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?