I can't say I fully understand the underlying forces that are affecting the people of the United States, but I can speak from the perspective of a member of the people favoring socialism over capitalism, or rather favoring a capitalist system with socialist tendencies/programs.

In a nutshell, we are fed up with the exploitation of the capitalist system by big business and corporations that drain the money from our pockets and continue to drain the money from our pockets with not regard or thought to the "ethicallity" of their actions. We are fed up with a government that, at best, will sit by "Lazzie-Farie" style and let us suffer and, at worst, can and does get bribed by these businesses.

A functioning definition of Capitalism is "the investment of profit with the hope and expectation of making more profit." Notice that there is no mention of ethicality in this succinct definition. Notice how this lack of ethics is mirrored in the real world. The rich get on top and try to stay on top; there is no room for us "commoners" to stand among the big wigs. So we are kept down, our salaries drained and our pockets empty.

To where has gone the "magic" of the United States, the promise of a life whose good is proportional to the amount of work put in? Where has gone the magic that drew countless immigrants here from the "teaming shores" of Europe and Asia and all over the world? It has disappeared, consumed by an every-growing need for profit in this capitalist society.

And people are fed up with it all. So we look for something "better." Something "greater." Something that can fulfill our "huddled masses yearning to be free." New studies have shown that, once we have enough money to survive, an increase in revenue no longer corresponds to an increase in happiness. In a someone related matter, studies have also shown that people are happiest working jobs that allow for "creative freedom," even though these jobs don't correlate with the highest paying jobs.

Money does NOT make people happy. Yet the capitalist society is COMPLETELY focused on money. What surprise is there that people in this day and age have a kind of yearning for something greater? A need to become greater? A desire to ACHIEVE, not a desire to earn money.

So, for developed countries, capitalism had faults even before it was abused by big business. People aspire to do something "great" with their lives, an aspiration that is at times hindered by the "profit-centric" world of capitalism.

Amazing. Let me repeat that: AMAZING. Look at this. Look at all of us, living on this small, blue planet, fighting each other. Fighting for each other. Fighting against ideologies, governments, and all this other crap that seems wrong. We don't know any better than to fight one another: who else is there to fight? But, in the elegant words of Pat Mohan, "We're on a spinning ball in the middle of space..."

We are, as far as any of us can tell, completely and utterly alone in the universe. Every friend we have, every person we've ever known, every person who has ever had a hand in making the human race who we are today has been born, lived, and has died on this tiny, tiny sphere of dirt and air. We have produced tyrants and we have banded together to fight these tyrants. We have met with challenge after challenge, and we have, against all odds, become the single most highly advanced species of our time, as far as we can tell.

Because we band together. Because we can band together; we can put aside our petty differences and we can fight as brothers and sisters united by this, a common cause. In times past, and in some places today, we fought against nature and other animals. Then we moved up and began to fight for our ideas and for our rights (of course, we fought against each other at this point, but more on that later). Now, we are beginning to discard our nationality and our ethnicity and we are beginning to embrace one another, not as members of a race or a country, but as people. As humans who want and need and eat and breath and bleed, just like we do.

Professor Richards showed us reports that the difference in the genes between one race and another is less than 1% of the entire make up of our genome. It looks like we're finally starting to realize what this means for discrimination and racism.

We are at the very beginning of an age, an age where people on one side of the globe can see people on the other side; and more importantly, can see themselves in these other people that they've never met or even seen before. We are at the tip, the very, very beginning of an age of unity.

At least, that's what I've come to see.

I must begin by saying that the people of Haiti, from what I've seen, are amazing people; just as amazing as any person from the United States or anywhere else. To be surviving, making bags and food and clothes and feeding and supporting their families...it's amazing. What they have to work in, and what they have to work with, and still being able to produce goods of quality from hand just blows my mind.

