The tension between the Middle East and the United States is something that has been plaguing both of these nations for what seems like centuries. As we discussed in class, the people on both sides of the spectrum have very skewed perceptions of one another. It’s obvious that most Americans feel that every Muslim is a terrorist who hates the West and is probably carrying a bomb on them, just waiting to blow all of us up. As the video clearly pointed out, there are those extremist individuals who exist. All of the terrorist attacks on our nation in the past couple decades or so have been committed by these individuals. However, that doesn’t mean that everyone who is Islam has the same ideals as these extremist individuals, or wants to kill as many Americans as possible. Many people of Islamic decent have the same ideals as many of us, the only difference between us and them is that we practice different religions. Also, what many Americans do not realize is that many people who live in the Middle East are actually Christian, rather than Muslim. However, the people of the Middle East often have very skewed perceptions of what American people are really like as well. For example, many Middle Eastern people believe that all Americans are Christian crusaders, determined to defend their God and kill all those who denounce his name. What’s so funny about this, to me at least, is that many Americans have the same fear of Muslims. That anyone who does not honor Allah, their god, should be beheaded. Both of these statements are not characteristic of the entire population, but rather just a very small group of extremist individuals. What is also bizarre, is that many Middle Easterners feel that the United States Army are all a bunch of extremists who are determined to kill as many Muslims as humanly possible. We all, as Americans, know this is not true of our soldiers. However, are the people of the Middle East supposed to know this is all they see is news stories displaying only those terrible actions committed by US soldiers? The same question goes for us Americans. How are we supposed to think any differently of Muslim people is all we hear and see are those individual cases of terrorist attacks and suicide bombers?

I feel that the issue of discrimination against transgendered individuals is a very tricky situation. While I am not someone who actively discriminates against others, nor am I saying that the Urban Treatment Center was right in firing Mr. Devoureau, I am just saying that any issues concerning transgendered individuals makes for a tricky situation. As one of our readings argued, in order to truly not discriminate against transgendered individuals, genders other than simply male or female need to be officially recognized. Allowing individuals to check boxes such as the true hermaphrodite, the male pseudohermaphrodite and the female pseudohermaphrodite would allow for situations, such as Mr. Devoureau’s, to be avoided. How is someone who is exactly like Mr. Devoureau supposed to respond to those questions are you male or female? Moreover, how is a business, such as the Urban Treatment Center, supposed to respond to applicants like Mr. Devoureau? What I find the most conflicting about this article, which makes me think that the Urban Treatment Center was, in fact, discriminating against Mr. Devoureau, is that he wasn’t fired until his boss heard wind that he may be transgendered. There was no question about the validity of his gender prior to his boss hearing the rumors about him, so therefore, why should questions be raised about his gender now? Further, if Mr. Devoureau considered himself of the male gender, and everyone else who knew him considered him of the male gender, why should he be fired for not technically being 100% male if he was doing a sufficient job? I feel that if he identifies himself as male, and is not using his male-only job for any undisclosed reasons, why shouldn’t he be able to work there? Yet, at the same time, if the position held by Mr. Devoureau was, in fact, only for those individuals of the male gender, I suppose that the Urban Treatment Center does technically have the right to fire him for not being “male.” Again, as I said before, issues concerning those individuals who are transgendered makes for very complicated situations. I feel that the idea of officially recognizing more than two genders should be seriously considered to help prevent situations like this from occurring in the future.

The topic of wealth distribution in the United States is something that I find very interesting. For as long as this country has been in existence, the American people have been led to believe in the “American dream.” The fact that if you work hard, you’ll make a lot of money, and be able to live a full and happy life. However, when one really looks at the statistics and the distribution of wealth and income, one will see that often times no matter how hard you work, there will always be a small group of very powerful people trying to push you down. Some of the most interesting statistics I’ve seen on this topic reveal that the wealthiest people in this nation actually aren’t wealthy because they worked really hard and brought home fat paychecks. In reality, some of the wealthiest people in this nation make all of their money through stocks, bonds and investments. For example, the Rockefellers are still one of the wealthiest and most prestigious families in America. However, the Rockefellers that are still living today really aren’t making very high incomes. Instead, they are making tons of money in investments and trust funds that they’re relatives has set up for them years and years ago. Just having the last name Rockefeller earns them money somehow. So, I think that this makes it ever more clear of the invisible strings that shape the way things are in this society. People are led to believe that they can achieve anything if they work hard enough; however, some people are just more likely, or destined, to be infinitely more wealthy than everyone else, no matter how hard they work. It is very rare to see someone come from nothing and end up making a fortune later in life. Even people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg who created multi-million, maybe even billion, dollar corporations still had advantages that aren’t available to the majority of us. For instance, both Gates and Zuckerberg attended Harvard University and were members of the upper-middle class even before they became multi-millionaires. All of this information seems very discouraging, and really makes me think: why am I wasting my time and energy on attending school if its going to have little to no effect on the amount of money I make in the future? But then again, we’re all going to die one day so we might as well make the most of life and see what happens.

This man’s story literally brought tears to my eyes. How could parents be so cruel to their own child? I wonder why this man was the only child in the family being abused? Why did the mother and father not torture any of their other children? While this story is devastating to think that someone could have grown up in this environment, I also think that this is an amazing story of strength. I don’t think I would have been able to refrain from killing myself when everyone I knew was begging me too. Again, this just boggles my mind that two parents could treat their child like this. For a mother to poison her child so he wouldn’t be able to resist while his own father raped him is sickening. How could a mother know that her husband was raping her child on a nightly basis and not feel sickened by it? Obviously there were major psychological problems going on in the minds of both of those individuals. Even further, the fact that this man’s siblings also knew about what was going on and did absolutely nothing about it is also very disturbing. I wonder what went on to make all of these people hate this man so much? Also, the fact that the mother was able to convince the teachers and counselors at the man’s school that he was a compulsive liar is disturbing as well. These are professionals who should be able to recognize signs of abuse among children in their classrooms, and yet in this case, they chose to ignore all of the signs and believe a woman who was poisoning her child. The saddest part about this man’s story is that he had no one to turn to. I honestly feel that if this man was able to confide in someone about what was happening to him, he wouldn’t have lost all control later in life and ended up murdering his parents. This is also a perfect example of how any of us can end up in prison for reasons we can’t even fathom at this point in our lives. You never know what’s going to happen throughout the course of your life. This man had ample opportunities to kill his parents while he was living at home, but he resisted. All it took was one random day where he lost control of his built up anger to snap. Reading these letters and talking about these lifers in class has definitely put them and their stories into a whole new perspective for me. It makes it ever more clear that life is too short, and you really don’t have any control of what’s going to happen throughout the course of your life. Therefore, you need to take advantage of the moments you have now, because it can all be taken away from you in a matter of minutes.

This video is amazing. The issue of LGBT rights is something that I am very passionate about. I find it incredible that even to this day, our country is still discriminating against a quite large portion of society. It doesn’t make sense to me that we have come so far as a country from what occurred during the civil rights movement, and yet the federal government still has laws in place banning one of the most basic human rights from a huge group of people. While LGBT marriage has slowly become more acceptable, and is even legal in some states, the fact that it is not legal and recognized everywhere is absurd. I feel that at this point in time, the government and all those who are against LGBT marriages are fishing for reasons why it should not be legal. One of the main arguments that these such individuals come up with, is the fact that gay and lesbian couples cannot reproduce. Many people believe that the primary function of a marriage is to produce children. However, as we discussed in class, there are many other functions of a marriage and a family than simply reproducing. LGBT couples are fully capable of fulfilling each one of these functions except for reproducing. However, as many gay and lesbian couples have demonstrated, there are many other ways for them to become parents. Adoption is always an option, as well as artificial insemination, which is more or less reproducing. Moving past the issue of whether or not LGBT couples can reproduce, many opponents of LGBT marriage also argue that a child raised by parents of the same sex will be negatively affected. This has also been disproven by many individuals, including the young man in the video. It is nearly impossible to tell whether or not someone was raised by parents of the same sex. Opponents of LGBT marriage also argue that if a child is raised by gay or lesbian parents, than they themselves will end up being gay as well. While it is not proven that people are born gay, or develop that way over the course of their life, I feel that it makes much more sense that someone is born as gay or lesbian. If this is true, than the idea that LGBT parents would “turn” their child gay holds no merit. As I said before, I feel that the government is searching for reasons to continue the ban on LGBT marriages, and frankly I feel that they are starting to run out of reasons. Hopefully, in my lifetime, I will be able to see some of my good friends be able to legally marry someone they love.

