About Me Final

Throughout this whole year we have been learning about things around us grasping new concepts and looking at things a different way. We have learned to put yourself in the situation and try and feel what the victim has felt. Sociology is everywhere, you just have to look for it. I have learned a lot about myself over the past nine months. I have learned to be patient with other and get their perspective. Sociology is a life learning class that people need to learn.

Losers

The article is not about people winning and people losing. It's about people judging others because of how much they make doing their job. The "winners" are the people who make millions of dollars doing their jobs. The "losers" are the people who make $10 an hour. I can definitely see why they wrote an article on this. It is pretty sad to that we Americans judge people on how much we make. Without the "losers" we could not live a normal life and without the "winners" we could still get by in life. It is very ironic that we label people that way, when in turn it should be flipped around.

Boyz in Tha Hood

                In the movie violence is a very large aspect of the movie it shows exactly what happens in the hood daily. It also shows how much the police do not care and shows how scared they are to even try to help in the ghetto. You always have to keep your guard up because you never know when someone might do a drive by. It also showed them poor aspect so people may kill to keep living, there is also robbery that happens, everyone had a gun and it was not for hunting animals. They even stole a football from some kids.

                Relationships also were a very good aspect of the movie. They talk about women constantly and they use derogatory terms to describe most of them. A lot of the guys are all about sex but the main character and his girlfriend were deciding to wait. He even lied to his dad about his sex life because he wanted to feel like a man and did not want to be embarrassed. It is a sense of pride to “boys in the hood” and if you were to be a virgin you were probably not very good. Relationships are very different today in different locations of the nation.

                The drug aspect of the movie also has a large part to do with the violence in the movie. Most of the fights and conflicts started because of drugs, alcohol, and parties. In almost every scene one of the characters has a bottle of beer and is dealing drugs. The main character did not do drugs because his dad told him to never get into that stuff because if he did he would either end of dead or end up in jail. His dad is a very large influence on him.

                The family lives of the characters in the movie all have something wrong with them. All of the character have split up/ divorced parents. There is either no father and a mother or no mother and a father. The family lives aren’t all that great most of them fight all the time and when they aren’t fighting they are doing drugs. Also there is a teen that already has a kid. That is accepted in the hood and is pretty common. They do protect their families at times though when the brothers are in danger they come to their rescue to protect them.

                The education was not really shown in the movie other than either being forced and pushed to go to school by their parents he eventually ended up going to a college in a different state. The athlete was going to go to USC on a football scholarship all he had to do was get a 700 on his SAT. Before he found out what his score was he got shot a killed. Tons of kids liked the idea of getting a scholarship for going to college but none of them wanted to do the work to get the scholarship.

                The respect level was there for the main character and his father. He was very wise and everyone respect him because of his job, and his philosophy. He takes the guys to a very poor neighborhood. He tells them that if he steal, kills, or sells drugs that he may end up in a very bad place and that he might even be dead. He tells everyone in the hood that the government is letting hood people kill other hood people. He told them that all the drugs and violence is set up and that it’s what they want.

                The responsibility aspect of the hood can go one of two ways. It can either be to run away and create other and bigger problems or you can man up, take responsibility, and make life better. In the movie the father makes the main character take responsibility when he is young by raking leaves in the yard. He tells him that by taking responsibility for his actions he will stay out of jail and he will stay alive. I believe because the main character does take responsibility for his actions and because he did, he got into a college and he was trouble free.

Catfish

I liked the quote by the man at the end of the movie. "When I finally met the 40-year-old mom, we also met her husband and he told us this amazing story," Schulman explained. "They used to take these live cod in these giant vats on ships from Alaska to China, but by the time the fish got to China, their flesh would become mushy and tasteless, so some guy had the bright idea to put catfish in the vats with the cod to chase them around and keep them moving, and he finished by saying that he thanks God for the catfish because life would be droll, boring and dull if we didn't have someone nipping at our fins."

That story inspired Schulman and the "Catfish" filmmakers to name their project after those catfish, and not long after the film was released, the term appeared in the Urban Dictionary. "A Catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they're not- using Facebook or other social media to create false identities," reads the definition. "Particularly to pursue deceptive online romances."
This is a great quote because I believe almost everyone has a "catfish" in their life. My catfish includes: my friends, my family, and my teachers. I think it is good to have them in your life because it keeps you on your toes and keeps life fun and exciting. Brian is a prime example of a "catfish" because he keeps everyone's lives fun and exciting.

