2. December 2009 by student.

     The legal drinking age in the United States is currently 21 years old. I disagree with that law. I believe that the legal drinking age in the United States should be changed to 18 years old. The age when someone in considered a legal adult in the United States is 18. Some people don’t feel that an 18 year old can possess adult characteristics, but according to United States law, when someone reaches the age of 18 they can decide what they want to do with their life legally. An 18 year old can vote, sign legally binding contracts, smoke cigarettes, fight for their country, and be tried as an adult in the judicial system. It should stand to reason that a legal adult should be able to consume an alcoholic beverage.            According to DrugWarFacts.org 435,000 deaths a year are due to tobacco. Tobacco is a substance that an 18 year old can legally purchase. On the same website is stated alcohol contributed to 85,000 deaths a year. It is clear by the numbers presented that tobacco causes more deaths a year than alcohol. Why is it that an 18 year old can buy tobacco, but not alcohol? I believe that it would be more effective to teach our youth about the consequences of alcohol abuse rather than assume they won’t try it under the age of 21. Furthermore, if we don’t feel that 18 year old adults can handle their alcohol consumption, why are we allowing them to vote for our political leaders, buy and smoke cancer causing cigarettes, drive vehicles that can kill indiscriminately, and fight for their country?

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

2. December 2009 by student.

I think it’s crazy how blown up this whole swine flu pandemic has become. I understand that it’s a serious virus and that you need to get the vaccine and stay away from it and blah blah blah… But honestly, it’s just like the regular flu. I even found that only 300 people in the United States have died from swine flu, which was 1% of all the people who have been infected with the virus. When you compare this to the seasonal flu, which was 36,000 people who die annually from the virus, it has no comparison. If the seasonal flu causes that many people to die each year, why don’t we make a bigger deal about getting vaccinated for that? I have hardly heard people or the media preaching about getting the seasonal flu vaccine, but when swine flu hits, it’s epic. It’s the biggest thing that’s hit the U.S. in 40 years. Why do we decide now to really take the flu seriously when we’ve been witnessing its effects for years?

I feel like the media has definitely fed off of this new virus and has blown it way out of proportion. If they’re going to start now preaching about the swine flu to this extent, then maybe they should do the same with the seasonal flu as well. We can connect this sociologically to mass behavior. People, the media especially, feeds off the gossip of the swine flu right off the bat and reports it and it gets out everywhere. Now, you have Americans freaking out in mass hysteria because they here about people in Mexico dying from the swine flu. Well news for you, we’ve had this thing called the seasonal flu, that’s killed far more people annually, so maybe we should start with that and make sure people are more aware of how serious that is as well.

Lauren Downs

Sources

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,537301,00.html?sPage=fnc/health/h1n1

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »

2. December 2009 by student.

When growing up everyone knows that they are somehow influenced by their parents.  But do adults realize that they can also be passing on their drinking to their children.  When compared to kids who have parents that don’t drink, those who have parents that drink are two times more likely to get drunk before the legal age.  Seeing that alcohol has become a part of everyday life, a teen drinking every now and then might not seem that big of a deal.  However the teens who become more of social drinkers are three times more likely to try other drugs.  For children who have grown up around drinking their whole life and try their first drink before the age of 13 are believed to develop drinking problems later in life.  Throw a car into the mix and now you have teens that are drinking under the legal age and driving around town.  “The rate of fatal crashes among alcohol-involved drivers between 16 and 20 years old are more than twice the rate of alcohol-involved drivers 21 and older.”  If parents would become more aware of how much they actually influence their kids, the 80% of kids who have tried alcohol by high school would decrease.  Not only would it decrease the chance for kids to develop problems later in life.  It would also increase the chance of the kids making it through their teenage years. 

Sources:

http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teensandalcohol.html

http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teen_drug_use.html

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

2. December 2009 by student.

Sociopaths, people with a type of antisocial personality disorder, do not have a conscience; they lack the super ego part of the conscience, the part that will tell them if what they are doing is right or wrong. They do not feel guilt, remorse, or love like everyone else, “sociopaths spend their lifetime staring at the rest of us, wondering what all the fuss is about.”(Sociopaths in Our World) They are very good liars and actors and they can manipulate anyone into getting what they want. To other people, sociopaths act caring, charming, confident, generous, and intelligent.
Chances are that everyone will, at one time in their life, be a victim of a sociopath. Sociopaths take up four percent of the population, which is three hundred million sociopaths on Earth. Anyone could be one, a brother or sister, a friend or coworker, or the person next to you. Many are freeloaders who live with friends or family and move from place to place. They do not have any real job and they are constantly being fired. Sociopaths get bored really easily and need constant stimulation, so many drink, fight, do drugs, or rape. However, they are mostly knows as con artists because of their great acting talents and their ability to lie without feeling guilty. One of the common ones are those who show up in an old window’s life and befriend her into giving all of her money to them when she dies. A sociopath’s goal is to win. They will do almost anything to get what they want. They have to come out on top of everyone else; they will tear apart families, hurt people, and ruin businesses.
The common misbelief that sociopaths are mindless murderers, who will do anything and everything to torture their victims and then murder them, comes from the media. There is something that makes people want to watch or read about terrible acts done by others to others. People like to watch their evil side on the big screen or on the pages of books since they cannot do it in society. So the easiest way to portray a ruthless killer while keeping the people’s interest is to show a killer who has no conscience and does not care what happens to the other person, a sociopath. One of the most famous sociopaths was the star of Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. He is famous for doing one of the top taboos, cannibalism, and of course he tortured his victims. Even though he does not have all of the characteristics of a sociopath, in his series of movies and books, he is considered to be a sociopath.
Scientists believe that sociopaths act the way they are because of some parts of the brain. They believe that some parts of the brain, like the cerebral cortex, are not as active as it should be, do not mature, or are just not there. Some sociopaths are missing some or most of their neurotransmitters in their brain, a chemical in the brain that sends signals from one neuron to the next. Because they have so few, parts of the brain do not mature as it should. Other parts mature faster than normal to make up for the lost of the immature parts, but it’s still not effective. Also, instead of having certain functions in the left and right hemispheres of the brain, they have them scattered randomly in both of the hemispheres. Some believe that this is what cripples them emotionally.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

2. December 2009 by student.

The drug problem in America is a major issue. Statistics are as follows: 60% of the world’s illegal drug market is in the U.S.A. (with 6% of the world’s population); over 20 million Americans use Marijuana; an estimated 6 million Americans use Cocaine; an estimated half a million Americans use Heroin; an estimated 13 million Americans are alcoholics; almost 1/3 of Americans between ages 20 and 40 have used an illicit drug once in the past year; almost 1/2 of Americans entering the work Force have used an illicit drug once in the past year. Many of these drug users are prominent citizens in our communities. They are business owners, doctors, civic leaders, parents and neighbors. The cost of the drug problem in America is a major issue. Annual cost of Federal entitlement programs alone due to alcohol & illegal drug abuse are $31 billion. This figure does not include the cost of crime, courts, or prisons, or the share paid by state and local governments. This figure also does not include the cost of deterrent programs such as the DFW programs. $21 billion of this amount is due to illegal drug use (non alcohol.) More education and awareness of the detrimental effects that drugs can have is crucial to help solve the problem.

http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/employees/americandrugproblem.htm

Posted in Social Problems | No Comments »

2. December 2009 by student.

Do you get a thrill of beating your kids? Child abuse is doing something or failing to do something that results in harm to a child or puts a child at risk of harm.  Child Abuse is a serious issuse and quickly needs to come to a stop.  Child abuse can either be physical, sexual, or emotional.  Many children are also neglected.  Children that are neglected are the same as children that have been abused because both of these forms are considered Child Abuse.  Most abused children suffer greater emotional than physical damage and have trouble going about life because of theirpast and the fact thatthey cannot simply trust anyone. An abused child may become depressed or very angry. He or she may withdraw, think of suicide or become violent. An older child may use drugs or alcohol, try to run away or abuse others. Child abuse is a serious problem and needs to stop now. If you suspect or see a child is being abused or neglected, call the police or your local child welfare agency imeediately.  Is this what we want to see our children coming up as?

Posted in Social Problems | 5 Comments »

2. December 2009 by student.

The Problem

Advertisements: posters, magazines, newspapers etc are the very root of the problem because through advertisements we interpret a distortion between what we know is good or bad and fake or real. Materialism is an addiction in many ways because even though it is bad to waste money on expensive cleats for example, people still do buy them and so feed the need to materialize their world. The Social Construction Theory explains such phenomena when at home as a family one may talk about being economical by saving money and buying inexpensive products yet when at the mall, one ends up buying the expensive products. Advertisements won’t tell you how expensive their cleats are, they just tell you how they’re better and worth buying no matter the cost.

