What is the 13th Amendment?

The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

What is the loophole in the 13th?

The aforementioned exception to the 13th Amendment details that slavery or involuntary servitude is allowed if it is as punishment for a crime. This loophole lead to the massive prison population that the US has, as people of color were unfairly jailed so as to use them for slave labor. 

What purpose did slavery serve?

Slavery serves the purpose of putting the grotesque work that someone does not want to do onto someone else. 

How did media reinforce the ideological messages needed to support racism?

The media reported to white people that black people, more specifically black men, would be a threat to white women, to the economy, to family values, and to society. 

What was “Reconstruction”?

Reconstruction was the period from 1865 to 1877 after the American Civil War which marked the attempt, and subsequent failure, to integrate black people and white people into American society.

Why is racism legal?

Racism is legal in America because the economy built after the Civil War was too reliant on the oppression of black people, and white people in power did not want this to change, therefore, the legislation that could actually work to make racism illegal has met severe roadblocks. White people prioritize the comfort they experience under the racist structure of the economy over actual civil rights.

How did civil rights organizers “flip the tables” on the criminal justice system?

The criminal justice system was built on getting black people arrested. Therefore, civil rights organizers built their movement around getting arrested, damaging the structure that was built.

What are “dog whistles”?

Dog whistles are coded or suggestive language through political media to gain support from certain groups without any opposition or backlash.

Why are public policy initiatives framed as “the war on...”?

Framing an initiative as a war makes it seem like the status quo is in danger, as well as the current state of affairs for those in a good place in society.

How did Ronald Reagan change the conversation on drugs and why?

Reagan started a real war on drugs specifically targeted against black people. He encouraged police violence and pushed the wave of mass incarceration which imprisoned millions for petty drug charges. This was all to feed into the prison industrial complex, and change the conversation by convincing his followers that drugs were vessels to destroy your life, and blaming their distribution on minorities.

How does sentencing for drug crimes relate to racism?

People of color on average receive longer sentences for drug possession than white people. Regardless of amount or type of drug, black people receive harsher penalties and are imprisoned at a disproportionately higher rate.

What is the “Southern Strategy”?

The Southern Strategy was a movement by the Republican Party specifically in the Southern US which was targeted towards gaining the white vote as it appealed to racism against black people.

How does modern media contribute to racism?

The media represents black people as criminals at a much higher rate than any other race. They also still emphasize the war on drugs and enforce the messages that it supported, which obviously involves racism against people of color.

What purpose do labels and name calling serve?

Labels and name calling are used to villainize black people and justify the racist efforts to disproportionately imprison them. If the public believes black people are evil, then they are willing to support their imprisonment. 

The Willie Horton Ad was a devastating tactic that obscured the greater truth. What propaganda technique is this? 

The Willie Horton Ad was a fear tactic which was used to make the public fear black people by playing on old stereotypes. Using this tactic allowed George Bush to be seen as a leader that would eliminate crime and keep our society safe. 

How did the amplification of the “war on drugs” lead to George Floyd’s death?

The war on drugs incentivized police officers to act more violently against black people due to economic bonuses they would receive for arresting people on drug related charges. Furthermore, a long history of racism which modern law enforcement was rooted in instilled a mentality in police officers to specifically target black men. These together lead to the death of George Floyd from police brutality.

Who was Fred Hampton? 

Fred Hampton was the leader of the Black Panther Party, an anti-racist political party formed in the 1960s. Hampton was drugged and assassinated in his home during a raid by the Chicago Police Department and the FBI.

What is Angela Davis’ relationship to the FBI?

Angela Davis was a member of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives for her association with the Marin County Civic Center attacks. She was arrested and tried for this association and was found not guilty.

What is the effect of “Stand-Your-Ground Laws”?

Stand Your Ground laws have become the basis for justifying murder of black men in America. The laws state that someone is allowed to kill another person if they feel threatened or are being threatened by someone with a weapon. They were the laws that freed George Zimmerman after he murdered Trayvon Martin after following him throughout his neighborhood under the suspicion that he was armed.

What is ALEC and what does it do?

ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council. It is an organization consisting of politicians and their corporate lobbyists which works to introduce legislation that are proposed by the corporations to support their private interests.

What is ALEC’s relationship to the prison industrial complex?

Some corporations that are a part of ALEC include the National Rifle Association, and the Corrections Corporation of America. The NRA profits off of gun distributions and weapon sales, leading to the imprisonment of black people on unjust weapon charges, and the CCA profits off of private prison systems, which obviously succeeds with more prisoners in their system. Each of these companies works with ALEC to create bills that support their attempts to imprison more black people, which is guised as an effort to fight crime.

How has ALEC’s relationship to corporate power changed?

While ALEC has seen a drop in the amount of companies that support it due to its clear and distinct bias and goals, these companies continue to support ALEC through donations and other silent actions. 

What is the justification for reparations for slavery?

Reparations for slavery are based on the fact that while slavery was “outlawed”, conditions for black people and their standing in the eyes of the law did not really improve. They still face much worse living conditions than white people, and more hardships throughout life, all enforced by unfair treatment which continued after the end of slavery.

What does capitalism have to do with racism?

Capitalism allows for companies to profit off of the structures that were built to oppress black people.

What is systemic racism and does it even exist?

Systemic racism exists, and it is a kind of racism that is embedded into laws and institutions. It is utilize by oppressors to discriminate in law enforcement, health care, education, housing, and many other issues.

