"The Miseducation of Hip-Hop-Discrimination in Education"

Jason Hinmon was in for a real treat, when he transferred from Morehouse College in Atlanta to the University of Delaware. Now, when one thinks of a real treat, one hopes this “treat” is something positive. Well, in his case, the real treat was negative, unfortunately. You see, Jason was stereotyped as a hip-hop hoodlum who wasn’t interested in being a good student. The fact that he was dark-hued and had dreadlocks gave him away. Wouldn’t a white boy with long hair and dressed in a heavy metal band t-shirt and ripped jeans be stereotyped in a negative way as well, if he were walking around a college campus? Probably so! So what are we saying here, folks? Unfortunately, in this society this is the way it rolls. Dr. Thomas Earl Midgette says “These rap artists influence the way they dress…they look like hoochie mamas, not like they’re coming to class.” He has no right to make the assumption that these girls are dressing like hoochie mamas because of the hip-hop culture. He doesn’t know what type of music they listen to, and the hoochie mama way of dress is in every genre of music not just hip-hop. If only there were no such thing as stereotyping, then there wouldn’t be these problems. Until then, Jason needs to either do something about his “look” while he’s on campus, or suck it up!

Language and Pictures

Postman and Powers claims about the differences between stationary pictures, moving pictures, and language are simply put…TRUE! One really never thinks about these things when watching the news. But, if people really stop and think about this, it makes perfect sense. A stationary picture in a newspaper without any words does not have the same effect as a picture with words, describing the picture. In the news, moving pictures have a much greater impact than stationary pictures. This is the reason moving images are used so much in news broadcasts. As it is stated in their essay “moving pictures favor images that change. That is why violence and dynamic destruction find their way onto television so often.” (Gray-Rosendale, 2008, p. 486) Hence the catastrophe filled images that are seen on the news. Language on the other hand is more complex, involving emotion-laden words. The saying is that a picture is worth a thousand words, but the reality is it just may be the opposite….a word is worth a thousand pictures!

The Force: Volkswagen Commercial

In the 2012 Volkswagen Passat commercial titled: The Force: Volkswagen Commercial, a little boy donned in a Darth Vader ensemble pretends to be just that, Darth Vader. He walks around, what looks like a nice big house, desperately trying to use his “powers”. He begins his attempt at his “powers” first with a workout machine, then with the family dog, next with his sister’s dolly, then with the sandwich his mother has prepared for him. Finally, his attempt at his “powers” work when his father comes home from work. The dad is dismissed by his young Darth Vader son. We finally see the most humorous part of the commercial when the new Passat is turned on by the young Darth Vader’s “powers”.

How is it possible that this little boy knows and hones this character from about 30 years ago? Could the father in the commercial have passed his love for Darth Vader on to his son? Most likely yes! This delightful and funny childhood vignette clearly depicts how families in the 21^st century still talk to each other. They still tell stories. They still gather around the TV. set for family movie night. The father may have told his son about Star Wars and of the characters such as Darth Vader. Intrigued by his father’s story of this classic movie, they gathered as a family and watched the movie which has left such legacy in our pop culture world.