Crash

In sociology we watched Crash, which to be honest both opened my eyes and depressed me. The part that really upset me was that people could not rid themselves of racism, everyone was racist, and many of the people lived up to their stereotype. It makes me wonder how we are supposed to move for the better if we can't really target our racism and rid ourselves of it. This movie made me think of all the stereotypes we make instinctively without even thinking about them and how other people also judge before getting to know a person. One example is that once when my family went on the L-train, this black woman started ranting to my brother about how my dad is the one oppressing her and that it is his fault for all the injustice in the world. She was able to look at my dad and decide that because he is a white male that he is unfair. I also remembered how once at a fancy restaurant when a hispanic man was pouring my grandma's water. She wanted more so she looked at him and said, "mas". This was horrible in a couple of ways: 1) he spoke way more english than she did spanish 2)she only saw him as a hispanic person instead of an American. This realization that races will never see eye to eye was the part that really stuck in my mind.

Minimum wage

This week we mostly talked about people living on minimum wage. All of the videos really got me thinking about how living on such a low salary would be. The medications for my asthma, allergies, etc would take up probably most of my paycheck if I was one this type of a budget. Another big thing I thought about was the holidays around this time of the year. Most of the kids going to the high school are getting numerous expensive gifts for the holidays and many still remain unsatisfied. Like in The Pursuit of Happyness, many people get little to no gifts at all. It is just hard for me to deal with the fact that I am going to be getting gifts while some families can't even afford food. If you ask me, it just plain out sucks. Even those whose are making it by on their wages still have a very difficult. We talked about how people of minimum wage get treated much poorer than others as people above them consider themselves better and therefore privileged to be rude. I notice this quite often in my grandma. No matter where we go out for dinner she always ends up being EXTREMELY rude to someone whether it is the waiter, the host, or the manager. It is just flat out embarrassing for the rest of us who are there but on the other hand she thinks that they deserve it as they had done her wrong in some way. I really do have respect for those who are living on minimum wage as they work the hardest out of everyone and receive the least in return.

Making a Change One Person at a Time

1. Positive deviance is when you go against a social norm in a way that has positive results (especially for others). Diaz responds to the mugger with an act of positive deviance by offering both his jacket and later to go out for dinner after he was mugged. This is positive deviance because he responded the complete opposite of how most people would act to have a positive influence upon someone else.
2. When I was buying lunch one day, someone was trying to buy lunch but they didn't have money on their card to pay for it so they were going to put it back and not eat anything for lunch. Instead, I offered to pay for their lunch even though I did not know them. This is a positive act of deviance because most people are too frugal and selfish to pay for someone else's lunch if they weren't going to get payed back. Plus, it helped them out by being able to eat for lunch.
3. When I offered to pay, the student at first just stared at me in disbelief as if she was unsure of what I just said. Then she responded, "No that's ok" but I insisted. She gave me one more look and said, "Are you sure?" and after payed she said thank you. She seemed very grateful that I was paying even though it appeared she felt kind of bad. The cash register person didn't even make an acknowledgement to what was going on. I felt really good about myself afterwards because I knew how thankful she was and that I would be happy if someone did the same for me on the days I run out of money. This event has made me realize that just because something is a norm (everyone for themselves in this case) isn't always right and people should not be afraid to break these if it is in a positive fashion.

State of mind

This week we learned about how we associate words with certain attitudes just because that is what are society is telling us (Socially constructed). One commercial that I have seen recently that actually tried to fix one of these socially constructed words was about high fructose corn syrup. When the main character asked someone else why they were against it they would only say, "You know what they say" as if to prove they are only told it is bad for them and that is it. This commercial actually laid out the facts to show how exaggerated the idea of high fructose corn syrup is. Another thing that I have noticed the most around me that is socially constructed are grades. If you really think about it, grades are just letters on a page. In America, people think of this as either a life-or-death situation or it is a measure of their worth. Our society has drilled the importance of a grade into kid's heads so much that in most cases when they are asked what will happen if they get a B they respond that they, "will never get into a good college" and when asked about the problem with that they say they, "won't get a good job" and I ask them what a good job is and they respond, "one that makes a lot of money". Finally when I ask if money makes people happy and what is the point of all of this if you end up dead anyways they just give me a blank stare. Socially constructed things are ones that we are told to think in a certain way and we never actually think about it for ourselves. It is sad that we just go ahead and believe things and don't question them because then how will we ever be able to understand our values if we do not make them up?

