Nash equilibrium- Conflict can’t be avoided… There will always be someone who will be on the lower end of a conflict.

Game theory- A game where taking in the consideration not only involves costs, but interaction overall. This can directly relate to the Nash Equilibrium in the fact that they are directly involved within each other.

Prisoner dilemma- This is an example of the top two terms. You have two prisoners and by both of them trying to better themselves; end up worsening their issues because of their pure selfishness and desire to better themselves instead.

In history: Anytime that any countries have had bad blood or any conflict. Both will try what they can to get on top but will both be affected in a negative way.

In Government: When two opposing political groups argue and try to prove a point over something like a bill.

In economics: Two countries trying to own and top each other’s profit and income by getting the best price per object (oil, natural gas, uranium, etc.…)

Related to sociology: Whenever we are faced with a game theory or situation in which others value is argued.

Related to psychology: This can happen when you are forced to make a decision and you have to weigh the options.

In your everyday life:  This can happen anytime and anywhere. Every situation has a prisoners dilemma to it. 

 Shutter Island        

The mind is a complex network of information. It has enough power to send a man to the man and cure diseases that have ravaged mankind for thousands of years. It is also a sensitive and delicate piece to ourselves and how we live. The littlest things can spark memories and reactions that can change how we live. That being said, “Shutter Island” showed just how truly delicate the human mind is. Teddy was a regular man changed by the tragic murder of his children by his deranged wife.

It is truly a sad story. A young man who fought valiantly for his country, who encountered one of the worst doings of mankind since we have been on this sacred planet; then, take into consideration that he was an alcoholic and his wife was clinically insane. This is a recipe for complete mental meltdown and disaster. It would drive any man mad. The children he holds dearest to him, taken, and all by the woman he has learned to trust. It makes for an interesting case of denial and psychological treatment. Teddy has convinced himself that he is a different person just to avoid the responsibility of their deaths. He has denied it to the point that he is on a cycle where his beliefs are running from the truth.

He ventures into the unknown and tries to find a truth that just doesn’t exist. He is faced with a prisoner’s dilemma. But, this dilemma isn’t with another individual. This dilemma is with him. His brain got to him and it ended up costing him in the end. It truly is a shame that this man had to go through what he did in this film. To see what Teddy saw and by giving us an insight to what events led to his mental breakdown; let us understand how truly fragile the human mind is. It also showed the unconventional methods of the way we treated these “patients”. Chains and cages were reserved for the worst of the worst. Ward C was only used for the worst of the worst. For Teddy to see this was what I believe, to be the thing to really drive him over the wall. To see what shape these men were in and how they reacted to which the environment they were placed.

This was an interesting movie. It was one that made you think while also providing the possibilities for your brain to wander. By letting us think, it allows us to be Teddy and think like him. It allows to see how all these moments can impact how you live your life. Ted let the agony and defeat to break him down mentally. The human brain can be so easily changed. Any idea or belief can fool you into believing reality. This is what happened to Teddy. The years of wear and tear wore him down to the point that all it took was a spark to send him past the safety on a mental barrier. 

Was Gary Webb a Hero?                                                                                                               Mason Hanse

This is a puzzling question to say the least. Was a man who released some of our government’s deepest, darkest secrets a hero? In some ways yes…. But in others; of course not! This man was an investigative reporter with often un-orthodox ways of reporting. So, many can see why he was awfully uneasy to trust when it came to questions about his sources. His main sources were criminals and a bunch of untrustworthy people. On the other hand, it isn’t like he was a complete idiot either. You just can’t make these things up. The government has been involved in conspiracies and cover ups before! What better way to describe this than the fact that it was going to earn those millions and millions of dollars. Money is the root of all evil and our government can attest to that. All of these wars on terrorism and drugs are based on the fact that it will give the government money. Gary Webb sought to show this to the world. In some ways, this is quite honorable. He wanted to equalize the government to the people and let the truth be told. I don’t believe he did it to be a true truth seeker although; I believe he did it just to get his name bigger and him in the national limelight. So the real question is; was this honorable cause or a selfish one. I believe it was the latter. Now comes the question, was it right of the CIA to do this? Of course not! To ruin a man’s reputation and threaten his family just because he is releasing truths about illegal government activity; to me that makes you no better than the governments that reigned over Cuba and Soviet Russia at that time. That comes the point that you are taking away this man’s right to speak and for his voice to be heard. One of our Founding Fathers said, “When the government becomes so powerful it become broken, it is time for a new government.” I am a firm believer in this statement. If a journalist can’t even speak out and voice his opinion without being berated and talked down upon by his fellow citizens; then I believe something is truly wrong. So, to answer this question, I believe Gary was both! Webb put his life on the line to release the truths about our corrupt government (Hero) but, he did it just to make his name better and to better himself (Zero).   

                 JFK

Did its nation really lose its innocence after the assassination of JFK?

   No, I don’t believe we did. Our nation was so corrupt and disorderly that we would murder our president just to further interests is appalling. The thought that money and power reigned supreme is appalling and one those sadly still reigns supreme. We didn’t have much innocence to start with and this completely destructed all morals that some members of our society had. Our country was founded by men with moral fiber and a patriotic will to serve your country. Nowadays, we take to the lengths of assassinating the president just to further the war machine we have constructed. A majority of the US population was appalled and shocked. There was a minority of the US that praised his death although; they viewed him as a communist and a toxin to our country. They viewed him as weak and not full of guts and strength. The world was appalled as well. Most of the countries had well relations with us; but there were some communist countries that praised the death of this “communist supporter”.  The future of the US is scary. The two front runner candidates are people who have done some very un-American things. We have a racist republican and our democratic candidate is known for lying and even having connections to drugs. In short, I believe our country is in a downward spiral and that won’t change. As long as money > morals…. Corruptness will reign supreme.

                Did 9/11 have a similar effect on the US?

Absolutely, it had lasting effects that are still felt today. It ushered in an era of fear. Every time, we see a person of Muslim descent, we associate them with extremism and violence. I truly believe that this also was a conspiracy. It goes back to the basis that money and wealth reigns supreme. This had the same backstory on why JFK was assassinated. By ushering in fear and blaming the Middle East as scapegoats; we could effectively find a “purpose” to invade those countries. We said we were going to stop terrorism… and what did we actually get out of it? We got the loss of 5,000 American lives in fighting alone and billions in money from oil and the war department. We have to face the fact that we need change nowadays. We need to stand up for what’s right and now for what will give us the most money. If this is what our country has come to, then I’m afraid what our country has in store for us. The government has so much power that they can influence the media into getting us to believe an entire race is responsible for a terrorist attack. I don’t feel that the American public blamed themselves. I believe that they blamed an entire race based on a few radicals. As long as we can find a way to get money, we will continue upon these moral less ways.

Who Killed JFK?

To me this was a combination of the CIA and the Johnson Agency. All signs point to this as the most viable option. The most complex assassination attempt was performed by our own government. All this was performed on the basis of two things: Power and Wealth. Kennedy was against the thought of war and was more focused on the domestic issues. To hi, furthering our knowledge of the universe and of our own planet. He wanted to cease fire and stall the issues with the communist countries. The military leaders saw him as soft. He didn’t want to go to war in Vietnam. Kennedy wanted them to fight their own fight. War=money so obviously the corrupt leaders were outraged. The only way for wealth to keep coming into our country was to enter war in Vietnam. So, they combined with some agents in the South and devised a way to assassinate Kennedy. They succeeded in destroying what most of the American public held so dearly.

I truly do believe the assassinations of RFK and MLK are linked to the government. They were the men who directly carried JFK’s views on politics. By killing them off, that meant that they couldn’t carry his flame. RFK is a carbon copy of his brother and he had the chance to directly carry on his brother’s momentum. I believe the same people who assassinated JFK; assassinated these two revered men as well.

In the end, it is a true shame that this is what we have come to. The fact that money reigns over morals makes me feel like we have lost our moral fibers in our country. But, it’s human nature. It has always been this way and will always be this way. The feeling of being on top is a drug to so many that they will do anything to be there. Even, if it means assassinating the President of the United States. Corruptness will always be around. We just have to choose to do the right and hope it cancels out the wrong.

Flat Tax

                The thought of a flat tax as the nation’s main tax is the better of the two options presented to us. There is no way around the fact that it is the only way you can “fairly” tax the people. By setting an equal tax for all would result in a perfect solution. Paying taxes is not an optional choice; although the rich may seem like it is with how little it affects their balance.

                People try to form the argument that just because they are rich, they don’t have to pay nearly any taxes. This may provide a decent argument; many of these richer people have worked hard for their cash and deserve the fact to pay very low taxes. They went through the American Dream and fought the grind to get where they are now. They deserve to pay that low amount of tax. But, if we are to set a tax price; we need to set it at what the perfect price would be. Technically, the rich would still pay more but that would be set at an equal price and they would still be paying a large amount. You never know, maybe if the tax gets set a price that is a little higher than normal; maybe there will be some lower class people getting jobs to help contribute to the lowering of the debt. I believe this isn’t a tax problem, I believe it’s a spending problem. By spending money on funding a useless war and funding programs that don’t work; we need to spend it on things like contributions to banks and small town businesses.

                Overall, we need a flat tax. It is what we need to continue to try to make a dent in our economic debt. This is the best option.

Our art is a reflection of our reality…….

                A powerful statement stated by Ice Cube. Not only, is it powerful, but it’s true. This group of “thugs” was the voice of a whole generation. For, them to have the impact they did on a generation in turmoil, tells a lot about the hard times our country was going for. Racial inequality and prejudice was running rampant across the country and we were in an economic downfall of sorts. At the center of all of this, was the city of Compton. It was notorious for gang violence and poverty; drive by shootings were a common place. In fact, it wasn’t unusual for the murder rate to exceed 50 a year. Drugs were rampant with the rise of cocaine and crack heroin emerging in the 1980’s. Despite all these problems, these 4 young men emerged speaking the truth. But, they weren’t just speaking they were rapping. Their words told what life was like. They told about the drugs and the shootings. To many it was shocking; their words were so straightforward and brutal that they had their music banned in many places across the country. Was it because of the fact that we were offended by their offensive lyrics? Or was it the fact that we were offended by the lyrics because of the fact that they were telling a dark story of what happens every day in these ghettos. As controversial as they were, we can’t deny the influence they instilled on a younger generation of artists. N.W.A is the grandfather of rap. They were the first super group of the Rap genre. They influenced the likes of Tupac, Snoop Dogg, and even 50 cent.

 It was the first time we heard the other side to the stories about violence in the ghettos. That didn’t settle with a lot of people.  We deny the fact that we have the white privilege. We wonder why we don’t have many white gangs and violence in our neighborhoods. Then, we look at the ghettos that are home to minorities and we can see why they are fighting for turf and drugs to keep their minds off the conditions they are living in. We ignored them too long and they let us hear about it through the power of rap.

                Although, this saying did hit home with many people. The people of Compton and ghettos all around LA now had a voice to channel their anger and despairs. Through its lyrics we discovered that we weren’t all that powerful. We found that people are simply mistreated based on the color of their skin. White Privilege was becoming a term we could relate to ourselves. Believe it or not, we are higher up on this social scale. And all below a certain line are living in poverty and in the threat of violence at all times.

                This brings up the point of the LA Riots. They were protesting the acquittal of 4 police officers in the beating case of Rodney King. To riot and break into buildings is being hypocritical. If they were protesting police brutality, then why would you kill multiple people on the streets? It makes no sense. If you are going to protest brutality; then don’t do it by yourself being brutal. Do it through a peaceful march or something along those lines. Don’t take a semi driver out of a semi, beat him to near death, and celebrate as he is lying dying in the streets. If the race card is being pulled, then represent your race with some pride. Be the better person and don’t go shooting up a city and stealing things to show, “we are being victimized’. Express yourself through music or peaceful talks. Of course, NWA added fire to the flame as if it didn’t already have it. With the song, “F the police”, it riled people up. It was a deadly combination of anger and a willingness to break the law. Overall, these riots were nothing more than hypocrisy. By protesting violence, they went against themselves and did exactly what many people were trying to get them to do. This all bleeds down (figuratively and quite literally) to the cities and how their lives exist in them. The only way they know to solve problems is how they have always been solved in those communities. It’s the fact that they were being so long ignored to the fact that when they finally got the spotlight; they were flustered and were so desperate for attention they did this. If you look at it from this point of view, it is almost understandable, not excusable, but understandable. Sadly, in this country we only found the negative in the situation. We became scared of these places and instead of help we isolated them more. Not in presence, but by laws. With all these laws, it just isolates the group. In the end, it was an idea that could have had such a positive impact but instead it was taking the wrong way because of the sheer chaos of the situation.

                NWA was influential. There is no doubt about that. They expressed their voices through rhymes and beats. Explicit language was the only way to reach the ears of a whole country. They went against the grain and went into unnamed territory. They brought hip hop to the world; and it took it by storm. The media loved to hate them. To them, they were a bunch of thugs and murderers singing about killing police and doing drugs. But, they weren’t just a thug group, they were artists. They were painting a picture of their lives and the lives of millions of people in the U.S.  They appealed to the younger audiences and said things that we have never heard. Stories were told and it impacted our country in both positive and negative ways. N.W.A truly did show the world what it was like in the streets of Compton. But more importantly, they showed us that their art is a reflection of their reality.

1.       $25 an hour or more

2.       You will find some teen moms, drunks, and even some pretty normal people.

3.       Because it’s 98% white people

4.       There is no way to leave this place; it is just like the reservations. Economically, it’s just too difficult.

5.       Of a human animal

6.       People are trading boxes of Pepsi for cash and even food stamps.

The whole fact that there is a white ghetto goes overlooked. Appalachia truly is the closest thing to a third world country that we have. To be in such a hardship to have to trade pop to gather enough to live on, is a travesty. But, it isn’t easily changed; economic hardship will always be here. There is just not enough money to change this area. It always will be a White Ghetto.

Donald Trump  

                Where can I begin with this man? As a country that tries to base itself on moral integrity, how can we elect a man who has none?  Electing him would only make our problems worse! He has said some of the most racist, sexist, and outright idiotic comments. Not to mention the fact that he has filed for bankruptcy four times! Here are a few examples of Trump saying some outrageous and boneheaded comments

·         “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.”   ----Huffington Post

·         “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest—and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure. It’s not your fault.”-----  Twitter

·         “Laziness is a trait in blacks.”----- Huffington Post

·         ‘Look at that face... “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!”----- When talking about candidate Fiorina

He has said quote, “John McCain isn’t a war hero; He is a war hero because he was captured? I prefer people who weren’t captured.”  This is just plain and outright disrespectful to all of the servicemen who have served and are now listed MIA. They have shown more courage and faith than Mr. Trump has shown in a lifetime. For him to bash the people who have been captured in war, by saying he prefers the ones that come home not captured, is plain and outright disrespectful. Speaking your mind is one thing, but for him to say these things consistently just says what type of person he is! Just because he is a billionaire doesn’t mean he has the right to be above everyone and say anything he’d like. Being a president comes with some necessary norms. It involves you acting like a civilized and a generally good person. It is like being a player on a team; you represent your town when you put on that jersey. Same with presidency; he is representing the whole country. We can’t have a bigot and sexist man who makes derogatory comments at everyone he sees representing us. There are better options for president! Making America great again won’t start with Trump.   I’ll finish with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr., “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Sources: http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/donald-trump-said-a-lot-of-gross-things-about-women-on-howar#.hswMkm42aA

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/30/the-dumbest-stuff-donald-trump-has-ever-said.html

NRA and White Privilege

               

                After reading these extensive amount of articles and acquiring information our first question was asked. The question is “What is white privilege?” and is it real? I do believe that after reading these articles that it does in fact exist. It is an everyday deal. There are multiple examples stated in these articles and the more I think about it the more it makes sense. This totally exists based on the sheer fact that our country has come to model everything on the white man. As appalling as it is, there is a reason behind this. It’s because of as of now there are more whites than minorities. But, as we saw, it will not be this way for long. The privilege that we have had in the past and present will be history. And, to me that’s a good thing! As long as we are all equal, we are truly free.

                Now comes the question of who the mass shooters are? I believe that they are the rejects and the ones who are stepped on. These people are the lowest of the low. To earn attention that they have been so desperately seeking for years; they go and shoot up a school or church in desire of getting some news time. It’s so depressing that this is what our society has come to! Instead of giving them help we toss them in a reject neighborhood and they just get worse and worse. So in the end I believe that the shooters are all races but the lowest of those races.

 

                As for the NRA, I believe the fact that they directly influence the political theatre of today’s world. It is the main drive behind the pro-gun debate. The Republican Party is basically supported by the NRA and the many members. Whereas, the Democratic Party is very against the gun rights we have. I think that as long as you have the support of the NRA you can actually win the presidential election. This connects to the articles because they are the main driving force behind the fact that many people aren’t supporting gun rights in this nation of ours. And those very people are calling for universal change. The NRA sadly won’t be around much longer due to its controversial nature. It’s really a shame because of the impact they can have on us gun lovers. It’s sad to see that people don’t value the guns and weapons like they used to when the NRA was founded. As long as the NRA is around we can have a political safety valve and have the support of millions of gun loving and respectable Americans.

                With Gun Control Laws, I believe that we will be very limited in the effect of the fact that we are going to end up having the 2^nd Amendment changed to the point where it will be useless to have it in the first place. It is a shame that people don’t realize that people kill people not guns. As long as we have the NRA’s support we will have our rights but I do believe that because of the fact that there will not be the NRA in the coming years. The 2^nd Amendment will be changed without it’s backing and we won’t have guns before long. Maybe control laws are what we need but not to the point many are proposing. It just isn’t worth making millions of Americans angry.

Overall, in the end the connection between White Privilege and the NRA is the fact that because we have all these rights and such that we are the main driving point politically. As long as we are the majority and have the NRA backing us up, we will have it our way. But, when the NRA is gone, so will our gun rights and even some political power that we have. We need peace and we need to learn to compromise or in the end all we will have is more violence and death. All, we need to fix what we have before it is gone. This needs to be done for the sake of the nation and the future people as well!

How Society Let Freddie Down…….and How He Was Still Responsible.

•      In the wake of all these instances, this is just another story on the news. Actually, it’s more than that. This is the story of a man who was doomed from the start. He was in a low-income neighborhood and he wasn’t about to go anywhere anytime soon. Baltimore is one of the most dangerous cities in the US. The housing of these places is just atrocious. It makes a typical trailer park look like Beverly Hills. The environment he was in is tough enough to get out of. The ghetto life isn’t one for people who want to strive and succeed. He just wasn’t able to! This can be attributed to the crime in that general area. Freddie was a criminal in retrospect. Although, he wasn’t convicted many times because of lack of evidence. He still committed these crimes. Yes, he had control over what he could do, and running was not the smartest thing to do. He needs to know although and people need to realize, that running from the cops and showing an aggressive attitude towards them isn’t smart! In that respect, Freddie let us down. Another reason, people can peacefully march or stay peaceful. It’s when people start burning down businesses and setting things on fire is when people have crossed the line. So, really instead of making your voice heard in a positive way, you have now made your reputation bad and your whole race is affected otherwise. There were others ways of protesting police brutality, it just wasn’t worth it. Am I being too tough on Freddie, maybe, but I just firmly believe if you did wrong and you need to be arrested. Just listen and turn yourself in. This is where the cops did wrong though. They need to learn after all of these news stories of kids being shot in black neighborhoods, which they need to approach this in a manner of care. They needed situational awareness and it wasn’t the smartest thing to do! In the end, it wasn’t just Society but it was just as much Freddie!

Saints and Roughnecks

1. After reading this article, I can conclude that the only reason the saints were viewed as better than the roughnecks is based on social standing. To me, it’s the only reason that makes sense. Because, of them being rich and coming from middle to high class families made them better received. Compared to the roughnecks who were equally the same troublemakers but came from lower class backgrounds. In return, the Roughnecks were unfairly received because of that exact point. The saints were even proven to be and have worse wrongdoings in a shorter time. Often, they got drunk and drove around every night and vandalized actually quite often. Roughnecks weren’t involved in this stuff for weeks at a time but when they committed a deviant act they were judged vastly and often truly hated upon. It wasn’t fair.

 

1. In my report, I talked about Jim Jones. This man was a crazy cult leader who actually committed a mass murder suicide. He was a crazy man who was obsessed with power. He was loved but hundreds of people but also hated by officials and people with common sense. The acts he carried out until the mass murder suicide weren’t all terrible. He provided medical care programs and he heavily promoted social equality. What made him sadistic was the fact that he told them he was Jesus Christ. He was all powerful to the few that saw him as a leader and he sought an exodus. So, he moved all his followers and traveled to Guyana. And, he named the town Jonestown. The conditions were terrible but they still stuck with him. Eventually, being studied for crimes and going to be observed he urged 900 people to drink flavor-aid mixed with cyanide. Only a few survived and he didn’t live to tell the tale as he too drank the lethal mixture. It was largely known as the greatest loss of American citizen’s lives until the date of the September 11^th attacks in 2001. So, of course, he wasn’t able to be tried of murder because of the fact he died but he is largely known as the single greatest killer in US history as he was directly attributed to 900 deaths. Not to mention the fact that a large amount of the people who drank the mixture were children. If he was on trial and charged with murder, he would almost surely have been put on death row. In conclusion, this man was a terrible man who was so caught up in himself that he urged 900 innocent souls to kill themselves and also issued the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan as he was at the airfield outside of Jonestown at the time of the deaths. He truly was a terrible man.

 

Digital Piracy…… and Deviance

After reading this article which stated that teens and adults nowadays are pirating movies are in fact committing deviant acts. Although, as a normal individual who doesn’t partake in the illegal downloading of movies or entertainment in any certain way….. That may be. But this author proved that in fact, these kids that are partaking in these illegal activities don’t find these truly illegal because all the kids around them do it too! Thus, it proves the statement that if you are around peers of deviant nature, you in turn will turn deviant and rebellious. It can all basically boil down to the nature vs nurture argument in a way. As long as you are in constant contact with deviance it will make you become deviant. This author also states that because of everyone doing this it blurs the lines for what’s right and wrong on the internet in today’s world. If everyone is doing it, then they really can’t stop it because there is too many to catch. So, really all the enforcers can do is warn and give idle threats because it’s almost out of their boundaries to deal with it. In the end, deviant acts such as piracy are still highly illegal but so many people commit the deviant acts that it makes it near impossible to combat. Its a battle that isn't easily won and the only way to win it is by taking a stand. Staying smart and staying within legal boundaries on the internet is the only way to combat digital piracy.... The Digital Deviance.

Who Am I                          Part II

In doing these tests I learned something about myself that I didn’t even really realize. I figured out that I am a very caring person! Before you take these tests, you don’t realize these little things about yourself. They go unnoticed in everyday life. At least by yourself! The more and more I look at these polls. The more I realize I actually am like these say! It also states that I am an extrovert! This is something I already know as I like being around big crowds and I really find it interesting to find out someone’s life story. You can learn so much of a person by letting them converse with you and just visit. That is something I wouldn’t do without. I love hearing about how some people grew up and the hardships they experienced. By listening and talking you can open up parts of knowledge that may have been previously locked.  The test I though was the most valid was the happiness test! I found out that I wasn’t a cynical or stern person but I was far from it. I actually believe I scored in the 30s indicating that I was a happy and generous individual. The test that had me the most skeptic was the Celebrity test. I feel like this could be true but it just surprises me that I am the most like Oprah! I can see the positive aspects of this as everyone indicated in my group was an Extrovert and a very social person. All these tests served their purposes and it was extremely interesting to see that I was in fact an extrovert and I could actually compare myself to other kids in my class in a way. Everyone is different and that is what makes us unique. By us being unique that is what leads to these tests. This is why we all can be who we want to be and how we can all hold our own values. Overall, this was an extremely interesting project and I would gladly take more of these tests to truly see who I am and who I may be!

Who Am I                                   Part 1  

 

After reading and some careful consideration I truly believe that heredity has to do the most with how you turn out. It just makes the most sense. If you are truly like your parents than surely that means that your personal traits will be very much alike them. I directly believe that this contributes the most but although the other traits serve just as much as this one.

  

           Parental Characteristics also have a large part in this. With the fact that they raise you and you seeing how they act directly can influence how you act. This is key to development as a child because than you can form a basis of guidelines and norms by which you can follow. If you have good parents than generally you will act better and more respectable.

 

         Birth Order: I don’t believe that this is directly influential to how you act. But I do believe that kids act different ways because of their age. The oldest child is generally the responsible one. While, the younger two are the fun and often the ones who get in trouble.  This directly has to do with how the kid is treated or babied according to the parent.  I still don’t believe this is directly correlated to age although.

 

              The surroundings of the child is extremely influential to the development of a child. So, if you have a child that is relatively good kid who lives in the drug ridden streets of a city. That child will change and adapt in a negative way to survive. In these situations, the nice guys truly do finish last. On the flip side, if we take that kid who has had these terrible things happen and put him in an area where there is nothing but peace and quiet….that kid may really adapt and become a better person because of it.

 

         All four of these things are very influential in the development of a human being. Whether from genetics or from your environment, everyone adapts to the card they are dealt. Whether its expressing yourself to match your peers or surrounding area, or dealing with the color of your eyes or skin. In the end, these are key to the development of the human being.

 

 

 

 

  Veterans Blog
        
           After reading this blog I have realized how truly mistreated our troops are. These men and women have fought for us and our beautiful country and they are repaid with shunning. It's not just this but it is the fact that they have a chance to be in serious trouble because of our ROE! They need to follow so many guidelines and rules to engage in conflict, that by the time they go through the list they or their squad mate may be dead. It needs to be revised! If someone has a weapon no matter how old they are... they present a threat to you and you have a right to engage. This of course has its downsides as misunderstandings will happen. Although, this is war and this stuff will happen no matter the approach you take. If changing the ROE can save a person's life.... why not change it! And on the quote I believe in this quote. We all need to do our jobs to keep this prized treasure. We need to treat it like so! This is a treasured prize. And all jobs need to be done to maintain it. Its been earned on the battlefields and in the face of adversity. We deserve this as a country. I truly believe if we maintain our duties and better our communities than we will truly deserve to have our citizenship. As long as you are contributing to the betterment of our country... Citizenship is something you deserve!

Sociology Blogs                                                                                                        Mason Hanse

·         Article 1

o   The question stated in this article was “Is racism a Western idea”. After reading I have concluded that racism isn’t just a western idea….it’s everywhere. It has always been around. As long as humankind is around there will always be the thought of someone looking down on another person. It was even stated that the Arab people thought their definition of a perfect human was a person with “Light brown skin”. A person will always believe that their culture is always superior.  It just always has been that way. The thought of it just being an idea developed by the European idea is ridiculous to me. Although, no one really ever thought of racism as the way it is till before the 1950’s. Overall, this article I believe sides with the fact that racism as we know it is a western idea. But, there is no doubt that racism has always been around and will continue to be around. Racism is everywhere whether you want to think that or not. The points stated in the article feed both sides of the argument. I believe firmly in the end that racism is truly universal and isn’t just a western idea.

·         Article 2

o   In our second article, it is asked “How Racist are we?” I believe naturally as much as I hate to say it I believe all of us have a little bit of racism in us. That doesn’t make you a terrible person but it does say that we may be hardwired to believe that we are superior to others. The author of this article states that the color of your skin our race shouldn’t determine how to judge a person. I believe we don’t have the right to judge a person as no one is perfect. Even if a person is perfect they do not have the right to judge anyone lesser than them. That is why this article states that everyone has a racist side to them. It also says that it isn’t just a white vs everyone problem anymore. Other cultures are in on the problem and we saw an example of this in our movie we watched the Bronx Tale. Not to mention that we stereotype cultures and pre-judge before we even got to know people. We view all welfare people as lazy drug addicts and all smart people nerds. It is just how we are raised. We are taught to be the best and be at the top of the pedestal. When in all reality we all breathe the same air and sleep under the same moon. We are all equal but our culture doesn’t view it as that. And that to me is a sad deal.

·         Article 3

o   This was an extremely interesting article as it views the physiological side of things. That to me is extremely interesting as we got to see that it isn’t our racist views that make us look down upon us but it may actually be the media that is making us used to seeing these stereotypes. Now, in this experiment they stuck words that were used together often like cool-night; summer-warm and they compared these to so called stereotypes. And after they quizzed the people on what they first thought when they found that the people viewed the races like whites as greedy and even females as “weak” and “fragile”. This states that this issue isn’t just confined to race but even age and gender as well. This article did a great job on explaining that media directly influences what we view as we are so used to seeing these words used together that its almost become second nature to what we think.

·         Now as we are asked to answer these questions it starts with “Is racism a culturally diverse or is it just a Western Idea?” I truly believe that this is a universal thing we have here. It isn’t just confined to us. Racism has always existed because someone always needs to be better than the person across the street or in another town.  It came from the very first person who looked down upon another. It came from when the very first people who were different skin colors and conquered each other and viewed them as slaves. And the sad part is that we all have a little bit of it in all of us. Whether you choose to show it openly or keep it inside of you…. It’s still present.  It’s everywhere as well.  There isn’t a way to completely avoid it. That doesn’t make you a bad person as I have stated because NO one is absolutely perfect and has done everything right in his lifetime. That doesn’t dismiss the fact that prejudices are ruining cultural relations and even some livelihoods. People are killed and attacked everyday just because of the color of their skin. It’s sad to me that the color of someone’s skin is what automatically makes them “lazy” or “weak”. People need to determine a person by their personality or what is on the inside. Until we are all getting along and learning to have some cultural awareness. Crimes will still happen and hate will still be around. We need to keep in mind that we will never get fully rid of racism. It will never disappear and it won’t ever change. But we can make changes to how we think. And to me I believe it all starts with the media. If we see more positive than maybe we will do more positive. That may just be the spark that can start a flame that will change the whole world. Hopefully we will get to live in a world where we don’t have to see that a busload of people was blown up solely because they believed in a different god than everyone else. Imagine if we all could get along for one day. Relationships would be mended and nations united. That’s maybe just what this world needs…….Positivity.

Too lazy to get a Job!	People can’t help it sometimes as they live in low privilege areas and jobs aren’t easy to find
There aren’t any jobs…	They found that in low income areas….. It is found to be more difficult to find a job in this.
That all Democrats support Welfare	This is false as Clinton really tried to reform welfare and eliminates them!
The money is squandered on alcohol!	That is actually very false as many of them try to support their families!
It got poor people into jobs	This is true as millions of people have been helped by giving them guidance!
Helped save the people during the Depression	It gave them jobs during the greatest recession is US History
Develops a safety net for a lot of people	Gives something for someone to fall back on just in case of times of low income
People need to be helped into jobs	This may very well be the answer to helping this decades old problem

 

 

After reading about how Clinton wanted to end the social welfare program…. I support Clinton and how he realized that welfare has more downsides than upsides.  Social welfare was certainly a great idea at the time it was needed. But now as more jobs are created we need to take advantage of this. There are thousands of jobs for the taking and it needs to happen.  By eradicating the program and eliminating welfare for society. This may help lead to taxes not being lowered.  Maybe with this being eradicated more jobs will be taken and more taxes will be paid. This may lead to a big increase in income. After all of this maybe the problem won’t be solved but might as well try. Maybe it will urge people to get jobs and pursue a career. It just may work!

1:            15% or 46 million people
2:            50th
3:            This chart is saying that the percentage chance of ending up in the lowest quartile..... (Lowest Class) by the time you are 30, is significantly higher than the chance of ending up in the highest quartile.

4:            Growing up in a two earning household, Completing a formal education, Developing a healthy spending habit, Storing savings, and healthy home life

5:   Work, Faith, Family, Community

6:   Safety Net- The government will help build a career by supplying financial aid
      Earned Income Tax Credit- This provides a rewards program that encourages people to work.
      Education: By getting an education, you are going to provide yourself with income.
      Criminal Justice: Helps the better prisoners adjust to society by providing them a credit system
      Regressive Regulations: Protects low income citizens from harsh payment on energy or bills that government imposes

7:   Both are to blame in my mind..... I think that by the government giving them the option to not work and live on welfare is part of the problem. By this the person is showed that he doesn't need to work. On the contrary, the person receiving welfare needs to do his part by getting a job and paying taxes.

8: I believe that the taxes need to be kept at a reasonable rate...... By cutting programs, more harm is being done than good. I just thing more work has to be done by the individual to pay the taxes!

             Civilizations
         As we sit here and asked the question "Do people control societies or do societies control the people?" Well, I believe societies control the people. Its just the way we are! Everyone wants to conform to these social norms. And because of that the society is the one that is the controller of sorts. People I believe are hardwired to conform to their beliefs and values. We will adapt to how our society views us. As long as you want to fit in... Society is the one controlling us. Although, a different view can be looked upon. People are the ones who created this societies. Therefore, don't peoples opinions (societies) control the other people? Either way, norms and morals are set by a certain society. If you follow those views you are dedicating yourself to that societies' cause. The only way to be aware of this is to promote sociological mindfulness. By learning of another's cultures norms and values you can learn to be more aware and respectful. It leads to a more close knit relationship between cultures and may lead to more peace. If societies viewpoints are possibly intertwined that may lead to a cure to some problems. So overall, I believe that really in the end that societies do control the people. But, in a different viewpoint, that maybe its not the literal people but the urges to conform to norms and wanting to fit in to a society that makes people be controlled. Doesn't that mean you can control how much  you are controlled?

28^th Amendment

·         I believe if we were to revise the Amendments and add another right to pray in school or express religious beliefs in school events. I think that this needs to be added because there is a lack of faith and well-being in our schools now days. The bible provides us with moral guidelines to follow and faithfully keep to. I don’t see why we aren’t allowed to say our prayers. Since all religions would be allowed, no one would be singled out. If you pray to yourself it shouldn’t matter as it will keep to yourself. I think this needs to be added because it may add some morals in a world where there are not a lot of them anymore.