14. January 2012 by student.

Mississippi’s outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour spent his last day in office this week granting pardons to dozens of convicted criminals.  State records show that Barbour granted more than 200 pardons! This is the most people pardoned in Mississippi in 30 years.  The pardon shocked Mississippi and many of the victim’s families are furious with former Gov. Barbour.  Five people who worked at the Governor’s mansion, were pardoned.  Four of those five workers were convicted of murder and one of armed robbery.

The state attorney general, Jim Hood persuaded a judge to put some of the pardons on hold suggesting that Barbour may have violated the constitution.  Should the Gov. have the right to grant the pardons on his own, or should he have to consult with other people first, like the victim’s families, or the police and prosecutors?

Or, is Barbour just keeping up tradition and showing mercy to people who were convicted of crimes, but now appear to him to be rehabilitated?  After all, doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?  Can a person really be rehabilitated and forgiven?  Perhaps, it depends on the type of crime and how major or minor it was.

Is this really something the victim’s families deserve?  What about the lives lost and the people hurt because of the crimes that were committed.  Is it fair to allow a governor to simply wipe away the consequences of the crime?  Or is the governor just trying to ensure that true justice takes place?When a pardon is granted to a criminal, the pardon clear’s the convicts record.  Out of Barbour’s pardon list there were 21 murders, 8 sex offenders, and 50 violent offenders, which include assault and kidnapping charges.  What would you think of finding one of these recently pardoned people as your new neighbor?

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

9. December 2011 by student.

In today’s society it is very easy to stalk people and get personal information. The season is because people today post personal information because other do. People post emails, phone numbers, and even their home address for the public to view. Most of this information can be found on social media sites such as twitter and Facebook. As we head into the future, technology has made our lives easier and more vulnerable. The reason being is that hackers are now looked upon as terrorists and also the voice of people. They are beginning to be referred as hacktivists. Hackers seen themselves as the strong kid in who had low self esteem and one day punched someone and realized how strong they are. Hackers consider themselves to be the final boss of the internet. Most stand for freedom on the internet and if companies try to censor information they feel as if it is their duty to stop the censorship. Many people love for what they stand for and other hate that websites and networks can be hacked. The PlayStation Network was hacked and had thousands of credit card numbers stolen from their database. Other political figures such as Sarah Palin had her personal email hacked into. Hackers want for the truth to be available to the public as well as accessible. It is now that people that live in their parents basement can have a role and be able to stand up to global giants and be seen as voices of the people. While others use the ability to hack into site for their own pleasure. With the ease of accessing the internet increases and more people going online, it is easy for hackers to gain access to sensitive information of others but also stand up for freedom on the internet.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

8. December 2011 by student.

Many people try cross the border for many reason many of them to find a better life and better work that pays good but sometimes to pass drugs from Mexico to U.S.. Only 327,577 people were caught crossing illegally from the Mexican border last year. The Department of Homeland Security says total border apprehensions for fiscal year 2011, which ended last September 30, are down 53.5 percent from 2008. The highest record was in the year 2000, 1.6 million illegal immigrants were caught trying to cross.

Now we have better technology and more guards station on the border it’s a lot safer and efficiency way to secure the border. Another facts that slow down the crossing is the U.S economic is down and drug gangs have seized control of human smuggling routes. Douglas S. Massey, co-director of the Mexican Migration Project at Princeton University, told the New York Times in July “Mexico is wracked by drug violence, but economic opportunities have been increasing there, as well. Average family income has increased by more than 45 percent since 2000.” If people are making more money on the other size and have better life less people are going to try to cross the border plus it has become more dangerous to cross the border. Another impact on border crossing is the cartel that are controlling almost all immigration routes. Think for a second people are trying to migrate to other country and not the U.S. statistics shows less people migrating to the U.S..  