Gender

The challenging part about the gender role given to me by media as a teenager is definitely either the fact that girls are supposed to be so skinny and perfect looking or the fact that your supposed to be all girly and fragile. The problem with the whole fragile/girly one is that especially around my friends, I am the complete opposite of that and so often people just joke around about how manly I am, which is no big deal but it does get a little annoying. One thing about my gender role that I like is that I am allowed to both show my feelings and be a woos sometimes and no one can say otherwise because that is what is expected of a girl. Media definitely advocates being heterosexual as many jokes are targeted at gay men and really aren't usually put into a show unless they are being made fun of. This is why many gay people are picked on so often because that is what people see on the media. As far as a relationship between a man and a woman goes in media, people are influenced for the man to be the strong reliable one while the woman does cleaning and needs to be supported by the man. This becomes a problem esspecially when a man loses his job and then feels like less of a man because he felt like it was his responsibility to suppor the family.

Marketing

This week we talked about how many commercials now a days are directed towards kids. One thing that was mentioned is how car commercials are directed at kids sometimes because children actually have a fairly big influence on what car their parents buy. I was watching the TV yesterday and a car commercial came on. Instead of having parents or a spokesperson talk about it, there was a kid explaining how cool the car is. It was a shocker because I didn't realize how much spending power kids have over their parents. Secondly, we were talking about gender roles and how especially Disney is sexist and has the typical male & female roles. Just last night I watched part of Aladdin and the thing that shocked me the most was Jasmine's outfit. I mean this show is meant for kids of a very young age and the main character is running around with her stomach showing. When I though about it, most of the women's outfits in Disney films are pretty scandalous (eg. The Little Mermaid and Tinkerbell). This has a big influence on little kids. For an example, when I was younger I asked for a bra for Christmas because Ariel had one and I wanted to be just like her. I also noticed that the body that any of the princesses have are nearly impossible to fulfill but little kids still look up to them. These are bad images that we are putting into little kid's heads, I mean for once can't their be a fat princess?!?!

A Nation of Wimps

A Nation of Wimps was one of those articles that really puts things in perspective for you. When it comes to everyone being a winner nowadays, I definitely agree that it is making everyone too soft. Kids need to learn from day one that they are going to win some and lose some. When I was younger, I as well had this problem. My whole life I have been a winner for practically everything and so whenever I lost when playing a board game with my family I would either cry or get mad. Looking back, it was so stupid to be honest that I had become so used to winning that literally anything that I lost I began to hate. The problem with that is that it never stopped. Even as I got older, anything I didn't win caused me to get all upset whether I cared much about them or not, it was just the idea of losing that I hated. It wasn't until sophomore year that I realized that I have moved far beyond that state of mind. This was when I tried out for badminton and didn't make it. When I was told I just smiled and politely said "thank you" and then went over to everyone and when they asked I just simply told them I didn't make it. It was easy as that. I think this change came about because of grades at Stevenson. Yes, the article does talk about inflated grades and how it is because kids can't accept anything lower than an A. I agree with that statement to some extent. That's the way I felt all through middle school and then freshman year high school. Back then I would get all worked up if I got a B+ because I felt like an idiot if I got anything lower than an A so I worked super hard all year. Sophomore year was much different. That year I tried for those As again at the beginning and quickly realized how miserable this goal made me feel. Reaching an A in Stevenson has become extremely hard and so I decided that it was a possible goal but not one worth my effort. That year I got a D+ on an essay that I worked on all weekend. When I first got it, I was just in shock and then it just became more comical. That's the problem right there, when grades are inflated so much that the highest grades become a routine but then are stripped from you, people begin to care a whole lot less about "winning". It's a horrible cycle and if these grades weren't so high back in middle school, then students would work a whole lot harder in high school. Lastly on this subject, I think that a little bit of bullying and name-calling is good for a child. For example, when I was younger my dad used to make the meanest jokes about me and my sister which usually ended up in tears. Now a days no matter what people say about me either I can laugh it off or ignore it  because I've grown an outer shell for these sort of things and have learned to laugh at myself. One of my friends on the other hand, whenever anyone makes a joke about him, he becomes very upset and really insulted. Therefore, I am actually happy that my dad made those comments when I was younger even though they seemed vicious at the time but helped me become a stronger person today.

Coming of Age

When we were talking in class this week about what age someone thinks of as being an adult, I was surprised to hear that there wasn't a certain age that people are considered an adult (there wasn't even a certain decade). People said from anywhere from 13-35 years. To me it was almost upsetting to hear that and think that to some people I wont be considered an adult for a VERY long time. I personally said the age of 22 because that is the age (for most people) when you first get out of college and get a job and become financially independent. I was curious to what an older persons thoughts on the issues were and I figured that this person would say an older age because people put everyone else around them in perspective with their own age (so a teenager would be much younger). When I asked my mom, she surprised me by saying that she agrees that for her, 22 is the time people "come of age". Although I do put 22 as the age a person becomes an adult, I definitely agree with the people that say it can also be an event that causes this change (for example if both your parents died or you have a child...). While reflecting on this activity, I realized that a lot of the time I become upset if my parents try to put a lot of restrictions on me because I think I'm almost a grown-up. I realize now what a stupid claim it is because I said myself that I won't be an adult until I'm 22. On the other hand, I feel that in order to make the transition more smooth, rights and privileges should be given steadily in order to avoid bad decisions or becoming overwhelmed.

