Theoren Heilman: "Dear Caroline: This is America (A Discussion)"

Dear Caroline: This is America ( A Discussion)

Written By: Theoren Heilman

            All throughout today's world there are so many social issues that are such necessities to be tackled but there is one bug in us all that prevents them from being addressed. This is our lovely friend confirmation bias, the idea that it couldn’t possibly be “that bad” or “Well I don't do that”. Our own mind lets us completely negate the fact that there is a struggle going on simply because of our own inherent biases. Despite this fact we can address issues in a more productive way when we take ourselves out of the situation. When we have a vantage point and look in at ourselves, in almost an out of body experience, we tend to be able to look at things in a much more productive manner. One very prominent and repugnant issue that is still around today is racism.  When we address prominent social issues we tend to come directly at one another rather than the idea od the issue itself. This is extremely true with racism as anybody would do anything in order to avoid the term of being a racist. With this being said, when we take ourselves out of the situation and look at it from a distance it is much easier to address the issue as a whole rather than attack one another back and forth. This is seen in the recently published “This is America” video by artist Childish Gambino. This video has not quite a Science Fiction feel but falls under a hyper realistic realm of fantasy including figures from all parts of history in the same spot which gives it this almost fantasy feel. Gambino provides a set of characters that we would conclude our human based on their actions and their looks but are placed in an environment that is relatable to almost nobody. After meer minutes of the video being on the internet, it poured out hundreds of comments and videos with both reactions and addressing the issues being presented by the video. Rather than having people argue over the idea of racism people analyzed the video picking out specific instances of racism that could be identified or hinted at. I believe that a Speculative fiction story could easily have the same effect on readers that this video had on its viewers. If readers were to come into contact with a story with a high fantasy setting or plot but real world incidents disguised by the fantasy it could greatly distance the reader but still address the topic at hand. It is very difficult for many people to have argument based discussions as many people get uncomfortable with the idea of conflict or possibly being the reason it is happening. By giving the reader disguised situations that they may or may not have taken place in before but can understand it takes out this idea of confirmation bias and conflict. This is exactly what happened in “This is America”, as Gambino distanced the reader by creating a fake situation but addressing disguised real world issues into the video itself. I believe that Speculative Fiction could easily be a gateway into more understanding and the destruction of confirmation biases by creating a neutral platform on which these texts address issues without addressing specific people. Thank you, and goodnight. 

https://genius.com/Childish-gambino-this-is-america-lyrics