I thought this video was very interesting, especially when you think about it in terms of freedom. I have never before stopped to think about how light, and sunshine effect me. However, if I had to live a few months out of every year in complete darkness, I’m sure I would begin to appreciate sunlight much more. Even during the winter months in America, I find myself experiencing the effects that one of the men in the video was describing. I am much more tired, I eat a lot more, and I definitely begin to get that cabin fever feeling. I find it incredible that I feel this way and the sun is still shining for most of the day. I couldn’t imagine living somewhere, where all throughout the cold winter, it was also completely dark outside. I think that most people in America would feel the same way as I do. I don’t think, as a society, we would be mentally equipped to deal with that kind of darkness for such an extended period of time. This leads me to believe that the people who live in those northernmost countries are much stronger mentally than most Americans. Otherwise, how would they all not go insane? I think that if our roles were suddenly reversed, American people would feel the effects on a much grander scale than would the Fins. However, the Fins are also probably built to cope with these effects more so than Americans. Although on this note, the people of Scandinavian nations also experience one of the highest, if not the highest, standard of living in the world. Therefore, their lives, and mentalities about life, are probably far more promising than those of Americans. I think that this contributes greatly to the people of these nations who experience winter in total darkness being able to handle those conditions. If Americans, who don’t experience such high standards of living, but poverty and violence and whatever else goes along with that, were succumbed to complete darkness for months at a time, I feel it would be a total disaster. Taking this into consideration, I think the world is built in a very particular way, and certain people live where they do for very specific reasons.

I was honestly shocked when we discussed this idea in class. Since a very, very early age, all I can remember being taught was to not talk to strangers in any kind of situation. Moreover, there are countless stories in the news about child abductions, rapes and murders. It’s clear that the abundance of these stories has led us, as a society, to be fearful of these kinds of occurrences. In class, we discussed that these terrible crimes are no more likely to happen to us or our children than they were to happen to our parents. These stories, while tragic, make for captivating news. I feel that this is why they are so often seen in the news, and then replayed over and over again. This, in turn, has led us to believe that there are child abductors, rapists and murderers running rampant in the streets, much like the video portrayed. Also, as pointed out in class, we should begin to teach our children that rather than avoid strangers when in a troubling situation, they should communicate with them instead. I was wondering, however, about those people who may be considered strangers to children who offer their help when they notice a child in need. For example, I know whenever I see a child wondering alone, whether it be in a mall, or outside somewhere, I always stop to see if they’re okay or need any help. I wonder how much this phenomenon plays into the concept of children receiving help from strangers. I wonder how often children actually reach out to strangers for assistance, versus a stranger noticing a child in distress and offering them their assistance. I find it difficult to believe that a small child would actually reach out to a complete stranger and ask them for help. Even if they are a little older, I still think it would be rare for a child to talk to a complete stranger. However, maybe this is just me being naïve, and falling into the trap of fear that we, as a society, are consumed by. Maybe children really do communicate with strangers, and maybe they actually do benefit from, despite what we may think.