In the developed world, you don't see this part of Haiti. You don't see how they work and how successful they can be if just given the right things. You don't see how or where the money should be sent; we funnel our personal relief funds into big, government run charities and, yes, they do manage to do their jobs...But we can do it so much better if each of us took a personal hand in making their lives easier to live.

Indiscriminately throwing money at a problem rarely helps much, and mostly doesn't help in proportion to the amount of money thrown. It must be spent carefully and wisely to have positive effects. It seems that we, the sociology class, can help accomplish such care and consideration, if only just a little bit. Sometimes only a little bit is just enough to make life bearable.

That Anaes crochets her bags by hand and that Sonia sews her lunch bags in a one person operation is astounding. That Yvrose and her workers cut fabric with box cutters on wooden boards on their laps, braid strings using hooks on a wall, and don't seem to have a single table between them is beyond imagining. Most of us couldn't get by without a table to work on, but these Haitians get by on less and still produce products that we can, and probably would, purchase.

These people are amazing, and I'm glad we have a chance to help them.

I...I see. This is the way the world works, right? The people with money get the greatest vote, and no one can oppose them.
Why is that? Why is it that we follow power blindly and without question? Is it because we want to be powerful? Is it because we are afraid? Or is it because we are sheep following grass?
And why wouldn't we follow big oil? They are one of the most successful industries out there, right? They have clawed and fought their way to where they are now; isn't that the American way? The USA way? We push and push to become greater in this life: Hasn't big oil accomplished this?
They are powerful enough to control out government. They are powerful enough to control out money. They are powerful enough to cast influence on our everyday actions. Isn't this what every USA American aspires to do? To be big and important?
It doesn't feel so good being the little guy, does it? It doesn't feel good being the guy everyone pushes around, the guy who gets stepped on and crushed in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. That's who we are to big oil. That's what we are to them. They don't care about us. And as long as they control out government, neither do our politicians.
Why would they? We're just sheep; docile, accepting sheep who wouldn't lift a finger to change the status quo. How can we fight big oil? What can we do to change the world? I'm just one person, one small, insignificant person, right?
So you only accept the USA American ideal when it suits you, right? You believe in freedom and individualism when it says that you can be better and stronger if you work hard, but you cringe at the thought of doing something big. Something meaningful. We are trapped by these invisible strings that tell us to accept this as the inevitable, and we do it.
We are sheep. I am a sheep. I cannot deny that this is the way the world works. But it doesn't have to be. We, as a group, as a nation of people, can change all of this. We are strong when united, just as we were when this country was born. We are weak when divided, as our senate and congress are in this present day. We can't even pass a law to save our asses if it involves lessening big oil in any way.

We are weak.

How to get people, or rather a group of people, to take part in an activity . . .People, being self serving, will always try to get around doing work and conserve their energy. One way to get people to partake, if they are close to one another, is to use mob psychology to your advantage. Get people riled up. Get them angry and pissed off. Each person in the group compounds the effect, and they will lose themselves. That's how protests turn in to mobs. That's how mobs turn into riots. That's how people get hurt or killed.

We don't want that, though.

What do we want? Peaceful cooperation? Then you need an authority figure. You need someone of a higher "ranking," of greater knowledge or power. At least, you need someone of perceived power or knowledge. It's been shown time and time again that people will blindly follow an authority figure, like what the Nazis did, or what the participants of Milgram's experiment did.

But that alone isn't enough, because in larger groups, people will feel exempt from his or her orders. No, he or she must also need to earn the respect or the fear of the people. No person should be exempt from the punishments of disobedience.

This is the problem of zero tolerance that we discussed earlier in the year, and the problem of libertarian governments. People must be controlled like cattle, or they begin to step out on their own. The illusion of freedom must be cultivated and given to them for them to stay as part of the group.

People must be passive and sedate. People must not think. Then we are free to move them around as we wish, like pigs to the slaughter.

