I found this article to be very sad and disturbing. Deciding to look at the pictures was probably a mistake. I ended up with a sick feeling in my stomach.

Unfortunately, this really shouldn’t be surprising. Soldiers have committed atrocities in war across time. My grandfather even told me about how some of the soldiers in Vietnam would mutilate the dead enemies and attack civilians. Of course, this is information that our government doesn’t want us to know. The Pentagon even tried to stop the release of the pictures that were featured with the Rolling Stone article.

Why did this happen? It would be easy to just call these soldiers crazy, but the dehumanization of the enemy still plays a roll. For starters, the media rarely mentions the death toll of Iraqi and Afghanistan citizens. When the deaths of civilians are reported, the military sometimes refer to them as collateral damage. The psychology term cognitive dissonance might even play a roll. It is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. You cope with dissonance by telling yourself something. For example, a person might feel conflicting feelings about taking a life. In order to reduce cognitive dissonance, the person might dehumanize the enemy in order to cope with what he is doing.

I just love hypocrisy “Pickens and Obama both are claiming that for
"national security" purposes, we need to end our addiction to foreign oil, particularly from OPEC countries. Yet, government reports show that gas companies are exporting an increasing amount of methane gas drilled throughout the U.S. to other countries, thus adding to the profits of the industry as it depletes the gas supply available to Americans.” I guess that this really shouldn’t be surprising. Companies, especially in the oil and gas industries will do just about anything to make a profit including contaminating water, ruining farmlands and destroying people’s livelihoods.

The fact that President Obama is supporting large scale fracking is depressing but makes since. He needs to raise money for his reelection campaign, but why does he has to do it at the expense of people?
The White House released a blueprint to go along with President Barack Obama's energy speech that addresses safety concerns with hydraulic fracturing operations of natural gas drillers. The Department of Energy, along with the EPA, would establish an advisory board to address fracking issue. The blueprint also urges drillers to make further disclosures of the chemical contents of fracking fluids. Can we really trust that the government will do a good job with regulating fracking?

It is true that we usually only see one side of war; troop levels, troop surges, military spending. but the media does not focus on the civilian victims of war and how war is destroying the social fabrics of communities. We only see objective discussion of politics, weapons, causalities. This was especially true at the start of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Libya to a certain extent.

Majority of the news stories that focus on Iraq, and Afghanistan mostly talk about the politics and tactics of the war. Some will show emotional stories about troop causalities, but when it comes to the civilians of these wars, the media tends to shy away from talking about them in a subjective way. Victims of war aren’t seen as human. I won’t pretend to be perfect. When I would hear about the number of civilians killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, I would feel numb, and I still do sometimes. Listening and reading stories like the speaker from the video does seem to help you not just think the civilian deaths as just meaningless numbers.

Something that I thought the speaker said that is important is, “I worry that my children will have hate in their hearts, and grow up to kill the killers of their fathers”. This was one of the speaker’s points about why women need to be a part of the peace process. The words also made me think of the current situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems like no one is concerned about the cost of “wining” in Afghanistan and in Iraq. There have been many accidental deaths of civilians caused by the U.S. but then there are the killings that aren’t accidental. Everyone should know about the atrocities, that the U.S. have done in these countries. The Rolling Stone even published an article called “The Kill Team” which talks about how a group of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses. There are even some disturbing war crime photos to go along with the article.

First, the animation was awesome. Second, I found watching the animation to be ironic because I have spoken to my 7 year old nephew on the phone and asked him what did he learn at school. His answer, “we learned how to take tests”. My nephew seems to has a big imagination and is creative. Unfortunately, he will probably never have an outlet for his creativity in school. He doesn’t even have a gym class to let out his nonstop flow of energy. My nephew’s school even advised his mother to see a doctor because he could potentially have ADHD, because he is hyper and a little talkative during class. What seven year old isn’t like this. My nephew might have a anesthetic experience at school

I found it interesting how the video explained how our current system of education was designed for a different age. I always figured that something was off about our education system. Academics is important but so is critical thinking and thinking for yourself.

In high School, I can’t remember learning a thing in 11th and 12th grade English class. I spent the majority of the time preparing for the PSSA and some other standardized test. When I wasn’t preparing for one of those test, class always went the same way. Read a story in the huge English book, and answer questions in the back. Even when some of the stories and poems seemed like they could be open to interpretation, there could only be one correct answer according to my English teacher.

