VR: This is Not Private, 1,000 Cut Journey, and Becoming Homeless

I found This is Not Private really strange and hard to understand at first. I get that they're trying to show the effect of empathy but I thought the shifting faces were a little creepy. It is really interesting that your face can show whether or not you are empathizing with another person and it's so weird how people mimic each others expressions. It's kind of like how you pick up on other people's mannerisms when you spend a lot of time with them.

I think the two VR experiences were really powerful. Something that stood out to me was how the website with Becoming Homeless on it pointed out that when things bad happen to other people, we blame them, but when bad things happen to us, we blame external factors. We are so harsh and quick to other people when we cannot relate to their experiences and don't realize that those things could easily happen to us.

I really enjoyed the 1,000 Cut Journey interview and I found it interesting that the creator said she made it for liberal people who are trying to be more accepting. I think it is important that the VR focuses on microaggressions because those are the things that go unnoticed by privileged people and you have to be in the oppressed person's shoes to fully understand how hurtful they are. They also brought up the implicit bias test, which I have taken a few times. It tells you whether or not you have a bias you are not aware of based on how quickly you respond to different prompts. It's super eye-opening, and it made me realize that we all have biases because of the way we were raised or media we've been exposed to. It's impossible to be completely unbiased, but the important thing is that we recognize these biases and do our best to reject them and treat people fairly. Hopefully VR like these two examples can change the way people view the world.

Meg Champagne