The Doll Test

This is my first attempt at video blogging. In this video I discuss the "Doll Test" experiment and how it was recreated recently and shown on CNN's America morning. I discuss racism in the Media, colonialism in the third world and the need for the working class to rise up and overthrow the capitalist system



The media has a strong impact on the public and is quite effective in manufacturing consent, swaying opinion, and even effectively distorts how people view race, gender, and their own bodies. Anorexia and bulimia have long been attributed to how woman’s bodies are viewed in the cooperate media. A distorted view of race, even one’s own race can also be attributed to the media.

There was an interesting segment on American morning on CNN today that profiled a 17 year old film maker Kiri Davis who has made a film recreating the “doll Test.”

The doll test was an experiment that was created by the civil rights activist Kenneth B. Clark who created a test to see how African American children view themselves. The children were shown two black dolls and two white dolls and were asked which doll was good and which was bad, and which they wanted to play with. The overwhelming majority of the African American children who participated in this experiment in the 30’s and 40’s choose the white doll as good, the black as bad and the white as the one the preferred to play with. In 1952 this data was used in the landmark case of Brown vs. the board of education to sway the opinion of Chef Justice Earl Warren who concluded that segregation “implied inferiority in civil society” and that it “may affect the hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”

In the video clip that recreated the “doll test” a black female pre-schooler is given two identical dolls different only in the skin color, when asked which doll was good and which doll was bad she chooses the black doll as bad and the white as good. When asked which doll most resembles her, after a long hesitation (and appearing as if she wants to identify with the white doll) she reluctantly displays the black doll.

It is interesting to note that subjects that were from outside of the US overwhelmingly choose the black doll as good rather than the white, which profoundly drives home the impact of the US Media in how it is absorbed by young people.

I have a book addiction.

I’ve been doing some much needed cleaning today and have come to a disturbing conclusion. I have an unhealthy obsession with books. I have possibly the largest radical library of anyone I know. I have books everywhere, in every room. I have books on shelves, stacked up on the floor, books in boxes in the attic, books stacked under things and on top of things. I have even given away many books and sold a lot of books on “Half.com” yet seemed to always end up with more than I started with. .

Naturally there are worse things to waste one’s money, time, and space on such as heroine, etc. Having a lot of books also comes in handy, yet mostly they take up way too much room and are pretty much just useless monuments to things I have read, intend on reading, things I have used as reference, or one day would like to reference, things I believe in and things I oppose. What an amazingly cluttered book filled world I live in.

Religious right and corporate right: An Unhappy Marriage

I truly wish we had known what Ronald Reagan’s thoughts were on the issue of stem cell research before he passed away. Here’s a man who was venomously opposed to abortion to the extent that he made banning of planned parenthood a prerequisite for aide to third world nations. A man who sat on his hands and did nothing when the AIDS epidemic came to light because he saw it as punishment for a deviant lifestyle.

However his deterioration before his family and friends due to Alzheimer’s made such an impact on his family that they are among the strongest supporters of Stem Cell research and federal funding for it. I would like to think that if Reagan had the ability to reflect on his condition and the possibilities stem cell research may provide to people and their families that suffer from wasting away in such a way, that it would have made such a great impact on him that it would have changed his outlook completely.

I do think that his family has an impact on conservatives that hold Reagan up to be a sort of hero. So I think that seeing him waste away from Alzheimers maybe makes some realize that everyone is vulnerable to it including the President. Of course the other motivation for conservatives is the desire to the United States take a leading role in reaserch and development which ultimately will translate into future profits. I think translates into a conflict on interest between the pro business republicans and the religious ones.

Bush's Veto of Stem Cell Funding

Seeing Hypocrisy in Washington is nothing new, we have all come accustomed to fork tongued politicians. However how overly hypocritical George W. Bush Seems to me when he called the use of fertilized embryos unused from IVO Fertilization clinics for stem cell research “MURDER.” This is a man who executed more people as governor of Texas than any other sitting governor at the time. Had even defended his right to execute the mentally retarded. A man who chose war in Afghanistan and Iraq over diplomacy, and a man who has given Israel a green light to indiscriminately bomb innocent civilians in Lebanon. The rest of the industrialized world must shake it’s head in disbelief at this a “superpower” could be so backwards that not only does it not provide federal funding of healthcare, but denies funding for scientific research, and yet continues to be the only so called democratic industrialized nation that executes it’s citizens.

Hillary Clinton and the Zionists

At a pro Israeli demonstration today at the United Nation’s building in New York City today Senator Hillary Clinton said she supported taking “whatever steps are necessary” to defend Israel in the conflict in the Middle East.

This coming while Israel is bombing mostly civilian targets and infrastructure of regions within Lebanon that do not have a Hezbollah presence of influence. In fact the Lebanese leader stated that they did not know of the kidnapping of the two Israeli solders nor the actions or positions of Hezbollah. This doesn’t stop the Israeli war machine from unleashing hell over innocent civilians in their true quest to dominate the region.

Clinton’s bellicose foreign policy, her undying support of the Zionist war machine, and support of Bush’s escapades into Iraq seems to place her in the same club with the Neo-cons. Liberal supporters of her apologize for her saying, “she’s just trying to get the Jewish vote” while conservatives still think she’s a “commie Pinko”.

