This is me, thinking critically about the media

During the past few days, we have been discussing minority involvement in dramas (or the lack thereof). Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor said that there were basically two types of minority involvement in network dramas: no involvement at all or tokenism. To me, this is a problem.
But going beyond said dramas, where does someone like me, who goes to an extremely un-diverse school, form their opinion of minorities, mainly, African-Americans? There seems to be two options besides a homogeneous cast or tokenism on network dramas: All-Black sitcoms and MTV.
Reiterating what the teachers said, black sitcoms are rarely dramatic or serious, and the various casts are basically clowns; just there to entertain us, the 25-50 year old males.
The current MTV is a waaaay different story. This channel projects that all blacks are "gangstas", "thugs", or "pimps". The music videos, mainly rap and hip hop, make black men seem violent, sex-crazed, and basically illiterate, while the videos make black women hoes and objects. Bill Cosby, in one of his routines, compared rap music videos to minstrel shows. I whole-heartedly agree with him on this one. Even at school, I hear the influence of the videos through language that people use and the treatment others. I mean, when I start to overhear a white male my age say something like, "Yo, get off my grill, hoe" and another white male respond with, "Hey, stop acting so black," you know that something is a little fishy. I swear to god I hear similar conversations to this all the time! Since when can one "act black"? Are people really that one-sided?
These videos never project a positive image of an African-Americans, yet I'm not sure how to stop them besides expressing my opposition. Any suggestions?

Teach Your Children

As I was sitting at home today, I turned on the IFC channel and this movie called "Jesus Camp" was playing. I decided to watch it, as I remember it being nominated for an oscar a couple years back and by recommendations from friends who watched it for their junior themes last year.
It's about an Evangelical Reverend (Becky) in Missouri who takes children under 15 and their families to a camp in North Dakota to "spread the word of Christ" and create some sort of "God's Army".
That movie scared me in many ways. The documentary basically filmed reverend Becky's sermons to the children, as well as her encounters with many of them. The way that the 5 or 6 children the movie followed acted while in church or conversing about their religion puzzled me. It's hard for me to understand the impact that religion or god has on you, as I was brought up completely heathen by my parents. I never went to church or temple on weekends, nor did I attend holiday services. It never was a part of my life, and to see these kids completely consumed by it; reciting verses to strangers, wearing bible paraphernalia 24/7, and being politically active in issues such as abortion and gay marriage (I mean, I didn't even understand the meaning of abortion when I was in elementary school, so how are they supposed to understand the context and choices that one has when they get pregnant at such an early age?)
In Reverend Becky's words, she was creating an army of children. It was scary to see her speak and try to convince these kids that president bush is their hero because he supports the evangelicals and appoints them to the supreme court, or that the devil uses children as targets so they must never do anything that the bible prohibits, or using popular music and energy during sermons to attract the attention of the young so they're not at a "dead church" in which ordinary people just sit around and listen to a sermon.
It was just freaky in general to watch all of these kids eat up everything she said and live by it to the core.
I guess now I know why this class is teaching us to think critically about what people are saying to us; who knows, without that, I might have joined god's army...

Values

After discussing American Values in class, here, what I think, are the top values held by most Americans (not in order):

-Safety is big, in terms of having a system of laws, the police, army, and homeland security precautions.

-Materialism/Consumerism- Americans dedicate most holidays to buying and indulge in sale days such a black Friday; pretty much any luxury or necessity has a cost.

-Simplicity- such as topics/ depth of typical conversation, design; basically, Americans design events/products within reach of the "common folk".

-Innocence is a big one, in terms of corruption on wall street, politics, sheltering children, etc.

-Family- big because "a family is always there for you", "will love and cherish you", etc

-Vanity- Americans constantly buy things such as makeup, hair products, or plastic surgery to feel better about themselves or look more presentable.

-Humility- Being humble. Elitism is not widely accepted nowadays, as most Americans do not want their president to be one.

-Success- Climbing higher to the top. No one job is good enough. One must keep trying for better and live accordingly.

-Religion (or lack thereof)- Most people either surround their life with it, pondering if there is a god, or spend their time bashing it.

-Freedom- Americans pride themselves with freedom; we have a constitution, a democratic republic, etc.