Blog #10

After reading Villanueva's work , Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color, I was struck by a term that he uses, racelessness.  He defines this as, " the denial of other-cultural affiliation, a denial of the collective, any collective; it is the embracing of America's dominant ideology, the ideology of individuality"( Villanueva ).  I believe that he is saying that this is a kind of coping mechanism people use in order to reduce conflict with the majority. This temporary assimilation into the white culture or ideology by minority groups or individuals eliminate conflict. Villanueva states that racelessness comes at the price of alienation (Villanueva). For a time, the individual is not fully accepted by the white community and no longer relates to his or her ethnic background. This term could be useful in my analysis of how bands are portrayed on myspace. This is demonstrated on the basis of how the myspace developers display the band and what rhetoric is show on the bands site. Though the bands are not all American or white, the use of the glowing effect, or other tools ,allows the site to portray them as white American males. At the same time, they are alienated from their cultural background.

Questions:
1)  Vit Sisler would describe action video games, containing Middle eastern people, in the following way,
      a) Video games are a contemporary attempt, by Middle eastern people, to display rhetorical messages about Islam and their culture. 
      b)Video games are the degradation of the dehumanized "other" through the display of orientalism reguarding their culture and society
      c) Video games display a fictional representations of Middle eastern culture and society that is generally accepted by Middle easterners.
       d) none of the above
ANSWER B

True or false:  "Digital Dignity" is the self-esteem and pride associated with the knowledge that the user can relate the the video game even though the game does not reflect their view.
ANSWER F

References
   Villauea Victor. Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color: Urbana, IL: NCTE. 34-50.