Formal Paper 2: Rough Draft

Kyle Ordonio

English 101

Prof. Hamilton Salsich

Oct 6, 2010

Majority vs. minority

            The majority in any situation always determines the rules and the minority follow these set rules. Minorities always faces aggression or in some cases are shunned because they are simply different which is not acceptable to the majority. The minority is different but unique and sometimes they rise to top and become the majority. In the writings of Judith Ortiz Cofer, Nora Ephron, and  Eric Schlosser they show how being minority is like and how a minority has risen up to take the place of majority.

            Ms. Cofer writing is a personal one showing how it was like to grow up different than most children in the USA. “I was born a white girl in Puerto Rico, but became a brown girl when I came to live in the United States.” Her skin color made her a minority in the USA and that most people in the US were Caucasian or white. In any place where there is a majority of one race it simply unacceptable to be a different color and that sometimes it also bad to speak about skin color. “Hierarchy for popularity was as follow: pretty white girl, pretty Jewish girl, pretty Puerto Rican girl, pretty black girl.” Even at a young age there where set rules made by the majority and that the minority groups must follow and if they did not they would not be accepted or likely face problems from the majority. What was acceptable is written above and that you had to act and dress like the majority group or be minority and follow your own rules. “In college, I suddenly became an “exotic” woman to men who survived the popularity wars in high school…” As she grew older she became extremely popular because she was different then all of the other women and that men wished to date out of their social groups. Sometimes being a minority is not bad at all and that a minority may have more power than the majority in the near future. This is happens when you are different and that you sometimes have follow the set rules or follow your own path which is frankly not easy.

            Ms. Ephron writing is about a picture someone else  had taken several seconds before a woman’s death. “Beyond that the, pictures were classic, old-fashioned but prefect example of photojournalism at its most spectacular.” Photojournalism was still a very new thing back then and most papers had mostly written journalism so photos were still a minority in the past. She took picture of woman seconds before she died, photos are really the only thing that could catch those last moments before death and writing about it is so limited. “Invading privacy of death. Cheap sentsationalsim. I thought I was reading the national Enquirer.” The contents of the pictures were not acceptable to the majority of the readers, they didn’t like those photos were taken and put on the newspapers they commonly read. The majority of people didn’t like these pictures and there are some who did but most of the feedback was negative off the pictures rather than positive. “That they disturbed is exactly as it should be: that’s why photojournalism is often more powerful than written journalism.” Photojournalism started as a minority but soon became majority because the pictures could capture moments that simply no written work could. The saying goes that a “picture holds a thousand words” and some cases it is true. Today in our time, photojournalism is little above or equal to written journalism because most news articles usually contains a picture and without the picture you wouldn’t have the whole story.

            Mr. Schlosser writing is about how fast food had a very humble beginning but now has spread all over the world and is accepted almost everywhere in the world. “An industry that began with a handful of modest hot dog and hamburger stands in southern California has spread to every corner of the nation.” Fast food did start out as minority in the USA and has grown to a majority in the world. They had to start out following the rules of the majority but as the majority they have set the new standards of business in the world today. “One of the ironies of America’s fast food industry is that a business so dedicated to conformity has founded by iconoclast and self-made men.” As the majority, fast food has forgotten how it began and now seeks to get rid of the minority such as small business and anyone else who doesn’t conform. Fast food has now become majority and as I said before doesn’t like anyone who is part of the minority. “Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day.” Fast food has a many customers and this maybe the reason why fast food can continue as it is now, a majority. It is unlikely any other groups will take the place of fast food so the minority will stay a minority or they may become like fast food and rise to the top. His writing is a perfect example of how a minority can become a majority.

            In all of these writings I have seen how minority are treated and how in some cases the minority has more power than the majority. I have seen how a minority becomes the majority and sets the new rules. In the writings of Judith Ortiz Cofer, Nora Ephron, and Eric Schlosser they showed us how being a minority and majority is like and how minority takes the place of minority.