Can I clarify that by ‘Media’ I mean news outlets that put this story out there, whether for her benefit or not? The ‘journalists’ that write the articles, the editors that choose what goes where, etc.? I don’t mean us talking in a forum.
You know what, I’m just going to give up. I’ve said my piece, a couple get the point I was making, some dance around it. I’m finally getting slightly annoyed and am realizing that it’s because of other posts I’ve responded to, and I’m carrying that burden to you, and that’s unfair of me. If I’m getting emotional, then it’s time for me not to be posting, especially about something that’s really not very important compared to things I actually have to do.
I know we’d end up getting what each other are saying, and do see what you’re getting at I just see a greater problem around it. . . but this is really too much work.
Sorry, this, too is media. It’s not just something out there, meaning the big broadcasters, etc. The internet, TV, film, Radio, recorded sound, twitter, facebook, google, etc and so on, are media, too. It’s all about mediating experiences, rather than physical means of doing so.
I think we disagree on the origin of the problem here. Media, like any other tool, can be negative or positive. Look for example, at the use the civil rights movement made of media–embracing media as a means of getting out their message. The images of young black children being acted against violently, as they peacefully marched was a major coup for the movement in the sense that they got a good deal of coverage and sympathy… of course it was hell for those kids, but King, Randolph, and Rustin were rather smart about their use of the media. Or the media can be employed for propagandistic and negative ends–for example, ignoring the violence of US actions around the world.
My point and I think the point of others is that the root cause is not per se the media, but the regime of inequality, sexism, imperialism and racism that still persists in daily life. I agree that the media can at times be a part of the problem, but used correctly, it could/can also be part of the solution.
Darn it! See, I wasn’t going to come back and now I agree. Curse you!
Yeah, I agreed with your broad point earlier, and I am about as ‘all-humans-are-equal’ as a person can get, but you make a really good one about the positive use of the media that I honestly hadn’t even thought about.
My concern is more that once a person gets pulled into the frenzy . . . well, most of them get ruined and take a bunch with them along the way, y’know? So I tend to try to at least re-humanize them as much as possible. It doesn’t matter whether the media sides with them or not, they become a polarizing figure and become a caricature to a whole bunch of other people, often many they actually interact with. You can see that’s a problem too, right?
But . . I think I had honestly given up on our news media being anything other than a problem, but they do occasionally do good and they should be doing lots of good. I just know the psychological interplay with the average human is disturbing (and that stretches into entertainment too . . how many shows do we have where people aren’t casually murdered? Often by our ‘heroes’?)
Our news media’s just a tool, isn’t it? It could be useful, it SHOULD be. I perhaps forget the potential when I see how horribly it’s used.
William, have you ever met a real narcissist? Our fun-making would not even register with her. It certainly would not cause her any hurt feelings. If you saw tears they would have the purpose of distraction and manipulation.
If, by some truly strange path, this woman came through life to this point without understanding how utterly offensive her behavior is it would do her well to be hurt. Life is tough. Lessons sometimes are painful, but it is a powerful aid to memory.
The much greater likelihood is that she will coast through life never realizing what a clueless nib-com-poop she is. As I said above, if the scouring of the public airwaves with disapproval and embarrassment may cause a few youngsters to change their path through life then it is all worth it.
Yeah, I don’t think these are impossible things, I just don’t feel comfortable making that sort of psychological evaluation of somebody based on as little evidence as we’re given.
Even more importantly, unless you’re extraordinary well trained, this is where conformation bias tends to run rampant. If you’re already negatively predisposed towards somebody you’re going to gravitate towards arguments that justify your view and away from those that do not.
I do it myself often enough with other figures to know how subtle and pervasive that one can be. And yes, this is an invitation to point out if I EVER do the same thing with another human, unpopular or not. It’s a sneaky cognitive bastard.
Holy shit - she killed an elephant with a bow and arrow? Is she fucking nuts? I wish it told in the article where she hit it. Elephants don’t die easily.
Yeah, I remember that. That whole “I’m the great white hunter, look at me” is all kinds of BS too. It was BS when Teddy Roosevelt did it and it’s BS now.
Part of what bugs me about this story is that it has the feel of badly written Star Trek episodes, and innumerable role-playing game side quests: spend a few days doing a few discrete tasks, and you’re an honorary member of a culture, and get a nifty souvenir.
It takes more work than that to win acceptance in a new subculture in a city in which you’ve lived your entire life. It’s profoundly insulting to assume that other cultures are somehow that simple to understand.
Some people still do not understand the meaning of a CULTURE as an identity of a group of people. The problem is misunderstand of people’s ways of life. This woman was supposed to learn and know the meaning of a warrior in a Maasai perspective not as a native American. Men becoming Maasai warriors and women not, is not a matter of equality!! That is just our culture/identity. But this doesn’t really surprise me much, because I read about men going to have surgery to became women which is related to what she is advocating in our community!! I am very sure there is no a Maasai lady who wish to be called a “Moran”. No one will attain Maasai warriorship just by being able to fight otherwise many amazing Maasai women and boys should be fighter just to be warriors. Becoming a Moran is attained by men who undergo through different processes and they hold that title of being a Moran for a limited of time, thus why we have different categories of age group. After a certain time, planned by the Maa community, the current moran will no longer be called Moran. That does not mean those men lost their ability to fight, that is just our CULTURE. Thus why, not all men are Maasai warriors. For example, boys are not moran and will never be even if they can fight until they undergo those cultural procedures at a specific time!! But did this native American woman knew about that? Until, she is named A FIRST WOMAN TO BECAME A MAASAI WARRIOR? How can she became a MAASAI warrior and she is not from a Maasai tribe? Did she think there is no AFRICAN men and women who are not from a Maasai tribe but able to fight and qualify to be warriors in a Maa community if warriorship is attained by ability to fight? Well, becoming a moran/warrior is just a MAASAI PEOPLE’S CULTURE.
An advice to the maasai people, please let us educated our communities about participating in different projects. Let us be curious about what people ask us to do, about what we say during interviews. And for those who does not know much about the culture, please find someone else to help you. Do not give false information to be written because it will destroy our culture which is our identity. Of course, not all things in our culture are good but we have a lot of good things to preserve.
I can’t help but imagine the Masai she was with laughing at her behind her back and calling her a sucker. Just think of some rich foreigner coming to your neighborhood and offering to pay big bucks to become a local sports team member. Most of you would decline, not because it insulted your culture, but because it’s silly. But someone would take them up on it, sell them the uniform, and laugh to the bank.
Masai are regular folk like you and I. Some are probably jerks and she’s a chump.
Follow this privileged chick’s money trail. Google “Luria Montecito Santa Barbara” … there’s always someone pulling the strings behind the velvet curtain, Dorothy.
Having Googled it, the best I can come up with is that her grandfather appears to be a real estate developer in Montecito, and her grandmother is a philanthropist who gave some money to cancer charities. Is there something more sinister I’m missing?
Tardy to the party, but loving the thread so far. Here goes my contribution:
I have a pal who does a lot of “rich white girl travels to lots of poor places filled with people darker than her in the name of charity” traveling. Every place she goes is allegedly part of some ecotourist/foreign aid thing (and total bullshit if you scratch the surface).
Said person would never, EVER actually go work in a soup kitchen up in the Bronx, or stock a food pantry, or even just give money–like half the cost of a 20-day guided jaunt through Africa–to something right here at home. Hell, I can’t even get her out on the N train to have authentic “ethnic eats” from ANY nation here in Queens…then again, its probably for the better as I then won’t have to listen to how much better the food was when she really went to Country X.
Venn diagram of people who do Rich White Charity Tourism and people who would actually deign to be in the same room as disadvantaged people from their home country=zero overlap.
And before you ask…what have I done for the Downtrodden of the Universe lately? Well, being as I’m not trying to turn a buck or whore myself out to advertising at their expense, I don’t see it as germane. If you must know, when I have $ for charity, it goes to the New York Public Library and food banks right here at home. And I sure as fuck don’t make a field trip or a spectacle out of the lives of those who benefit from those bodies.