Is there a "good" way to get groups of people to follow a plan? If ever person has a set place and a set thing to do, and if people can be made dedicated to the plan, then yes. Dedication to the plan comes from knowing what your place is in the grand scheme and knowing what your contribution is. A mailroom clerk doesn’t care about his job because he can't see how it's necessary to the grand scheme, but it is. The feeling you get when you see the fruits of your labor come to light. That's what you need to tap into.

What makes a person white?

Or better yet, what makes a person seem white?

How do you define this quintessential property; a property defined by more than just the color of a person's skin ?

I'm sure we all know what society thinks white men are like: images of frat brothers downing beers and partying with scantily clad ladies is one that comes to mind.
Gun toting, NRA rednecks also come to mind. As do scheming, beguiling CEOs of high level companies that lobby and bend the rules to get their way .

White men are the sweaty bench warmers at basketball, football, and baseball games. They are the obnoxious jocks in high school, looking down at the nerds and the Goths and the Emos around them, who can't imagine how cool it might be to become them for a day .

There is a common thread in these examples; white men look down on those people around them and never try to see things a different way. They are emotionless and devoid of humanity, with little good in their souls for people who are different from them .

That is the quintessential quality of the white man. In an ultimate twist of irony, any white man is immediately thought to have these characteristics: they are judged by the color of their skin, rather than by the content of their character.

And white women? They suffer from a similar discrimination. White women, regardless of age, are thought to be backstabbers, talking about one another behind their backs since grade school. Once they reach their teen years, all white women are thought to be sexually promiscuous, hooking up with any white male they fancy .
And when they reach an age of child rearing, women are thought of as incompetent and over protective, teaching their children the wrong things and keeping them sheltered from the real world .

And why does this man seem like a quintessential white man? His adherence to guns near his crotch marks him as a redneck, regardless of his real life .

Look at us. Just look at us. How do we justify this? Putting a child in prison for life, without any chance of getting out? How do we look at this and say "Yes, this is right." ?

I'll tell you how. We're stupid. We're stupid and insensitive and unemphatic. But even more than that, even more than our inherent flaws, is the tenancy for us to blame. Like Professor Richards says, we only blame and we can't understand the invisible strings coming down and holding us. We refuse to believe that people aren't fully accountable for their actions. We can't believe it because we live in a society of blame, in which the last person involved in an action is the one that gets blamed.

The incident may be the result of 20 years of tension and build up on both sides, may be brought about by a chance occurrence that neither side had wanted or anticipated, or may have been dumped on the participants by their fathers, and their grandfathers, but it doesn't matter. This person is the person we blame, the person who is responsible for everything that has ever happened.

A 15 year old kid.

" Put him in prison! " They say. " Send him for life! " " He's the scum of the earth! Get rid of him! " And we just do it. And we don't think about it. We just don't think about what this really means. Putting him in prison. For his entire life. 50, 60 years, maybe? His entire life. Words don't give justice to how long this time is. From 16 years old to 60 years, or more.

How do people find it in their hearts to do this? How do people find that this is right? They distance themselves from it all. They don't look at the person, not really. They may look with their eyes, but all they see is the crime that has been commited. They don't see a person anymore. So that means that this is alright. It's alright to lock them away forever. They aren't human.

This is a horrible way to look at another person. We strip away the context and look at one thing only, We forget( or refuse to acknowledge) that they had friends and family, people who were or are close to them. We forget that they had dreams and wanted to live their life a certain way. We forget that they aren't monsters.

That's how we let this happen.

People, especially mothers, are indeed afraid about their children being abducted. But it's more than that. Our society has a bias known as blaming the victim. The first questions that will come to the mind of a person that hears about such a thing happening?

"Where was the mother/ father /guardian figure?"

"What were they doing? Where were they?"

"Why weren't they taking better care of their child?"

In other words, who can tangibly be blamed for the event that has occurred. Who can we visibly point fingers at and say that this is their fault. You can't point your fingers at the abductor; you don't know who he or she is. You can' t point at the child because they' re innocent little things that don't know any better. Who else is involved? The only person who can be blamed for this horrible, horrible thing is the person who didn't do enough to protect their precious child: the parent / grand parent / guardian figure.

