16. March 2010 by student.

Colette Powers, from Westchester County started smoking with friends when she was just sixteen years old. Her father always smoked, so she knew her parents couldn’t get too upset. Colette would even light up on the back porch with her dad and thought it helped create a bond between them.  Although both of Colette’s parents disapproved of her smoking, Megan Powers, her mother sensed that it wouldn’t help to force the issue. There are countless stories of teens that smoke and experience long term effects from smoking. This story illustrates that teen smoking is a big problem and has become increasingly popular. Many teens do smoke and experience early expose from family and friends. Research needs to be made to protect them early on that way they don’t pick up this bad habit. Smoking is detrimental to a teen’s health and continues to lead to tobacco addiction, however, there are a wide range of methods that can help a teen battle his or her addiction. The use of tobacco introduces foreign chemicals into the blood and encouraging infection deteriorating the body.  It is known to be very addictive from the nicotine inside and is harmful to the body from the chemicals released. Stated in the book Health & Wellness “these chemicals include acetone, acrolein, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, races of various mineral and radioactive elements, acids, ical compounds and other substances”. There are many consequences with teen smoking and putting these poisons into the body. Smoking leads to the development of health problems like emphysema, stroke, and even heart disease. Infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis are increased. According to Elsevier, the author of The Lancet, “those who partake for long periods of time will seriously damage their cardiovascular system and increase their risk of developing cancer. Teenage smokers live in the moment and don’t think about their health ten to twenty years down the line. They are young, feel invincible, and don’t think about these important measures. Teen smokers are just harming themselves in the end. Many different types of cancer can result such as lung, to throat and even stomach. Teenagers don’t consider about the price of smoking. In the back of their minds they think they won’t be just another statistic.  Teens need to consider the cost and believe that something can happen to them. Besides long term health problems, there are immediate changes to the appearance and wellness of the teen. Stated in the article from Kidsheath.org “teen smokers experience bad skin because the smoking restricts blood vessels it can prevent oxygen and nutrients from getting to the skin, which is why smokers often appear pale and unhealthy”. In addition, smoking leads to bad breath and there is nothing worse than talking to someone with a persistent odor.  A bad scent is left on clothes and hair because the smoke tends to linger. Athletic performance is reduced causing the smoker to have a rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath.  It is disappointing to wheeze, cough, and know that the physical stamina that once was there is now gone. This source states that “smoking affects the body’s ability to produce collagen, so common sport injuries, such as damage to tendons and ligaments will heal slower in smokers than in nonsmokers”. Teen smokers are in greater jeopardy of injury and slower healing time. The risk of illnesses are increased because teen smokers bodies lack the nutrients needed to grow, develop, and fight of illness properly. These teens can catch colds and even the flu.      

    With all of this information available to teens about the dangers of smoking teens continue to do so. Bruce Epstein confirmed that “in the United States, 6 million teens continue to smoke, despite their knowledge of potential health hazards, and studies show that 75 percent of teens who begin smoking in high school are still smoking five years later”. Teenagers light up for various reasons whether it is from the temptation or the peer pressure to looking cool and enhancing their appeal.  Smoking can be encouraged by parents, siblings and even more so by friends. This gives the teen a greater chance not only to start smoking but to also develop it as a daily habit.  Affirmed by Kidsheath.org “statistics show that nine out of ten tobacco users start before they are eighteen years old and that most adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted”.  Nine out of ten is a huge percentage and teens today need to notice that they are not an exception to the rule. The odds are in their favor.  According to Bruce Epstein, “teens who smoke may feel they are immune to the negative health effects of smoking, but in fact they have more respiratory illnesses and more evidence of reduced lung growth than their nonsmoking peers”. Teens don’t realize the seriousness of smoking and the long term effects that it causes particularly on the lungs. Nonsmokers are not polluting their lungs with toxins keeping them clean, healthy, and growing. It’s interesting that several studies are established and that teens who have attention deficit disorder are twice as likely to start smoking as those who do not. These teens may smoke to compensate for their impairments and use it as a way to cope with the disorder. Susan Dominus stated in Teen Smoking: An Overview, “anti-tobacco activist’s studies have shown that teens suffering from depression are more receptive to tobacco advertising and more likely to experiment”.  The motivations of smokers fall into six categories according to The American Cancer Society which include stimulation, handling, pleasurable relaxation, reducing negative feelings, craving, and habit. Some smokers say that smoking helps wake them up in the morning and use it as a stimulant while others simply enjoy to handle objects and items such as lighters. Relaxation is also added and forms of pleasures are created. In the book Health & Wellness it is printed that “one-third of smokers say they smoke because it helps them deal with stress, anger, fear, anxiety, or pressure”. Teens can crave tobacco and often feel the desire to smoke. Lighting up can be done without being aware of whether or not the teen wants to smoke and is just done by habit. Once started, it’s extremely hard to stop. Retrieved from Kidsheath.org “smoking is a hard habit to break because tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. The body and mind quickly become so used o the nicotine hat a person needs to have it just to feel normal”. In the article Public Health Professor Explores Efforts to Help Teenagers to Quit Smoking, the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale is also known as NDSS  and was developed to measure how individuals become addicted to nicotine. They are trying to help teens quit such a health harming pattern.  This source stated that  the “NDSS examined five factors, the drive to smoke, tolerance to the effects of nicotine, the regularity of the smoking, the frequency of smoking, and the priority smokers place over other activities”. The results concluded that the drive and tolerance factors were the major reasons for continued smoking. Teens are driven to smoke by the chemical stimulation in nicotine.  As the body tolerates the nicotine, it then continuously craves it. It is very important to note that there aren’t signs of declines and that the teen smoking rates are still increasing along with health troubles.  According to Jeremy Craig “in the United States, 3.5 million adolescents smoke, and even in their teens, adolescents smokers develop signs of cardiovascular disease, which will be compounded with other smoking associated health problems as they grow into adulthood”. This unappealing habit needs to be tossed away.In the article What Works to Prevent Adolescent Smoking it is stated that the National Cancer Institute has explored characteristics of programs for research tested intervention programs. NCI’s methods were to identify adolescent smoking prevention programs. Working researches applied criteria to all programs in their database using a structured form for general information, participants, interventions, outcomes, and quality.  Information was then assessed for common themes and contrasts in category. Programs that met NCI’ s standards include Project Towards No Tobacco Use, Pathways to Heath, Native FACETS, Kentucky Adolescent Tobacco Prevention Project, and Sembrando Salud. Some of these programs were targeted towards particular social demographic groups. Efforts are out there to help teenagers to quit smoking give up such an unhealthy habit. According to Sherman and Primack “school based programs are needed to address current issues in tobacco control. To improve chances of success, these programs may wish to target certain specific high-risk demographic groups, use professional health educators or trained community members, and build methods of updating material”.It’s never too late to quit! There are so many reasons not to smoke such as a having a sore throat, breathing problems, feeling tired and out of breath, stained teeth, wrinkles and more. Smoking becomes an expense.  It’s proven that having a pack a day could cost you over $1500 a year. Let’s not forget about all of the health risks like heart or lung disease or even putting others at risk for secondhand smoke. There are ways a smoker can prepare themselves ahead of time and have steps to make quitting easier. Picking a stop date is a great way to start. Quit dates are what most smoking cessation plans center around. It’s the day that the smoker stops smoking completely.   They can cut back on the number of times they smoke each day by choosing a time when things in their life change. Being on break from school is a perfect time to start; the smoker can eliminate stresses at school, work, or home. The nicotine replacement therapy is also a good possibility. Patches, gum, nasal sprays, or inhalers contain nicotine to reduce the symptoms of nicotine withdrawals when quitting smoking. Making a list of the reasons why to quit and keeping the list handy so they can look at it when having cravings. The teen can keep a track of where, when, and why they smoke and throw away all the tobacco or lighters and anything else that will keep them from their smoking habit. Suggest telling friends about the quit and use them as support. When the stop date arrives, STOP! Planning rewards is a great idea as well. They can buy themselves something nice for every tobacco free month. There are different approaches to quitting and teens can stop smoking on their own pace. Support groups are sponsored by organizations like the American Cancer Society. So don’t give up! There are so many things to do instead of smoke which include chewing sugarless gun or even sunflower seeds.  Call up a friend to make plans to go to the mall or even to see a movie. Those are both places where smoking is not allowed and temptation will be reduced. Take a walk or work out and remind yourself why you want to quit.  Staying smoke free will give a whole lot of more everything, including energy, better performance and looks, more money in the pockets, and in the long run, more life to live.Teen smoking shouldn’t be taken lightly. Tobacco is known to be very addictive from the nicotine inside. It causes numerous health related issues including lung cancer to heart disease. Changes to the appearance and wellness are effected as well resulting in the teen to have bad skin and reduced athletic performance. Countless methods such as the nicotine replacement theory are designed to help a teen with their struggle to quit. Colette, now twenty years old has still not given up smoking. She knows from watching her father how hard it is to shake off the habit after smoking for so many years yet intends to quit soon. Her lack of energy is the reason behind it. The only way that really helps a person avoid the problems associated with smoking is to just stay smoke free!

