Race

These past few weeks in class we have been discussing race. Race seems to be arbitrary in the grand scheme of things. It is only as important as we make it, which sadly, seems to be very important. Signs are everywhere of the implicit racism going around today. Things as simple as being taught by somebody of your own race or finding a band aid of the same skin color as you. There are things in society constantly putting great emphasis on race. When in reality, it is only a social construct. But how can we as a society change that? The answer is not very clear. I believe that we must change our perceptions of society and how we view the world as a whole. People should not be categorized based on color, or on any other sort of premise for that matter. We should all simply be human beings.

WeAreThe99Percent

Why Desire For Economic Security is Not Being Met - Got laid off from his job and is sick with no source of income other than unemployment
More Fair Situation - He is highly educated and a valuable worker. If he could get another job like he had, it would be much easier
Relates To Social Class - At one point he was extremely dedicated and willing to work hard, now he lives off of unemployment because nobody will hire him. He may even be considered now the underclass.
Chose This  Image - I chose this image because it amazed me how somebody so smart and talented could be out of work and living on unemployment.

Why Desire For Economic Security is Not Being Met - He has been on his own since 16 and been homeless and in prison, pays child support among other bills and has no stable source of income for anything.
More Fair Situation - It would be better if he could find a stable job and put one of his many wonderful talents to use.
Relates To Social Class - He only wants to be with the one he loves but that is impossible due to financial demands. He has so many talents that are not being appreciated due to being in the underclass.
Chose This  Image - It saddened me to read this man's story and all the wonderful things he has to offer but nobody will accept. "Why Does The Caged Bird Sing? Because he still knows how to fly" - Right on man

Why Desire For Economic Security is Not Being Met - She can't afford to pay off here student debt  despite all the hard work her and her parents do.
More Fair Situation - If jobs paid more so people could at least support themselves. It seems like the vast majority of the country can hardly afford to make ends meet.
Relates To Social Class - It is hard to find a job without a college education but you can't pay for college without a job. Loans are the only "solution" which only create more problems. Despite all her efforts she sees the American dream is dead...and i can't say i disagree
Chose This  Image - she is headstrong and is going to persevere and I respect her for that. In times of such financial crisis she is still going to work hard and that takes a special kind of dedication

Why as a country and as an individual should we sit idly by and watch people struggle to survive? Shouldn't we help out our brothers and sister all across the nation? It seems that corruption and suffering are running rampant and nobody is doing anything to help. Why is green the only color that matters? Why is the only person who matters ourselves? We need to change ourselves as individuals before we can begin to heal as a nation. - Stay Strong 99%

The Idea of 'Love'

Love is such a universal idea that seems to manifest itself again and again in sociology. It seems as though the very basics of human nature can be traced back to love. Love for your fellow man, your brothers and sisters, love for other cultures, love for a significant other, and love for the earth, among many others, are all different ways of describing love.  In the English language, we are so limited in the use of the term 'love'. Other cultures have dozens upon dozens of words for all of the different uses of the word 'love'. In America, it is all lumped together into one word, and that cheats us out of some amazing ways we could view the world. It seems as though America is quite a superficial and materialistic society where people don't even see a need for multiple words to mean love. They view it as only a romantic thing where there is just so much more to the word, than only that. We should however, have many words, because there are so many different kinds of love and so many way it can be used, maybe it would change our culture as a whole if we had these words. It has been proven that our language dictates the way we view life and society, and maybe western society could stray away from its' such materialistic views, and develop a more spiritual connection with existence and life as a whole, if only we had the words to describe it.

Why does it matter?

If one is LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender)???? This week I saw a panel of LGBT students tell us their personal story. It was amazing to see how emotional their stories were and how difficult it is to be LGBT in our culture. I heard what each of them had to go through, and it really touched me. They have been through  a lifetimes worth of troubles already, and are truly amazing and inspiring people. What saddens me is how 3 out of 5 of them had attempted suicide. It makes me question what messages we as a culture are sending out about the LGBT community? Apparently being LGBT in America, in many people's eyes, means you should be discriminated against for solely being different. It is sad to imagine all of the amazing people that could have been, the doctors, the writers, the poets, the artists, the lawyers, the athlete, that never got to achieve their goals and make a difference, because they were different. It doesn't add up. We need to make a change. I want to live in a culture where being LGBT isn't viewed upon with contempt, but celebrated and honored. It takes lots of courage to be LGBT in today's America, courage I'm not sure I would have. To the members of the LGBT community: I hold so much respect for all of you, I don't know of anybody that faces the kinds of challenges that you need to deal with every day. And its truly amazing. I wish you all the best for your future, a future filled with love, acceptance, and prosperity.

Media Culture

Nowadays, children seem to be marketed to from all angles. Commercials, Internet, Plug-Ins and so much more are all things used to sell kids products. It is strange to think that these advertisements are the reason I look up to some characters, or prefer one brand over another. It is difficult to think of how my values could have been affected due to many things seen on TV. The debate really becomes controversial when you ask whether these children are old enough to understand it. I don't think that they have the ability to acknowledge they are being advertised to and therefore is forced to be manipulated by characters that they look up to. It is a sad truth that kids are being subjected to constant bombardment from birth to death, by media culture in all shapes and forms. I wonder what the world may be like if there weren't such constant barrage? How our minds could potentially develop differently  based on time to develop its' own opinion about the world, instead of being swayed a certain way from birth.

How are we, who we are?

This week in sociology we had to ask our parent a few questions about parenting and ourselves in general. I found it very interesting how my mother told me that my quick wits and sense of humor remind her of herself. This is odd because personally, I do not necessarily see the similarities. However, she also said that I am unique in my outlook on the world. She said that she makes things into a larger deal than they need to be, while I on the other hand, tend to have a more relaxed view of the world. She said I don't let things bother me that shouldn't. I find this peculiar because if i were to spend my whole life with her since birth, wouldn't one assume that I would be anxious and nervous as well? Alas, I am not, maybe this laid back view comes from peers, teachers, or other authority figures? Or perhaps, there is more going on on a subconscious level. Maybe, if I am supposed to learn and begin to function based on the environment I am brought up in, is it equally possible to recognize what sorts of behaviors or traits, are not ideal to have as a person, and as a result develop in the opposite direction? What sort of stimuli would my subconscious mind actually pick up on? And how would that stimuli affect my growth and development as a human being?

The Lost Boys of Sudan

The lost boys of Sudan were a group of boys forced to run out of their country due to the civil war in Sudan. They were forced to band together, having lost their families, and take refuge in many refugee camps along the border of their country. For a decade they lived in the refugee camps, hoping for the day they could return to their country, but there was no life in the camps. However, there was a hope, some people are selected every so often to go to America and start a new life there. You can imagine the kind of culture shock that someone could experience. Somebody who has never used electricity, used a shower, or rode on an escalator. They found it very difficult to assimilate into American culture while still being true to their native ones. It is difficult to imagine exactly how difficult that would be. Leaving everybody behind and entering a place completely different from what you're used to. It is odd watching their story from their perspective. It really makes you analyze what we as a nation hold as important values and beliefs. For example, one of the boys was perplexed how you couldn't approach strangers walking alone. It is a strange thing to think about because that is a value that I'm somewhat embarrassed of. I wish we were a friendly society more open to strangers and meeting new people, like in Sudan. Analyzing our own culture from an outsiders perspective is a way that we can all improve our culture and our society.

The Importance of Language

This week in class we talked about the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. This is when our language changes how we actually perceive the world. For example, when an Inuit person looks outside, they can see clear differences in snow because they purely have the words to describe it. As an American, when I look out my window, all I see is snow because English simply doesn't have the words to describe it. This could perhaps be one of the reasons that many cultures value different beliefs. Their view of the world is shaped by their language and therefore allow them to perceive the world in a different light. This could be a reason that many nations don't see eye to eye on many issues, because our values and beliefs, are all originated from our language. America seems to have a streak of being a bully and pushing people around we tend to be very ethnocentric people. The problem is, this blocks us off from actually seeing for what the world is in all its' glory and evil. Perhaps, if we were to forget all our rules and beliefs of normality, we would make some better, more respectful, decisions in the world that reflect the kind of people we should be, and are not pretending to be.

The Lorax

This week we viewed the film, The Lorax. It was quite a complex movie for its' childish nature. This is especially seen in just the opening seen, where they sing the song about not having any trees and it being fantastic. You begin to get this sense, that Thneedville's social construction of reality is that the only good things are manufactured products, and nothing natural is ever good. In order to be more mindful, and see the world from the point of view of the animals or Ted, they must see the situation with a beginner's mind, which means that they must forget all their bias, and view the situation as a completely new one. This will help them see the dysfunction, and they can correct it. Also in this scene,  you see Ted become more sociologically mindful of the trees. Before he talked to Audrey, he just viewed the trees as all the other citizens, however, thanks to him hearing Audrey out, he was more mindful of the real harm being done by the lack of trees, and made it his mission to fix it.

This scene at the start can also represent structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism. The main question that many structural functionalists ask is "How does this create security and stability?"; well, this scene depicts how Thneedville manufactures everything they need, and any problem can be instantly fixed due to the sheer amount of technology.  It creates security and stability in the sense that everybody works together, and everybody benefits. The bottles of air are symbolism for greed and industry. It is a criticism of how almost anything nowadays, even things as simple as air, can be manufactured so one party can make money of it. It tries to show the nature behind big business today, and it does, in many ways, relate back to our economy today.

The Spectrum

In class this week we talked about functionalists and conflict theorists and their similarities and differences. It is odd how there can be 2 extremely different sides to the same scenario. On one hand you have the functionalists asking "How does this ensure security and stability?" and on the other, the theorists asking "Who benefits from this?" I believe that nobody however, is just one or the other. I think it is more like a spectrum, and the functionalists and conflict theorists are the 2 extremes. Personally, I think I view life from a functionalist point of view. I like to look at the big picture and then analyze the little pieces that all work together to make the whole work. It is like when you look at all the different departments of the school like the social studies, science, math, and english and more, they are all separate, but come together to give the student a quality well rounded education.

Dead in the Water

This week we did a pretty interesting activity to test ones sociological mindfulness and what we as a class think are important values. The scenario was that there were 16 survivors of a boat wreck in a life boat, but the raft could only hold nine. That means 17 people had to go. Each person came from different backgrounds with different pasts and all had their reasons for living. It was a tough decision. The group decided that the elderly is less valuable than youth. And that a child growing up without a father, would be extremely devastating. I found it interesting how many people could easily point the finger in order to take it away from themselves. It is strange how ones' survivalist in stinks kick in, and a very tough thing to think about, if you were actually faced with such a challenge. Are any of our lives more valuable than another? And who exactly, can make that decision?

My Contacts

We all see the world through a different pair of shades, a set of preconceptions about the world in which we live and how we view everything. I see the world as a normal high school student, just opening up to world. There are endless possibilities to what can happen in life and it can change in the blink of an eye. I believe that there are many experiences I have yet to have and I am excited to get out into the world and do all those things, experience new things, and learn more. I see the world as a blank canvas, that can become anything, or something new entirely.