Racism Today

This week, our class visited some artwork in Chicago. We saw many images in which Indians were portrayed in one way: as naked, violent, and savage creatures. It amazes me that there is such a low level of outrage over these blatantly racist figures. It seems that some groups of people are still being persecuted, but know one really realizes it. For example, I've seen many commercials for a popular restaurant chain. Bennigan's slogan is "Feed your inner Leprechaun". It confuses me how such an obviously offensive phrase is taken so lightly. I even saw another commercial advertising a new product that said, "What would the Irish do to a steak? add beer!" It is ridiculous that I've never heard anyone complain about these advertisements. I understand that free speech is free speech, but you'd think they would get rid of those commercials for the sake of business.

Democracy?

This weekend, the president of Pakistan called for a state of emergency and gained control of all media outlets. The democracy once modeled after are own came crashing down. This made me wonder. Could this happen in America? How close are we really from the abolishment of our civil liberties?