Bryan Colbert: The Power of Language

Whenever i heard the 'sticks and stones' saying growing up I always laughed at the ridiculous rhyme. Words are possibly the most powerful way to hurt somebody. In our society you can say whatever you want with almost no fear of repercussions. You can't go to jail for what you said to somebody and you can't be told what to say and what not to say. But do we take account how many people have committed suicide off of just being mocked and teased? Being somebody that was picked on as a kid, I know how powerful words can be. There would be days i wouldn't even want to leave my room because I knew what the day had in store for me. I was never touched, but it didn't matter because the words hurt that bad. Sometimes I would've even preferred being hit with a stick. The only way I knew how to deal with the banter was to do it to others before they did it to me. Not only was I bullied, but i saw myself become a bully as well. I knew how to make people hate themselves just by my words, I could make people cry within seconds and never lift a finger... I was proud of that. To this day people I grew up with tell me how much I made their lives hell...and the sad thing was I don't remember saying any of it. But they remembered, just like I remembered what my bullies said to me. And that's the power of words, they remain within you throughout your whole life. Whether it's negative or positive, a mere sentence can dictate how you view people, society and even yourself.

Although I attend UNL, i had never heard about the UNL Haters Tumblr account, but what i saw when i visited the page was sadly not surprising at all. Viewing my class mates blog post, it seems like the majority of people were surprised that our campus was filled with such ignorance and hate. But these tweets and posts were no news to me; having to deal with racism and hate a great deal on this campus. I've had people tweet to me and my friends that we were NIGGERS and even had white guys tell us they don't like us because we "take all their women".

My eyes were even opened when I saw people I knew on it. It made me question me and those peoples relationships, because who knows what they really think about me. Granted some of the posts are meant as jokes and only as jokes, but they're still unacceptable because something that may be funny to some, could offend a lot of people. This is an example of one of the components of language: Pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of how meaning is constructed in relation to receivers, how language is actually used in particular contexts in language communities (Martin and Nakayama p. 225).

Whatever the case for the hatred towards other races, sexes and genders at UNL, I am pleased that UNL Haters are exposing it. I think it's important that peoples eyes are opened to the ignorance that some people on our campus still have. I think that this UNL Haters will help calm down the ignorance displayed on social network sites and I am glad they're helping.

Intro to Cultural Report Project (Bryan Colbert)

Webster defines culture as: "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time [or] the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization"
  
With these definitions in mind I have decided to focus my report on the Arab-American culture. I think that some people would find it surprising how many Arab-Americans there are, not only on our campus, but in Nebraska. As many places as I've lived I've always seen and been amazed by the Arab culture. Their views and beliefs seem so profound and to carry a lot of history; i think that I will learn a lot from my planned studies. 

I plan to interview multiple Arab-Americans that I see hanging out at the Multicultural Center. I have already asked a few of them if they will assist me and they were more than happy to help. What makes this subject even more interesting to me is that my sister minored in Arabic when she went to Texas A&M. She would tell me stories about when she lived in Morocco and the culture has fascinated me ever since. But i feel that the American Arab will be even more interesting to learn about. To incorporate both of those cultures into your everyday life would be interesting to say the least. I'm excited to learn more about this culture.   

Taking an Interpretive Perspective to Intercultural Communication (Bryan Colbert)

When I first watched the movie crash I loved it. It was action packed, had great actors and an interesting story...what's not to like?? But when I watched it a second time I realized what the movie was actually portraying. This movie hit some of the most polarizing cultural patterns in our societies history; racism, womanizing and religion.

Racism was the cultural pattern that stood out most in the movie. It wasn't the fact that there was racist acts in the movie but the way they were depicted that made the racism stand out. One of the first scenes of the movie is shown below...

Crash (1/9) Movie CLIP - Car Jacking (2004) HD

"Anthony: Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gang-bangers? Huh? No. Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared around here, it's us: We're the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So you tell me, why aren't we scared?
Peter: Because we have guns?Anthony: You could be right."    

This scene really got to me, because although Anthony was making a valid point, but his words became invalid because of his actions. He claimed to have received bad service because he was black and the waitress assumed blacks didn't tip, but instead of proving her wrong and tipping her, Anthony did exactly what she thought he would. The same thing happened when he noticed the white woman holding her husband close when she saw him. Yes she was wrong to assume that because they were black that they had ill-intentions, but they actually did. Anthony's words were said to defend and uplift black people, but his actions created the opposite effect.

Another sign of racism cultural pattern in this movie is when the racist cop pulled over the interracial couple.

Crash (3/9) Movie CLIP - Pat Down by the Police (2004) HD

This scene was possibly the most powerful one in the movie. Not only did the cop disrespect the man because he was black, but made him watch as he fondled his wife. Who knows how many types a horrid act like this happens in every day life, but I'm almost certain it happens more than we would expect. This is also a clear sign of womanizing. The cop took advantage of her not only because he was a cop that could do whatever he wanted but he saw the woman as weak and helpless. 

Religion also plays a role in this movie. Although its a small role anything dealing with religion is powerful. Below shows a scene in the movie that shows the power religion can have over a persons mindset and emotions. 

Crash - Best scene in the movie [copyright Lions Gate Films]

When the girl is shot but nothing happens to her, the once infuriated Persian shop owner, began to cry. Not because he felt bad about what he did, but because he believed that the girl was an angel sent to give him a message. The man went from angry enough to kill somebody to emotional all because of religion. I can't think of a better depiction of this particular cultural pattern.