Crash

The movie crash was  a great film that shows the implications of racism in today's society, even if it might sometimes go over the top with it. In class we discussed one part in particular that stood out to me: the part where the black lady is in the flipped over car and the cop who assaulted her is the only one who can save her. When that cop went in to save her, she reacted very strongly and i think that it showed that cop how much his actions could hurt people and how his blatant racism and actions were unfair, because in the end she is a person just like everyone else. The film also showed how much race plays a part in politics today, when white politicians are afraid to offend the black population because they may lose the black vote even if they are doing whats right. It also makes you wonder why Obama got elected, was it because of his skin color or because he was really qualified for the job? That's a discussion for another time. Crash was really an eye-opening movie to the world of racism and i noticed that even though i never thought i was racist, i had prejudice thoughts sometimes. And i know that i cant tel anyone to not be racist before i totally stop being racist myself.

Discrimination in Today's World

Just because we are in 2011, 43 years after the assasination of MLK Jr, does not meant hat we are free from racism. martin Luther King Jr and the cicil rights movement he led was an enormous step in creating total equality among races in todays society, but it didnt quite do enough. While no on would argue the fact that we are less racist today than 43 years ago, We still show signs of those times. People of color today are still discriminated against in jobs, and just in social stature. Jane Elliot's exercise shows people of all races what it feels like to be discriminated against. In the video we watched, on girl had to leave the room because she felt that she was persecuted,but she did not understand that this was only an exercise and that people of color or religion or any different factor that the majority have always been discriminating against. Looking at history, there are people that have been discriminated against the most: Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Native Americans are among the most discriminated against. Stopping discrimination does not need to stop "seeing color" altogether. many people of color or religion or whatever else are very proud of it and do not want it to be ignored, but accepted. I know many african americans that are proud of being black, and i accept that as a part of them. Ignoring it would be ignoring the part of them instead of accepting them as a whole. Acceptance is the key word to me, the oppressor needs to accept that they are no different as PEOPLE than blacks, or hispanics or jews.

Unfair Advantages

The Social Elite in this country have an unfair advantage when it comes to making money. Our country was founded upon the ideals that everyone has the opportunity to improve their way of life through hard work and perseverance, but now it appears that is becoming harder and harder to achieve. Even as the quality of life improves throughout all social classes, the gap is widening between the upper and lower classes. Creating a budget for a lower class family was quite difficult, but not as complicated. We did not need to to worry about all the extra amenities, but we did have to worry about making the basic ends meet: Phone bill, Car payments, Food. The upper class had to worry about what private school to send their kids too, or what new luxury cars to buy. Even with crisis like cars breaking down or losing 10% of the salary, the rich did not get affected to much. They couldn't even spend all their money fast enough to create a decline. It seemed like even with all the vacation trips and luxury cars and private schooling, the rich seemed to be making more and more money. This is what is widening the gap in America, and there doesn't seem to be a way of changing that trend.

Socio-Economics

Living on a small budget is hard. Everyone knows that, especially College kids and single young adults looking to start their career. But these individuals have the Opportunity to rise up through the social classes. Opportunity is key in America; It is one of the principles our great nation was founded upon. These opportunities do not present themselves to some people however, and it is very hard to make a better life if you cant move up in social class. These people are the poor blue-collar families that have been forgotten about, or newly immigrated families that do not have an education on-par with the education we get in America. For these people it is nearly impossible to movie up in social class. We learned that this week while playing Monopoly with individuals assigned a social class and given perks that that social class would likely experience (ex. Upper class does not need to go to jail). Moving up to overtake that upper class person was out of reach for me, and I was fortunate enough to get Lower-Upper class.  The person assigned tot he Lower-Middle class had an even tougher time and was forced onto "Welfare" quickly. This activity really opened my eyes to the gap in the distribution of money that can be seen in America today.

Changed

This past week in Sociology class we had a classmate and a guest speaker present a PowerPoint and give speeches and take questions. The topic was Homosexuality and Transgendered/Transsexual issues in today's world and how it effects high school students. Before the presentation my opinion on this issue was a little bit of uncertainty and i didn't really like the thought of a transgendered person. Walking out of class, i knew that my vies would be forever changed on the topic, and for the better. I realized that the reason i didn't like the idea of transgendered people and transsexual people was because i really didn't know anything about it. After hearing the presentation and hearing about all the stuff that homosexuals, male or female, and transgendered people have to go through i realized how unfair and mistreated, and really just how misunderstood they are. The are people who cant help but feeling the way they feel and they should be treated the same as anyone else, they are no different. Another point that was made was about how hurtful the word Faggot, and the casual use of the word Gay can be to people who actually are homosexual. In schools throughout the US the word faggot and gay are used so casually to describe people and things, and kids grow up thinking this is OK. I know...I was one of those kids. I have taken it upon myself never to use the word Faggot, and only use the word Gay when using it as the literal sense and never as a demeaning word. I wish that everyone could hear the stories of my classmate and her boyfriend that seriously changed my view on this topic forever. The quicker that people can get educated on this topic the better because i feel that most people don't know what to think because they are so misinformed. All, i guess, i can ask is that people reserve their judgements of Gay and Transgendered people until they become informed of what these people go through every day and how they feel.

Gender vs. Sex

Asking someone what gender they are and asking what sex they are are going to elicit the same response: Male or Female. The definitions of the two may mean the same thing but deeper down they are completely different. One of my classmates this week defined sex as "between the legs. i think thats a perfect description for it, while at the same time it doesn't fit gender completely. When we think about gender and what it can imply, it goes deeper than just intimate body parts, it goes into how we treat each other differently. Even from birth we separate males from females; males get blue things, females pink. This difference is only one in a long chain of differences between males and females. Males play with GI Joe's while girls play with Barbies just because. Raising kids up with this distinct view that genders are different can lead to discrimination later in life, I believe. I say that we let kids choose for themselves what toys they want to play with, and if a girl wants a GI Joe instead of the latest Hannah Montana doll, then so be it.

The Chinese Stereotype vs American Parenting

This week in sociology class, we were assigned a reading about how Chinese parenting techniques differ from the "western" parenting techniques. This Chinese mother made numerous points about how strict Chinese parent are compared to American parents. Chinese children would never get less than an A, they would never be less that #1 in every class, they could not have sleepovers and were required to play the piano and violin, etc.  I am sorry, but really? The child cannot even have sleepovers? The Chinese parenting model may be quite successful fro creating math wizzes and other Chinese nerd stereotypes but it doesn't seem like it succeeds in giving the child happiness. Academic performance,its states in the article, is a measure of how successful parents are. What these parents don't realize is that academics aren't everything. Kids need social skills as well. How many times are there those extremely quiet Asian kids who sit in class, never saying a word, and midway through 2nd semester the teacher calls on them and the reaction is 'who is that kid?'. I have seen it happen numerous times, and I'm not trying to be racist but a large percentage of the time it is Chinese kids who have not developed adequate social skills. These social skills are crucial to being successful in life, but even more important, being happy.