My High School was so concerned about how well my class did on one of the standardized tests, the school administration tried to bribe my class by saying if the majority of us did well, the school would pay half for the senior prom.

This video was very sweet and touching. Whenever we hear people argue why gay couples shouldn’t raise children, the main talking points are; gay couples cant function as a family the same way straight couples can, the child will grow up gay, and one of the most horrible arguments is that the gay couple will molest their child or children. So many people shout this nonsense and fail to notice people like Zach Wahls and listen to what they have to say. "In my 19 years not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple," he said. "And you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character." Some people are posting that they couldn’t tell that Zach Wahl’s was raised by a gay couple. That’s the main point Zach Wahl’s, and others are trying to make.

No family is perfect, gay families can be can be just as dysfunctional as straight families but still be a family about love. Gay couples can provide love, support and discipline just like straight couples. There really shouldn’t be a problem. You don’t have to share the same blood to be family. I share the same blood with my grandfather, but we pretty much disown each other.

The documentary that we watched in class said that gay couples are an untouched resource when it comes to adoption. Its amazing how some people, especially republicans bitch and moan about family values and important it is that children be raised by a family, but make it harder for gay parents to provide them with one.

I don’t think that it should be that surprising that people in powerful and public positions haven’t gotten the message about using the “R” word. After watching the video, I realized that in our culture, it seems that people with mental disabilities, such as down syndrome are on the back burner. Most of us aren’t exposed to many people with mental disabilities. We might see them but we don‘t have the opportunity to talk to them, learn about their life experiences. The media also fails to adequately represent them. I hate to use Glee as an example, but the those feature two recurring characters with down syndrome. Very few other tv shows have done this.

Some people are writing that “people are just to sensitive”. people’s lack of empathy is appalling. When people say “that’s retarded or you’re a retard“, the word carries a negative connotation. People that are advocating to stop “R” word from being used might feel that the word “retard“=inferior; someone not to be treated with respect, someone that should be ridiculed.

I wont pretend that I’m perfect. There has been a few times when I slipped and used the “R” word. However, after I use it, I usually feel somewhat guilty about it and think of the people that might feel offended by the word.

In a twist of hypocrisy, it was Sarah Palin that initially called out the President’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel for using the “R” word. Sarah Palin has been criticized for using her son with down syndrome as a prop to gain sympathy votes during the 2008 election. Rush Limbaugh used the word and Palin actually defended him. “ They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh was using satire to bring attention to what this politically correct --” -Sarah Palin

Why do we live in a culture of fear? Since we can’t experience, see, and learn everything there is about the world. The media and most importantly television shapes or cultivates how we see the world. (This is referred to as cultivation theory). An aspect of cultivation theory is the mean world syndrome. Television, portrays the world as a dangerous place and may cause people to become paranoid. For example, prime time television seems to be loaded with crime shows with acronyms. The news doesn’t really help either. The media tends to sensationalize news stories especially stories that have something to do with children. I’m actually surprised the story didn’t start with “Attempted kidnapping of a 4 year old child, could your child be next?” People have to understand that the media likes to sensationalize stories in order to attract viewers and boost ratings.

Even thought the attempted kidnapped was an isolated event, I can understand why parents might freak out. According to statistics, there is a minimal chance of a child being kidnapped off the streets, but after watching or reading a story about an abduction, some people can’t help but think,” what if it was my child?” However, parents should still try to think rationally. Like Sam said in class, if a child gets lost in someplace like a city, they can be found quicker by walking up to a stranger and telling them that they are lost. Parents should still teach their children how to talk to strangers if they find themselves in this type of situation. If they watch the show “What would you do“, they would know that most people will walk by a child pleading for help. So, it would also be helpful to teach children how get and keep someone’s attention.

Right now, my seven year old nephew is being taught never to speak to strangers, even if he gets lost. I would like to tell him what to do , but its not really my place to say something, since I’m not one of his parents.

The message of the lyrics is that its not the end of the world if your “soul mate” doesn’t turn out to really be your soul mate. There are different circumstances that bring people together and that can pull them apart. If you break up, its not a big deal. Everything you get from one person, you can probably get from another person. Everything we’ve been taught about love is really just a superficial and idealized idea about love. Someone told me an interesting quote, “Every relationship that you get in will fail until you get into one that doesn’t” I think that it applies to the song.