What shapes the outcomes of the criminal justice system?

The outcomes of the criminal justice system tend to be shaped by the Republican Party and the private interests and lobbyists they have, since they introduced the legislature which unjustly imprisons black people and attempt to hold up the status quo which they created.

How does plea-bargaining work?

Plea bargaining is a method used in court where the defendant will plead guilty to a crime they didn’t do so as to only have to face the minimum sentence. This is done because black people would be far more likely to receive higher sentences if they attempted to plead not guilty.

Who stands to benefit from mass incarceration?

Corporations, the Republican Party, and their private interests benefit from mass incarceration due to the fact that their platform is largely supported by prison labor.

How the Modern World Makes Us Mentally Ill

• The modern world can be good, but its also powerfully geared to cause anxiety and depression
• 6 features of modernity make us like this, and each has a cure
• The first is meritocracy, if you are not successful, its because you are untalented and lazy
• People who are unsuccessful treat their lack of success as if they deserve to be a failure
• The cure for this is understanding that good people have the ability to fail, even with talent. Luck is just as much responsible for success as anything else
• The second is individualism, which states that every person has a certain path and destiny, however if you do not succeed and fail to exceed an ordinary life, then you are a failure as a whole
• The cure for this is understanding that there are good parts about being normal, and that everyday life can be beautiful in its own way
• The third is secularism, stating that no force exists past your own
• Religion was used to combat this throughout history
• The cure is to understand that there are forces that can heal us in our pain, and we can view the world in a variety of different ways
• The fourth is romanticism,  which states that there is a person who is our other half, who will finally complete us and make us happy
• This outlandish idea makes many people unhappy in their current relationships if it doesn’t feel like total fulfillment of the self through another person
• The cure is to realize that that idea is unrealistic, and that one person is a whole, not a half
• The fifth is the media, and it utilizes fear mongering to keep us consuming the news and their content
• News tends to lean towards the negative happenings in the world
• The cure is to try and fix the problems of the world through the media instead of just trying to gain ratings and attack others
• The sixth is perfectibility, the idea that everyone can achieve perfection
• The cure is to understand that no one can be perfect, and that there is a real flaw in our society which promotes that idea
• Our efforts should be redirected towards discussing our imperfections with others who we trust, and subsequently working on them together

Social Thinking

• Why do people do bad things?
• Social psychology focuses on the power of the situation
• Social psychology allows us to understand why villains act like villains and heroes ask like heroes
• Attribution theory states that we can explain someone’s behavior by crediting their stable enduring traits, or the situation at hand
• Its hard to tell whether someone’s behavior is situational or based on disposition
• Fundamental attribution error states that the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
• 7 in 10 women report that men have read polite behavior as hitting on them
• Political views are strongly influenced by how we view problems like homelessness
• Central Route Persuasion involves calling on basic thinking and reasoning to convince people of something
• This is what happens when people are influence by evidence and the actual context of the message
• There’s also peripheral route persuasion which is based on incidental cues like personal attractiveness or relatability
• It happens when you’re not paying attention, which is why certain ads are so effective
• Our attitudes can be affected by our behaviors
• Foot-in-the-door phenomenon is the tendency for people to accept a big request after they’ve firstly agreed to some smaller requests
• Moral action strengthens moral convictions, and the same goes for amoral actions and convictions
• A great example of this is the Stanford Prison Experiment
• This was a 14 day experiment of a bunch of men who volunteered, half were made prisoners and half were made guards
• Neither was given instructions past that, and then the role playing took over
• The prisoners were greatly affected by the process of arrest which occurred, and the guards became increasingly hostile and vicious
• The experiment only lasted 6 days because of the horrible ways in which the guards treated the prisoners, and after the experiment ended, both parties saw themselves return back to normal
• This reinforced that the power of a given situation can easily override individual differences in personality
• The theory of cognitive dissonance is the notion that we experience discomfort when our thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors are inconsistent with each other
• People might modify their actions based on the actions that occur 
• This mismatch between what we do and who we think we are induces tension— cognitive dissonance—and that we tend to want to resolve that tension

Culture - everything that occurs in a society


Elite Culture - the culture of the upper class, which can be observed by the lower class through different forms of media


Popular Culture - the culture of everyone in a society, oftentimes depicted through mass media


Mass Culture - mass produced pieces of popular culture


Media Literacy - the need for the consumer of media content to be aware of the effects of media on our culture.


The EPS Cycle - the Elitist Popular Specialized Cycle, media starts with elites, then falls into mass culture, then it becomes specialized which means it makes its way through the rest of the population


The Communication Process - an ongoing and dynamic process by which different components interact with one another and have different consequences


Communication - the process which entails sorting, selecting, and sharing of symbols that helps a receiver get a similar meaning to what the communicator intended


Mass Communication - the provers by which professional communicators use different technological devices to share messages over large distances to influence large audiences


Channels of Communication - the devices or mass media used to send messages over long distances to large audiences


Gatekeeping - one way in which the media is controlled, news must past multiple checkpoints before becoming accessible to the public


Agenda Setting. - the process by which media is controlled, mass media being used to determine what we think and worry about

WORKS CITED

“The Communication Process.” Media & Democracy with Professor Gregory J. Golda, mediaanddemocracy.weebly.com/the-communication-process.html.