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

8. December 2011 by student.

There is an official day for World Aids and I never knew until this past December 1. When hearing about it I had to do further research and learned that the top 3 states with the most reported AIDS cases are: New York, California, and Florida with Fort Myers being the 24th reported city in America on the Top 25 cities reported with Aids. You would thing with this fast- paced, non caring society people would take more precaution, well I guess not due to this new society where people are struggling just to buy groceries. They are not able to buy the necessities to prevent the spread, unable to go to nearby clinics, and are preoccupied with other things that they don’t think of the what-ifs.////////////////////////////Posted 12/7/11 by Maxine Jackson

Posted in Mr. Andoscia, Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

8. December 2011 by student.

There are so many things to lose weight like diets, pills, exercise machine, and other. it is difficult to lose weight and there are many products out there. About 65% of Americans are either overweight or obese. The lose weight business is huge in American, obesity treatments were estimated at approximately $75 billion dollars in 2003. Every were you go you will see advertisement about losing weight fast. In facts, if you look at the world in a sociological imagination way and study it, you will see that everything is pushing for skinnier body’s. If you go to a store all the manikin have perfect bodies and the clothes are size small. All TV advertisement have sexy model with perfect body’s including lose weight adv, the worse is fashion models they have to lose so much weight that they are in the underweight danger zone.

Anyone wants to have the perfect bodies and look sexy. When 750 million people worldwide are overweight and 325,000 deaths each year are directly related to obesity. Most human being will try to lose weight and then the result show they cannot lose weight it Hurts to many of us. Many products to lose weight, people try many of them. In most case they promise losing weight without stop eating. The only way to lose weight is to eat less. Exercise and all the rest are helpful, but weight is about how many calories you eat, And when you lower how many calories you eat you will start feeling hunger cramps. In addition after you lose weight most people get the pounds they lose plus more back, because there are over 2,000 genes that shape up our body’s we cannot control all of them. some people go for the easy weight that would be surgery like gastric bypass, they reduce the stomach size but is costly but effetely.  How do you want to lose weight?

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

7. December 2011 by student.

Now of days there is so much opportunity to have friendships from people all of the world. But sometimes those friendships can lead to something that is a little more than just friends. And for people who are married or in serious relationships this can become something dangerous. For example, I have a friend who is going through a really rough time in his marriage. His wife has developed a friendship with another man who is in another state. When he found about this he was very upset and hurt by this friendship. And her excuse was that it is okay because it is not a sexual relationship but just an amotional relationship. She said that he was not there for her on an emotional level. So she found it from someone else. In my opinion that is cheating because she has gone somewhere out of her marriage to fill a need.

Emotional affairs are now not only relationships that develop with co-workers or just other friends. It has become something that happens now through facebook, e-mail, texting, and instant messaging. This is something that is very new to our society and can lead to a lot of families and other serious relationships ending. In our modern society one can get satisfactions on many levels with just an internet connection.

When in a relationship or a marriage it is very important to boundaries that are set to ensure an emotional affair is not happening. And I think one thing that is important is to allow your partner to have access to your social media accounts and other forms of communication. I know that some people may say that is not fair and is a violation of one privacy. When boundaries are set in a relationship it is up to the people involved to not cross those boundaries and to be honest in the relationship.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

7. December 2011 by student.

4 out of 10 girls get pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20, resulting in more than 900,000 teen pregnancies a year. The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world.

Some factors that may contribute to teens getting pregnant at an early age are: Teens from an area with high poverty rates, low levels of education, high residential turnover and high divorce rates, low self-esteem, lack of parental guidance and last but not least peer-pressure. 

When a teen gets pregnant, they are face with alot, for example, they will    most likely to drop out of school and become single parents, Teens under the age of 15 experience a mental death rate of 2.5 times greater than mothers of the age 20-24, They are face with health problems such as hypertention, anemia, sexual transmitted diseases and cephalopelivc dispropotion. Most of the time the baby will also be face with health problems. like infant death, blindness and menatl retardation. 

There are alot of things that teens can do, to better protect themselve from getting pregnant, for exampl, they can use birth controls such as condoms, depo shot, the patch and sometime participating in afterschool programs also help lower teen pregnancy rate.