This song really is very interesting to think about in terms of sociology. I’ve always been one to believe in the notion of soul mates. The notion that there is one person somewhere in the world that you are meant to spend the rest of your life with. However, this song makes it very clear that it is, more or less, impossible for this to be true. There are about 6 billion people living in the world today. Who’s to say that the one person I’m supposed to live my life with isn’t living somewhere in Russia? While this person may, if fact, exist and actually live in Russia, I will probably never travel to Russia and actually get the opportunity to meet them. Therefore, it is more logical to believe in the notion that we ultimately end up with the person we end up with because of the choices we make throughout our lifetimes. Even this notion can be questioned when analyzed from a sociological perspective. Maybe we end up with the person we end up with because of outside forces and factors that we are not aware of. This is a scary thought. It’s hard to digest the notion that I will one day marry someone who I think I chose to marry; however, in reality, I just happen to fit into a certain bracket of society who are more likely to marry a certain type of person over another type. While I would like to think that I have some sort of choice in the matter of who I’m going to marry, it’s ultimately inevitable that I’m going to marry a certain kind of person whether I like it or not. This always brings the personal trouble/public issue of divorce into play. Maybe I also fit into that certain bracket of society who is more likely to get divorced in their lifetime. While in my mind, I may perceive the issue of my getting divorced as something along the lines of that wasn’t the person I was supposed to end up with; however, it was, in a way, already predestined for me and I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Thinking about love and relationships from a sociological point of view is definitely very intriguing, and also makes me wonder what’s in the cards for me in the future.

This video was extremely eye-opening. I never actually stopped to think what it meant to be empathetic towards someone. In all honesty, I didn’t even know what it meant to be truly empathetic. The idea that as a race, we are “soft-wired” to feel what others around us are feeling is an amazing idea. As humans, we are programmed to be sympathetic towards others. To an extent, we feel what others are feeling by just being around them. On this note, why is it that there is still so much conflict on a global level? If we can sympathize with others on such a personal level as to have our brains produce the same neurons, why can’t we all get along? The video described the evolution of empathetic behavior among humans. It has grown from having empathy for only those you can physically speak to, to those who are a part of your religion, to those who are a part of your country. The man in the video claims, why can’t this empathy extend to all those on the planet, especially in the society we live in today? I agree with this claim completely. Why can’t we all strive to be there for one another on a global level? The man in the video used the earthquake in Haiti as an example of this global empathy. Within moments after news of the earthquake broke, people from all over the world were doing whatever they could to help. Why was global empathy possible in this situation, but not others? Why can’t we as Americans put aside our differences with the Middle East and realize that we share the same genes? Why can’t we begin to empathize with one another? This video has led me to want to make a change in the way I handle day-to-day situations. If someone is rude to me, I want to fight the instinct to be rude back. I want to put aside snap judgments I may make about people, and try to see things in their perspective. I want to help others who are less fortunate. I want to start being empathetic towards everyone, not just those I am close with, because in the end, we’re all in this together.

I think that this video is hilarious, especially the last segment with the gentleman wearing the hat. While it seems amusing to, I’m sure, all us when watching it from an outside prospective, we would all act in the same way as the people in the experiment. As a society, we all have a strong desire to fit in. Even though many people, especially those at a younger age, claim that they want to be different and don’t care what people think about them, it is still in our nature to want to be a part of the mainstream. Those individuals that pride themselves on being different are simply part of a group of people who pride the same thing. In my opinion, it takes a lot of, for lack of a better word, balls to be a true individual; at least when other people are watching. Another great example of this idea of conformity is the movie Mean Girls. Using the entire high school as an example of society, there are a ton of different groups that make up the whole. For instance, there are the preps, J.V. jocks, Asian nerds, cool Asians, Varsity jocks, unfriendly black hotties, etc. Each one of these groups represents a different segment of society in which each member of the group conforms to the behavior of their fellow group members. I feel that it is truly very rare for an individual to act against the “normal” behaviors set forth by society. There is always going to be another individual acting in the same way, whether it be conformed with what society deems as “normal,” or conformed to behaviors that would be accepted by group members, whatever group that may be. It is also very interesting to think about how these “social norms” transcend between cultures. For example, as Sam discussed in class, as an American society, we are more-or-less homophobic. Two straight men would not be caught dead walking arm-in-arm down the street and giving each other a kiss on the cheek goodbye. However, in other places of the world, this behavior is considered normal and passersby would not think anything of it. The entire concept of conformity is very interesting to think about, and can really make you feel a lot less unique than you thought you were.