Values: Tuesdays with Morrie

2. If I only had a few days left of my life, I would believe it or not I would still go to school. A lot of people would probably say that they wouldn't but that is where half of my life is and I would want to say good by to that half. I would want to see my friends more, see my teachers, even see those people that I have only said two words to the entire year. Instead of doing homework I would go on a shopping spree and spend all of my money. I would buy a couple things for me but mostly stuff for everyone else. I would buy people inside jokes or things people always wanted so they would have a happy memory left of me when I was gone. For dinner, me and my family would go to my favorite restaurant and I would buy five of my favorite meals. I would make sure to tell my family what a great support they have been to me my whole life. Lastly, I would go crazy and finger paint my wall with all of my friends as a memorial (kind of). It would be one last great memory of us all together that would stay forever.

4. I believe that death is the end of a life as it is the conclusion of your life. Although, I would say that dying is a beginning of another journey as it puts people into a different mindset and allows people to reflect. Similarly to the beginning of a life, at the beginning of dying people have a lot of choices to make and decide who they want to be. One has to decide how to spend these last moments and who to spend them with. It really brings out the true person because since they are dying, there is nothing stopping them from doing something except themselves. For example, if someone was afraid of skydiving but wanted to they would be more likely to do it because even if they die it wouldn't be that big of a deal now. It truly is an inner refection as there are no obligations or consequences for one's choices.

Forbidden kidness

This week I decided to break the norm of talking to strangers in bathrooms. As I expected, people were extremely confused and freaked out when I talked to them. If you think about it there really is no reason that people can only talk talk to strangers in specific places (such as work, school, shopping, etc). One of the ironic things about this topic is that on the first day of sociology, when we came in the teacher was quiet and everyone felt awkward and new something weird was happening. People expected this in this environment and found the noise comforting but when I started a conversation in the bathroom everyone thought I was either a creepy or insane. Unfortunately I am also guilty of this absurd way of thinking. If someone starts talking to me at during a class, I do not avoid them but instead try to keep up the conversation and be friendly. If I was in the bathroom and someone began talking to me I would probably briskly answer and leave. It truly is horrible that we decide when we want to make friends, when we want to have a nice conversation, when we want to take time out of our day to make someone else's. If someone was crying in the bathroom would you carry on as if nothing is happening? Most people would say no but honestly would if the situation came up. The thoughts often associated with bathrooms are: dirty, quick trip, silent. Just like any other norm, society is determined to keep this image up in order to feel secure and stable in one's environment.

Ethnocentric

In general, I believe that I am fairly open to other ways of different societies. There have been a couple of times that I have been ethnocentric and one of the times was when I went on vacation to Mexico and almost all of the little kids on the beach were clothes less. I thought that this was totally unacceptable and almost barbaric. I later realized that I thought this solely because I was being ethnocentric and that there was nothing wrong with little kids splashing around in the water without clothes for two reasons. First of all they are kids (they are not trying to be unrespectable or embarrassing) and secondly that not everyone can afford a bathing suit so its just nice that they can still enjoy themselves. The reason I thought this was so weird was because all my life I have been told that nudity is bad and that I should always be wearing clothes in public and so I assumed that these rules applied everywhere, but they don't. This could even go back to the Adam and Eve discussion that they had no problem having no clothes on until they became shameful. If I had been raised in Mexico, I wouldn't have thought anything of the nude children, so therefore it is solely me be ethnocentric.

Overboard

This week we played a game (or scenario) where there are people on a boat and we must get rid of people. What has our society come to where people have no problem killing people for their own survival? Are we more selfish? Are we more conserned about the effects on the society? In the game there were a couple of people that tried to take control but in the end it was voting that made the decisions. If people were really being killed would these people still try to take control? Power is a great thing but it ussually ends up in abuse or rebellion. People in the game were unhappy when classmates tried to dictate decisions, but this would probably be different in a real life scenario, as many people could not bring the burden of the responsibility of someone's death upon themselves.

Silence is Golden

When we think of silence we think of the absence of sound. What about thinking of sound as the absence of silence? We rarely see things in the same way all of the time. If their is a lot of sound when you want silence then you only hear the noise and not everything that does not. When our teacher didn't talk on the first day of school everyone found it awkward and figured something was going wrong (whether we were too loud or not following some sort of directions). After years of experience, we have been able to guess when someone or thing is supposed to make noise and when it's not. In general people are more quiet throughout the day than making noise but we seem to have very high expectations for noise at certain times when most of our lives we are quiet. Silence gives time for inner reflection but other people would rather have their minds busy with other things than have time to just sit and think. Today time to relax and reflect is considered wasted time, every seconds of our lives are devoted to become the best we can be solely for the material gain and not the emotional. Next time that you have a free time, take some time and listen to the sweet sound of silence.