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

16. March 2010 by student.

            There has never been a social issue as divisive as that of abortion. This issue brings out passion and hatred towards the other side. Polls show that Americans are split almost evenly on the issue of abortion. Joe Messerli stated, in his article Should Abortion Be Banned, “in Bush’s first term, congress passed a bill making third trimester abortions, or “partial birth abortions”, illegal.” Many of President Bush’s judicial nominations were dissatisfying to  the Democrats because of their stand on Roe vs. Wade, which was the controversial court decision that first made abortion legal. Is it unethical? Should it be legal? Which side presents a better argument, pro-life or pro-choice? This has a lot of people thinking and questioning the subject.            Abortion can be defined as pregnancy termination accidentally as in a miscarriage or by choice. This definition questions the availability of abortion and the right that women have, by acknowledging the facts about the topic which stop and make people think. “Half the percentage of women getting an abortion done is below the age of twenty-five. Around 60% of abortions are performed on women that have never been married. When a woman decides to go for an abortion, it’s not an impulsive decision, though the preceding act might be a little rash. Concluding whether to abort, keep the baby, or give it up for adoption is really hard and may lead to post-abortion trauma.”            According to Linda Lowen, from the article Ten Arguments For Abortion and Against Abortion, “life begins at conception, abortion is similar to murder in that is the act of taking human life. After conception you have a real human being waiting to enter the world. Messerli asks “why should taking someone’s life when they are in the womb be any different than taking their life when they are a baby in the crib?” He is using the vision of a baby in the crib as an emotional appeal to get his opinion across.  Pro- choice advocates claim that this is not a real baby only to justify their wrong acts in their own minds. Even if you don’t believe abortion is killing, it still demeans the value of human life. The woman can unsympathetically stomp out a living being simply because they are inconvenienced. The argument against abortion goes even deeper using judgment to generalize woman and abortions.  “Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sacredness of human life,” Lowen declares. She is showing the relation to life beginning at conception to how abortion is similar to taking away a human life. Birth control is already available; there are dozens of birth control methods that can keep you from becoming pregnant.  Lowen agrees that, “for women who demand complete control of their body, control should include preventing the risk of unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of contraception, or through abstinence.”  Perhaps if abortion was not available, people would not be so careless about sex. “No civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another human without punishment, and abortion is no different” stated Lowen. This is another example of how the author justifies her opinion. Linda Lowen then explains that, “many Americans who pay taxes are opposed to abortion, therefore it is morally wrong to use tax dollars to fund abortion.” People have the right not to see their tax dollars go to something they find immoral. Abortion is a medical procedure that must be performed by a doctor. The government contributes to many health care institutions such as Health Care, Planned Parenthood, free clinics and more. Woman who have abortions often suffer major psychological damage from the experience along with, in some cases, the father does as well. Abortions can cause serious psychological impairment to the woman in the form of depression and guilt. Even if that women doesn’t consider it murder at the time, that may change as she matures. Let us not forget that there are two parents of every aborted child. The father may feel just as guilty, or may even want the child, but has no choice if the mother chooses abortion.             The decision of abortion is often made by minors or young adults, who do not have the maturity and life experiences to make good decisions. There are good reasons why we do not allow people to drink or drive until they are of a certain age. It is because they have not matured enough to make good, solid decisions. According to Messerli, “we have all made bad decisions in our younger years that provide us with life experience to make better judgment in the future. The one skill that seems to take the longest time to develop is the ability to consider the feelings and needs of someone besides ourselves.” He sees abortion as being a bad decision.  Messerli later than asked, “why should such a life or death decision as abortion be made by a person who probably has not developed that capacity?” The author is confusing two different things and contradicting himself. There are many couples who spend years on waiting lists trying to adopt a child. There are a large number of couples out there who cannot have children of their own. Young women in their teens have a right to be concerned that they are not ready to effectively raise a child. With that being said, there are plenty of great people out there who are. Joe Messerli remarks that, “not only would you be bringing a valuable life into the world, you would also be making the dream of a childless couple come true.” He is using emotion with his word choice positioning dream with a childless couple. That creates an image in the readers mind.             Shifting to pro-choice and abortion pros, Messerli stated that, “regardless of what laws are in place, there will always be young women out there who want to have an abortion.” It takes the focus away from legal actions to what some women want to do. A sense of innocence is added when Messerliwrote about young women. When reading the words young and always, it is as if the women are inexperienced and naïve. The saying would be different if the words were removed from the statement.  “They may not want to face the wrath of their parents, the embarrassment at school, or the lifetime responsibility of motherhood. If we criminalize abortion, many women will simply look for other ways to get rid of the child,” Messerli then adds. The word choice affects the image of the parents connected with the wrath. Embarrassment is a negative word along with the emphasis of the word lifetime, locking them in this kind of position. They could also starve themselves or seek illegal “back alley” abortions. Instead of getting an abortion in a safe medical atmosphere some women put themselves women in a potentially dangerous situation. Consequences of these choices lead to sterility or other harm, even death. “It is better for society to have babies aborted than to have them be brought up poor and neglected. Not only will the child suffer but society will develop a higher attraction to crime or welfare when that child grows up,” Messerli expresses. With abortion banned, many women will become parents whether or not they want to be or are ready to be. Raising a child is a full-time responsibility and job.  Messerli states that, “the children who are neglected or abused are usually the ones that grow up to be drug addicts, lifelong government aid recipients, and criminals.”  It is as if the consequences are extreme negatives. This is also an example of cause and effect with an intense negative as an effect. “One mistake can take away a woman’s childhood and trap her for life. We all make mistakes in our life, especially when we are young,” claims Messerli. Although, not all pregnancies are a mistake. There is a lot of pressure to have sex in today’s society. Even a responsible girl can have one slip up. However, that one slip-up can take away all her life plans and trap her. She may have planned to go to medical school, travel the world, or just have fun while she is still young. All this can be thrown down the drain with one brief mistake. Without being able to have an abortion the girl may feel she does not have any options.            Giving up a child for adoption can be just as emotionally damaging as having an abortion. Women develop a strong bond with a child when they go through the experience of delivery and get a chance to hold the baby. Giving up that child for adoption might be the only reasonable option for a young girl who is too immature or poor to raise a kid. However, the woman now has to live with a feeling of abandoning their child for the rest of her life. Messerli asked, “Why do you think so many adoptive parents seek out their kids when they’re grown? There’s no doubt that some women suffer psychological damage from having an abortion; although, the damage done from giving a child up for adoption is much worse.” He is saying how one is worse than the other but evidence is not shown about the woman who has actually had the abortion.             Aaron Conor from the article, Reasons Why Abortion Should Remain Legal asked, “what if a woman is raped, and becomes pregnant, shouldn’t she have the right to abort the fetus? Would you want to be constantly reminded that you were raped?” Some women would look at the child and only remember the pain that they experienced. It is a painful option; she was already a victim once.             “What if the mother’s life was at stake? If the mother decides to become pregnant, but it turns out she will die if she has her child? What if the baby will kill them both, but having an abortion would save the mother’s life?” all good questions Conor asked. This is giving off an emotion appeal increasing death of both the mother and the baby. The author is pointing out that if abortion is chosen one life is lost versus two.             Banned or not, abortions will always be a part of society. Deciding whether or to abort or not would be diverse for different people. To one, abortion can be traumatic, but to another forced with childbirth can be equally as traumatic.  It all depends on the approach the woman’s faced with, whether it be her psychological strength or supportive environment that will not only help her decide but also convince her about her decisions. The reasons against abortion present the stronger argument. I think that because after analyzing both sides, the conclusions drawn to the claim of banning abortion were superior. The facts were stronger, considering reasons for problems and finding a solution to fix the problem without the extreme of having the abortion. The reasons to not ban abortion used more of an emotion appeal and they didn’t give enough information to think logically through the argument and know what the best options were. One appeal gives me the whole picture where the other one taps into emotions. People would rather make decisions after thinking it through and be in charge of their decisions based on ideas.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

