I somehow related my homework to current issues...Enjoy.

As I read this article, I am constantly thinking of how this relates to the racism I see in the media today. I am thinking of the visual culture that had us all stuck to the screen that was playing videos of police officers racially profiling people of color, discriminating against ethnic groups, arresting and shooting and killing black men and boys for the color of their skin. I am thinking of all the people who said it didn’t really happen despite the video on every screen in America. I am thinking of all the people who agree with Donald Trump and the image he is selling of himself. I am thinking of the commercial where a white lady said “He’s kind and we really need that right now”. I am thinking of the countless, endless number of women who have come forward to record and proclaim the injustices forced upon them by one of our current presidential candidates. I am thinking of all the hateful images, discriminatory jokes, harmful pieces of opinion that we have all watched, we have all looked into, and let go because it takes too much out of us to start an argument. I am thinking of myself, who, at this moment, is stuck between writing this paper and Facebook messages popping up, pictures of Halloween costumes, articles about black face and cultural appropriation, the idea that some of us take advantage of a fun holiday to be disrespectful and ignorant, on purpose or not. 

Art is relatable. Art tells a story that most of know as the human condition: struggle, life, death, sensuality, morality. The famous art of the past and present is educated, meaningful, and makes the viewer ask questions. The visual culture around us has only surfaced the ideas that any reasonable person would toss aside, knowing that it is wrong. The visual culture we know right now leaves space for people to not ask questions, give them what they want in a second, and if they don’t like it, let them turn it off or delete it forever. They never have to see it. They never have to know it. They don’t have to talk about it.

On the flip side, thanks to the visual culture we live in right now, they can have more conversation, learn more, be more, develop their viewpoint. They can make that decision. They can choose to believe in the videos and images circulating around saying that racism is still alive and needs to be dealt with.  But is that a decision we make as people who are a part of the visual culture? Or is that a path we are subconsciously lead down because of all the connotation and hidden agenda of visual culture?