Crash

1.Matt Dillon was a racist cop in the movie crash. He exhibited his racism throughout the movie and crossed the line many times. One night he pulled over an African American couple in a nice Lincoln truck, so they were clearly wealthy people and he took advantage of them. They were not doing anything wrong, but when he saw that they were black he asked them to step out of the car so he could search them. As he was searching the woman he was feeling her legs and being inappropriate. He was treating the man and the woman like dirt. He wanted them to feel vulnerable, which made him feel like he had complete control over the situation. The other cop at the scene with him was in shock. He couldn't believe that a well known and highly respected cop could be so racist and rude to the people of their community. Compared to Matt Dillon he wasn't racist because this event bothered him so much. he even went through the trouble of asking for another partner. Another part in the movie where Matt was racist was when he was trying to get help for his sick father. He called the doctors office and there really wasn't anything that they could do for him. When he asked the woman her name, which was Shanequa he judged her without even have seen her. He started being disrespectful and thought that she wasn't helping him on purpose. He took all of his anger out on her for no reason.

2. The Hispanic lock-man was negatively stereotyped in the movie because Sandra Bullock thought that he was in some kind of gang. She wanted the locks changed for a second time because she thought that the lock-man would sell her keys to his gang banging friends when he left. This was a harsh accusation because she didnt know the full story about him. She didn't know that he moved to this city to get away from the gangs and the bad streets so that he could provide a wonderful life for his little daughter. Another person that was negatively stereotyped was the Persian man when he was buying a gun for his store. The person selling him the gun was accusing him of being a terrorist. Just because they were speaking a foreign language the man in the store judged them even though that language they were speaking wasnt arabic. This was very upsetting for both and man and his daughter because how could someone just automatically think someone so terrible about people who have done no harm.

3. When Terrence Howard told the young man “You embarrass me; you embarrass yourself” he was referring to their race. The movie producer is ashamed that someone of his own kind could be walking around the streets, steeling cars and threatening to kill people. It made Ludacris think about what he was doing. He was always about standing up for the black community because he thinks that everyone is always unfair and racist towards them. Ludacris then realized by standing up for the people of his race he was also embarrassing them and making them ashamed of him. With this knew knowledge he went and helped the people in the back of the truck. He could have sold them for a ton of money but he decided that he was going to do something better, I believe that this was his way to show that he was sorry and that he was going to stop.

4.Stereotypes are judgments and beliefs that others have and make on certain people. Usually its a stupid reason why someone is labeled with a stereotype. Maybe it was because a blond girl asked a kind of stupid question. This doesn't mean she is a dumb blond, but in out society people would automatically label her as a dumb blond.In the movie for example, some stereotypes were that if your from Pakistan or somewhere in the middle east you are automatically a terrorist. The father and daughter who owned the shop were judged by their looks and the way they spoke and were called terrorists.

5.I definitely dont think that it is natural to be racist. No one is born knowing that they hate blacks or Asians. people develop their racist behaviors by their surroundings. If your parents are racist and you grow up around those kinds of people, then you will most likely take on their beliefs since that is what you have been taught as what is right.

6.Race is learned from what your parents tell you, what you experience in school and what you decide to watch on T.V. All of these play a factor in what you decide to believe when you get older and how you decide to act. families all have different views, and they are passed on to the different family members. If there is a racist family member, then those opinions are usually passed on to the other people in that family. The media also influences the public's racist opinions greatly. The media reaches everybody in our society. Kids, teens and adults. Kids might not understand what it means yet, but eventually they will learn and understand the wrongness of it all. I believe that racism exists in our country today, and we all hear about it all the time.

7.I think that it might be possible but I also think it would be hard to get people to change their beliefs. People always need someone to blame for things and people to get mad at. For some reason a lot of peoples anger turns into racism because they dont know how to handle it otherwise. Nothing good comes out of racism and eventually I hope that people will realize that they are just making stupid stereotypes that dont mean anything. People will eventually realize that we are really all the same. everyone has the same features and the ability to have emotions. Once the nasty racist people understand that people of other elasticities have feelings also they should feel sympathy towards them and learn how to control or focus their anger some other way.

Gender

Just like many of the other things that we have talked about like race and class, gender plays just as big a role in our society. Men and Women are expected to play certain roles and act certain ways. Men as adults and teenagers are supposed to be strong and aggressive. They can be passionate, but not to the point that their emotions take over their personality. Little boys are expected to play with toy cars and guns. Women as adults and teens are expected to be emotional and caring. They are expected to wear make-up and love to shop. Girls when they are little are expected to play with barbies and dolls. When something is out of the ordinary people wonder, judge and want to ask questions. A good example of a boy not fulfilling the so called "normal" role for a boy, was when a boy had some kind of anxiety attack, which physically disabled him while playing basketball. Later in the episode he told the doctor that it was because he hates basketball and he wants to take dance class. Eventually the mother asked her son what he really wanted to do and he was overjoyed. The mother was in denial about her son because she thought that something was wrong with him. Nothing was wrong, he just has different interests from other boys his age. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do something that in our society is designed for the opposite race. There are tons of girls who play competitive sports and tons of guys who take art and dace classes. Our society has put such a huge strain on the division of the sexes and gender roles that its hard for people who are gay, trans-gender, trans-sexual or hermaphroditic. In the end these are normal people who either were born with a physical problem or just have different views of themselves. there is nothing wrong with the way they are, but our society for some reason has not been willing to accept them.

Social class

wealth gives people a lot of privileges in the us because as Americans many people have the illusion that money buys happiness. When someone has a well paying job and a high position at that job they are free to take vacations and time off when they feel like it. They dont need to worry about what their boss is going to say or if they are going to be able to make enough income for the month to feed their family. During class we played a few games including real life monopoly, which showed us how much easier life is when you are rich and you just have your money handed to you. I started off as the richest person in my group and it was a lot of fun for me because I bought every property that I landed on and people kept having to pay me. On the other hand the person who started out the poorest ended up having to use a credit card from the bank because she didnt understand how to spend her money wisely and ended up with close to none. During the game there were different situations thrown in like divorce and credit card payments, which ultimately tore people down. I would have won the game by a lot, without having passed go once, if I didnt get a divorce. Another privilege of a wealthy person is being able to get a good education while they are in school and then a good education for their children. With a good education and a college degree a person can go much farther in life and make a lot more money then a person with just a high school degree.

class

This quote has many different and deeper meanings about class in our society. This quote is saying that, a person could have good character and could have great intentions, but we might not think so highly of him because of what his life might be like. Shaw is trying to show how People in our society are quickly to judge and character sometimes doesnt matter to them. All that matters is the income a person is making and the way they choose to live their life. before the movie that we watched in class I didnt really understand the differences in class as well as I do now. The lower class is so far away from the upper class that a lower class person couldnt even pretend to be of upper class importance. Middle class on the other hand, has such a large range, that it might not be that far away from upper class. The example of work that is considered virtue in one class and vise in another is to compare the idea of an aggressive real estate developer with an
aggressive sanitation worker. Both are in business, but their qualities may be
judged differently. In one class a real estate developer is a job that someone had to work hard for and appreciates because they are making a steady income from it. On the other hand, in a different class a sanitation worker is something that is also valued because its the best that they can get. Sometimes people are happy with their low income jobs because it is better then nothing.

Deviance

I think that punishing deviant people is a societal construct because we don't want people who commit crimes wandering our streets. We try to keep all the bad deviant behavior under control by punishing people. Its hard to avoid punishments towards deviant people because people in the society will find out about letting people off the hook for doing something wrong, and create a scene. In the US we regulate deviant behavior by sending criminals to prisons for certain amounts of time until we think that they have learned their lesson and are willing to change. I think that there a lot of problems with out jails and punishing system because we dont take the time to teach anything, like correct behavior, to the inmates. The government just locks people up for certain amounts of time without even bothering to help them. sometimes people need rehab, but in our system people can only have drug rehab if they fit into certain requirements. Once these people are in jail, they wait until their trials and once they have served their time they are let go. What many people and the government dont seem to understand is that most of those people go right back to jail. When we were watching 30 days there were 2 good examples of people who were let out early and ended up going back to jail after just a few weeks. There was an older man who had been in jail several times before, and told the camera that he was ready to be out in the world and that he was going to try to be better, but in reality people cant just change without help. If the jails had some kind of therapy or group discussions, maybe the inmates will really understand what it means to change. The other example was a teen who had been in jail before for drugs and was able to leave his drug rehab program early. The government shouldn't allow that. People should have to go through the entire program to ensure their health and safety. Being deviant in out society calls upon punishments, but the real question that has to be answered, is if those punishments are actually working or if they are just creating more criminals.

Final Blog

1. Today when I woke up I decided to wear a pair of jeans, and a cute sweater to school. I wore my moccasin boots and I let my hair go wavy. I think that when everyone gets up in the morning, including me, and decides what to wear, they are letting nurture take hold of them. I wear whatever is in style and when something new comes into style I always think that I need to have it, along with most girls my age. I always try to look put together and I never wear sweat pants. I think that part of me could potentially be nature because my parents always look nice when they leave the house, they never look like a mess. I guess I can argue that my decisions in the morning could be be either nature or nurture, but it all depends on the way you look at it.
As a teenager I think that it is very important to have a job and learn how to manage your own money and experience the real work world. I have a job and I think that it was nurture that made me want to get a job. I was always taught that money does not grow on tree's, and that being able to work hard for something you want is important. Right now I am pretty sure that I know what I want to major in and what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I dont think I was born with this knowledge. I had to do research on physical therapy and I had to learn about it before I realized how much I love it. Because this was not a natural gift, this goal is nurture based. On the other hand I have a lot of good role models and powerful people in my life, like my parents who gave me the ability to work hard. They have showed me how important it is to graduate form college and get a job.
2. Social status power is so important to adolescence because they are always so worried and concerned about what people think of them and what their appearance is. Status power has taken control of peoples lives because all they want to do is having the hottest boyfriend and the cutest cloths. Something about Status power makes teenagers rude and selfish because they want everything for the benefit themselves and their status in life.
3. The socialization process is much different for children today because we have grown up in a much more advanced society. We have a lot of technology, that everyone depends on. We have computers for research and homework, instead of the library, we have cell phones, that teenagers are obsessed with and we have t.v.'s. Instead of learning how to have correct social skills, teenagers just text their friends and create relationships with people without even talking to them. This has caused a problem in our society because people are forgetting important skills, like reading the newspaper instead of watching the news on TV. yes these are valid concerns, but I don't think that people in our society realize what has happened as the technology keeps on improving. People don't realize how dependent they are on technology, so there is no way that people are going to change.
4. There are many gender issues in our society today and some of them have played a role in my life. Today girls are expected to be emotional, dependent, ditsy, passive, attractive and fit. These are all qualities that the stereotypical popular girl in school, or in the movies wold have. I am a girl that is not always those qualities. It bothers me when people think that all girls are ditsy and passive. I am neither of those characteristics and I am OK with that. I don't want to be spacey and stupid. I think that its OK for girls to be smart and be able to take control. They shouldn't let people walk all over them.
The same things happen in guys lives too I think. Guys are expected to be assertive, brave, insensitive and independent. Once again these are the qualities that only a perfect guy from the movies would obtain. Not all guys have to be insensitive. I know from experience, that no girl would ever want an insensitive guy. Girls want someone that will care about them and respect them, and a guy that insensitive and assertive would not do the trick. Also, its OK for guys to be emotional. It OK for guys to have strong feelings, that's what makes them have great personalities and great character. being the tough guy all the time must wear them out.

Adolescence

Adolescence are the teenagers in our society who cannot be considered adults yet, but are also to old to be considered kids. There is no real name, place or rules for these teenagers, which is why we refer to them as adolescence. Status power consumes the lives of these adolescence all the time because they are always worried about what others are going to think of them and what they can do to be cooler. Whether it is being pressured to drink on the weekends or not hang out with mom, status power always makes these teenagers do things they dont want to do. Its not uncool not to drink or to hang out with your mom for a change, just some teenagers dont understand that and let their unconscious mind take over. This is a huge problem in our society because teenager care way to much about the way that they look and act that their obsessive behavior might carry over when they become adults. Who knows, maybe this stage of adolescence is not only during their teen years. If their crazy about status and power then this behavior is not going to change when they become adults.
Status power is confusing when it comes to deciding whether or not these kids are old enough for some behaviors. I think that since parents have a lot more control over these teens, they tend to break the rules more because they think they they are more mature then what their parents think. A good example is staying out past curfew. I know that I can stay out later then some of my friends because my mom trusts me, but some of my friends break the rules so that they dont miss out on anything. Feeling like and adult, but not getting treated like an adult is a very confusing factor in an adolescent mind. Adolescents have a very confusing and sometimes challenging life style. They need to be trusted, but they are still teenagers, so their has to be a line, but drawing that line can sometimes be difficult.