They will be blamed and it will be their fault, as far as the public is concerned. Personally and for the record, I hate that and I will try to never do it. But this isn't about me, so anyway... The guardian / parent / person will be blamed for the abduction. How does this relate back to fear? Not only are the afraid of their child being abducted, they are afraid of the society that will tell them it is their fault. They are afraid because they believe it, and they have to do more, and more, and even more because if they don't do every single little thing to make sure that this never happens, they will blame themselves for it.

It doesn't sound right, does it? That's society's fault. We're scared, we're stupid, and we always have to have a reason for these horrible, horrible things to happen.

A family who's house is hit by a tornado? They shouldn't have been living in tornado alley. They deserved it.

A girl who gets cornered and raped while out to party? She shouldn't have been wearing that. She shouldn't have been drinking. She should have taken better care. She deserved it.

A biker who gets hit by a car? He wasn't following the rules of the road. No bikers do that. He wasn't wearing his helmet. He didn't have his safety devices correctly adjusted. He deserved to get hit by a car.

We're horrible, horrible people for thinking these things.... But we think them.

Of course, sexual promiscuity is the worst thing and WILL lead down the path of pain and self-inflicted turmoil.

I hope you know I'm joking.
I hope you know that I'm sarcastic like that sometimes. I hope others will look at this and know not only to look to another path in life, but also know that people CAN and DO change.

How does a sociological standpoint work with this? Professor Richards has taught us that no matter what, there are things coming down and influencing our decisions. He also taught us of the distinction, or rather, the lack of distinction, between personal and public problems. In this article, Mr. W has already put forth the influences of a sheltered inner city life during the gang wars and determined they did little to him.

However, I believe that they did more than he could see. "These invisible strings, Man. These invisible strings are coming down and touching every part of our lives..." We know that what Mr. W has described is much less likely to happen to a kid in the rural country side, or from, I don't know, China or something like that. (Look, I don't know all the information.) He is still influenced by the things around him, despite how his parents, his father in particular, tried to shelter him.

Could he have changed this? Could he have been a better person, been a better son or a better man in the end? Are these things set in stone by the strings? Maybe he could have. Maybe he could have chosen to tell the truth when his father first asked him for it. Hell, is it even possible to boil everything down into one decision? To change everything with just one word?

I feel sorry for him. I feel that things could have been so much different. But he is not worthless, no and never. Not as long as someone, someone like me, takes this and uses it in his or her (or my) life.

I have no doubt in my mind that this is freedom, and not only freedom; the best kind of freedom. Even in the darkest of places, and the cruelest of people, light still shines in the hearts of men. Nothing is more beautiful than that light, and the glow cast from it; and how, if allowed, it will turn from a flickering flame into a shining star for others to follow. That's the best part, too: that other will follow.

Freedom is a funny thing. We, as the United States, protect it as much as we can, with every weapon conceivable. It is our most treasured possession. But while this is an admirable goal, it shades the truth: freedom cannot be lost. Our freedoms can never be taken away by some foreign power. The only people who can take away and restrict our freedom are ourselves. We can choose to follow the laws of our state and government, or we can choose to disregard them; and while there is a punishment to discourage this, it is our choice and our freedom at the end of the day, and we are to live with what choices we have made.

It seems like the government believes the civilian population are akin to cattle, and that laws are fences to keep us contained and "civilized." And, by and by, they are correct. With Mob-Psychology and Peer-Pressure and the results of the Milgram experiment, among hundreds of other reasons, it seems that we blindly follow the herd, and without guidance, we will abuse our freedoms, or follow those who do.

But I believe in people. I believe that people, ordinary people, will do what's right if left to themselves, much like what happened here, in this article. Freedom can be used to better or worsen life, but I know, and I have seen, that we use it for good.