16. March 2010 by student.

Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States. A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. Almost five children die every day as a result of child abuse.   More than three out of four are under the age of 4. One in three girls and one in five boys are sexually abused by an adult at some time during childhood. Most sexual abusers are someone in the family or someone the child knows.

Types of Child Abuse:

1.        Child Neglect involves not taking care of and providing for the needs of the child.  Neglect is something most kids (if they live) are unaware of until they’re older.

2.       Emotional Abuse is where the abuser threatens, accuses, yells, cusses, intimidates or manipulates the child.  Yes, there is a fine line between rational discipline and emotional abuse.  Children aren’t stupid, just inexperienced.  They know when that line is crossed.

3.       Sexual abuse and molestation are major physical and psychological traumas that must be healed over time.

4.       Physical Abuse is the easiest to spot because of the signs and marks it leaves.  Physical abusers are usually unable to restrain themselves.  They could be using restraints, striking, using clubs, belts, switches and knives, shaking, throwing, burning, etc.  Obviously, this is very harmful to the child.

Child Abuse Cases and Stories·         Neglect - Feb. 2009 - A mother in Dallas, Texas, was charged with neglect after her nine-year-old died from complications of diabetes after she failed to help her manage her disease. ·         Physical/Emotional Abuse - June 2008 - A mother in North Central Texas has her three children taken away because of a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. ·         Physical Abuse - Jan. 2009 - Two parents in Dallas, Texas, were charged with abusing their six-month-old infant so severely that he was in intensive care and it was thought that he was not going to be able to recover. ·         Physical Abuse - Jan. 2009 - A mother’s boyfriend was charged with the death of her six-year-old son. ·         Physical Abuse - Dec. 2008 - A father was charged with the death of his three-month-old infant who was found unresponsive, with bone fractures and liver lacerations. ·         Physical Abuse - Feb. 2009 - A father in Lodi, California, was charged with physical abuse after a school employee noticed and reported burns on a six-year old student, which were thought to have been inflicted by a clothes iron. She had also been beaten with a stick and her mother was charged with child endangerment. ·         Physical Abuse - Feb. 2009 - A mother and her live-in boyfriend in Janesville, Wisconsin, were charged with abuse after repeatedly hitting her three-year-old daughter to the point that she required emergency brain surgery. ·         Physical Abuse - Feb. 2009 - The boyfriend of a child’s mother in Wilmington, Delaware, hit and killed a 16-month old girl because she wouldn’t stop crying. ·         Physical Abuse - Feb. 2009 - A nine-year-old was beaten by his mother’s boyfriend in Lawrence, Massachusetts. ·         Physical Abuse - Jan. 2009 - In Fall River, Massachusetts, a mother was charged with burning her four-year-old foster son with a curling iron, causing third-degree burns that required skin graft surgery. http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/police/community/abuse.htmlhttp://pediatrics.about.com/od/childabuse/a/05_abuse_stats.htm

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

16. March 2010 by student.

Stereotypes, everyone has one. If you are born into any society you automatically grow up with them. Does not matter where you are from stereotypes will be there. In class we discussed how people use them as a defense mechanism against people who are considered “different” from themselves. I personally grew up in Miami so different races and cultures are part of everyday life for me. Even though i grew up with people from different cultures and races stereotypes do not pass over the city. Everyone race and culture has some kind of stereotype the only thing that differs is how critical and in depth stereotypes are. For example in Miami there are a lot of Hispanics and if you are Hispanic as I am, you learn stereotypes for all the different Hispanics. Mexican’s are thought to be dirty, Cuban’s are loud and good swimmers, Puerto Rican’s are want-t0-be Cuban’s, and Dominican’s are stingy. These are just a few of the different stereotypes I grew up around. While in places where Hispanics are the minority all different Hispanics get smashed together onto one stereotype, dirty, trouble-making, thieves. While this is just an example, just about every other race and culture has some kind of negative stereotype. As discussed in class we spoke how reasons for stereotypes can be used to bring down another race. Not every White- Anglo is a red-neck and not every African-American is a criminal, but we use these stereotypes to try and make our own race feel superior. No one is born with this state-of-mind, we grow up with it. It is a socially constructed problem and unfortunately as long as there are differences people will keep using them. They might change, but they will always be here because the bottom line is that when we feel threatened  by someone who we feel is different we use these to make ourselves and race feel superior. It is a sad truth, we usually judge people with stereotypes even though we understand that every person is unique and no two persons are alike.

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16. March 2010 by student.

       The media which exsists in the United States has grown and has taken on new forms and functions as the population of the country has progressed through generations. Media has been effected by the culture of the country, spanning from many different forms; television, radio, film, print, photography and any form of electronics i.e. email, webpage or even blog. The original meaning of mass media was “any form of medium used to convey information to a large group of people. Even today these technologies have been used for the same idea of conveying information to the public at large, newspapers deliver information on all “interesting” facts for the public, election coverage, or information on the economy, sports or whatever else grasp people’s interest. The newspaper has remained unchanged by the changing culture of the country and the new social normalties seen through the developing ages, but other medias have been effected. Pop culture, and the magazine age has been influenced by what the average person desires to know; who is dating who, what has happened in society along the lines of film and on television, interest in the “trend-setting” group. The media in society, the uses of  the media, and the effect on media from the public form an almost everflowing cycle to cause new values to be desired, or encouraged in the new culture.

