1. December 2009 by student.

Throughout the years means of communications have increased. At first it was writing a letter, then making a phone call, then sending an e-mail, etc,. Now, a new popular means of communication is social networking like instant messaging, Myspace, Twitter, and the most popular social network out there, Facebook. Facebook is a global social networking website where users can add friends, send them messages, play games/take quizzes, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by cities, workplaces, schools, and regions. Facebook has helped many relatives, old friends, or even couples to be united. It serves as a good purpose, but people have been stirring up controversy due to their profile or their real intentions behind their computer screen.

Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Syria, China, Vietnam, and Iran. It has also been banned at many workplaces and schools to discourage employees and students from wasting time using the service. Probably the biggest concern about Facebook is its privacy. It does have a privacy policy, but some people might not be familiar with how it works. Most people don’t like to add requests from people they don’t know, so that they can keep themselves secured. Facebook now educates its users on its privacy policies to diminish any criminal acts from occurring.

Criminals acts over social networking have boomed ever since sites like Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook have been founded. The most common type of criminal acts have been kidnappings and rapes which have led to deaths. Criminals like sex offenders are now hiding behind a computer screen lurking for their next victim. In my opinion these social networks have made things easier for criminals to find out information about their victim and even convince them to meeting. I believe that not just anyone should have a Facebook or Myspace, only those that are mature enough. I believe parents should monitor their children when surfing the web, and when they prove themselves to be capable and mature enough to join a social network, that is when the parent should allow the use of it.

Even though Facebook’s intentions were in all good means, there are always faults in the presence of good. I believe social networks, like Facebook, do help people around the world interact and catch up, but I also believe that people should be careful and know the consequences that could occur from a website that could seem “all fun and play”.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

1. December 2009 by student.

“What? That’s unheard of! The government hiding medical information… are you crazy?”This is the exact reaction I get from the average person healthy and wealthy. When I asked this question to my mom, who has hepatitis C, her response was “I believe you 110%.” Why would this be her answer? And why would government really hide this kind of information?Is the world coming to a point where we have to kill people to scare people into using things? Lets take the outbreak of the H1N1 virus in Mexico. Who’s to say that this virus wasn’t put there to help the economy? It makes perfect sense. “Lets release this virus into a highly populated area and scare people into buying our ‘New found’ vaccination. And you know if we kill a few people in the process what’s the big deal it’s not like anyone in this country is smart enough to figure this out let alone get any sort of a population to believe him/her.” What is to say that “They” didn’t already have a vaccination, waiting for just the right amount of people to die so the scared population would buy it? We as a whole should constantly ask questions. We have an amazing thing and that is freedom. Maybe not everyone realizes this but our first amendment gives us the right to speak freely and it gives us the right to assemble. SO WHY DON’T WE? Do we really live in a man made utopia? I think so, but we are so afraid to use what we have. The voice is a very powerful thing lets use it! And if the story given sounds false it probably is. As someone majoring in bioengineering I believe heath care should never be turned down. Think of it as advertising the thing you want most everywhere you go, everywhere you look, and everything you see. You want it so bad but you can’t afford it. Now look at healthcare as if you were the one that couldn’t afford it. Look at it as if it were advertised but never put on the market and then you will see the world through the eyes of my mother.As the American healthcare system gets more and more corrupt the people in the country do the same. People don’t realize that nothing is free. You either pay for healthcare through taxes or you pay for it directly. I hear all the time from numerous people “if I pay for it through taxes I pay for everyone but myself.” This is true in a sense but at this point you are saying that you never go to the doctors or you are 100% invincible and look like super man. Yes there are some people that don’t pay taxes because they can’t afford them for whatever reason but, whose to say they can’t have something they need in a country that advertises hospitality?We make this country sound like heaven, a utopia, and the great land of America in foreign eyes. We as Americans need to remember how this country was started in the first place. If your roots stretch back to the time where the Indians roamed the country with no fear of the white man, then you have all the rights in the world to disagree with this post. But, aren’t we all Human?

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

1. December 2009 by student.

Some people who own the exotic African snake have let them free into the wild.  The Python’s pet owners can not handle the responsibility of taking care of the giant snake.  They are now in the Everglades with no predators to threaten them.  They lay up to 100 eggs in a 3 month period.  They are at the top of the food chain and can grow bigger than 20 feet long.  Even alligators do not have a chance against this giant animal.  The python is known as one of the most ill tempered snakes.  These pythons can eat deer, alligators, birds, and fish.  They are taking over the Everglades and if we don’t do something about this snake, that doesn’t belong here, they will take out some of the native species and put a dent in the Everglade habitat.