Haiti vs. The United States

Last night I had an interesting discussion. I work the night shift (12AM – 9AM) at a residence for the developmentally disabled. Anyway, I started getting into a conversation with this woman from Haiti about… well you know one of those ‘old person’ discussions about how “kids today don’t know the value of…. Bla ..bla..bla”… ( Keep in mind we are both in our 30’s. )

Anyway, for some reason we started to talk about how there is so much crap in TV today and how there is just so many TV stations. I mentioned how growing up working class in New York we had one TV with 13 channels if the cable was working. When the dial broke off you had to use a pair of pliers of vice grips in order to change the station. Back in the day you also had UHF which meant that you could if you wanted to broadcast your own TV station. (Which nobody ever did except the University because it was 1) expensive to buy equipment and 2) the stations came out fuzzy. But still, it was an option.) I don’t know if there are stations broadcasting on UHF anymore… it’s now mainly used for cell phones.

Anyway, when I asked my co-worker what TV was like in Haiti ( Keep in mind that I’m 35 and she is 39) She said, “ I never saw a television until I came to the United States. When I was a child, we lived in a very small hut; there was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, or anything of that nature. We entertained ourselves after the workday by telling stories. I remember my grandfather, grandmother, and great grand mother all living in the same one room hut with us and would tell us stories they knew and heard from their parents. “

I was quite frankly awestruck. I mean growing up… the bedroom I shared with my younger brother may have been just as big as her whole house that she shared with a large extended family. She really does show me the high value of family and hard work. (She works two full time jobs, one daytime one nighttime and sleeps 3 hours in between.)

Somehow our conversation turned to food, I don’t know how or when, yet I remember mentioning to her that I once worked with a fellow from Guatemala years ago who told me that he could not drink the milk produced in our country because it was not healthy and tainted with chemicals. I admitted that at the time I was quite young and I didn’t know of such things that they did to the bovine in this country.

She told me that when she lived in Haiti that they lived from the earth and that everything they ate was natural. They did not eat canned meat, if they wanted fish they fished for it, if they wanted vegetables they grew them and harvested them. And when she came to this country (United States) she was amazed at how much chemicals were put into such a simple product as bread. She was disgusted at how much food people ate out of cans, and how milk in our country seemed to be a sickly substitute for the real thing she knew in Haiti.

“I wonder…” She asked reflectively, “What kind of a society are we raising here in America? I have seen children with C or D cup breasts in America who are only 11 or 12. I don’t remember seeing such things growing up in Haiti.” She said. I confirmed her suspicions that this was all fairly new to our diet by telling her that few children our age developed as quickly.

It is interesting; up until now I had always considered organic foods to be somewhat bourgeois. However hearing what she has to say about the difference between life in Haiti and the United States, now truly has me worried for our children.

A War like Peace.

Is war ever really truly over? Surely it may say so on the treaties our leaders may sign. They may stand for a photo op on the deck of a ship in front of a banner proudly proclaiming “mission accomplished.” Yet even when an end is proclaimed to a period of armed conflict is war truly over? Even when troops come home the impact of the armed conflict continues to affect the people involved.
The U.S. involvement in Vietnam officially ended in 1975, however even today the impact of that conflict still affects the lives of U.S. Veterans and citizens of Vietnam (of all generations.) More than 30 years after the defoliant Agent Orange was sprayed over 25% of the nation’s forests, (over 72 liters) millions which had survived the war are dying, having serious medical problems, and the numbers continue to grow as more U.S. Vietnam veterans are discovering health problems due to exposure and 3rd generation Vietnamese are being born with serious birth defects.
Deep in war torn Africa the war in the Congo has been over for three years now according to treaties signed by previously warring parties. However people continue to die due to the conflict. “3.9 million People have died from war related causes since the conflict ended in the Congo,” Time Magazine June 5, 2006. How can people continue to die from a war that has been over you may inquire? The news seems to be reporting that all is well in the Congo and in fact the first real election in forty years is due to be held this summer.
There are various contributing factors for such a high death toll in a “time of peace.” For one the Congolese Army in which had been formed as a symbol of protection and reunification of the country, in an attempt to flush out rebel holdouts in the east have gone on a murderous rampage. They have raised villages, raped and murdered innocents, and carried out brutal executions. The years of war has fractured the social structure of the Congo. It has left a legacy of brutality and a crumbled infrastructure. Poor sanitation, disease, dislocation and malnutrition. Mass devastation caused by illnesses long controlled and prevented by western medicine.
The International Rescue Committee claims that war related conditions are responsible for 1250 Congolese deaths everyday. Most of the disease and malnutrition would not exist during typical periods of peace for the region. What makes matters even worse is that while the Congo is the second largest country in sub Saharan Africa, and largely considered ungovernable it is also very low on the international donors list.
I think time Magazine has touched on the heart of the problem in the Congo when it said, “ Yet because Congo is so rich in resources it’s problems when left to fester tend to suck it’s neighbors into a vortex of exploitation and chaos. And fixing the Congo is essential to fixing Africa.
Western countries seem to be appeased in the fact that at least Congolese warring parties are abiding by treaties and monitored by U.N. Troops. However people in Congo continue to live in a “peace” that looks like “war.” This I feel is all further proof that those who are most quick to rush into a war do not know the full price of war.
War may look all good on paper and treaties that are not worth the paper they are written on may be abided yet the people continue to suffer. While previous warring parties continue to struggle for power. The struggle between these two parties (as in most wars) has little to do with the will of the people or need of the people but over who controls valuable resources.