I strongly believe that with the proper sex education, teens will have the information that they need to make better decision

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »

7. December 2011 by student.

I have heard the motto “success is a choice” several times in my educational experience. It makes me wonder if success can truly be achieved by mere choice. That is, there are no outside influences or challenges that you have to overcome. Can you honestly just choose to be successful on a whim? I don’t think so. Yes, there is the argument that you choose to overcome your challenges and you choose to fight the right battles and you choose to do your homework. However, I think a lot of other factors besides choice weigh into effect when success occurs. An individual’s life chances and personal inequality can hinder their ability to become successful. It is much harder for a person born into a family that cannot support themselves financially to become a college graduate. That person did not choose their situation, they had to work two part-time jobs to help out at home and barely got enough time to sit down to do their homework or study. Now did the person choose to become unsuccessful in school? They had no choice, people sometimes have to survive before they can educate themself. Is it fair to those unfortunte children to shove a motto in their face that says “success is a choice”? What about the people who suffer from a learning disability or a severe handicap? Did those people choose to be unsuccessful as well because they were incapable of learning the material? No. Those are the people who try just as hard, if not harder, than everyone else. Whoever created this motto does not understand that so many factors, such as a person’s race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, or age, can determine whether or not they are successful. Even though it is wrong, racism and discrimination will always exist in our world, and if you think otherwise, you are naive. Success is not a choice. It is a journey that includes failure, heart break, and determination.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

6. December 2011 by student.

Released in September of 2010, the hit song by American indie pop band Foster the People, “Pumped up Kicks” has caused quite a bit of controversy in the media. Contrasting with the upbeat musical composition, the lyrics describe a youth’s homicidal thoughts of a killing spree. Despite its controversial lyrics, “Pumped Up Kicks” received considerable attention after it was posted online in 2010, and it helped the group garner a multi-album record deal with Columbia Records imprint Startime International before the group had issued a commercial release. The song became both a “crossover hit” and a “sleeper hit,” as it was played on modern rock stations soon after its release in September 2010, and in mid-2011 began seeing noticeable airplay on contemporary hit radio stations.

          The chorus lyrics, “All the other kids with the pumped up kicks; You’d better run, better run, outrun my gun; All the other kids with the pumped up kicks; You’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet,” are what is causing such a big deal. They are talking about a disturbed or bullied kid who is having murderous thoughts. “Pumped up kicks are probably like Nike airs or other shoes, which probably means all the trendy popular kids, and he’s going to shoot them. By telling them to run (even if not literally) he is playing with them and enjoying this, because you can’t run faster than bullets,” says lyricaljoy in a comment on songmeanings.net.

          Even our local controversial news station Fox 4 did a story about “Pumped Up Kicks.” Saying that this alternative rock song on the radio is raising concerns about the school violence message it is sending children and that now one viewer wants to know why local radio stations continue to play the song. In an effort to appease this one viewer, Fox 4 interviewed Caryn Hacker-Bushel who has worked as a psychotherapist, who specializes in bullying, for nearly 30 years. After playing the song for her, Fox 4 reporter Julie Salomone asked Bushel if she thinks that these lyrics promote this type of behavior. Bushel stated, “Not promote, I think the lyrics bring up serious issues for discussion. I don’t think it glorifies it.” The band wrote the song to bring light to an epidemic. The epidemic isn’t gun violence; the epidemic is lack of family, lack of love and isolation.