Articles

The first of the two articles I read was about a sports writer from Illinois who made a very terrible article. He was writing about a basketball team whose star was a Korean. He basically was saying that he was surprised that this team was successful because of the players that they had. He talked about their lead scorer being Korean. He also mentioned a red haired kid. Not only is that racist and stereotypical but that is just mean to poor judgment.


The second article was about how the Jews used to own the NBA like the African Americans or (blacks) do now. Jews were good at basketball because they were "short and had god given speed" according to the article. Which is now completely different in the NBA now because the average height and weight is 6 feet 6 inches tall and 220 pounds.


Both of the article are stereotypical and somewhat comical. It is funny to see what all has changed and well what hasn't changed in peoples minds too.

Aliens

I read an article about immigrants and how they are in the American work force. My opinion of the Mexicans coming up to America to work for cheap labor is okay with me. Why would we not allow people willing to come do work for other people who need it. Americans can be lazy from time to time and they do not like to do labor intensive work for minimum wage or a little more. Most of the people who work and do the same type of job want 15-20 dollars an hour but the Mexican's will take it for eight. As for the women I just think that they need to have more defense and maybe we could have a higher security for them. It would be a lot easier to keep it as close to the same method as it is right now because I do not really think it is a problem. Until Americans become less lazy the Mexicans should be able to come and work as much as they want.

Animal Farm Quiz

The conflict theory in the book is that all the animals want the farm to them selves they want to be completely independent and work on their own terms not by Mr. Jones. The conflict also happened that their leader Old Major died. After he died the farm was not really the same. The alternative was good in the beginning but as time went on the farm got worse.
Bourgeoisie and Proletariats are terms that relate to Ascribe and Achieved status. Both of them have their separate meaning. Ascribed status means that you are given a status that you cannot change in the book Napoleon and Snowball make the whole farm a bourgeoisie. They assign people to different jobs and hold all of the other pigs higher than any other animal. Napoleon is know as "Joseph Stalin" who was a Russian leader than was not very fair to the Russian society. As soon as Old Major (who I believe was the leader and President of the farm) died the farm took a turn for the worse. The social class was also corrupt. The pigs got to do what ever they want. They got to sleep in the house, they drank alcohol, and made all the decision. Meanwhile all the other animals were on a low or working class. They did not get treated as well as the pigs or dogs the book almost related itself to segregation in a way. The benefits were so lopsided that most animals liked their lives better when Mr. Jones was in control.
Functionalist theory is a good theory when it is used correctly I think that Old Major had a good plan set in place. When he died the ten farm commandments were slowly amended and this became unfair. A sheep was killed when it admitted to peeing in a drinking tank. One of the commandments was "No animal shall kill another animal" Napoleon then changed this commandment to "No animal shall kill another animal, with out a good cause."
I think that the roles needed to be changed in order to fix the farm. Napoleon needed to be taken out. The animals either A. Needed to get Mr. Jones back. or B. Create a democracy with many leader so that not one animal had too much power. I think that Boxer should have received a greater role because when the going got tough he just got tougher by waking up and working an hour early. I do think that the animal's society did go back to being healthy at the end of the book simply because no one remembered (most of them had died off) and they did realize that man and animal are two different individuals and that animals must do their thing and man will stick to their thing. Knowing this, the author is trying to send a message to people by saying do your own role in society and everything will work out for the better. When one tries to gain more power than everyone else bad things will happen.

Fight Club

I do believe that the fight club is helping kids stay out of trouble and keep their nose clean from drugs. These young adults have their whole lives in front of them and the point of the club is to keep them out of jail. I do believe that it is a permanent fix because it helps them cope with their problems, and the meet more kids. The instructors also related boxing with other things such as character and class. What happens when they are too old to box? Would they get into trouble then and go to jail? I believe no because they have been learning how to deal with problems the right way for as long as they choose to box. Their mind have developed a strong self-control state that will benefit them for life. I think that this could be possible with more sports or activities as long as the individuals like what they are doing they are going to stay out of trouble.

