SUMBLOG 12

In class I really like the discussion that we had about how technology can influence social change.  Social media for an example have change how we interact with one another.  A prime example is the way this course is structure for us to have the option of using the site Blogger as another way for us to communicate with each other outside class.  This gives people who aren’t as vocal in a school environment the chance to voice some of their views on a particular subject.  Speaking of how technology is being use as a teaching tool in school nowadays, technology has also given the chance for people to take online courses from the comfort of their homes.  The type of people who can benefit from this are usually people who wants to go back to school, but can’t because of other obligations (jobs, families, etc.).  This way they can go at their own pace without sacrificing much in return.  Facebook and Twitter are just two examples of social media sites that have changed the way we as a society communicate with one another.  With the press of a button anyone (provided that they are on your friend lists) can see what you have posted.  So literally, there is no need for verbal communication anymore because technology has made communicating so convenient.

Technologies have also given the chance for people to expose inequalities in our communities.  It’s a fact that in today’s world almost everybody (if not, then somebody) is carrying around phones with a built in camera.  There was a recent report about a police officer choking a man before arresting him.  According to witnesses the man wasn’t resisting the officer’s effort to arrest him.  Simply put, this was an act of an authority figure abusing his power.  Unfortunately for said officer, the whole incident was caught on camera, and the officer eventually got fire.  I think if it weren’t for the pictures that were taken; no one would believe this story because usually the police officer will have the benefit of the doubt.  Thanks to technologies, maybe future police officers will think twice before trying to abuse their power.  The news clip covering this story can be found down here.

SUMBLOG 11

The documentary that we watched during class this week does a good job at looking at globalization and global inequality.  Living in the United States of America we take for granted small things such as electricity, clean water, and food in our everyday lives.  Seeing how hard it is for the people in the documentary to get access electricity for basic lighting is really an eye-opener to how fortunate we are to be living here.  It’s sad to see that there are still many countries that have communities that live like the ones that were shown on the documentary.  However it’s a good thing to see that there are program such as the Barefoot College that help spark changes within these communities.  They do so by providing people the basic knowledge and skillsets, to harness the power of modern technology to help better their community.  What I really enjoy seeing is that they specifically targeted the women from patriarchal society to participate in this program.  This gives these women a chance to see what they are capable of doing, and somewhat experience what western culture feels like.  So it’s good to see that people acknowledge that there is inequality around the world, and there are programs such as the Barefoot College out there.

I think the movie Slumdog Millionaire is a good example to demonstrate globalization and global inequality.  It shows globalization by showing the progress of the city Mumbai from its Indian roots to the more modern westernized version it is today throughout the whole movie.  It also features the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire as the center piece for the movie, which the show is of western origin.  As for global inequality, it displays the two main characters struggles as poor citizens living in a country going through modernization.  It’s a good film, and I highly recommended to anyone who hasn’t seen it.  The trailer to this movie can be watch down below.

SUMBLOG 10

Barry Glassner and his “Culture of Fear” really stuck out to me because I personally think that we as a society do live in a culture of fear.  I say this because when something catastrophic happens to us beyond the grasp of our control, we take drastic steps to make sure it does not happen again.  Since the terrorist attack on September 11, the security measures taken at Airports dramatically increase.  However, even this is not enough to ease people’s mind because there is always that question of “what if” at the back of people’s mind.  It’s this fear of the unknown that is making us ignore serious problems like inequality of income just as Glassner said.  We don’t want to look at the ugly sides of things; we fear that those negatives view because its reality and some people just can’t accept that.  So it’s just how Glassner puts it, once we accept the ugly truth, we lose the ability to move forward.  So literally, if we let fear control us, we can’t move on with our lives.

The recent bomb threat on the anniversary of the Boston bombing is an example of how fear still plays a role in our everyday lives.  The article which was posted on the Washington post can be found here (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/04/16/boston-police-arrest-man-for-bringing-hoax-explosive-device-to-boston-marathon-finish-line/).  Rather if it’s for publicity, their 15 minutes of fame, or for a quick laugh; no one should do things that can potentially put other people’s lives in danger.  Having said that, this article demonstrates the person who did this stunt is disconnected from knowledge and reaction.  The person may not have the knowledge that these kinds of threat are taken seriously, and the reactions taken are severe.   Although this was found out to be a hoax, it’s still twisted as to why a person would pull off a stunt like this.