         Form follows function and technology changes to the society’s desires and the demand for more and more functions in a compact form. Thisnk for a moment what invention has been created in the last two years for the singular purpose of abiding to the wants of the country’s people. The quick answer is the iphone, a device created for the ultimate function of media; to pass on, convey, and deliver information from person to person, and group to group. Think about it a handheld machine used to communicate with people hundreds to thousands of miles away, television and online videos have been given free and uncontrolled access to the person, twitter, facebook, and myspace all tools for introducing opinion and information through the click of a button. On average, today the consensus is more value being placed on pop culture, and sports, film and the actions of the celebrity group in society over the small interests in school, or laws and the tedium day-to-day events each person notes as there but “unimportant” odd that the media has helped to shift interest to other people living their lives, rather than the events that effect the masses. Media today deals with extremes, negatives and positives. Stereotypes, the minority group of the country has taken multiple hits through the ages due to media’s coverage on the negatives of blacks and crimes, minorities and social problems all conveyed through each media. Through television shows and any videos accessed focus is placed on what society believes about these people and then their subtle rascism is supported by the news and media’s response to each fact they take while suppressing other information, media reflects what society belives and social integration is stunted by the idea that stereotypes act as they are portrayed.  People want to hear about successful people doing one of two things; either making base mistakes such as drug affiliation, sex scandals or career ruining actions or creating new organizations, changing religious affiliation, and starring in a new films, the positives and negatives drive the average person to this information and media ablidges them sometimes leaving out other stories and then inducing conflicting ideas and introduces the problems in society then contributed to be media’s fault.

             Society has been introduced with ideas that, of course, television and it’s other contributing medias are ruining society. Media has been noted to have effects on the body image and what is the standard of apperance, the role of women and the innocence of children, and of course everyone’s favorites; sex, violence and drugs. It has become uniform in society to disaprove of the most illicit and deprived acts in history and then be facinated with them while watching them with full attention and support of the shows which introduce these images. Television produces fictional shows which break away from the standards of the past ideas as “good” television and take on the form of the new idea of great television as decided by…wait for it…the hypocrits of society and the people who support these programs. Culture has changed, more blood and violence, drugs and substance abuse, and sex drive up ratings and have been placed in television to appeal to an audience, form follows function; people place this content for the simple and clear reason that they try and appeal to an audience and the audence than supports these shows. The idea is that attractive people are interesting, romantism is interesting, violence is facinating, and when society finds interest in something then you can guarentee that it will show up on t.v. Media takes the social wants and dark desires and throws them on the screen for all to see, and when society breaks down by the most obvious and noted degrees then it isn’t society to be blamed, but television. Society places higher value on popular culture, celebrities and high profile news again consisting of; money issues, sex, violence, crime and sports. Through the new introduction of facts and contextual change society begins to form architypes and new aspects take root in the ideas of what defines a person, age and apperence, gender, actions and how have we “seen” the new standard through media. Media is a machine of conveying ideas and information, and form follows function, people influence media, media influence people and people influence society  completing a circle.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

16. March 2010 by student.

I have this class, along with first year humanities. I find that the two are constantly overlapping with ideas. Recently we have been talking about life chances and opportunities in both classes.  When it comes to derogatory words such as nigger, beaner, cracker, and chink are we too sensitive? We as a society “want” to get rid of racism, but how is that possible. Why even acknowledge these words as racists terms? Why cant everyone be called these names? Minority’s want to end racism just as I do, but even acknowledging these words as belonging as certain races is allowing racism to continue. All colors and all ethnicity’s should call everyone all these names, break these boundaries and turn these racists terms into generally negative terms that can be used just as the word bitch, dick, and asshole are. We all use these terms when we are talking to our friends, why hide it. I don’t use these terms in a racist way, I use them as everyday slang just as the majority of everyone else does. If everyone called everyone these names they wouldn’t even be associated with racism. Of course when these things are said out of context it is inappropriate and offensive but if we take away the connection that these words have to a certain races then we can turn them into normal words that don not pertain to any color. People need to desensitize them selves from these words. Giving them these ties to racism is giving them power to hurt people and be used in racist ways. Words are words and only mean what we want them to mean.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 5 Comments »