(no subject)
the racist post
its called sarcasm by the way.
I have so many thoughts on these texts and they are all jumbled up together! I think they go perfectly with each other and a few national topics we’ve been having for a while now. So, I want to talk about those things.
Are bullet points okay?
- Kerber (first page): When this piece discusses the book A Man Without a Country, it reminded me of Trouillot’s question (I guess it wasn’t a question, he just put it out there “For Your Consideration” [does anyone remember that from “Bill Nye The Science Guy”?]) about how much of fiction goes into our history? Or how much of it actually belongs? We discussed in class why writing up documents and presenting them as a fact is not fiction but fraud, because it is done with the intention to deceive. But I still wonder about this question. What I imagine Trouillot to be talking about is, particularly in his context of other (non-western) cultures, are stories in peoples “histories” that we know aren’t true. If this isn’t making sense, I’ll try to provide an example with Gilgamesh, I believe the people of Mesopotamia (?) literally take this to be part of their history even though there are things in this story that we say to it “that can’t ACTUALLY happen.” And maybe, I’m not remembering correctly and they have always seen it as mythology, but my point is there are plenty of what we call “ethnic” cultures with “histories” that have stories like that. I’m sorry if you’re offended by this, but I’ll say it anyway, just look at the Bible. People in our own better-than-thou western culture take that book to be a literal description of the Earth’s formation. It’s kind of insane, there’s a dude in the sky, with what, molding clay? And he’s all like “hrm, today I’d like to see some flowers!” But right, at what point do we take in fiction to our histories. Kerber seems to be showing how this fictional book was sort of taken as fact (remember the DaVinci Code?).
- Adams (2): after the * * *, second paragraph (“the first great…”) : this tells about all the people who came to America and how they got here and separated themselves into little communities. I was wondering what other people’s thoughts were about how that connected with Toni Morrison. She says she sees people saying that (basically) racism (or at least separating yourself) is inevitable. I think she’s saying that it isn’t but that many people do see it that way. Is it inevitable? Is it different in this case because their foreign status might have also included a language barrier instead of just a cultural one? Did they flock to each other to be with family and friends? To avoid the already deeply planted “Americans”? Because they felt out-casted by these “Americans”? (Great, see now I’ve started putting quotes around that word because who gets to claim to be an “American”? How many generations must have lived here? Or on American soil elsewhere? Do you have to speak English? Do you have to eat at McDonalds?)
- Adams (2/3): “But the child of foreign parentage needed to be taught the tongue of his adoption” this I immediately connected with. My friend is from Texas, and half Mexican (again with this nationality claiming, it’s so tough!) and so he assures me that he gets to see this a lot more than we do in Clemson, and even though it’s visible where I live during the summer, It’s so easy to hide, or even purposefully avoid. It’s this issue of “immigration” to the point where when the local news talks about immigrants you immediately assume Latinos (and therefore, “Mexicans”) Because clearly no one EVER comes from ANY OTHER COUNTRY. They just climb under a barbed wire fence, show up and steal our jobs? Isn’t that what happens? Oh and when they get here they are ungrateful about it and only speak Spanish, or as some people like to call it “Mexican.”* How many times have YOU heard this? Because, I know I couldn’t count. And there are people who say “Speak English or get out.” Why is this so key to being an American? Why does so much hatred come from people seeing people in our country not speaking English? Is it the same “sudden judgment” of seeing someone of a different color? Is this why people think that racism is “inevitable, permanent, and eternal” (Morrison, 11)? What is so important about speaking English if we (Americans) proudly proclaim we are a melting pot, and an “asylum” and are basically loving the fact that we come from all different nations? Why is this immigration issue coming up again and why is it so connected to English? Why is our class even called Ethnic American Literature? Why aren’t these books just already in the American Literature class? Does the very fact that there’s a separate class for “ethnic” texts says something about us?
My most important point is that I loved the line “There are these men out there who are being Johnny Appleseed” and this made me laugh. And it reminded me of the Hakawati. (“’I am a lover. Boys from Baghdad to Tunis remember me in their dreams. I am the one whose exploits are recalled fondly by every lad, no matter how many he has had after me. I am the one who has left behind a trail of conquests as long as the Nile itself.’”)
*My friend from Brazil says he is constantly asked to translate Spanish. When he tells them they don’t speak Spanish in Brazil, they often ask if it’s not a part of Mexico. One person actually asked him if he spoke “Mexican.” (As an aside, someone else once asked him what it was like to live with monkeys, and they were very serious about this).
for naimou's class
its called sarcasm by the way.
I have so many thoughts on these texts and they are all jumbled up together! I think they go perfectly with each other and a few national topics we’ve been having for a while now. So, I want to talk about those things.
Are bullet points okay?
- Kerber (first page): When this piece discusses the book A Man Without a Country, it reminded me of Trouillot’s question (I guess it wasn’t a question, he just put it out there “For Your Consideration” [does anyone remember that from “Bill Nye The Science Guy”?]) about how much of fiction goes into our history? Or how much of it actually belongs? We discussed in class why writing up documents and presenting them as a fact is not fiction but fraud, because it is done with the intention to deceive. But I still wonder about this question. What I imagine Trouillot to be talking about is, particularly in his context of other (non-western) cultures, are stories in peoples “histories” that we know aren’t true. If this isn’t making sense, I’ll try to provide an example with Gilgamesh, I believe the people of Mesopotamia (?) literally take this to be part of their history even though there are things in this story that we say to it “that can’t ACTUALLY happen.” And maybe, I’m not remembering correctly and they have always seen it as mythology, but my point is there are plenty of what we call “ethnic” cultures with “histories” that have stories like that. I’m sorry if you’re offended by this, but I’ll say it anyway, just look at the Bible. People in our own better-than-thou western culture take that book to be a literal description of the Earth’s formation. It’s kind of insane, there’s a dude in the sky, with what, molding clay? And he’s all like “hrm, today I’d like to see some flowers!” But right, at what point do we take in fiction to our histories. Kerber seems to be showing how this fictional book was sort of taken as fact (remember the DaVinci Code?).
- Adams (2): after the * * *, second paragraph (“the first great…”) : this tells about all the people who came to America and how they got here and separated themselves into little communities. I was wondering what other people’s thoughts were about how that connected with Toni Morrison. She says she sees people saying that (basically) racism (or at least separating yourself) is inevitable. I think she’s saying that it isn’t but that many people do see it that way. Is it inevitable? Is it different in this case because their foreign status might have also included a language barrier instead of just a cultural one? Did they flock to each other to be with family and friends? To avoid the already deeply planted “Americans”? Because they felt out-casted by these “Americans”? (Great, see now I’ve started putting quotes around that word because who gets to claim to be an “American”? How many generations must have lived here? Or on American soil elsewhere? Do you have to speak English? Do you have to eat at McDonalds?)
- Adams (2/3): “But the child of foreign parentage needed to be taught the tongue of his adoption” this I immediately connected with. My friend is from Texas, and half Mexican (again with this nationality claiming, it’s so tough!) and so he assures me that he gets to see this a lot more than we do in Clemson, and even though it’s visible where I live during the summer, It’s so easy to hide, or even purposefully avoid. It’s this issue of “immigration” to the point where when the local news talks about immigrants you immediately assume Latinos (and therefore, “Mexicans”) Because clearly no one EVER comes from ANY OTHER COUNTRY. They just climb under a barbed wire fence, show up and steal our jobs? Isn’t that what happens? Oh and when they get here they are ungrateful about it and only speak Spanish, or as some people like to call it “Mexican.”* How many times have YOU heard this? Because, I know I couldn’t count. And there are people who say “Speak English or get out.” Why is this so key to being an American? Why does so much hatred come from people seeing people in our country not speaking English? Is it the same “sudden judgment” of seeing someone of a different color? Is this why people think that racism is “inevitable, permanent, and eternal” (Morrison, 11)? What is so important about speaking English if we (Americans) proudly proclaim we are a melting pot, and an “asylum” and are basically loving the fact that we come from all different nations? Why is this immigration issue coming up again and why is it so connected to English? Why is our class even called Ethnic American Literature? Why aren’t these books just already in the American Literature class? Does the very fact that there’s a separate class for “ethnic” texts says something about us?
My most important point is that I loved the line “There are these men out there who are being Johnny Appleseed” and this made me laugh. And it reminded me of the Hakawati. (“’I am a lover. Boys from Baghdad to Tunis remember me in their dreams. I am the one whose exploits are recalled fondly by every lad, no matter how many he has had after me. I am the one who has left behind a trail of conquests as long as the Nile itself.’”)
*My friend from Brazil says he is constantly asked to translate Spanish. When he tells them they don’t speak Spanish in Brazil, they often ask if it’s not a part of Mexico. One person actually asked him if he spoke “Mexican.” (As an aside, someone else once asked him what it was like to live with monkeys, and they were very serious about this).
for naimou's class