SUMBLOG 9

Our culture has evolved in a sense that we are now more than ever tolerant of offensive things.  I think it’s because of our freedom of speech that plays a large part in this because people have been fighting for a long time for us to express our opinions.  So the freedom of speech may be the reason why that society today are accepting of offensive things such as the language being used in the music industry today.  Music artist nowadays seems to not care what they put out there, and people at the same time don’t really care either.  Songs such as Blurred Line are popular because of its catchy tune rather then it’s lyrics.  That is what people seems to care about these days because music artists wouldn't be writing and singing them if there is not a market for them.  Although some people do voice their opinions on the offensive lyrics in the song, it seems like their opinions only brings more publicity to the artist and the song.  Musicians such as Miley Cyrus thrived on this concept, because before she became what she is today, her image was that of Disney create star that can do no wrong.  She underwent a drastic change and released some edgy materials.  The negative attention given to her because of the controversial things that she did, in the long run is actually is helping her by putting her name out to the mass public.  This seems to be the norm in the music industry because the edgier you are, the more records you seem to sell.  There is an article (http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=elvis-presley-controversy) that talks about how even the king of rock n roll Elvis Presley was very controversial in his time.  His unique style of performing was not immediately accepted by the older generation at the time, but at the same time was widely accepted by the younger people.  This seems to be the trend with every new generation as the world continues to change.  So maybe one day we’ll look back at twreking and think that it wasn't such a big deal.

SUMBLOG 8

I think the Monopoly (or “Sociopoly”) game that we play in class did a good job in simulating real life in terms of income.  Unlike real Monopoly where every player all start out with the equal amount of money, Sociopoly have restrictions on how the money is being distributed to certain players.  Some players get more and some players get less.  In real life all people do not start out on even ground economically, even more so if you are part of a minority group.  Whites tend to make more money than that of blacks and Hispanics statically in real life.  So with more money they can do a lot more, while the minorities of society are limited to the things that they can and cannot do.  This reflects in the game by the person with the most money can just buy any property that they land on, while the lower income players have to second guess a decision to buy.  This concept also is true in the real world as well.  Another way as to how this game simulate real life is that at the beginning everyone is all happy because we all actually have some money to purchase streets, railroads, etc.  But as the games goes on and some players are losing money, ultimately at the end of the day is the player with the most money that ended up being at the top.  Just like in real life, the rich continues to get richer and the poor just barely getting by.  This activity relates to the chapter by demonstrating the inequality in income between whites/Hispanics and blacks.  Whites/Hispanics seems to have no difficulty in finding resources to help themselves, while the blacks struggle to do the same thing.  So the game really helps to make that point.

SUMBLOG 7

The institution of education and the problem of race and ethnicity within it really intrigue me.  Especially the part we discuss in class about letting people of a certain race get into a particular school base on just that, their race.  This is done mainly to boost the diversity in said school.  Schools in my mind try too hard to send the message of diversity in the schools; so much so that my high school dedicated a whole week for it to increase the awareness of it.  Don’t get me wrong as I believe that diversity is a good thing, but sometimes it just goes too far.  This really remind me of the time where I was a junior in high school.  At that time the colleges around Wisconsin bombarded my mail with their brochure.  On those brochures they often feature some sort of photo with some of the students that are attending them on it.  There is this one particular detail that I noticed on the photos when looking through a few of them.  The photos more often than not show a group of happy diverse friends on it.  I find this funny because I eventually got a chance to go tour some of these colleges, and find that the brochures are misleading.  As I observe the surroundings, I noticed that there is not much diversity at some of these colleges.  However, when I do see diversity within the colleges everyone is well segregated.  Rather if it’s done intentionally or not, but looking around this campus the same observation can be made.  Although the brochures are misleading about the environment of the student body, it’s nice that they are pushing for diversity within the system.  Below is a clip from the TV show The Office, which goes to show how silly pushing for diversity can sometimes be.

SUMBLOG 5

One of the categories on attitudes and actions that we discussed about in lecture I’ve always enjoy learning about is the concept of stereotype.  Being a minority (Asian-American) in society I experienced many stereotypes growing up.  However I don’t usually get offend by them, and I actually find them somewhat funny.  I say this because most of the time some stereotypes turns out to be true.  One such stereotype that I often heard is that all Asians are good at math.  I find this funny because I actually fit in this stereotype.  I remember in junior high, the class was assigned this really long and somewhat difficult take home algebra test.  Knowing that we can help each other out, we started to form groups after class.  I was thinking of doing the test together with my friends who are also Asian.  Little did we know that we were in high demands for other people, especially with our Caucasian classmates.  I think it’s due to the stereotype that all Asians are good at math that caused this to happen.  I was reluctant at first but ended up joining a group with one of my Caucasian friend, on the promise that he’ll give me 5 Pokémon cards of my choice.  We got it done and got a decent score due to my guidance.  The group that has one of my Asian friends in didn’t do too good as his whole group just put down whatever he put down.  This particular friend unlike me is not really bright at math.  But at the end of the day we both got our Pokémon cards and that is all that matter.  The moral of this story is that don’t assume that all stereotypes are true because it can either help you or hurt you.  This video clip from Wong Fu Production does a good job at showing this; but instead of the all Asians are good at math stereotype, it’s about the all Asians know martial arts one.  Enjoy.

