All three of my OTM posts were about topics that care about. For example, I chose to write about media portrayal of millennials because I identify as one and I agree that there are too many negative stereotypes about millennials in the media. I chose to write about the poverty tour for a couple of reasons. First is because I have been homeless before. It wasn't for very long and luckily I still was able to live in motel at the time with a roof over my head, but I was homeless nonetheless. I did not experience the same things that the poor Ohioans they focused on in the OTM story experienced, but being homeless for a short period of time has enabled me to have more empathy for anyone in that situation. Second is I'm taking a sociology class and I much more informed about society's role in perpetuating the unfortunate situations that poor people are living in. I chose to write about ISIS' weakened state because I'm passionate about America and our allies defeating terrorist organizations including ISIS.
There were many others I could have written about, but chose not to because I could not relate to them. For example in September I could have written about the OTM story on safe places on college campuses. One reason I didn't is because I never had to think about the need for safe places. I am a white, straight, Mormon male in southern Utah. Why would I ever feel that I needed a place to go to feel safe talking about my experiences? Everywhere I look is a safe place for me. Because of that I didn't feel the need to step outside myself to find the merits of other people living here having that safe place to go to and talk about their experiences on DSU's campus.
I have made an effort to change and be more empathetic of others that may or may not be in very different situations than me because of their race, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs or lack thereof, or whatever context it may be. One of the ways I am doing that is by taking more time to consider things that I see on social media or hear and see on the news before I form an opinion about it. For example I initially had a negative attitudinal response to Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. I thought it was totally disrespectful and as a result I decided to lose respect for his character. Then as I took the time to consider his cause and how he was going about promoting it, my respect for him and what he was doing grew. I no longer make any negative judgment about Kaepernick or the Black Lives Matter movement. I disagree with kneeling during the anthem, but I am tolerant and respectful of those that choose to do so. And I am respectful of any peaceful form of protest regarding our country's handling of social issues.
Before this semester I would have disregarded Kaepernick and black people's cause and their peaceful forms of protest because I could not relate to it. Now I admire the actions he and others have taken and I am much more tolerant and respectful of them. I hope to continue to change for the better in that regard.
I really like your post because you acknowledge that ignoring information can be a type of automatic response. I think I definitely did the same thing when I was choosing what to write about, especially when it came to On the Media. I chose to write about Hillary Clinton because I grew up hearing bad things about her, so I knew it would be easy for me to write about a podcast that critiqued Clinton's trustworthiness. I think you're right that our responses to things we can relate to are much different than our responses to things we know nothing about. Throughout this class, many of us probably denied ourselves the chance to learn something new or take on a new vantage point. We may not have done this on purpose, but like you said, our automatic response to alien information is to deny its veracity or ignore it all together.
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