The video made me feel a little bit better about my own love life or lack thereof. Many of us have grown up around the idealized notion of love and relationships: true love, soul mates, first love, and fate. I’ve heard these concepts from my own parents, church, school, in music, and movies. (I think that Disney princess movies indoctrinate little girls to believe in true love and that they have to find their own prince charming). I use to feel like I have to cave into the pressure from my parents, church, and friends to jump into a serious relationship and potentially find a wife causing love to be a personal trouble, but then Valentine’s Day comes. When Valentines comes every year, it seems like I’m bombarded with images and messages about love with the media. Every radio station is playing some type of love song on the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, there seems to be more advertisements about crappy romantic comedies, jewelry adds, and special valentines day TV show episodes. It seems like I become hypersensitive, and take notice the number of couples that just happen to be walking by. However, my so called personal trouble is really a public issue because I’m not the only one that is alone or that feels alienated because of Valentine’s Day.

The fact that only 30% of Americans own a passport is not surprising. I admit that I am apart of the 30%. As usual, the reason for this involves many sociological factors or invisible strings. The article highlighted a few of these. One example, was the American work ethic. Americans tend to spend longer hours working than people in other countries, especially in Europe. A typical vacation for an American worker is 1-2 weeks. My Dad actually has a passport and uses it to travel. However, he only travel every 2-3 years. He gives up a week of vacation he gets every year so that when he wants to travel abroad, he can leave work for 2-3 weeks.

Of course there are financial reasons for why Americans can’t travel abroad, however, you don’t have to stay in a five star hotel in somewhere in Europe or eat at the most expensive restaurants. There are ways to save money for traveling, but most people don’t know this, and traveling agencies would want to keep it this way.

Another compelling factor is the media’s portrayal of the rest of the world. When you watch your local news or CNN, the only time you hear or see images of another country is when something bad happens; terrorism, natural disaster, or political upheaval. In one of my Comm classes, a student from Pakistan said that he would always invite his friends to his home in Pakistan but his friends would decline because of how the media was portraying Pakistan. He said that he lives in a relatively quiet but beautiful neighborhood.

With shows like TMZ, you’ll hear about a foreign country that a celebrity traveled to for vacation. The media also seems to encourage Americans to live inside a bubble. There are few channels on standard and cable TV that offer foreign programming. There is even a trend where foreign shows are re-written adapted for an American audience such as Skins, The Office, and Being Human. Network producers and executives fear that Americans will probably have a negative reaction to seeing a main character that’s not American. Foreign films are rarely noticed by Americans. Some might catch attention on the film festival circuit and quietly get an Oscar nomination. The music industry is shaped in a way that makes it hard for non-American musicians to make it into the mainstream.

Even though this is the third time that I have seen this video, I still can’t help but laugh and feel a little anxious about my life. This video illustrates the main theme from class; no one is really free. This concept is really ironic for Americans because this country prides itself on individualism and independence. In the video, the young man was illustrating informational social influence. The young man was in an ambiguous and confusing situation so he had to rely on the behavior of the other people in the elevator to tell him what to do. We all have been in similar situations when we just had to follow what other people were doing. Another serious but hilarious example is the original 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast. The people that listened to the broadcast were in an ambiguous situation. Since we look to each other to know what to do, fear quickly spread throughout the masses.
Normative social influence (going along with the group) is one of the many invisible strings that help controls out behavior. Normative social influence is what we deal with every day; social norms or rules that guide acceptable behavior. Social norms always make be think about the movie “Mean Girls” . Examples of social norms can be found throughout the whole movie. The plastics explain to Cady what she can and can’t wear while being in the plastics group. She didn’t known that it was the norm for girls to dress skanky on Halloween and actually dressed as something scary.
I don’t think that conformity is always a bad thing. Conformity is biologically important to humans because we are a social species. In the past, gaining acceptance and affection from others and being apart of a group was important for survival.
However, the consequences to not conforming to social norms usually include being ridiculed or ostracized from a group. When I was younger, since I had an awkward body and no hand eye coordination whatsoever, I couldn’t play football or basketball and had no interest in the sports. When my classmates and children in my neighborhood became aware of this, I was pretty much shunned.