Social Mobility

I've been reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell (the same guy who wrote blink and the tipping point) called Outliers the story of success. And More or less Gladwell looks sociologically at society and uses various theories and experiments to show the odd ways and reasons (usually relating to class) on how people got around in life. Ultimately, to no one's surprise, Gladwell sees the rich succeed in every category as the poor squander good fortune time and time again. Our system, as unfair as it is, seems to have real functional reasons behind the way it works. Its unfortunate that people have to still be enslaved to such a classist society in this day and age.

monopoly

I thought monopoly was really interesting and put the social classes into a prospective that was easy visualize. The person who rolled to be the lowest class had the hardest time making money and the person with the highest class only moved up. It was easy for the rich to be entrepreneurs but the poor only had eneough money to get themsleves by so they could not invest. It represented the capitalistic society we have in America and how hard it is for someone to get out of poverty. I believe our government needs to do more to help people out of the cycle of poverty. I don't think that everyone should make the same amount of money, but I do believe that we should all be given the same oppertunities, expecially as a child. However, with the school being run off the taxes the schools in more wealthy areas will always have better resources, maybe thats a place to start a change.

movie

I didn't realize how much people thought about social class. I guess I just have always thought of it as people are just trying to make their live's better by working hard and earning money not really switching social classes, but I guess that comes along with it until you get to a certain class where it is not only money but name. I thought that the woman that taught you how to act to fit into upper class was wierd at first, but then I was thinking that reform schools do the same thing except for kids.

Rambling Thoughts On Class

Class keeps America undemocratic.  There is a very coordinated and hierarchical system which defines America and keeps the poor down. Did you know that in 1971 the average Ceo to citizen salary ratio was 50/1? Did you know thats grown tenfold since?  In a democracy which is run around a capitalistic supergiant, many stopgaps must be put in place to assure that an excess of money tips the scales of democracy - deeply in favor of the rich. Whether rotting in the depths of a mediocre school system, or slaving away at three minimum wage jobs to pay the bills, the rich in America that pillage the world have begun to pillage americans themselves.  Racism and such problems are obsolete when everyone, based on a simple standard, are so ruthlessly discriminated against.

I Love America But...

After Barack's win, I am rejuvinated in my complete faith and love in America and its mystique. However I still cant shake that other part of American politics has led to horrific mishaps. The part that always errs on the side of a harsh power. The best example is of the current state of America's penal system. We currently have something like 2.2 million people in jail. Thats more than any country in the world-- including China. Its a disgrace. Its a drain on taxes. Its destructive to race relations. Its a stain on the soul of America. And why? The Drug War.  The cruel tale of Reagan Era drug politics left potheads rotting in hellish jails for life, while rapists got off in ten years. Crack was a much higher offense than pure cocaine ( a complete fallacy in logic ) which astronomically raised the amount of black offenders, an already abused category. That backwards practice goes on to this day. The principals are  based on the decades old culture war. Which the far left lost for at least half a century in the late sixties. Hippies, Bobby Kennedy and all. Many since have suffered for it. Unfortunately it is a story of something that is hatefully undemocratic, in what is supposed to be the shining city of Democracy in the world.

With a quick denunciation of the far-right fascism in Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps we cane hope of serious progressive democracy from Obama

martial arts part two

I think tae kwon do in some instances is a form of resocialization. There are new norms with in the studio that get transferred into the real world, but I don’t necessarily think that it changes totally who you are, like a boot camp, since it isn't constantly surrounding you and other norms are able to add to who you are and how you portray who you are. Being around people all different age groups from 5-60 took me out of the groups based on age that society puts you in since you start school, which I think in turn was a good thing because I was able to expirience the lives of people different than me, people dealing with different problems and striving to reach different goals. I think this helped me put my life in prospective and made me more understanding of the realities of the world at a young age.

I began participating in martial arts when I was five years old. I walked into tae kwon do class on the first day intimated and nervous; I would never have expected that I would grow to love walking into this same studio almost everyday for years to come. Tae kwon do is based off of Korean culture, which demands respect for the people around you. When I began classes the studio was like a different world. There were new customs to follow and at first they seemed strange. We would enter and bow towards the flag and say yes sir and no sir. These customs transferred into my life without any recognition. In my everyday life I show respect for my elders and my peers, even count in Korean. As a class we worked together to progress to the next belt, each learning a skill and passing it on to another. With each belt test I grew to be more confident in myself. After many years of practicing I received my black belt, but this was not the end of my learning. With the confidence I gained I was able to teach others the skills I had learned. This art form teaches to have peace within and to be empowered with not only skills but with a clear mentality. Tae Kwon Do has transformed who I am and has progressively made me into a stronger and more compassionate person.

Parents instinctively talk to boys and girls differently; however, I believe that it goes past just instincts and reflects their own personal wants. Most fathers want their son to be interested in sports and be there little tough guy, but is this pushing conformity on the child? The world does not easily except change or admire differences and because of this most strive to conform to be accepted. It is understandable to why parents would try and teach children how to act to be accepted or well liked, but when does this go too far, are we forgetting embracing uniqueness? Do boys do certain things and act certain way in comparison to girls because of following others they look up to or is it encrypted in their DNA? I wonder if a group of boys and girls grew up together without the influence of others telling them how to act, if they would act what is characterized as a boy or girl.

the news

The news at one point in American History was an agent of truth. A completely journalistic endeavor whose main purpose was to inform the people. Humble hosts from Walter Kronkite to to Edward Murrow to Dan Rather would be invited into a majority of Americans homes and they were told the TRUTH. Today the first aim is not truth, but ratings. And unfortunately for America fear delivers the best ratings of all.