Classes

Recently in sociology class we watched a documentary on different types of classes. We saw all types of different people from the low class to the high class. I found the low class to be more interesting. Tammy is from the low class. She walks ten miles to work (burger king) to clean the floors and bathrooms. I do not think that any of them will reach their goals because of their level of education. Their grammar skills are not where they need to be to be in college. They also do not have very much money; and they aren't pushed to get good grades or behave in school. People can have a good life style without schooling it has been done before by many successful people. I do not think he can jump up a class because of how he is and how he acts. He will always be around his mother and therefore, will be in the low class. *Update Video* He did prove me wrong by getting away from his mother and having his own place but I was correct on the fact that he wouldn't go to college and he didn't even graduate high school. He had a kid in high school and he is working for his family.


In the video "People Like Us" it tries to relate items with classes. The possessions people own do not necessarily show what their class is. Some people could be in the lower class and still have some expensive items. Other people could be in the high class and live like they are in the middle class just so they have money saved up. Some people do like to show all their money and like to spend all what their earn. I am basically saying that possessions do not show what class type one can be.


In our High School we pretty much all have the same class type. It wouldn't really matter here because we don't have a bunch of upper class people or lower class people. No one really cares if so and so date anyway so, it wouldn't be a big deal. I do not believe that people get prepared in high school for their social class. I think that happens before high school. You understand how much you can afford or how much you have to work to make a good living for yourself. One has to make realistic goals in life otherwise you could go down in flames. Moving classes would be a tough task especially if one was in the upper class and had to move to the lower class. You would have to change your whole life style. It would be challenging to marry or date someone in a different class but it happens all the time. Obviously you would like to have someone with a good income to help you live "easier" but it isn't about money. I think you would find your real friends when you date/marry someone in a different class because they would support you regardless of the amount of money you rake in. I would like to put myself in many groups at this high school. The video about the Anderson High School is a great example in favor of small schools. When you are in a small school generally everyone accepts everyone. If I had to pick a group I would categorize myself in it would probably be the athlete group because that's who I would spend most of my time with referring to practice and events.

Theories

Recently in sociology we learned about the functionalist and conflict theory. Personally I do like functionalist theory better because it rewards the people with good money for working hard. With the conflict theory it is more of a communist situation. People are assigned a job, and get a set wage. I like the freedom that comes with the functionalist. We also learned about ascribed and achieved status. They both tie into the theory's because achieved is a status you must work for and ascribed status you are given to from the start (like communism) 

The saying "men make their own luck" was brought up in class yesterday. I do not believe that people make their own luck because something's can not be controlled. I believe that God has a plan for everyone and that he guides the path.

Heroin Movie

The movie "Requiem for a Dream" was an overall weird movie. You had to pay close attention to understand the movie. In the beginning Harry Goldfarb (the main character) is a bum who keeps stealing his mother's TV set and selling it to a pawn shop for drugs. His mother then has to go back to the pawn shop and buy it back. Harry and his friend Tyrone use the money for the own pleasure of drugs.


The mother (Sara Goldfarb) watches a TV show nonstop. She loves watching the show and gets a call about her being on TV. She finds the dress that she fit into years ago and wants to fit into it again. She starts out by dieting with no sugar. She is having a pretty hard time with it and asks her friend how she lost her weight. Her friend suggested a doctor that gave out pills.


One day the boys decided to get into the heroin business. Instead of using it all on themselves though, they are buying a lump sum and then selling smaller bags for more money. They start to make pretty good money. Harry's girlfriend, Marion Silver is starting a clothing line and Harry wants her to branch out. Harry also feels bad for his mother because of how many times he stole and sold her TV. Since Harry has money now he buys his mother a very large TV to show her that he's sorry. Sara is very proud that she is losing weight and that her son is so successful.


Years pass and the business is going well but they are starting to take more and more of the heroin. Marion and Harry start to fight because the supply is running out. Tyrone is about to get promoted to a dealing position and his boss gets killed. Tyrone then gets put into jail. All things are starting to get bad.
Sara is now in the hospital because she is so doped out. Tyrone gets bailed out, him and Harry go to Florida to get a big deal while going, Harry notices that he has a arm infection and needed to go to the hospital. Marion is needing money so bad that she starts sell her body for sexual things.
The doctor sees Harry's arm and notifies the police about his heroin addiction. They then are heading back to jail and harry loses his arm. The moral of this movie is: DON'T DO DRUGS.