Materialism makes you feel happier?

According to an article from the News Bureau in Illinois about how materialism manifests itself in young kids:

“…researchers determined that self-esteem was a key factor in a child’s level of materialism. Children with lower self-esteem valued possessions significantly more than children with higher self-esteem.”

The fact that kids don’t feel good about themselves causes them to be more materialistic.

Will Materialism ever stop?
Also, according to the article:

“Moreover, the heightened materialistic values of early adolescents were directly related to “a severe drop in self-esteem that occurs around 12-13 years of age.” By using a test that primed high self-esteem among the children, the researchers wrote that they “reversed the large drop in self-esteem experienced by early adolescents, thereby reducing the steep rise in materialism among this group.”

This means that by the time kids become older, materialism drops steeply within 12 to 13 years of age. When dependent on materialistic values, children tend to have higher self-esteem as they get older, thus, reducing their need for materialism.

The Solution?

The solution to this problem is simply teaching the future of society, children, at a early age to become confident with themselves by reducing bullying and improvising communication at home. Through sports, society can become more dependent on values rather than the values of being dependent.

Sources:

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/materialism-youth-linked-self-esteem-14882.html

http://www.kristensguide.com/Family/Parenting/kids_arent_materialistic.asp

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/06/27/soccer_sociology?pg=full

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/materialism-youth-linked-self-esteem-14882.html

Posted in Social Problems, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

2. December 2009 by student.

Hugo chavez a threat to the USA. The president of Venezuela in recent years has cause some problems to America specially when in 2006 he called then president Bush the devil, and also claiming that his system in america was worthless. This is a big issue due to the fact that  Venezuela is the fourth biggest import of oil into this country. Chavez has before threaten the USA that he would cut off more than 50 percent of the oil he exports to the USA. This can be a big problem since  we are a country extreamely dependable on oil. But they are other concerns that Chavez can cause, he continues to provide material assistance to the colombian farc. The farc continues to make war on the state of Colombia, and Colombia is a very important freind of the USA in the region. Another concern is that Chaves continues to strenghtend his ties with Iran. He aids Iran and Hezbollah. He also hinders anti-drug efforts, and he is oppose the democratic goverment. For a president of such a oil rich country Chavez is causing lots of concern to America.   

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

2. December 2009 by student.

Everyday children are suffering from a concealed epidemic of child abuse. More than 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the ,U.S. In 2007, approximately 5.8 million children were involved in an estimated 3.2 million child abuse reports and allegations. Over the past years, child abuse its been increasing in a vast amount. Many things can happen as a  resulf of child abuse. Statistics say that “almost five children die everyday as a result of child abuse. A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. Ninety percent of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members. Thirty-one percent of women in prison in the U.S. were abused as children and the estimated annual cost resulting from child abuse and neglect in the U.S. for 2007 is $104 billion.” All these statistics of child abuse bring consequences in our country. Some bad consequences are that abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy. Children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely to develop alcohol abuse and 3.8 times to develop drug addiction. This consequences destroys the hope of our future as a country. We need a great generation of children but if we continue having this issues with children it will decrease the chances of having a good  generation for our country. This social problem will never stop but It can surely be treated and prevent less child abuses.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

2. December 2009 by student.

Is somebody’s life worth money? In East Africa, an ongoing situation since 2007 involves killing Albano people for their bones. The reason that these helpless people are being killed is because the witch doctors are using their bones to make charms and potion.  Also due to folktales, Albino’s are said to have mystical.  “People think that we don’t die and many other things that aren’t true. Albano’s are seen as a cure, because they possess something out of the ordinary.”  What’s certain is that buyers — most of whom are believed to be Tanzanian — are willing to pay a high price for these horrific charms. Police have reported albino limbs being sold by witch doctors for $200, while a full “albino kit” — consisting of limbs, nose, tongue, ears and genitals – costs $75,000. That’s an astronomical sum in a country where almost 60% of the population lives on less than $1 a day. “Poor people cannot afford to spend so much money on a little concoction from a witch doctor,” says the Albinism Society’s Mwaura. “The buyers must be wealthy. They are not even trying to strike it rich, they’re trying to strike it richer.”  Are these rituals morally and ethically correct?   Are these people’s lives worth making money over their bones?

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »