Tahmeed Razeen

I’m very conflicted if Mookie did right thing or not. The last 20 minutes or so of the movie just escalated so fast. I understand why Buggin’ Out did he what he did, he cares about his community and wants his black folks to be more represented in said community. However, I don’t agree with the way he approached it. There definitely was a better way to get this representation, not by provoking Sal and in doing so frustrated Sal. Radio Raheem was also provoking him with his very loud radio. They could’ve simply spoke to him, but it’s understandable with they did. Even though Sal was frustrated, he didn’t have to say the N-word. That’s where it escalated even further starting a whole mosh pit. The cops came to break up the fight, but sadly while doing so they ended up killing Raheem. This enraged the whole neighborhood and they started to blame Sal and his sons. So, here’s why I’m conflicted with what Mookie did. As the whole neighborhood continued to gang up on Sal, Mookie throws a trash can at the pizzeria’s window. I feel like he did this to take the heat off of Sal and into his store. Yes, there could’ve been a better way to do it, but ultimately I feel that he did do the right thing out of respect to Sal for keeping him employed. If I was Mookie I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done. I probably would’ve just went home and wait for the whole to blow over.

After 62 minutes of watching this movie, I’ve been wondering why Sal built his pizza shop in a heavily black neighborhood. He hired Mookie to get the pizzas delivered, but mainly to keep the fellow black people happy and attract more customers. It makes me believe he is a racist. On one hand he can put on a happy face and greet all the black people as they use their hard earned money to buy pizza from his shop, while on the other hand he turns into a bigot, hating most black people and talking behind their back while they are not around. So, if Sal is a racist then why did he build a pizza shop around people he dislikes?  Contrarily, Sal and Mookie seem to have some kind of father-son bond. Also, Sal has some sort of infatuation with Mookie’s sister, Jade. When she stepped into the shop, Sal practically begged her to try his special slices of pizza and he even stopped what he was doing just to sit with her. Taking all of this into account, I still don’t understand why his shop is located in the Bedstuy-Stuyvesant area, when he clearly has no love for the people that are native there. I assume he’s making good money from them since his shop has been open for a while and has not run into any problems.

Baldwin began writing his letter, showing much emphasis on how hard it was for him to write it. I can only imagine how hard it really was to write a powerful letter like that. I read a comment from the article saying that all Black parents should write a letter like this. As much as I hate to admit, I also feel that it’s true. I don’t think it should be just Black parents, I believe every family of color should do it.  With what is going on right now in the world, people of color have had it rough for too long. It sucks that they even have to write a letter like this. The letter was written over 50 years ago and it’s still relevant today. Reading a letter like this really shows how messed up the world is. Other than the negatives of the letter, the positives were so beautifully put together. It makes whoever has read the letter proud of the heritage they are a part of. It also shows how far African Americans have come to get the freedom they really deserve. After reading the letter, I got a sense of hope that one day all people will be treated equally and that racism will just be a thing of the past.

I’ve never been a fan of K-Pop, it’s too festive for my music taste and every song sounds the same. Even all their music videos look the same. Some of my friends are die-hard friends for K-Pop and it’s literally all they talk about. So, I assume that’s how most of their fan base are. After watching the video, I must say that my perspective on K-Pop changed. I didn’t know the reason they all looked the same was because they were censored and told what to do, they were basically puppets. They had to do whatever they were told so they can make their respective companies as much money as they can. I remember one of my friends, who is a very big fan of K-Pop, told me how the celebrities would have surgery to structure their faces to have those sharp features, like a jawline. I read one comment from the video where it said that a girl had to lose 15 pounds in one week or else she couldn’t debut. It also said how she would only eat ice cubes and be afraid to go to sleep cause she thought she wouldn’t wake up. I didn’t know they had to go through such extreme lengths just to become famous. It’s sad that they have no say, but I hope to see the K-Pop industry progress in the near future.

Like many others, I too like to watch unboxing videos. Especially unboxing videos of things I want, for example, a new pair of shoes. I’ve watched multiple videos of shoe unboxing and I can never get enough. I agree with many points made in the video, but I agree most with how the video says unboxing videos shows how materialistic people really are. I believe this increase in materialism comes from the judgement of other people. For example, they’ll judge you on your clothing, what kind of car you have, etc. Being a human being you want to impress others not looked down upon. Another reason is that society is making products people have no use for. A few years ago, Supreme dropped a product where it was just a brick with there branding on it for like $50 dollars and people went crazy for it. They bought this product just because of the Supreme logo. If that same brick didn’t have the logo no one would pay much mind to it.  Also I believe these materialistic views are due to trends, like how everyone has an iPhone. Everyone wants to fit in and not be the odd one out, which is why we buy things we don’t really need.

I’ve never really watched reality tv because it seems very cringe. Everything about it just seems fake and everyone is just untalented in my opinion. I agree with everything stated by Salman Rushdie in his article. These days, to become rich and famous you can do literally anything, especially reality tv where “important” and famous people live their exaggerated lives.

In the article, Salman Rushdie says, “”Famous” and “rich” are now the two most important concepts in western society, and ethical questions are simply obliterated by the potency of their appeal.” I strongly agree with this statement because that is what people refer to as the “American Dream”. On Youtube, to get a lot of subscribers and views, all you have to do is become a reaction channel. You can literally react to anything and the reactions could be completely exaggerated, and people will still watch it. Another way is to make a blog channel, where you just record your everyday life (like reality tv). You just have to have something interesting in the video, a misleading and clickbait title. Many youtubers just like this make tons of money and have millions of subscribers and still continue to expand their channel.

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This image represents me because it shows that I am an introvert. The part of the  image that says “don’t” corresponds with me. I’d rather be alone than around a bunch of people.