As the world advances technologically it is difficult for the rules and laws of netiquette to transfer to modern times. It is easy to access a plethora of information and items on the Internet. There is a common misconception that it is possible to get all things of the internet at our leisure, however it is not legal to use other people’s thoughts and products without their permission. Although it seems like free information, we must realize that as young communication majors we must respect the works of others in order for ours to be respected as well.

Introduction

Hello Everyone! My name is Brandy Brookes, a freshman Communications and Culture major from the United States Virgin Islands. I came to Howard University because i knew it would be the best institution to mold me into the woman I want to be.

Everyday we get up, and the first thing most of us do is check our social networks and different media outlets for the happenings that occur both locally and globally. It is embedded into our daily routine and it would definitely take a lot of trials to remove ourselves mentally from the cyber world. Modern culture wouldn't exist if it were not for our advancements in technology, however it is imperative that we remember that anything in excess can be destructive to a being. Although it is an essential way of communicating news, ideas and beliefs, it also is a negative platform for people who otherwise could be easily ignored. People who crave attention look for it in all the wrong places, and they get it because the media thrives on stories of crime and violence. The media, however, tends to show us the side of the story most beneficial to them and tend to pull our heartstrings in order to keep us emotionally involved. This is not always a dangerous tactic in all cases as we saw with Trayvon Martin. Although some may argue that the entire media coverage was just a ploy to bring attention to the Stand Your Ground law, it also brought African Americans to the realization that racism is alive and we have to get together in order to change the conditioned minds of millions of Americans. Needless to say the media plays a vital role in how we react to situations that are presented to us.
One thing that has been brought to my attention, was the media's recognition of their own fault of glorifying mass murderers and offenders. The media seems to have found itself in a never ending cycle of publicizing serial killers whose only goal is to have a platform large enough for the world to see. I ran across an article in the Washington Post that sparks much debate. Should the media proceed to cover stories on murderers and other offenders who seek media attention? It seems to be a cycle of copy-cat attention seekers who know which buttons to push to get themselves on the front page of every paper. The easiest and quickest way to the top has become murder. The media is a part of everyday life, and has become very poisonous to our being as a community as it continues to glorify the names of mass murderers. It is almost impossible to cut off the media completely, so what must we do to ensure our future well-being? Whatever it is we must find out soon before we self-destruct as an entity.

Black is beautiful. When I say these words now it is hard for me not to mean it. Saying it as a young girl, was more of me trying to convince myself, not really a proclamation of my sincere feelings.  However after seventeen years of trying to convince myself something in me finally clicked. With my African-esque features, I may not be considered the standard of mainstream "beauty". I always thought it was my job to explain the size of my lips and the darkness of my skin to whomever it may offend.  I grew up on an island with a population that is majority black and it is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I used to get teased daily for my obviously black features. I would look at pictures of myself and just think "Well maybe if my nose was smaller..". I hated myself because of the way I looked. I hated even more, the fact that something so minute (such as the darkness of my skin in relation to other blacks) could cause me to try to conform to something I was not and could never be: White.

Reading Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority opened my eyes to something a lot of blacks try to hide from. We are currently in a race with ourselves. We are in a race between loosing and keeping our black men, between being respected black women and sex objects, and most importantly between loosing and keeping our true selves. What we need to pull us up from this downfall is to realize that anything and everything we do is watched. Not only by the rest of America, but by the upcoming generation.

We seem to have been desensitized to the maltreatment of other blacks. We are subconsciously committing our own genocide. If we continue to sweep these matters under the rug our entire existence will be extinct in just a matter of time, and then the campaign to brainwash African Americans would prove to have been successful. As we move on to become successful black leaders in America, we must open our brothers' and sisters' eyes in order for us to move along as a productive entity. We must not remain as the inferior race any longer if we are to exist and thrive successfully in America.