18. April 2009 by student.

Nancy Grace keeps me updated on the latest news and the story that I am most interested in is the “Tot Mom” story. Basically a 22 year old girl has made up a story of her daughter death. The mother of the 2 year old little girl said that her nanny had kidnapping her daughter. But the problem with her story is that she took the identity of the nanny from a television sitcom. The tot mom has some serious psychological issues .One problem is that she should have never had a child if she was not ready for that. It is evident that she has no sense of emotion nor does she have a heart. How could someone carry a child for nine months and raise that same child for 2 years and decide to kill that child because of personal issues that had nothing to do with that child. This mother is society’s deviant and she not only should she be in jail for the death of her child, she should be under the jail. She is a lair, a killer, and a misfit in society and on top of that she is a very bad criminal.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | No Comments »

18. April 2009 by student.

I find “love” to be an interesting topic lately; or rather how relationships have evolved in young people. Nowadays you are finding two different age groups for marriage: really old or really young. To me it all seems a little ridiculous. As a child who grew up in a household with married parents, I learned that loving someone was important, and that premarital sex was wrong.. which everyone learns, but for some it doesn’t stick.In my own experience with “love” and watching others in relationships, I find it hard to believe that someone is in love at the age of fifteen nor that they’re ready for sex then. Today, there are way too many children who are turning into parents because they’ve been put into this false state of love. Love just isn’t important anymore, otherwise we wouldn’t be telling it to every person we’ve met and liked.I use Norway as an example. A friend of mine was sent to school there and she learned the language and their way of living. One of the most interesting things that she brought back was the Norwegian’s idea of love. To them, saying “I love you” was the most important thing that you could possibly say to a person, and it should only be used for a boyfriend you were completely serious with and had a lifelong connection with. Instead of using “I love you” for friends they use the term that is literally translated as “I am glad in you.” I believe that this is something America and all countries should begin to adapt.Love is supposed to be the utmost honorable thing and what everyone strives for in their lives. I think it’s time we all settle back and give and effort into a relationship before you decide that you’re in love with someone after two months of being with them. If you cannot know a person in a year, the REAL person, then you cannot know love. Yes, there’s a little give and take with this, but in all honesty we should be taking more time to learn about a person before we love them. Let’s start teaching our kids that having sex and being pregnant at sixteen isn’t acceptable. Let’s make love important again.

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18. April 2009 by student.

“A Web page labeled “Ana Boot Camp” recently offered its members a seemingly irresistible proposition: a 30-day regimen designed to help them drop some serious pounds, no exercise needed. The catch was that the group’s members were to vary their daily caloric intake from 500 (less than half the daily minimum requirement for women recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine) to zero. They were supposed to track their progress, fast to make up for the days they accidentally “overate” and support each other as they worked toward their common goal of radical weight loss.”

I was stumbling across Newsweek, when I came across this article: Out of the Shadows. I was upset at first because I wasn’t able to use this new information in my midterm ( Based on Eating Disorders. ) The article was found online while I was searching for current issues. The photo’s on the page and many of the words jumped out at me. Within seconds I had finished. Shocked. Not only do we live in a society where mass media and advertisement are playing a huge role on female as well as male development; we live in one that provokes it. Misleading adds, fad diets, Hollywood, all selling an image that is not ideal. For those who are following this, it is extremely dangerous. Self image and esteem is washed away, and replaced with thoughts of control and perfection. People all over the world are feeling society’s pressure, and struggling to find a safe median. For many that is not a choice.

The Internet, has been a safe haven for those starving for help, advice, and understanding. Underground blogs, Live-journal, Xanga, and now I’ve heard My-space andFacebook are a part of it too. A part of what exactly?

A Pro-Anorexia movement. Users on the blogs, update regularly, posting pictures of their weight loss, reading off what they call “stats” ( height, age, current weight, lowest weight, goal weight, BMI.) The longer the person is on the site, the sadder it is, tracking even one individual, you will see an innocent girl go from a healthy, strong hundred and thirty pounds  at 5′5” waste away. Her posts will read, ” I’ve finally hit goal weight 3, but 102 doesn’t feel right, I don’t feel any smaller, I feel disgusting, I swear I’ll never eat again, I hate what it does to me. Fat pig, i should die….”

In the article it quotes: ” Pro-anorexia, or “pro-ana,” Web sites (with more than one using the “Ana Boot Camp” name) have for years been a controversial Internet fixture, with users sharing extreme diet tips and posting pictures of emaciated girls under headlines such as “thinspiration.” But what was unusual about the site mentioned above (which is no longer available) was where it was hosted: the ubiquitous social networking site Facebook.com. The (largely female) users who frequent pro-ana sites have typically done so anonymously, posting under pseudonyms and using pictures of fashion models to represent themselves. Now, as the groups increasingly launch pages on Facebook, linking users’ real-life profiles to their eating disorders, the heated conversation around anorexia has become more public. Many pro-ana Facebookers say the groups provide an invaluable support system to help them cope with their disease, but psychologists worry that the growth of such groups could encourage eating disorders in others.”

The weird thing is, tracking that individual, the comments I read were of no support, no hot lines. All i read were comments on how to purge, how her metabolism might be slowing down and she should consume at least 150 calories, but no more. Some girls told her not to give up, some told her she needed to loose weight in her “midsection”

I’m not sure what kind of support this is, how this is recovery, or why these sights are still up. There is also a YouTube video up if you look for it about a British radio voice who studied these sites and even attempted the diets, she then concluded it was impossible to live that way. The worst part is that these girls, live in seclusion, they hide their eating disorder, and they are addicted to the websites, and the comments. Checking, every second, for some sort of hope.

“Pro-ana group creators insist that they aren’t recruiting anorexics and are just supporting each other. In fact, there are some groups that are legitimately focused on recovery. Still, the effects of even such makeshift support groups are likely not as benign as some fans claim. “The more types of these sites that you use, the higher your risk for disordered eating is,” says Stanford professor Rebecka Peebles, M.D., acknowledging that that correlation doesn’t prove that the sites necessarily contribute to the disorder. A 2006 study that she coauthored found that 96 percent of teens diagnosed with eating disorders who visited pro-eating disorder Web sites learned new dieting and purging techniques, and almost 50 percent of teens who visited sites ostensibly devoted to eating disorder recovery also learned new weight-loss tips.”

Although some sites have been shut down, the creators put them back up almost instantly, because it’s the Internet, it’s hard to control and ban all the websites, and there will always be places for these girls to go. But why give into it, why support a disease, that kills one in five? Why succumb to the unrealistic ideals society today has set? You don’t have to be a size 0.

Dove’s add for beauty is at least progress and a fight against the war. And although it’s hard to tell which side is winning, you can decide what side to help.

SITE:   http://www.newsweek.com/id/170528

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18. April 2009 by student.

Have you ever sat in a room and just watched? If you haven’t it’s something I recommend that everyone must to, because in doing so you can familiarize yourself with all different personalities. While everyone else is minding themselves or the friends they have around them, you can begin to see how everyone is acting. Suddenly you can pick out stereotypes and different categories of people and human nature.A majority of people find it completely offensive to be labeled inside of a stereotype, but unfortunately by sitting and watching you can observe these stereotypes without a doubt. When people are unaware of themselves they are more likely to act the way they want to; they begin to act out how they feel on the inside. I’ve always found it completely interesting how people act and react to different settings.No matter where I am there tends to always be three or four typical stereotypes in the room. There’s the pair of girls who think they’re snobby, an obnoxious chatterbox who calls all attention to themselves, the minority who steals, and the rich kid. We’re all familiar with these categories, but watching them almost always makes them true. Now I’m not saying that I like to pick apart people and place them inside walls and criticize them for what they are, but rather I’m just calling out how they act. My true intention of silently observing people in their surroundings is to show myself that stereotypes are a reality. I believe that if you don’t want to become one then you shouldn’t act on what you’re given, but instead try to become the opposite. Snobby girls should invite someone different to join their “group,” chatterboxes should let someone else get in a word, minorities should help give better examples and show you’re not all bad, and rich kids shouldn’t expect everything to fall in place for them.In the end I ask that everyone take the time to watch how others act and how you yourself act. I think that you’ll learn a thing or two and eventually learn how to become an accepting person.

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18. April 2009 by student.

It was just found out yesterday by the EPA, Environmental Protective Agency, that greenhouse gases linked to climate change endangers public health and welfare. The next action is to regulate them under federal clean air laws. The first step, according to the EPA,  is to impose limits on pollution linked to climate change. However, while such a regulation is a lengthy process, this would mean stricter rules with cars and power plants. Such limits on carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases would have a widespread economic and social impact due to requiring better fuel efficiency for automobiles to limiting emissions from power plants which will change the way the nation produces energy. Two years ago, the EPA action was prompted by the Supreme Court ruling stating that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act and must be regulated if found to be a danger to human health and public welfare. Yet, the Bush administration strongly opposed using the Clean Air Act to adress climate change and stalled on coming up with the endangerment finding demanded by a court in 2007. A 60 day comment period was issued before the agency issues a final endangerment ruling.

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18. April 2009 by student.

Why is religion part of our society? Why are some people so reliant towards God, while others can wholeheartedly state that they believe there is no God, and others fall everywhere in between? We were told in class that such social institutions, like churches, as well as other non-religious institutions like school, are created and sustained to satisfy peoples’ social needs. But why are some groups so radical in their beliefs that they push them onto everyone who surrounds them? Isn’t part of having a social institution such as a church supposed to be a supply to society’s need rather than forcing it upon them? Not according to one extremist church based out of Kansas that has been the subject of many documentaries about their radical belief system that God hates everyone and basically everything we do is against God’s will including fighting in the war, dating, and many other social acts that we consider normal. BBC did a very interesting documentary on the family of the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church and its congregation, as well as documented several of their pickets located at funerals of fallen soldiers.

The documentary is here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7735501683185935638&ei=ywPqSZDFEobWqAKU39CUDw&hl=en

However, I would like to recommend you do NOT watch this documentary if you are easily offended, it does contain a great deal of hate speech toward most social groups in our country.

It seems as though this church has found something to hate about every social class that is not basically white supremacist. It is truly sad that there are people out there who have conformed to such a stringent religion when all it really is to an outsider is an extremist hate group which only adds fuel to the fire of those who abstain from religion for the belief that it is exactly that, a group of extremists who think they are better than everyone else because of their beliefs.

I have taken the time to watch that documentary (it is an hour long, but very interesting), but many of the things that were said and the train of thought in these people’s minds is so obscure and completely irrational that it was hard to believe that was the way these people lived. Going back to what we talked about, were there lives so terrible that they found that the only way to push through was to completely transform their lives to live this lifestyle of hate and total exclusion from society and the outside world? I believe each person is entitled to their own religious beliefs, and while I personally believe that some systems are wrong in their teachings, I also am confident that each person does have a need for some sort of foundation of religion to always rely on in times of need, and “to each his own”.

**I know that many people have very strong beliefs about their religion, and in no way did I intend or want to put down one religion or another. I did only want to present my opinion and share a very interesting documentary with the class, but again, I do want to strongly suggest not watching it if you are going to be easily offended.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

18. April 2009 by student.

     In class on Monday, Mr. Andoscia brought up a good point that seemed to spark a lot of different views: can men and women really just be friends? I’m sure you could argue both sides, but first, a personal story.

     I had a BGF (best guy friend) who I hung out with almost every day. We had a normal, platonic friendship for over a year while I was with my previous boyfriend. Personally, I had never experienced any attraction or “crush” type feelings toward him until I got dumped at the beginning of the summer. I went around having little flings here and there with people I didn’t really care for, and I began to notice he was always there to pick up the pieces and help build me back up again. So, of course, being a girl, I began to fall for him. We didn’t date for a while, and we got into the “friends with benefits” category without telling many of our friends because we both had exes in our group of friends and we didn’t want to cause any unnecessary drama. After a few weeks of that, we discussed how many people actually did know now, and why we didn’t just “make it official” by saying we were in a relationship – and stating so on our MySpace. I know, it’s lame, but everyone knows when it’s said over MySpace or Facebook, it’s serious business. So, we gave it a shot. After that, there was probably not a whole lot else that could’ve run through my mind about why I shouldn’t have agreed to it, and a million other things, and we ended up breaking up 2 days later. It almost ruined our friendship, and we’re still not on the best terms - we’re not nearly as close as we used to be.

So, with all that said, let’s get into why I don’t believe that “we’re just friends” can ever really happen if they are trying to be best friends. Naturally, men and women are just attracted to each other, and when there’s someone constantly there making you feel better and happier, you feel like that person should be someone you keep around.

     All that being said, I believe that men and women can be acquaintances, but when they begin spending more and more time with each other, it seems that it would be inevitable for them to become closer and that they would develop feelings for each other. This may get acted upon immediately, then dismissed and allow for a real friendship to form, or the feelings can be subtle and not displayed or acted on right away. The latter situation seems to end up forming a real relationship where the two people know everything about each other and lasting forever, or, in my case, the friendly feelings don’t get forgotten and being in a relationship with that person just seems too weird and the fear of losing your best friend overrides any other feelings.

     Of course, there’s going to be exceptions to these situations, and I’m not going to say these two options are the only ones out there, I’m just saying that the majority of situations I’ve ever heard of usually end up in one of these two situations. So, no, I don’t believe men and women can just be friends for the entire length of their friendship.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

18. April 2009 by student.

Should marijuana be legal? I dont think it should be legal for a number of reasons. For one, marajuana is harmfull to the brain. The smoke does have less tar than cigerets, but it has other chemicals in it as well. Why do you think you get high when you smoke weed? Weed has a drung called THC in it, and when smoked the drug flows through your bloodstreem to the brain where it basically kicks off a series of cellular reactions causing distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory. You can tell when someone is high in society by the way they act, or function around you. If weed was legal, people wouldnt be able to function in society at  all. For example if an officer was smoking a blunt before work, and was then put in a dangerous situation with a criminal, it puts his life, and the lives of people around him in jeopardy. A second reason why marijuana should not be legalized is because despite what people say, it is a mental addiction. Long term marijuana abuse can lead to harmful effects on social functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities. Long term marijuana abusers trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which make it difficult to quit. If we legalize weed, we will be putting another addicting drug into our country, which will make a more powerful drug ( like cocaine, or acid) look more tolerable. A third and final reason why marijuana should not be legalized is the effects of  increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and schizophrenia. A number of studies has shown the association of marijuana and these symptoms. These are some very serous effects from such a popular drug in America. As you know i did my project on suicide and I know how serous this matter is.  The United States is ranked the forty second highest in suicide in the world, and I think we all want to keep that number as low as possible through out our life time.

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18. April 2009 by student.

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Even though I didn’t see the video and I don’t really
understand why this video would even be filmed or posted on the internet it
still happened. Does it make this soldier less of a person or man? No. Yeah
cruelty to animals is punished here in the US and really like you said what
humane person would do this type of thing. You have to think about what really
is going on in the soldier’s mind. Who would throw a dog off a cliff for humor
or for fun not many people? Think about what is going on in the soldier’s mind
as he has to be overseas for a war our country doesn’t support. He has to protect
himself because it’s either kill or be killed? When you have that type of mind
set or mentality I bet you don’t think about much besides survival. Even though
his decision was irrational it still took place and happened. It was probably a
dog that belonged to a family that was either killed or ran out of fear. If
they were told to clear out a village and to kill everyone in sight what would
stop them from killing an animal. Have you seen some of the things they do to
American soldiers or even news casters overseas? They torture them until they
want to die, how do you think they feel or how would you feel? Even though the
dog isn’t a human or didn’t do anything wrong to the soldier he still had the
mentality in his mind to kill. When you have that mindset how are you supposed
to think about anything else especially in such dangerous circumstances?  You are right in saying that a lot of soldiers
are fighting now because they want an alternate way to pay for college or for
the benefits but they are still risking their life for it. They might have a
different motive but they are still fighting for what they believe in or what
they are there for. What you said about him making the generals and captains
look bad is completely false. How do people even know about the squad they are
in or who is making the decisions for them. The only person that looks dumb
doing this is the soldier himself, he is the idiot that threw a dog off the
cliff but did he really do something so terrible? What is the dog going to do
when he has no family or there is no one to take care of him? He is going to
suffer and end up dying anyway. If anything even though this is horrible to
think or write he probably did the dog a favor and saved him suffering before
death.

you can tell you have never seen death before, and have a very closed mind on what soldiers go through on a daily basis.

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18. April 2009 by student.

Is family important? I believe that family is important because of three main reasons. Family increases likelihood of success in an individual. Family increases the likeliness of social benefit between individuals. Family increases likelihood of success because it gives those individuals who are going through a rough time to fall back on something. A perfect example of this would be almost every college student here at FGCU. Yes there are some of us who have no family to lean on at all, which is unfortunate, but most of us have family to rely on for money, advice, and comfort. Can you imagine how many college students we would have if family wasn’t present in our lives? Probably not many at all. Family increases likelihood of success in an individual because it gives that individual a solid foundation to stand on. When an individual gets in trouble, or is having trouble with something, its easier to give up on his or her goals knowing that there is no one there for him to help him. Family increases the likeliness of social benefit between individuals because most communication learning skills come at the beginning of your life. If an individual is in a foster home, and is not recognised by the other children as family, or if an individuals parents are always working day and night and never have time to spend with the child, social communication will not meet its full potential.  Without these social skills from the beginning of your life, it will be harder for the individual not only to function in society without a family to lean on, but to be able to socially fit into society.

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