Blog # 18- “Bros before Hos”

     The essay is interesting because it tells you what "boys" think what it is like to be a man.  What is funny is that if you questioned them on why "boys don't cry," they would not be able to give you an intelligent answer other than, boys have to be strong or something else they can back up.

     Something else that i found interesting about the list is that it is so universal that it can be applied to other cultures/ countries.  That means that there are biological differences in personality or behavior that are pre-programmed in the genders.  For example, "take it like a man" is something you will see in every culture.  No one will ever say "take it like a woman." 

     The essay also goes on to say that other guys are policing and teaching younger guys how to behave.  I don't see why the author had a problem with this.  It makes sense guys are going to look up to guys and want to behave like them.  How they behave on the other had is questionable.

   

Blog # 19- The Death of Macho”

     Damn, this guy paints a scary picture of the future, calling it "very violent."  The shift towards power for women has never been violent, perhaps the road has been rough, but no incidents like the civil war (speaking of United States, Middle East is a totally different story) have occurred, and lets hope they do not.  The transition will be slow perhaps, but it will occur (just as long as people like Sara Palin stop representing as presidential candidates).

     They are still a long way thought currently;

     - only 1% of worlds assets belong to women

     - 1 million are captured by human trafficking (early)

     - only 33% can read or write

     - #1 cause of women death is forced child birth

    - do 2/3 of the worlds work but make 1/10th of the pay

(source is TedxTalks; Santa Cruz Change, "Ending the Global Oppression of Women"

     Other than that, i really don't have a problem with the end of the "macho."  I never understood what it was because no one i knew displayed "natural" macho-nesses."  The only time i have seen it is if boys or girls pretend to act tough (they would hold their breath and puff up their chests).  Money 

   

         

Blog # 16- "Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender”

     It all comes back to the genes.  When you get right down to it, the purpose of life is to reproduce.  The best hope a person has to reproduce is if they behave how the opposite sex expects them too.  Until recently, one sex's job was to hunt while the others job was to look after the children (it is the exact opposite for the lions).  Civilization has advanced far from that time and change is occurring.  The essay states that gender roles are learned and not pre-programmed, which is true if you look to the rest of the animal kingdom and other cultures, but one thing it does not mention is the progression that has been made.  Years ago, a women who was different was labeled as a witch and hung, now a days, there are tomboys of all ages.  The more civilization progresses, the gender line will become more gray.

Blog # 15- "The Crossing" & "The End of White America

     I interpreted the stories to be focused largely about the identity of America, or rather what identity means.  The first story is about  a guy who sees Victor, an illegal immigrant who is ill.  The story wonderfully illustrates conflicts with identify.  On one hand, the narrator was a American and must follow the laws.  On the other hand, he is also one of him due to his background.  The identity's conflict with each other, but ultimately, he chooses the identity that everyone belongs to, Homo sapian.  He chooses to help to help him not because he was trying to brake the law, or because he wanted to help immigrants get across, he helps because he is a human and that is what society and empathy teaches us.
     The second story deals with identity because of the fear of no identity.  The short essay deals with the whites becoming a minority and white children feeling that they do not belong to any culture (which is absurd, considering how different America is, even compared to countries as closely related as Australia and England).  The reading also deals with the negatives that come with having minorities having equal powers with each other and no dominate majority, which is another issue with identity.
         There is good news for people who do not want the country to become more culturally diverse than it is now.  Recently, on the news they said that immigration has decreased.  For example, the illegal Mexicans crossing to the US has stopped due to the lack of jobs available (only one reason of course)

Blog #14 “Deconstructing America"

     The essay to a degree “mind blowing.”  This is the first time I have been presented with a logical argument against diversity that, at least on the surface is not bias.  I agree with the author, when the countries inhabitants speak similar languages, have a similar religion, etc, naturally they would be more united.  But that does not unity is essentially a good thing.  As it was pointed out, a unified community (similar language, region, etc) makes you trust your neighbors more.  I found this statement odd because I don’t see myself trusting my neighbor more if they had a similar background as mine.

     The question that seems to be the backbone of the essay is, should a country give up unity (which according to an article is better for a country) in order to promote a diversity and equality.  The question is difficult because it can go both ways.  So I decided to look at the framework of societies from the perspectives of other animals.  I thought of bees when trying to think of a unified society in other animals.  Bees are very effective in what they do, but than again the majority of them are zombies (in the sense that they just follow orders).  The more diverse animals are the monkeys.  It has been reported that the Capuchin monkey and the Squirrel monkeys live together in the wild.  Experiments have been done where they concluded that the two species of monkey actually want to associate with each other, although both monkey have different goals.  If the monkeys can pull off living with different monkeys, in time I think so can we.

     In the end, I don’t think that diversity can be escaped in a global economy.  There are some countries such as North Korea that try to stay “pure,” but I dough they will be for long.   

Blog # 13 "The Boy in the Mirror"

Question #6

     The family's behavior due to economic circumstances:

                  1. Going to free events such as block parties, zoos, libraries, etc

                  2. Having intense arguments over spoiled milk

                  3. Have to use the free dental care offered by dental students

                  4. Trying to get into better schools even through the children felt lonely because of the lack of diversity.

    The aspects of the family that are not dictated by economic insecurities were:

                                1. They ate on time, went to sleep on time and did their homework on time

                                2. They go swimming in the pool 

                                
 

Blog # 12 "C.P Ellis"

Question #2

     C.P Ellis would agree that economic class is more important than race because he states many times that the poor white were also keep out. For example, he even mentions that the reason he joined the clan was because "no body listens, so we join these groups." He even talks about how blacks were beginning to "shut them out." By "them" he means white people but underneath that, "them" really means the poor people. He also says that the rich "kept low-income whites and low-income blacks fightin', they're gonna maintain control." Tells you that race does not matter as much as wealth.
      I think that he is right for the most part. Sure race can determine the wealth you will have later on in life, as Gregory Mantsios in "Class in America" has pointed out, but that does not mean it determines job placement; President Obama has shown us that.