stereotype.”

Even twerking, which has been a major part of pop-culture, has a place in this video, especially in the fun and playful way Swift attempts to understand the dance craze. If she had ignored twerking, she would be accused of being a goody-two-shoes, too prude to understand the world she’s living in. As it is, she’s a raging racist who needs to be brought to justice.

Let’s be real, though. She isn’t perpetuating a black stereotype. She is perpetuating a hip-hop stereotype. Is hip-hop a predominantly black cultural piece? Sure. But is it a stereotype of all black people? Not even a little bit.

The most challenging part about this is the lunacy of the meaning of the song, in context with the criticism. One critic who has received a lot of attention for his comments is rapper Earl Sweatshirt (yes, that is his name). In his blast of Taylor’s video, he admits to NOT HAVING EVEN WATCHED IT. Seriously, Mr. Sweatshirt? Your quote: “haven't watched the taylor swift video and I don't need to watch it to tell you that it's inherently offensive and ultimately harmful.” The only thing inherently offensive and ultimately harmful about this situation is your desire to argue about something’s value without even educating yourself on the matter.

This video is about finding yourself, about dancing to whatever type of music is in your heart. It is about not taking yourself too seriously and not getting wrapped up in what other people say about you.

The world is a screwed up place right now. There are a lot of good causes, good fights to stand up for. This fight, though, is a petty argument, meant only to take advantage of a girl who is making the music she loves.

One of my favorite TV shows, the Newsroom, handles this best. When Will, the main character, is overwhelmed by the craziness in the world, he goes to bail one of his co-workers out of jail after his wrongful arrest for participating in a peaceful protest. Video here.

At the 1:49 mark, you see Will explode a little bit. He declares “So obviously, what I’m doing is dealing with the easiest one!”

People here are dealing with an easy thing. A young girl who doesn’t really have the ability to bite back. Our biggest problem isn't a music video. It is the world's refusal to learn how to pick our battles. Grow up, people, and learn to pick the right fight.

If you would like to argue about it, go watch the video. It’s posted above.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

August 17th: Ice in My Veins (And on my head)

As I begin my working career in the post-college world, I am beginning to think about the necessity for charitable work with my pay. Once a month, I will be making a donation from my salary, and will be blogging about the places that the money goes, in an attempt to not only hold myself accountable, but also provide awareness and education on some very important works. This serves as the first.

How long does it take to get the world’s attention? Apparently, 10 weeks will do the trick.

There isn’t necessarily a secret formula. Audio-visual aids help. An element of humor is great. A world-renowned celebrity endorsement can’t hurt.

It is no surprise, then, that the entire world has been paying attention to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. At the beginning of the summer, we saw a few people jumping into bodies of cold water. It was funny, it was intriguing, but it only went so far. As far as I knew, there was no organizational sponsor; the donation that accompanied rejecting the challenge was to any charity of your choice. I suppose, if there was organization to it, and I didn’t know about it, then it wasn’t working anyway.

That all changed a few weeks ago. There was a moment of focusing of the campaign, an attempt to centralize the fun and human interest intrigue, while maintaining the viral videos that made the “cold water challenge” successful.

What resulted was a full-scale social media coup. Everyone was participating. Literally everyone. A look at your Facebook news feed stopped including links to articles, pictures of family vacations, and rants. There seemed to only be an endless loop of videos of people dunking themselves in water.





The reason that “Ice Bucket challenge” took off so much more enthusiastically than the “Cold Water Challenge” was because of the element of focus associated with a cause. By donating money specifically to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association, participants were able to band together around making a difference for people struggling with a terrible disease. Did it matter what the cause was? Probably not. But off it took.

ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a neurological disease that slowly destroys the motor neurons leading between the brain and spinal cord, eventually leading to loss of muscle movement. Every year, 6,000 Americans are diagnosed with ALS. Every year, those diagnosed are living longer. Which is where the ice buckets come in.

By making a video of yourself dumping ice water on your head, you are spreading awareness for a terrible disease that has the power to destroy families. But, with the help of an accompanying donation, we have the power to make a much larger impact on working toward a cure.

Celebrities like LeBron James, Oprah, the New England Patriots, and even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have all submitted themselves to the fad. President Barack Obama was nominated, but chose to make a donation, rather than submit to the icy blast, which does just as much good (if not more).

Critics of the challenge are growing irritated by the growing number of videos bombarding their walls. They are understandably frustrated by the action that doesn’t inherently represent any kind of good for others. “Awareness” doesn’t actually help anyone, unless action comes with it. We are a generation of slack-tevism, rather than true activism.

But we are aware. ALS has our attention, and our dollars. It has our time and our commitment. We are doing what we can, and making a positive difference in doing it. In the past two and a half weeks, the ALSA has received $11.4 million in donations, as compared to $1.7 million during the same period a year ago. THAT is exactly what making a difference looks like.

The world is a pretty screwed up place. Missiles fly back and forth between Israel and Gaza. Air strikes in Iraq put the American government in another conflict. American politics at home aren’t pretty. Yet, amidst all of this horror, we have the opportunity to go outside, dump some water on our heads, and take our attention to making the lives of our fellow humans better. There are a lot of issues that we don’t have the power to fix. In this case, though, we at least have the ability to help.

Monday, August 4, 2014

August 4th: Long Road to Peace

In the seven weeks since I went to camp, the world seems to have broken. Thousands of rockets have been hurtling back and forth between Israel and the Gaza strip, and everyone wants to know why.

There is a boiling point for everyone. Mine came as I read what must have been the hundredth article about “picking sides.” I finally hit the point where I could no longer sit quietly and take in all of the information and “facts” that have been given out by the media and the public at large.

The first “fact” that I can’t possibly tolerate is the fallacy that this is a conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Is there conflict between these two groups in Israel? Sure. But this isn’t it. This is a conflict between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist organization. While many describe themselves as ‘pro-palestinian,’ no rational people would identify as pro-Hamas. Hamas is single-mindedly looking to destroy, to wreak havoc, and to kill and maim as many innocent people as possible to push their agenda. Let’s not confuse that for a government seeking recognition or a people looking for rights. These people want death and destruction. Nothing more.

This is paramount in understanding the most inappropriate statistic that is being shared on a daily basis by nearly every news outlet in this country: the death tolls of the two sides. The number of Arabs killed during this period of conflict is measured in the thousands. The number of murdered Israelis is in the 50s. Does this mean that Israel is doing more to hurt others? Does this make Israel the less humane participant?

Not in the slightest. The death toll, as a raw statistic, fails to carry the weight of knowing that Israel has done everything possible to protect it’s own citizens (as well as, in most cases, the innocent in Gaza), while Hamas has done everything in it’s power to use the innocents of Gaza as shields, as tools to manipulate the media hailstorm that is raining down on Israel.

Israel has gone so far as to drop leaflets, send “dummy” rockets, and even go out into Gaza to help warn innocent citizens about impending attacks. Israel has done everything reasonable to save innocent lives. The ruling powers of Hamas, however, have prevented these aids from getting through, and thus put people’s lives further at risk.

This, more than ever I’ve ever seen before, is a war being fought in the news just as much as it is in the Middle East. One of the challenges, though, is that we don’t even know what is real. Multiple times, powerful speeches have been “given” by world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that have been proven to be a hoax. Even comedians like Dennis Miller have been credited with making bold statements that are, for lack of a better term, fan fiction.

With all of this mis-information, Americans have an incredible challenge on their hands. On one side, we have a country that has served as our primary ally for years, a country that both our government and theirs has spoken about as a partnership of good-faith. On another level, we are being fed information that suggests that Israel is oppressing, abusing, and killing innocent people on a daily basis.

Let’s get one thing straight, though. The double standard that the world sets on Israel has to stop. Hamas, as a terrorist organization, does not deserve the same rights that any nation would enjoy, despite the many opportunities for them to be treated better than they deserve. You see, every cease-fire Israel has offered has been greeted by a maelstrom of rockets. No other country in the world would stand for that. No other country would be asked to. If so much as a thrown rock were to land in America, the culprit would have hell to pay. Yet, Israel is asked to demonstrate patience, even to share their technology with Hamas. Israel has been chastised for having a low death rate.

There is so much that makes up this conflict. There is more than any one of us will ever understand. But the biggest tragedy of all is the need to pick sides. This ridiculous notion that it is even possible to decide who is “more right” in a death match is what proves just how far away we are from peace.

When my family went to synagogue this past Friday night, we prayed for peace. We prayed for the safety of all of those involved in the situation. We said the Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for healing, for all of those who have been injured. We said the Kaddish, the prayer of mourning, for all of those who have died. This was not solely for the Israelis or for the Jews. This was for all people. We prayed, at it’s purest form, for peace.

May it be God’s will, that peace not be far from our grasp.