Author: savage.289

The Kids Are Alt-Right

Whether you’re into crafts and DIY, boybands, gaming, or grilling, chances are you’ve watched a YouTube video about it before. YouTube is a video-sharing platform and the second largest search engine behind Google Search. Users watch over a billion hours of content on the site every day.

This post from our course blog discusses a growing issue on social media platforms–The Algorithm. Clicks = Ad $$ and algorithms reflect that. The echo chamber, or filter bubble, or whatever you want to call it, that is born from aggressive algorithms can be dangerous. Once you engage with certain content, similar content starts popping up more, and users are recommended increasingly extreme content.

Safiya Noble’s “Google Search” interrogates the algorithmic practices of biasing information through search engine results, specifically concerning how Black women and girls are rendered online. Noble  states an ugly truth: “…search engine technology replicates and instantiates derogatory notions.”

Search results for the word “feminist” in YouTube Search.

TikTok-ers have recently been posting about such a phenomenon on YouTube, particularly affecting teenage boys, known as the “Alt-Right Pipeline.”

PewDiePie, a gaming channel, has been known as an entry to falling down the alt-right rabbit hole. “Edgy humor” becomes increasingly blurred with hate speech, and compilations of SJW/Feminist/whoever gets destroyed/owned/whatever becomes all you see. These subcultures are fed by content creators that promote each other and their other social media platforms. In an extreme instance, a shooter live-streamed his attack on a mosque and told viewers, “Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie.” In the past 4 years, alt-right groups have grown emboldened by support from former President Donald Trump.

“The rise of the alt-right is both a continuation of a centuries-old dimension of racism in the U.S. and part of an emerging media ecosystem powered by algorithms.”
Going through an “Alt-right phase” isn’t quirky or relatable. Interacting with these ideologies has real-life dangerous consequences.
In an effort to engage users as much as possible, we are left with the consequences of algorithms gone wild. Companies need to be more transparent about their algorithms, and actively work to improve them to be anti-racist. Additionally, we need to examine more closely the relationship entertainment and education have online. As we click, and click, and click, companies lead us down extremist rabbit holes, and profit all the while.

With Literacy and Justice For All

In 2020, the state of Michigan settled a case with Detroit school students after a federal appeals court ruled basic education and literacy a fundamental right.  The students claimed they were deprived of access to literacy via lack of books, instruction, and poor building conditions. The settlement agreement could result in around $97 million in funding for literacy initiatives in the Detroit Public School Community District.

 

Protestors advocate for Detroit Students fight for literacy

 

“Low-quality literacy education is a key component of the school-to-prison pipeline.” — Winn et al. (2011).

 

 

 

One of our course readings, Winn & Behizadeh’s The Right to Be Literate, emphasizes literacy as a civil right. They justify literacy as a new frontier of civil rights because of the consequences of denying the right to literacy. Being denied the resources to develop literacies can result in a significant detriment to one’s ability to fully engage with society. Their pedagogy of possibility places importance on creating “hybrid” spaces in which there are multiple means of accessing literate materials. Diverse methodological approaches are necessary to provide inclusive access to literacy.

Agency is an important concept in education, specifically when it comes to acquiring and practicing literacy. In her discussion on disability in the academic writing center, Kerri Rinaldi points out that, “If a student has a disability, we treat the disability as an obstacle or shortcoming instead of a contributor to their agency” (2015). Winn situates agency in engagement with education and thus the ability to act for themselves and critically engage with their communities.

“Reading and writing critically are essential tools for survival in a current educational system in whcih students of color are disproportionately in special education, suspended, and expelled, which all contribute to a higher likelihood of incarceration.”

–Winn, et al.

Disabled students are more likely to be referred to juvenile justice than students without disabilities; these rates are even higher for non-white students. Collaborative efforts with students such as performing their work, conducting research, and having forums where their voices are heard are imperative in efforts to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.