Posted in Social Problems | 1 Comment »

1. December 2009 by student.

Here in the United States, we produce more waste than any other country in the world.  On average, each citizen produces 4.5 pounds of solid waste per day; that’s 508,387,858,528 pounds per year!  Compared to our closest runner up, Australia, this number is astronomical as they only produce 32,445,732,000 pounds per year.  Some may attribute the large difference in numbers to the larger population of the United States; however, on a per person basis, we waste 100 kg more per day than Australian citizens.  Such exorbitant amounts of waste quickly erode our environment and increase our carbon footprint.  But the effects of the waste don’t stop there; “Researchers found that US per capita food waste has progressively increased by about 50% since 1974 reaching more than 1400 calories per person per day or 150 trillion Calories per year” (America’s Increasing…).  This excessive increase in calories wasted could feed hundreds, maybe thousands, of starving people in other nations.  Our nation’s waste is a part of our social culture.  We Americans take advantage of our power as a nation to create such high amounts of waste in the world.  As evident by the facts aforementioned, no other country in the world generates nearly the same amount of waste as we do.  Therefore, the social culture is different in those countries than in ours.  Furthermore, until recently, people of our country never considered the consequences their actions would have on the earth.  Environmentally friendly products are becoming socially integrated into our culture.  Hybrid cars, energy saving appliances, and recycled products are becoming increasingly popular among our citizens.  Such changes will reduce our waste level and help our country become more similar to other nations. 

“America’s Increasing Food Waste Is Laying Waste to the Environment” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124204314.htm “Environment Statistics > Municipal waste generation (most recent) by country” http://www.nationmaster.com/correlations/env_mun_was_gen-environment-municipal-waste-generation

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

1. December 2009 by student.

As everyone already knows, since September 11, the TSA has increased its enforcement on allowing foreigners to train in becoming pilots. A former safety expert performed an analysis and came up with the results that about 857 foreigners with FAA certificates were not initially checked under the Alien Flight School Program. However, they were checked out and none of them were a threat. Since 9/11 the TSA checks every foreigner that applies for flight training to make sure they are not a threat. The TSA also checks active FAA pilot certificates all the time to make sure they don’t pose a threat. Even though the TSA should be enforcing its regulations and security to protect the United States, it seems as if it’s only the foreigners that they are worried about. What about those American pilots? Society has labeled all of these foreigners, especially Muslims/Arabs as terrorists since 9/11. Society fears these people and some believe that these people should not be allowed in the United States. Arabs and Muslims are not the only terrorists in the world. Even Americans can be terrorists and society should be aware of this. 9/11 caused instability in society and changes were needed to be made to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

Reference:

http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2008/02/alien-flight-school-program-911-redux.html

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

1. December 2009 by student.

Historic Downtown Fort Myers was once an area of a booming economy during the 1920s.  Throughout the 1930s, the depression affected the entire nation and brought growth and development to a standstill.  After this things were slow to begin growing again in the Downtown area.  Up until recently the Downtown area looked rundown and was not a pleasant place today.  However, our City Council decided it was essential for renovations to occur.  The main components, such as one-way roads and building structures, of downtown remain the same.  However, the beautification of downtown consisted of newly paved brick roadways, new shrubbery, and coordinated paint colors.  Now one may ask why these costly revamps were needed in our downtown area.  The truth of the matter is it has becoming a social normal for downtown areas to be the utmost area of any town.  Downtown areas typically bring tourists and visitors to any given city.  With the chance of a large inflow of people, the city officials to want to continue drawing in such people.  A visually unappealing and decrepit old area would not attract the same number of visitors as a remodel one would.   To validate this example, the first of every month Downtown Fort Myers hosts the Art Walk, a showcase of locate artists’ works throughout business.  By putting on this event, there is a guaranteed inflow of people coming into the downtown area.  In my opinion, the city councilmen made a rational choice in the decision to revitalize the Downtown Fort Myers area.  The benefits of gaining visitors to increase the profits of local businesses will hopefully cause our local economy to boom again.  By implementing positive change for our businesses, the attitudes of the people in our town should become more positive as well.

“The History of Downtown Fort Myers” http://www.downtownfortmyers.com/History/

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | No Comments »

1. December 2009 by student.

Some people think that human trafficking only exists in other countries, but sadly, human trafficking is prevalent in America today. Human trafficking assists illegal transferring of immigrants across the United States border. In addition, it supplies structured criminal groups with a source of income.  It has been estimated that 14,500 to 17,000 people, men, women, and children, are being tracked into the U.S. on an annual basis. These individuals are being sold, smuggle, and beaten. Many of them are being forced to work punishing jobs such as prostitution, strippers, factory workers, and laborers. Men, women, and children also are forced to into labor such as agriculture, domestic service, sweatshops, and construction work, and they are receiving little, if any, pay. Americans need to work against human trafficking because of the psychological issues as well as the personal issues that it has on society. In order to prevent trafficking in the U.S, the Department of State began to monitor this issue in 1994 (human  trafficking).

Katya, a Russian foreign exchange student from a university, was coming to Virginia Beach, Va. to work at a summer job placement. When Katya and her friend arrived at the airport two men who spoke Russian and were holding signs with their names on it greeted them. The men stated that they had been reassigned to a job in Detroit as waitresses in order to increase their English speaking skills. When the girls arrived at the hotel, they were held at gunpoint and forced to work at a strip club for a year. Fortunately, the young girls escaped after months of planning and were brought to the FBI. Americans need to be more aware of tragedies such as this that are happening in our country in order to help prevent them, for not every trafficker is as fortunate as Katya (MSN).

Reference:

http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/united_states_of_america

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22083762/

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »