Rape is bad

What is rape? Why do people rape? Is there a rape culture in the United States? If you would like to know the answers to all of these questions, buck up and brace yourself because here is the cold hard truth.

Rape is the unlawful compelling of a person through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse. The number of rapes in 2007 91,874 people. How can than many people get raped in the United States? Is our country really that messed up? The answer to my question is yes. People must rape other because of their mental state of mind or because they have a sexual drive for another human being. Not saying no does not always mean yes and that is where rape comes into play. Either one must hear the word yes or it could be considered rape.
I believe there is a rape culture in the United States. Movies, songs, TV shows, and even sports all have rape cases that are put into the media for everyone to see. It could almost be like a programmer to viewers to go out and do things like this especially in songs. The song Blurred Lines is a great example. The lyrics explain many cases of rape. Why would artists do this?
The football team that was at a party who raped a "dead girl" (she was passed out do to alcohol) many of the football guys just sat back and watch the raping happen. Why were so many people that just stood back and watched?  That is what is wrong with society today. They bystander effect happens everywhere and every day. Do you think it would be different if people stood up for others instead of ignoring their surrounds? That could be the answer to everything in todays culture.

"Me Project"

Based on my birth order I am much different than my sibling and my peers whom are oldest and middle child. I happen to be the youngest child. Highly social, laid back, creative, comical, and unconventional are five of the characteristics of being a youngest child. Whereas my sister is more: responsible, driven, emotionally intense conservative and has leadership material.

My parents have a massive influence on how I have grown up. They have taught me all I know. The character influences that they have are: nurture, life skills, discipline, and respect. I am fortunate that my parents were always there for me.

My cultural environment has also shaped me to be the MAN that I am today. If I was living someone else, for example Compton CA, I would probably not be the same type of kid as a big kid from a small town in South Dakota.

Heredity also is an important factor in the shaping of "me" I inherited many good things from my parents such as: my athletic ability, my intelligence, my instincts, and my strong will.

Without these four main topics I would be a totally different person I am very thankful for the people that have formed me to become a great person. Birth order, parental characteristics, cultural environment, and heredity are all things I am happy to have. 

Birth Order

In sociology class we have been discussing birth order and if it does indeed have an effect of how the child is formed. I personally believe that the birth order does have an effect. I believe parents with a new baby are exactly like someone that gets a new product; they are very excited and love the presence of the new and first thing. By the second "thing" (or baby) parents may be a little less excited and could care a little less. THIS IS NOT IN ALL PARENTS and my opinion/theory. My sister is more responsible, conservative, emotionally intense, perfectionist, driven, and has leadership material. I am comical/ entertaining/ highly social, laid back, dependent, and have few expectations of self. The only effect that could perhaps sway this decision in my family is that I was the first boy so it could possibly be different than if I was the second girl, instead of the first boy. I also believe it does matter in the family situation and how the parents do raise their kids. Some factors that do tie into that could include: divorce, work life, and death. Dalton Conley (who has a book called "The Pecking Order") says "Its just like astrology. Early death of a parent, timing of economic shocks to the family, gender expectations and roles in the family you name it," I do believe birth order does have an effect on shaping a child because sometime older siblings can also act as a third parent.

Love, Work, and Death

The movie Tuesdays with Morrie is a real tear jerker. The movie showed examples of fear, love, perseverance, and determination.
Are Americans afraid to love one another? Why is this? I believe they are somewhat afraid to express their feeling because of how we were raised especially men. I think that women are not afraid to love out loud (Lol) because they have a nurturing effect. Men are supposed to be manly and tough therefore it's tougher to (Lol) laugh out loud.
Work is a huge value in America because of how people are brought up. Some families work can be the top of the totem pole. Other families are less materialistic and take family first. Mitch at first thinks of work first but developed to love out loud and he skipped work and loved his old teacher.
 I am afraid of death. I have so many things to do before I die. I think many people are scared to die because they aren't ready for the next chapter. Morrie teaches Mitch to learn to love out loud and help Mitch see that death is okay.

5 Values

America has been evolving ever since it was discovered. Peoples values have changed. Things aren't as strict as it has been before. My first value is informality. I do not dress up on a regular basis, I use slang terms, and conversations I have usually are not very formal and are quite loose.
Also being in the United States there is a stereotype of being materialistic. I would have to admit that I am indeed materialistic I like many different materials and I believe my generation is very materialistic. Action/Work Orientation when there is a fight or a dispute I analyze the situation before I jump in a take a side. In this day and age it is better off minding your own business than messing with someone else's. Respect- is something that has been an American value. South Dakota has a great respecting culture. I was always taught to respect everyone and never disrespect anyone. Change- America is changing all the time. We change everyday. Everything changes and we just learn to live with it.

Card Game

Recently we played a game in our sociology class. The rules were we couldn’t speak at all. You also start out in one group and then get moved.  At first I would have described the game as confusing. Once I got I would describe it as funny. At the beginning of the game I didn’t really know what to expect because I didn’t understand the no talking rule, why wouldn’t we be able to talk? It was after the game was over when I discovered why we played the game and why we would speak. The moment I realized something was wrong is when one of my opponents tried grabbing a paperclip when they didn’t win and when I looked at them funny they were looking at me funny. We just kept playing my way but we were always confused. If we could spoke we would have explained the rules to each other and then figured out that all the directions were different at each group. The title explains that the cultures are all different and others might not understand or don’t get it. Others might try to change their culture (like in the game) and others might not even care (also like in the game). I believe there MUST be a universal language and a better understand for every culture so that no one person is unsure about someone. This card game teaches us that some people lead and others follow. Most of the time we will try and work things out even if we can’t talk or use gestures.

100% American Culture?

This blog is question weather there is a 100% American culture, or if there is no such thing. I have read both documents that show examples of the cultures. My inference about "The 100% American" written by: Ralph Linton. The whole first paragraph talks about his morning activity, almost everything that he had used was used first in a different culture or made in a different country. Example: "He puts on his slippers (adapted from moccasins invented by Indians in the Eastern woodlands.)" American includes Middle America, South America along with North America.
After he gets ready to start the day he again uses many other cultures to get dressed, wash his face, and even look out the window. None of which the cotton, soap, or window originated in the United States. He smokes tobacco and that was originated in Brazil. Many Americans smoke, so how can we even be close to having 100% American culture? We can have a 100% American culture because we have developed everyone else's inventions, and findings into our own. We now make our own clothes out of our own cotton, and we now make our own slippers/shoes, BUT there will NEVER be a 100% American culture because we still have tons of importing and exporting going on. We constantly trade goods with other country's and we will always keep borrowing and trading new ideas with other countries. I think its good that we aren't 100% American because we can use it as a tool to interact with other countries, and it will give a chance for others to see how our practices and believes are tied in with theirs. I think many cultures are mixed in America, especially in the United States.

Shipwrecked

Our class recently took part in "Abandon Ship" we all had to keep only nine people on our boats. There were over 20 people in the life boat before we made room. In our American culture the decisions vary depending on who you are. Some people would save a celebrities to possible gain money, fame, and fortune. Some people would save others because they have kids are families back home. It all depends on how the person was raised ethically. I think that parents usually set the guideline to it. It may be different in other cultures. America has many selfish people in the nation I think and other country's might not have that though process.

Sociological Imagination

Times were much different than they were when I was growing up and forming a childhood. When I was just a kid cell phones and computers weren't very popular and even as I got a little older the technology still as advanced as it was today. We had dial-up internet and car phones. Being a kid born in 2013 would be very different but almost ironically similar because we have some amazing technology, but during their childhood technology will be even more advanced.

If I grew up somewhere else I could be a whole new kid. My town, school, and community is what I grew up with and formed me. If I lived in a largely populated place I could have new hobbies and do different things. I think some problems can be big as a teenager but teenagers make smaller problems seem bigger than what they are. I fret over trying to get everything done in one day but I have all kinds of time to get everything done. During school I fret about getting everything done on time. I think fretting and worrying about things is better than not worrying about anything. Worrying about things helps me get them done.

Freaks and Geeks

Recently we watched the show Freaks and Geeks. In this show there are many different groups of kids and they all show qualities of all the different theories.

The types of groups include: Bullies, geeks, freaks, and athletes. The purpose and function they serve are to have the same type of kids that become friends because they like the same things. There are negative influences for the geeks because the bullies aren't nice to them. This is functional theory and Emile Durkheim discovered it.

The geeks were constantly getting picked on by their bully. Their bully had power over them everyday. The bully had power over them because he was much larger and stronger than the geeks. The bully used his power to intimidate and scare the geeks so that they did not want to come to school. This is the conflict theory it was discovered by Karl Marx.

There is a very important symbol in the episode it shows a "special" kid that always gets picked on but he didn't understand that kids were picking on him. Lindsay approaches them and defends him to stop people from picking on him. This shows symbolic interactionism. Max Weber discovered symbolic interactionism.

WhoamI

Hello my name is Plant I love family, friends, and sports! I am very fun once you get to know my humor. Many people think I am annoying, and that's okay. I also like hunting and fishing. The biggest influence on my life is my family. I wouldn't be anywhere without my family. My goal in life is to graduate high school, then go to college and be a good student there. Then I will get married and be a great husband. My purpose in life is to make people smile and laugh.