To deny literacy is to effectively attempt to prevent the acquisition of justice, equality, and civil rights.

 

Good Morning Gremlins

“Boys and girls,” is the universal call to attention for most school-aged children. Gendered language subtly sends the message that those of us that might not relate to the gender binary are not included. These inequities must be addressed more directly in our classrooms and institutions.

From an early age, children reinforce gender stereotypes they learn, and it influences the way they think about themselves and others. All students must be empowered in order to provide an inclusive and safe learning environment. True gender equality can be reached when these needs are met for all students:

  • Equitable access and use of resources
  • Equitable participation
  • Safety or freedom from violence

The first step is to ask ourselves: How are you using language? Using nongendered terms and encouraging discussions about gender and identity opens the floor for exploration and acceptance. Advocating for a more diverse curriculum and calling into question shortcomings is important in creating a modern counternarrative to build a more just learning environment for all kids.

In the past few years, news articles have surfaced in outrage over school districts enforcing nongendered language. Referring to students as “friends,” “scholars,” or whatever it may be is not an attack on cisgendered students. In fact, it removes the gendered assumptions and competition that strong enforcement of gender roles evokes.

The U.S. Census Bureau collects the most comprehensive data about the demographic makeup of the country. The 2020 survey wholly excluded the identities of those who exist outside of the gender binary. Census data is used to inform policy, and without an accurate representation of that population, it is harder to provide evidence of necessary service and policy changes that protect those people.

There are many great resources out there for inclusive lesson planning and readings for class made by teachers for teachers. Pay note to the depictions of people in your readings: call into question stereotypes, read nonbinary and trans authors, challenge student’s assumptions. Engaging with more inclusive vocabulary and facilitating discussions about the influences and effects of biases and identities is a step all educators need to be taking.

As Winn explains, in “The Right to Be Literate,” hybrid learning environments including multiple forms of literacy serve students and teachers better. Collaborating with students and inviting them to share their lived experiences grants them agency to pursue their right to literacy.

Ultimately, diverse learning materials and methods are necessary to accommodate the diverse learners you are working with. These practices can and must incorporate all facets of identity. Classrooms should provide a safe, and inclusive environment that challenges and supports all students, without adding the burden of assumption.

Imagine: (Y/N) Wrote A Blog Post

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a toxic relationship with your favorite singer? Or day-dreamed about how your favorite show would play out if your favorite characters finally started dating? Welcome to fanfiction, my friend.

Fanfiction is a genre of writing that uses other sourced characters or realities. The authors of these works engage with the community of fans to expand the “narrative universe.”

When I was 13, I fell hard for Harry from One Direction. After watching every 1D music video on the internet, a picture came across my Tumblr timeline.

Tumblr introduced me to imagines and other short fanfiction writings like one-shots and flashfics. Eventually, I came across a post linked to wattpad.com and thus, my addiction to fanfiction (sorry, I had to). I devoured thousands of words about the relationships and manipulated worlds of my favorite celebrities and fictional characters. The best part was it was written by other teenage girls that knew exactly what I wanted to read. 

In my opinion, fanfiction birthed a new generation of writers. For some reason though, fanfiction is usually dismissed as amateur or obsessive because it is popular with teenage girls. Even if it’s not good writing, it’s still a worthy expression of creativity. Also, how do you manage to make sexist comments about simply liking things?

Many fic authors also write professionally. (P.S. Fifty Shades of Grey is a Twilight Fanfic.) Fanfics fill the void between new content, and sometimes even the backstories of the content they source from. The summer I spent devouring After — by the pool, or under my desk, or literally, anywhere I could use my phone — changed me as a reader, and a human being. 8 years later, there’s a book series and film-adaptation of the toxic Harry Styles fanfic.

 

Although a generation of young teens should not have had unrestricted internet access, a rich and diverse writing culture was born. Since the pandemic has started, fanfiction has seen a spike in popularity again. After all, fanfiction is there for you when no one else is.