SUMBLOG 3

The documentary that we watch in class about the Westboro Baptist Church was a good example using religion to discriminate against other’s values and beliefs.  According to the members of the church, God have already passed its judgment and everyone living in the United States (except for the members of the church) is going to hell.  This is apparently because the United States is a nation full of “faq” supporter, sinners, and among other things.  I don’t really have a problem with this because I believe that everyone is entitle to their opinion, but what I have a problem is how they carry out this message.  Staging roadside “pickets” at dead soldier funerals and other religious events is not the best way to get a message across.  This is disrespectful toward the family of the decease their family and other religion.  This tactic only makes them look bad, and only generates more hate toward the group.  There are much better ways to go about this and they seem to have chosen the most extreme one.  The sad thing about all this is that they are teaching their children the same values and beliefs.  The one thing that stuck out to me was when the interviewer questioned the 4 years old girl about the meaning of word on the sign she was carrying and she replied that she didn’t know what it means.  This just means that the cycle would just continue on and on.

After seeing this documentary, I’ve decided to look them up on google to see if there is anything new on them.  To no one’s surprise I happen on an article on how they were going to stage a picket at the University of Missouri to protest the presence football player who recently came out as gay.  This led to the student body of the school to come together and stage a counter protest.  It’s just good to see that people are willing to come together to help battle some of the negativity in today’s society.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/17/us/missouri-sam-westboro-protesters/

SUMBLOG 2

Making sense of sex, gender, and sexuality was one of the issues that were brought up in this week’s reading and lecture.  What really stuck out to me was the concept of sex and gender.  The definition of sex that we were giving is that sex is the biological distinction between females and males.  What I got from this definition is that sex is based on rather you have the necessary reproductive parts to be considered a female or male.  The definition for gender is the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male.  I make this definition out to be that gender is what society sees as being female or male (e.g. pants vs skirts, long vs short hair, etc.).  Based on these definitions, we humans are socially constructed to act a certain way toward others based on their sex and gender.  This makes it uncomfortable to act according to the norms of society if you aren’t sure if a person is male or female.  The SNL skit involving the character Pat that we saw in class portrays this really well.  Pat’s friends have a hard time interacting with Pat due to not knowing what gender Pat was, thus often creating awkward moments.  Although intended to be a funny skit, the reality is that this kinds of incident does occur.  Just think about how you act towards your male friends and your female friends.  Do you act differently when you’re around one of the two?  In my case, I’ll have to say yes.  So if I were to happen to meet someone like Pat I wouldn’t know how to act either, and it’ll eventually turn into the SNL skit.  I saw this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYixpEA5iWY) a while back, and it’s about the experience of two friends using a unisex bathroom for the very first time.  Since it’s not norm for men and women to share a public bathroom, things can get a little awkward just like the Pat issue.

SUMBLOG 1

What really stood out to me in this week’s lecture about the social construction of race, ethnicity, and nationality is the concept of race.  In class Professor Barry gave us two definitions on the word race.  The first definition states that race is the “categorization of people based on biologically transmitted traits”.  While the second definition states that race is the “socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society considered important”.  Both definitions seems to support the notion that race is define as what a person looks like on the outside (that’s a given).  We as humans know that everyone belong to different race.  So what I don’t understanding is that when the issue of race surface, why are people so uncomfortable with it.  The Guess Who activity we did in class did a good job at demonstrating this.  It was said in the video that when people are doing this activity, about 57% of the people playing this game are reluctant to ask clues involving peoples’ race.   One would think that with all the civil rights movements and such things, people would be more comfortable to talk about race openly.  However, that is not the case at all, and people are still uncomfortable with it even in today’s world.  During the Super Bowl this past weekend, there was a cereal commercial about an interracial couple and their six years old daughter.  The commercial was about the nutritious benefits that the cereal provides, but this apparently flew over some people’s head.  What they saw wasn’t a cereal commercial, what they saw was this biracial family, and because of it received some negativity. Here is a link to the video of an interview with the family after the negative backlash that the commercial received, and talk about their experiences (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjJ4tqVV1OE).  This just goes to show about where some people still stands on the issue of race in today’s society.  Changing is hard thing to do, but if we don’t change nothing will ever get better.