Racism

After watching the video a "girl like me" i am completely shocked that people could feel so down on themselves just because of what other people think about them. And its not even what they do that people judge them for its something that they have absolutely no control over and its disturbing to hear that some of the people would sit in a bathtub with bleach to make their skin lighter! that is truly insane, but if racism is a social creation of man isn't it possible to start over and eliminate the racist class system? As unrealistic as this sounds it must be possible as long as small steps are taken to rewrite something as horrible as this that has gotten out of control and is clearly still an issue. Personally race makes no difference to me and im sure that's easy for anyone to say but i even took the harvard race test and i slightly favor black people so if anything im racist towards whites! 

Mobility in Class

When playing monopoly i was "born" into the lower- middle class and during the game i realized how hard it was to buy property, get myself out of jail, and save enough money to pay the rich when i landed on their property. I basically had no way to make enough money to move up in class but just enough to stay in the one i was assigned and keep off welfare. Reality is you are stuck in the class you are born into and it's not your fault whether you are poor or rich, and it's near impossible to change it even if you wanted to. My family is a good example of this because my dad's dad was a construction worker his whole life and his wife a waitress so the value of hard work is passed down to my dad and he becomes a roofer and now a mailman. The same thing with my mom's side, her mom was a single mother who raised 5 kids and worked cleaning houses. None of my parent's parents went to college and neither of my parents did either. There stuck in the social class of the blue-collar workers and they know this so there is no effort or reason to try and move up because realistically it's not possible. In my case the opportunity to move up in social class would be going to college but with the economy situation is that even a realistic choice considering the price of college loans and interest rates? I do though see my self moving up from what my parents have but to move up to an entirely new social class title seems a bit out of reach.

Social Class

To answer the question of do different social classes try and separate themselves from other social classes i think the answer is yes. People surround themselves with other people who they feel most comfortable with, unfortunately this usually means people just like themselves. So if your making more than a $100,00 a year and live in a mansion that you need a map for you, want to socialize with the people who you can talk to about what new stocks your investing in or the 3rd vacation you will be taking this year to an island you can't even spell. All this while taking a much needed steam in your country club. People like that think there too important to waste time with the working man because what could they possibly have in common with someone who has to work 40+ hours a week to put food on the table, nothing right? Of course this makes the lower class feel invisible. Rich people think their important because they actually are, people know their names. Who really knows your waiters name, or your mailman's or your garbage man's? You don't because you think you have nothing to gain from a conversation with someone "lower" than you. So when your always considered by other people to be inferior to everyone else, even though your right there with over 90% of the rest of the US, it gets to you. So of course people are trying to be taught to be able to act like someone in the upper class and who can blame them, but it's wrong. My parents never told me to stay away from people better off or worse off than us because the amount of money you make doesn't define you as a person and if it does your doing something wrong.

Jail

Reading the article about how many people we have in prison is shocking to me. The number is 2.3 million and the fact that the communist nation of china with a population that is 4 times greater than ours and almost a million people less behind bars should be a red flag to everyone. Our legal system focuses too much on punishing the people who commit the crimes and not enough on giving these people the help that they need. A drug addict will not miraculously become clean while in prison where it is still possible to get drugs. what they need is rehab and because they are not given this treatment a lot of the same people will end up back in jail because they have no money to get this help on their own. The average cost to keep one person in jail for one day is $90.28, with 2.3 million prisoners in America that is $207,644,000 spent A DAY on keeping the prisoners behind bars, most of them for drug charges. Would it really cost that much more to give them the help they require? This would ultimately cut down on second offenders which would be saving the tax payers money and more importantly, to some, saying these peoples lives.

Social Deviance

i never thought of deviance being abel to be a positive thing but i do like the fact that you can violate the "norms" of society in a way benefitting someone else and yourself in the long run. After reading that story i was taken back by the fact that someone could do that to someone holding a knife on them and in the middle or robbing them. unfortunately i can't think of a specific instant where i have preformed a random act of kindness and because of this im looking forward to doing this assignment and even attempting something like this after i finish the assignment. it could be pretty fun and self fulfilling as well. 

Independence

In class we talked about at what age does someone become independent and we talked about a lot of different ages and different things we accomplish during life to make us independent- going to college, moving out of the house, or getting married are a few. Truth is it's not possible to become independent no matter what you do. you are always going to be depending on someone. whether it be your parents, teachers, friends, significant other, or other family you always need someone. It's unhealthy to completely depend on yourself because you will never learn all the important and unimportant things that will change your life. so if you think your independant your just stubborn and missing out. i also don't think as teenagers or younger are taught to be irresponsible. From a young age you are taught to follow the rules, turn assignments in on time and to do pretty much everything you are told, and than punished if those things are not done correctly but those things should be to help you because you dont know any better when your that young. its discipline and one of the most important things to be taught to a kid and for being taught to be asexual theres just a certain age where they don't need to know or do the things that someone older does. But i do agree we are made to be submissive at a young age and i dont think this is a bad thing as long as something is being taught through the submission. it is not the only way to learn a lesson but it could be more helpful than figuring it out yourself in the long run. it is up to the person whether to stay submissive when they become older or to evolve into a person that becomes dominant because of that submissive teaching. 

Feminism

Females in the media are portrayed as unrealistic and sex objects. Unfortunately it does not look like this is going to change because sex sells and so do these products. A lot of the girls have been complaining about how this is disrespectful or degrading but what have they really done to prevent it besides support the same companies by buying their products like the make- up and their clothes. guess they don't have that big of a problem with it after all. i know it sounds unrealistic but if none of the girls ever wore wake up or the expensive designer clothes there would be no reason for the ads to have to do that because the companies use people that look like that because they know it makes the girls feel insecure and thats what they feed off of to get them to buy the products that make you "beautiful"  

Neglected Kids

In class we talked about kids who were neglected through their entire early developing stage and the way it affects them. I never thought about if you weren't taught the things that seem so simple and basic to us now; language, chewing, walking, or even thinking they way a normal human do, that these kids can't do any of these at all. It's weird to think a 12 year old kid who was raised in the conditions of isolation and rare human contact can be just as developed as a kid a fourth of their age. I realized how much I take the way I was raised for granted. 

Tuesdays with Morrie

To answer the question are the majority of americans afraid of death i would say the answer is yes. Americans spend there entire life sacrificing all there time to work to make money. What they do with that money is spend it on all the latest things that they want and think they need. People like this are afraid to die because they know that when they die they can't take any of the things they spent their whole life trying to get. If americans admitted they were afraid of death they would have to admit the material things they love and spend all their time working for is a waste of time. 

Culture

In class we've been talking about culture and folkways and morays. Watching the office last night i saw the perfect example of breaking a moray and what follows. It was Phyllis and Bob Vance's (Vance Refrigerators) wedding and Michael was interrupting during the ceremony to say inappropriate comments and getting up and talking to people and you could see the shock and awkwardness on the faces of the other guests when he violated the moray of wedding behavior. We would never think someone would do something like this at a wedding and that's why people watching it at home think it's funny because it's so socially unacceptable. 

A Bronx Tale

Collogero belongs to many social groups. He belongs to his family which when he was growing up was his master status, than when sunny started to notice him and he became part their group he took on two more social groups- one being him and the friends he hung out with outside their club and the other which became his new master status was the relationship he formed with sunny which switched his original master status from family to sunny i didnt get to see the end of the movie but im assuming that he switched his master status back to family once he realized the trouble he got in with the other group

The Cookie Jar

In class we did the activity where we split into two groups and ended up judging each other on a personal level by only being told to explain why the other group was or wasn't wearing gym shoes. This shows how everyone has their own opinions but a lot of these opinions are judgmental, but it's human nature to judge someone form the instant you see them or based off something you hear from someone they did. If you meet someone with an open mind and no first opinions you would probably have a lot more friends.

The Boat

In the activity of the boat and having to kick people off for survival and i was a person on the outside and i was watching i noticed the people on the boat were more concerned with keeping the majoirty of the people happy than worrying about their own survial. If i was the caption and had to choose who got kicked off i would be keeping only the strongest and most experinced people. That means anyone who is injured to any extent, the elderly people, anyone not in great health, and as terrible as it sounds the pregnant lady are all getting kicked off. The main priority is to save as many people as you can and anyone who couldn't try and do that to their full potential... HE GONE. 

Silence

To many people sitting in silence is a an uncomfortable position to be in because it may be something a lot of us aren't used to. I don't feel this way, i enjoy sitting in silence because it gives me a chance to relax and space out. To really think of something when i'm thinking of nothing. The best place to sit in silence is while sitting outside on a beautiful day or during the nighttime, for those moments of silence weather you choose to spend it with someone or not it's such a peaceful experience not ruined by a forced or unimportant comment, just silence.   

Who am I?

I am a 16 year old just trying to get through school and maybe learn something along the way. My biggest influences are my friends and a few of my previous teachers. Hanging out with friends is how i spend most of time and a goal is to finish school. I am Italian and Norwegian, I have two sisters one older and one younger. After school i usually go home and frolf (frisbe golf). I plan on joining the army after high school to either pay or college if i choose to go or for the life experience. I don't let what people say bother me because I don't let those kind of things effect how I live. I am not my parents or this school's puppet so I won't do what they say in order to get along. I am strongly opionated on many subjects and will say what I think no matter who it will offend.