I think death is a very taboo topic in our society. I think it is understandable to be afraid to loose people from our lives. I think the movie trys to explain that the person is never truely gone because you still have their memories, but I believe that sadness comes with the inablility to make new memories. I disagree with the need to have something that represent an after life and although it might make the thought of death more depressing I believe that you live and you die and that is it. I think people are too individualistic on how they percieve death, becaue truely death is not about the person that is dying, but the people that live on that that person has affected.

Volunteering

In our society it is advertised to help. The reason to volunteer is to feel better about ourselves and the reason to donate money is to get some sort of reward gift, doesn't that just seem wrong? Shouldn't we just help to help? I'm not saying that its not a constructive thing to do to make yourself feel like a better person, but why can't we do a completly altruistic act. Has our society really become so individualistic that we can only look at how our actions affect our own lives? Maybe it's just human nature, but it seems that over time our lives have become more seperate and we are solely concerned about what affects only us. I also believe that it intertwines with the concepts of religion. Religion teaches that you to be good person for some ultimate reason, depending on what religion you practice, but simply put, be good and you'll go to heaven or treat people right becuase what goes around comes around, but shouldn't there be more. Aren't we more compassionate and complex than to only concern ourselves with our own lives? We are all so concerned with our ultimate outcome, but when people remember who you are they do not think of your life in terms of how you lived it but how you have affected them, I guess it's just all a big circle.

Driving

Does driving represent more than just transportation? Since driving is different from place to place, does it represent the culture that specific geographical area? Our society has many rules to driving, everyone drives in straight lines going a specific speed and we constantly have police to watch our every move. I don't know exactly what the rules of the road are in different countries but from the video we watched they seem to be a lot less regulated. I guess you can look at it as we are very responsible and want to make everything safe, but it just seems other places are able to do that without all the extra limitations . We are supposed to be so free but we have concerned ourselves so much with safty that we are limiting ourselves. I'm not saying we shouldn't have any rules, but cops dressing up as construction workers to catch speeders it just seems to be going too far.

Collogero's Reality

Collogero's character is a collection of American-Italian stories. In some ways, he is not a character at all, but a symbol for a generation of Italians in a particularly interesting moment in time in which to judge the very subtle differences between right and wrong. A young child see's a hard working father beaten down by his own self-righteous rules whom he loves and respects but he also falls in love with the glamour of gangsterhood. Collogero only eventually gets to know the Sonny's troubles. Throughout the film, as he ages, Collogero swings back and forth on this pendulum of paradigms. This conflict of heroes is an old tale, but Collogero's specific character is born out of the italian american dream story. His reality is very much steeped in the glorification of a gangster lifestyle - money, success, fun, and perhaps most importantly the unique and comradery that only criminal families will experience. When that old world italian clashes with the new world optimism of his hard working father, Collogero is originally deceived and believes that Sonny's lifestyle is the one for him. After the death of his friends, his mentor, and his complete awe at the racism of his neighborhood, Collogero finally moves past his naive views on criminal life. At the end, the heartwarming success of the movie is that Collogero, the next generation, learns and moves foward and continues the American dream.

ship

Our society is supposed to be based off the idea that all people are created equeal, however, although our society values this ideal, we don't truely abide by it. We hold certain people over others. I have always thought that people held different respect compared to other people, but it's strange how we can so easlily say whose life has more value based on what they do or what they have accomplished. Who are we to say whose life has more value? It connects back to the fact that we base who we are on what we do. We wonder why our society has sterotypes or racism. We can't even explain ourselves as people, how should we be expected to look indivually at others.

It's weird to think how many unwritten rules there are in society.  Many times we do things without even thinking, follow these rules without ever being told to them.  There are some social norms that we are taught as a child, like not to talk when you have food in your mouth, but not all norms are taught by our parents.  There is an unspoken pressures by society to make people into behaving in a certain way.  Without all theses rules would our society be happier?  People act differently when they are alone; they are able to act without restrictions.  So, without these constrictions would people be more at ease and less worried.  It all stems back to conformity and  wanting people to accept who you are, except people are never truly acting themselves.  And if everyone started acting themselves would we like them more or less?  Could our society handle no norms? 

silence

I think our society lacks silence.  There is always some type of noise.  I am completely against the moment of silence because it goes against the amendment of separation of church and state, but does our society take its own time to have silence? Are we using noise as a scapegoat to thinking?  When there is silence we are only left with our own thoughts, but now we almost never have silence.   So is our generation thinking less?  Or thinking less on our own?  By having noise on all the time are we taking thoughts of others and making them our own.  Do we unknowingly take the ideas of others because we do not take the time to think ourselves.

Me

I'm Michelle.  I think writing who you are can be misleading because everyone just ends up describing what they do, which is not who they are. But, I guess I'll do the same. I'm going to be 18 next month.   I don't do any sports right now but I have done cheerleading, tae kwon do, and cross country(kinda). I want to go to college either on the east or west coast.  I'm pretty quiet unless I know you.  I don't really have a specific hobby, but I think thats kinda good because I can do lots of different things.  I like to drink diet pops, not because they have less calories, just because I think  they taste better.  I eat mac&cheese almost every day.  That's about it.