Discrimination has existed since the dawn of men. We have all experienced it in one form or another and sometimes we’ve discriminated without even realizing it. There have been plenty of people who have fought against discrimination by teaching others. Using anger, fear, and guilt many have spread the word to be more tolerant of others but one less common way this has been accomplished is through humor. Wole Soyinka does this well in his poem “Telephone Conversation” in which he takes a more humorous and ironic approach on discrimination. The humorous take on racism in “Telephone Conversation” should be used more in teachings to further spread the foolishness of discrimination.
A lot of people are oblivious to the things that have happened in the past; from slavery to the civil rights movement and all the things in between that have shaped how discrimination is today. Most are bored with these topics and when learned in school they go in one ear and out the other never to be thought of again. The humorous tone of “Telephone Conversation” can help change this by teaching others about racism better than conventional methods. Elizabeth Weinstein wrote an article about Mark Shatz and Frank LoSchiavo, two professors at Ohio University who have argued that humor can help learning. During their study they concluded that students are more interested in learning when humor is applied. Shatz and LoSchiavo have been integrating humor into their online classes with positive results. Having funny jokes and cartoons related to the subject has increased the number of times students interact in the discussion board and overall increase their interest in the class (Weinstein). Their use of humor in their teachings help people participate more an...
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...r in “Telephone conversation” can be used to educate others but as Greengross warns, it should be done carefully.
Many have spread the word about discrimination in many different ways. Humor, being a less used method for this can be the most effective. As Mark Shatz and Frank LoSchiavo have proven humor can help people be more involved in class and learn better. It can help them get out of their comfort zone and participate more in class. While Javier Muñoz-Basols has shown that humor can help people remember things better. As humorous ideas are more easily remember than uninteresting ones. Through my own experience growing up humor can be a very powerful way to teach others about racism but as Gil Greengross warns it must be done right. Soyinka manages to accomplish this in “Telephone Conversation” and more should use his method in their own teachings.
Work Cited
Don’t Just Stand There is an essay written by Diane Cole. It was first published in 1989 in a New York Times publication. She advises her audience about how to react to prejudice comments and jokes. However, her argument is not credible because she fails to mention vital information that would help to support her argument, and there are too many logical fallacies.
The author states racism is all around us and we should talk about racial discrimination. Throughout her book she explains the hesitation people have about talking about racialism. She argues that people are silent out of fear of being impolite, indiscreet and infringing boundaries.
People are discriminated against because of their race and social position every day. This has been going on for hundreds of years. In Mexican White Boy, Danny and Uno were discriminated against by people around them for being different, but along the way of discovering themselves, they form an unbreakable friendship.
The book “why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria”, written by Beverly Daniels Tatum, Ph.D., Adresses the situation of racism and how it effects everyone blacks and whites. This Book was intended to inform adults. Adults do not tend to educate their children of the facts of racism and the seriousness of it. Sometimes adults are scared they might create a problem rather then to fix it. Beverly wrote this book to educate educators that way they can better teach or train. In certain situations kids don't understand or know how to react because they have not been told the truth on what was happening. The impact of racism begins early. She uses her own circumstances to connect with her audience using ways that she had to deal with certain racial
In the world today, racism and discrimination is one of the major issues being faced with. Racism has existed throughout the world for centuries and has been the primary reasons for wars, conflicts, and other human calamities all over the planet. It has been a part of America since the European colonization of North America beginning in the 17th century. Many people are not aware of how much racism still exist in our schools, workforces, and anywhere else that social lives are occurring. It started from slavery in America to caste partiality in India, down to the Holocaust in Europe during World War II.
In order to reduce the “white privilege” concept, parents, teachers, coaches, etc. Need to talk with their children/students about racism. According to Copenhaver-Johnson (2006) the reason we do not talk to our children about racism is for several different reasons. One reason that...
In the United States, racial discrimination has a lengthy history, dating back to the biblical period. Racial discrimination is a term used to characterize disruptive or discriminatory behaviors afflicted on a person because of his or her ethnic background. In other words, every t...
Although it is now illegal to discriminate anyone based on one’s race or gender it is still a practice that many take part in, whether it is in the work place or prejudice that take place as part of who someone is. As the momentum started to pick up behind the equal rights movement of the mid-century an even a greater number of people began to be aware of the fact that there really is no difference between people and that all should be treated the same. As time has progressed so have the beliefs of people, things that were once a part of everyday life like children not being able to go to school together are a thing of the past. We now live in a time of acceptance and less judgment we now live in a nation where we are not judged by the color of skin, but the content of our character (Martin Luther King
Discrimination has always been there between blacks and whites. Since the 1800s where racial issues and differences started flourishing till today, we can still find people of different colors treated unequally. “[R]acial differences are more in the mind than in the genes. Thus we conclude superiority and inferiority associated with racial differences are often socially constructed to satisfy the socio-political agenda of the dominant group”(Heewon Chang,Timothy Dodd;2001;1).
The goal of an education is to gain knowledge to help improve one’s understanding of the world. If we shy away from topics like racism and cultural diversity, then we risk not being able to understand a huge part of the way our world works. Consider this: are all the people we converse with in a day the same ethnicity? Are they all from the same cultural background? If they all are the same ethnicity or from the same cultural background, then one might not need to understand why cultural diversity affects how someone would respond to a problem or situation. Let’s face it: the world is not homogenous there are multiple different races and cultures. We need to teach not judge others without getting to know them first.
How would you like it if someone walked up to you and berated you based on the color of your skin? A characteristic like that isn’t even something you can control, so an insult of that nature can leave one furious and oppressed. Discrimination is inevitable in any culture, throughout history, in modern times, and even in ancient times. For example, the oppression and murder of 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust, the African Slave Trade which occurred for multiple centuries, and more recently, the “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya people in Myanmar, brought on by the government of the Asian nation, all of which are tragedies doomed to happen when history repeats itself and people do not learn
Overall discrimination is an awful thing. It is like a STD, it can be passed from parent to child, or someone can become infected if you don’t watch out. Discrimination is also like the plague. It sweeps over a large amount of people, infecting most, and most don’t survive. Though today much of the discrimination is gone, just like the plague, but it is still there. Unfortunately for some people, they have to deal with people discrimination from others. Whether it be discrimination of one’s race, age, disability, or gender. Discrimination has numerous damaging effects to someone’s life. In Of Mice and Men the unlucky victims of discrimination also suffer from the same effects. They allow for people to have control of them and walk all over them. Discrimination is like a fire... It hurts.
Though racism is a controversial subject, many other subjects have received just as much controversy. One of these is discrimination. Discrimination is the denial of equality based on personal characteristics, such as race and color. Racial jokes and ethnic slurs are obvious examples of racial discrimination. These comments not only leave the victim feeling helpless and fearful, but they have a negative impact on worker productivity and economic performance (Dimensions of Racism).
Racism is a daily obstacle for some, but also serves as a falsified daily reminder that they are not as intelligent, as worthy, or as capable compared
I believe this is a very relevant topic today since prejudice and discrimination has become the leading issue of violence. The goal of this type of education is to teach the students that they have worth and can learn. It is a very positive subject matter when considering the benefits of implementing this type of education into a school system. This type of education encourages students of a diverse background to have a positive self-identity, pride in their heritage, accept others with diverse backgrounds, and promote social justice against prejudice and discrimination. Teachers can change the conversation in their classrooms by adding spontaneous and relevant content to their curriculum that both promotes multiculturalism and connects with the students. I believe a big part of making a change in our society today is by ‘changing the conversation’ whether that is about discrimination or another important issue. Teachers can step in at a very early age and promote feelings of self-worth and encourage the students to accept each other aside from cultural