Otherstudentsposting.docx

Alise

One big takeaway I got from the Ted Talk video was when she explained that we all have unconscious biases that we keep to ourselves but it is until we let those biases determine our way of life or judgement of people that they become important and can alter our society. I found this piece of information important because I completely agree with her. She explained that if we want to live in a world with equal opportunity, in a world where we can disregard stereotypes that are constantly laid on us, we have to start by recognizing and reconstructing our unconscious biases. 

Another takeaway I got was from the Jane Elliott video, a girl explained how her grandparents were racists towards Japanese people, she illustrates how her grandparents would constantly have this set stereotype regarding the Japanese and that stereotype would never change. She went on to explain that even when she told her grandparents to think of themselves in their shoes they still wouldn't get the point of unconscious biases. I found this interesting because it made me realize that times change and people tend to keep their opinions throughout their lives. I feel that this was the most important piece of information because it taught me that in order to better ourselves we need to keep an open-mind. It's important to understand that when society changes we need to take into consideration new ways of thinking. 

An example on how to apply it in today's day and age, there is a ton of conflict regarding the LGBTQ community. Hearing things on the news I realize that there are specific stereotypes they lay on people apart of this community. I want to open my mind to new ideas wether I agree with them or not. Because I understand that this is a rapidly growing topic all over the world and I think I can do a better job trying to understand from perspectives of others before creating my own unconscious judgment (good or bad). 

Igor

There were several good lessons to learn from both videos. The most important lesson from the first video was understanding your biases whether it is implicit or conscious. Often, we judge people based on arbitrary things that aren’t related to a person’s merit in the area we are evaluating. This could be judging a woman for doing something that is perceived as a manly thing. It could be thinking that someone is bad at an activity based on their ethnicity. These examples are the most prevalent, but there are a vast number of ways you could have bias. So, it is important for you to understand that these biases exist and to address them and make an effort to change. The second video was about treating people differently based on the color of their eyes. This example is a microcosm of our world as a whole and the explicit racism that a lot of people still deal with. It was broken down in a more digestible way for the children, but it was a great portrait of racism. I also thought it was effective because all the children in the video were of the same race and probably couldn’t fully understand what racism felt like. Both videos break down bias to just too different degrees. The first video breaks down a subconscious bias that influences our decisions and the second illustrates racism which is an explicit bias. In regard to intercultural communication, I would say it's most important for us to remove explicit bias because we can then build stronger bonds when we cross that divide. I will apply this by seeking out communication and relationships with people who are different than me. I could apply this by trying restaurants in my area started by immigrants, this will also help me learn more about their culture.