Drugs

We recently watched a video in class talking about heroin and how it impacts everyone. Heroin is different than most gateway drugs. It is injected directly into the bloodstream creating almost an instant impact. Because it is injected and users usually use it two times a day people need a needle to inject it into their veins. Sharing needles is not good. You can spread HIV by sharing needles and it is not safe.
The bad part about heroin is not only the effects it does to your brain, but it also is very difficult to stop from being illegally imported. Afghanistan grows many poppy plants which is the main ingredient on how heroin is made. The sales that the middle eastern people make on the plant is used to help their family live. The money that is made from the drug is a crazy amount.
I believe that the United States should just supply new needles for the users but that is all. They users will get the drug regardless if they try and it away from them.
I do think that the guy that is single handedly trying to help all the users by giving them the reverse effect of heroin is a good idea and that could be another direction the United States could take.

Trashed

The "trashed" story is about a white kid dressed in all black with no shoes on was found in a dumpster dead. He was facedown in a push up position in a dumpster. He was forty miles from his home. His neighborhood was described as a very good community that tourists liked to go to. His school was described as a very prestigious school for example "Its girls’ soccer team, for example, added another state championship to the five it had already won that decade, setting a state record for most wins in a season in the process. Academically, the school had come close to graduating 100 percent of its senior class, and colleges had lined up to recruit its students."
What did this kid die from? Heroin. I do not like the fact that the article specifies that it is a white kid because that is a large stereotype and just because he is from a clean neighborhood does not mean that he does not do drugs. Many celebrities do drugs most of them being white. http://radaronline.com/photos/hollywood-heroin-28-stars-who-used-the-drug-that-killed-cory-monteith/photo/552719/ - this is a site showing twenty eight famous people who did heroin. TWO of the twenty eight people were black. It just goes to show that anyone can make this mistake. I just do not like the fact that the article spends the first part talking so much about his home life, his school, and his race. It should not have to specify because many kinds of people do and die from heroin not just black "thugs".

Video games and Gas

There has been a stereotype that violent games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto have made kids more reckless, violent, and aggressive. In some cases one could blame the games for the actions that kids did. I believe the media is blame when a mass murder happens and then blame video game for the actions.
According to the "Lead Footprint" article lead gas in the 1970's lowers IQ's and physiological impacts on the brain. I disagree with that statement because people are not drinking the gas or probably not even touching it. It would be different if in was in a drink such as milk or pop. Cigarettes and chewing tobacco are a known source of causing cancer but yet no one has banned them? As far as I know the lead gas and tobacco could have been switched around and it would have made more of an impact. Also by removing lead from our everyday lives it has been said that the United States crime rate dropped dramatically. My opinion could in fact be wrong, but I just do not believe that lead could change people that much.
People also believe that immigration causes more violence because the foreigners create and join gangs but according to the article the immigrants have strong family ties; therefore they would not join a gang. The would come to America to be with the rest of their family. They get a bad reputation because of the mass media. The media is the problem for all of America's problems they expose the bad things to get them more popular so that it happens again. It is a vicious cycle that has been going on in the United States for a long time. The media needs some bad things to talk about so people stay interested.

Podcast for dayz

Last week we watched a great movie called the Breakfast club. The movie showed many different types of students and a very mean teacher. The kids expressed their feelings amongst eachother and became friends.Breakfast Club podcast

Sociology last weeks dievence

This past week in sociology we learned about positive and negative deviance. We also had to do a positive deviance for someone. My positive deviance was when Brian got his car stuck one morning. I told him at noon that I would push him out. He was thankful. We also watched a clip over "snackman" this man broke up a fight in a underground subway rail system. He saw the two people fighting and all he did was stand in the middle of the people share and eat his chips. The fight then was dissolved and everyone then minded their own business after snackman stepped in. This is also a positive deviance because he did not have to step in and stop this fight. He could have been a bystander like everyone else. People like this man are great in the society because of their helpful decisions to help a person out in their community. Julio Diaz was robbed by a teenager on the subway. After that he convinced the kid to go to dinner with him. He was nice to the kid and probably changed that kids life forever. Positive deviances are the best thing ever.