Sophia Fuller – Practicum 1

The video presented above is a Nike commercial which is trying to illustrate the idea of equality. In this video it questions what equality is in our world and what it should be. It’s main point is that equality should have no boundaries. It uses the example of sports, why when someone is watching or playing sports they see people for their skill and their actions but outside of the sport they do not. If equality has no boundaries then why does someone’s color, their religious belief, or even their political beliefs result in them getting treated any differently than everyone else. That is the message this commercial is conveying, that every individual is inherently equal regardless of sex, race or religion.

This relates to American political culture because freedom and equality are two of the biggest core beliefs in our country. The American Declaration of Independence talks about how all men are created equal. The Constitution states that everyone should have equal rights without prejudice of sex, race or religion. Obviously this concept has evolved over centuries as each generation’s political culture strives to push for more equality and expand on its definition. Throughout history our nation has been divided on issues revolving around rights based on sex, color and religion. Political parties throughout our  history have argued various aspects of equality issues which is proof of that divide. Since the beginning of America we have been divided by these three things and with more cultures and traditions immigrating to the United States, the more that these things evolve and become more of a divider. While American political culture is supposed to be about equality, liberty, and freedom, it’s ironic that we are falling apart internally trying to achieve those. People look at America as the land of opportunity and freedom yet our true political culture is showing division, the opposite of equality.

Questions

1. Why would they present this commercial in black and white and what message were they trying to send by doing this?
2. What are boundaries in equality and how do they affect our political culture?
3. The first line in this commercial is “Is this the land history promised…”. Answer this question as if someone were directly asking you for your opinion.
4. What does the message of equality mean to you?
5. American political culture can mean many things, in your own words define what American political culture is.

I like the idea of this assignment but I personally found it hard to understand. I spent forever trying to find a video because American political culture is a hard thing to pinpoint because it is so many different things. I overall enjoyed the aspect of this assignment and I would recommend it. I think it would actually make a good group project in order to get a larger perspective on American political culture and it would allow people to hear others opinions which I think could have helped me with this assignment.