          The lyrics to “Pumped Up Kicks” describe troubled and delusional youth with homicidal thoughts. Foster said, “I was trying to get inside the head of an isolated, psychotic kid.” He stated the lyrics were written to “bring awareness” to the issue of gun violence amongst youth, which he feels is an epidemic perpetuated by “lack of family, lack of love, and isolation”. Some people have speculated that the song is a reference to the Westroads Mall shooting in Omaha, Nebraska; the shooter was Robert Hawkins, and the first lyrics of the song are “Robert’s got a quick hand”. Similarly, Hawkins stole his stepfather’s AKM-style rifle, and in the song, the alleged shooter steals his dad’s revolver. However, the band’s publicist told an Omaha World Herald reporter, “This is completely false. The character name in the song is just a coincidence.” “Instead of writing about victims and some tragedy,” Foster said, “I wanted to get into the killer’s mind, like Truman Capote did in “In Cold Blood.” (“In Cold Blood” a 1966 book by American author Truman Capote detailing the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a successful farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, his wife and two of their four children.) I love to write about characters. That’s my style. I really like to get inside the heads of other people and try to walk in their shoes.”

          In the end this is just a song, and I believe kids and teenagers understand the fact that it is only a song. Most kids don’t listen to a song because of its lyrics they listen to it for its catchy tune; most people who listen to this song, or many songs for that matter, don’t even know what the actual lyrics are. The truth is this song alone won’t make a kid go and shoot up his school; the point of this song is to shed light on what causes kids to do stuff like school shootings and to get people talking about it so that we can prevent events like “Columbine” from happening. People are making a big deal about the lyrics to this song when in reality people get shot and killed every day and not because of this song’s lyrics.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

6. December 2011 by student.

Facebook is a website that changed the culture of the 2004-2011 era. Facebook is a website designed to network people and allows them to post about their lives on the internet in an easy and organized format.  On Facebook people can join and create a profile that has a picture of them and everything from their relationship status to what types of food they like.  People are not required to fill in any information.  People can add statuses of what they are doing and comment on anything that anyone else is doing or writing.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and gained popularity at an incredible rate (wiki).  By the end of 2011 Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Facebook was launched in 2004 and the public did not have access to Facebook until 2006. In 2010 about 73% of the US population used Facebook each month.  Facebook is a huge part of the culture today and is only growing (Facebook).

Facebook has caused, or perhaps simply allowed people to give away incredible amounts of information about themselves for the first time.  When you create a Facebook account it asks you for almost every piece of information about you. Facebook asks you to post when you were born, where you were born, what books you like, what TV shows you like, and a host of other questions.  Facebook uses the information to network you with other people as well as target advertisement towards you.  Facebook can charge more for advertisements than most other websites because they offer targeted advertisement that most other websites cannot provide. Knowing what you like allows them to target you.

People are also giving this information away to anyone that wants to access it, not just to Facebook.  This represents a change in culture from being private guarded people to people that are willing to share themselves with anyone. (Cerminio)  This was a phenomenon because it was not true in reality as much as it was over the internet. People of this generation would not write down and hand all of this information to someone that came up to them on the street and asked for it but they were willing to post it on the internet for all of the same people to access it.  I believe that this is ignorance more than just a culture shift but only time will be able to tell that for sure.

Facebook has changed the way that people meet. Facebook has changed the way that people get to know each other more than how they meet. A friend could tell me that he is in Tennessee and met a girl that he likes, all he has to do is give me her name and I can find her on Facebook and see what she looks like and what her political and religious views are and give my opinion of her to him.  The fact that I have done this is frightening.  I know nothing about that girl.  All I know is what her Facebook profile looks like, for all that I know I clicked on the wrong girl and gave my friend an incorrect opinion of her.  We must be careful as a culture as we move forward in the world of Facebook.

This has quickened the process of getting to know people and shows some of our values today. Facebook shows how we value speed in our culture today and how we are quick to judge people today. I can go on Facebook and decide that I do not like someone before I ever meet them to have a potential opinion of them. We want to be able to find out about people the same way that we would find out about a scientific fact. To some extent Facebook is the Google for people. I make this comparison because on Google you type something in and get the answer. On Facebook you can search a name and know massive amounts of information about them.

In conclusion Facebook has made clear our cultures values of speed and how we see people. Facebook has shown that we see people as something that there is an infinite amount of and that we need to run a search to find the ones that we are interested in. Facebook has provided a way to do that. Facebook is a search engine for people and that is a dangerous thing.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »