ANT101Week 1 - Discussion 2

ANT101Week 1 - Discussion 2

Was there anything that caused you to view the world around you differently or examine a topic from a different perspective?

There was nothing from this week's topic that made me look at the world differently.  I am an African American male living in American where cops are killing unarmed black people. Watching the world shift from soft racism to full out “get that n-word” has been difficult.  I experience changes at my workplace and endured what perceived to be racism.  My workplace is diverse, but mostly like-minded white people. Most of the time when they are speaking about race, or their political views I don’t chime in or just excuse myself. Their views are some far from mine that I wonder if we are living on the same planet. I question myself as to how can people be from American, but be so different in every fiber of thinking? Now that I have had the time to read some of the materials for the class, I understand the amygdala and how it works. I have not changed my view of life but gained an understanding of why people are so hurt down on their belief even if it clearly contradicts everything, they believe in.

What struck you in particular as you explored the course materials this week?

What struck me in particular as I explored the materials is the backfire effect. I am still wondering how people that I considered to be good people are morally bad.  I work in a fairly small community of people but their core belief will not allow them to think about these logically. I attempted to give them information and told them how morally wrong these are, but they continue to talk about their beliefs are if I did not say a word. These discussions really allowed me to look are the state that the United States is in as a whole. We are segregated by our core belief and no matter what if you pick a side or not someone will pick one for you.

Reference

Inman, M. (n.d.). You’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe_clean