Blog Post #10 - Tale of Two Families

Tale of Two Families was very interesting to read.  From the very start you can see that Max's family is already in a much more comfortable situation than Byron's.  As the story goes by, we can see many examples of how racial segregation can change people's lives, even if they have the same interests and same capacities.  Byron was just as intelligent as Max, however he had to work twice as hard in order to get where is is.  He needed to have trust on himself and focus on his studies, and because of his effort, he got a scholarship.  Max was also talented and bright, but he had a lot more money and could get his education worry free.  As this story concludes we see that even today, when our society has gotten a lot better in terms of racial segregation, both Max's and Byron's communities still are segregated.  Byron's family sold their houses for very little money, while Max's family got 14 times what they paid for.  But that is not their fault.  Both families are honest, hard working, and have talented children.  Our society is what causes this inequality.  It is very heart warming to see that both Max and Byron grew up to be very successful men and work together.  This shows that with effort and strength, we can overcome even those obstacles that were already here even before we were born.  Of course social and economic background help a lot, but being honest, hard workers and putting effort into what we do, we can get very far, and be very successful.

Blog Post #9 - Gender Inequality

What I've learned about gender inequality and social construction of gender this week has been somewhat surprising. It has been said that our society does not exactly take gender inequality seriously.  I agree in some aspects.  Here in the U.S., gender inequality isn't so much of a problem, since women and men have pretty much the same rights.  Of course, there is still some inequality (such as different salaries, or gender specific jobs) but in my opinion, none of these inequalities actually invade's either genders' rights.  

Unfortunately that is not the case in other societies.  In my Gender Inequality   Assignment, I interviewed two women from different cultures:  Brazil and Pakistan.  My findings from these interviews weren't exactly surprising, since I expected there to be greater inequality (for religious reasons in Pakistan and for economic reasons in Brazil), however hearing about those things from someone who lived gender discrimination  and had basic rights actually stripped away from them...  was, for lack of better word, shocking.  Many sociologists agree that gender inequality is still a serious problem today, but that it is disappearing.  I agree i parts.  I think that gender discrimination is disappearing in more developed societies, and it may be getting better in less developed ones (Brazil has its first female president), however I don't think that less fortunate classes of these less developed countries can see a difference.  In my opinion, that happens because gender inequality never comes alone.  There isn't a society who discriminates just for the sake of doing such.  Gender discrimination comes with other problems, such as social and economic background, cultural background, and (more evidently) religious background.  Less developed societies are weaker social and economically, and therefore depend on labor intensive work.  For that reason, women may be considered less useful.  That is how a larger difference between men and women appeared in the first place.  When humans were hunters and gatherers, both men and women had similar roles, and therefore similar importance within society.  Once we started settling down, owning land, and becoming an agricultural society, labor intensive jobs (that could only be performed by men) became more important, and women's roles were reduced.  One can see that difference in indigenous hunter-gatherers societies.  

I agree with sociologists when they say that gender inequality is not a big problem in developed societies anymore.  In the U.S. both men and women have the same rights.  In may developed Europeans societies, both men and women have similar rights.  But if we stop and think, The U.S. and most European societies are economically stable, and although mostly christian, such societies do not censor free, critical thinking.  Less developed societies, such as Latin American, African and many Muslim societies, are not as fortunate.  These societies have history of being economically handicapped, and most of these societies rely on religion for social, cultural and political purposes.  For that reason, critical thinking is censored, and it becomes much easier to follow gender discrimination.  As previously stated there is a development being seen in these societies from outside, however, a poor percentage of such societies cannot tell the difference.  As I said before, gender inequality is becoming less of a problem in well developed societies, however in less developed ones the issue is moving forward slowly, mainly because, as previously mentioned, gender inequality never comes alone.  Rather, it comes with deeper underlying issues, such as religion, culture, social and economic background.     

Blog Post #8 - Does Global Inequality Affect America?

Does global inequality affect America?  If so, how?  And why should we care?  First of all, global inequality does affect America.  As one of the most powerful countries today, American has a lot of responsibility on helping minimize global inequality.  Many of the wars we have been fighting recently have been described as been “wars for freedom” or “wars for democracy.”  That is one of the ways America takes responsibility on helping other countries fight against inequality.  But how does that affect us?  Well, a simple answer would be:  it affects our pockets.  Every war fought by this country is paid by us tax payers.  That is direct affect of global inequality in each individual.  It also affects us socially.  One of the reasons America has such a great reputation and the land of the free is because our government and political system promotes equality.  Many people may say that America is not equal (and in many points it isn’t) but compared to many other countries (many of which have fought America in some war) we have a great system of equality.  

It also affects us economically, but in other ways.  The money that we spend helping other countries with their inequality problems could well be spent to feed out poor, shelter our homeless and educate our children.  I am not by any means saying that helping other nations is wrong.  As I pointed out in the beginning, as one of the most popular and successful nations today, we are also a symbol of freedom and we should take responsibility into helping our fellow nations.  I am however, stating that many countries may be satisfied with their situation, and sometimes America may come across as getting into unnecessary problems.

Global inequality also affects us politically.  The reason why many people choose to come to this country illegally is because they know that the opportunities in their countries are not equal to the opportunities here.  That affects us, because it giver politicians excuses to explain their ignorance.  For example, immigrants take jobs that many Americans are not qualified to do, or just don’t want to do.  Many politicians take advantage of that and say that immigrants “steal” jobs, when there is no such thing.

With the popularity of internet and social networking, global inequality affects us in personal level.  As humans, we have empathy towards one another, and seeing other country’s peoples suffer with inequality hurts us.  Global inequality does affect America, not only in an economic level, but also in a personal level.  

Copyright Disclaimer:  The pictures posted do not belong to me.  

Blog Post #7 - Does Social Class Matter?

Unfortunately (when a sentence starts with that, you know it ain't gonna be good) social class matters way too much in the U.S. today.  As a matter of fact, it is one of the things that matter the most in America today.  As we all know, unfortunately (again) our culture is controlled by our youngsters.  Yes, our easily influence, shallow youngsters, who dress whatever the Kardashians tell them to wear, and watch whatever their school cheerleaders tell them to watch.  I am not saying all young people are like that!  By no means!  However, the American culture is described by others as the behavior of those youngsters who want it all, and yet know nothing about anything.  One of the things that they learn in their religious relationship with the media is to value social class.  I don’t believe they think of it that way, but when the price of your clothing or the name imprinted on your bag (probably by some underpaid Chinese child) is more important to others than your values, beliefs and intellectual capacity…  that says that social class is in fact considered important. 

                I have experienced the importance of social class.  The most evident examples of such importance were witnessed by me in the glorified place (which has become more of a social event than a center for education) we call High School.  In high school, social class is pretty much everything.  The girls who wear the most expensive clothing, or have the most expensive cars, or go to the most expensive restaurants (none of which are actually paid with their own hard work, but rather that of her parents) are considered the most popular.  The same applies to boys.  There is this misconception that money equals worthiness.  It is shameful.  And by the way, it is the parents’ fault.  Dear American parents, lets start educating your children instead of buying their fake respect with video games and expensive crap they don’t need.  Video games will make them stop slamming doors right now, but a good education and values will save them from having doors slammed at them later.   

When we think of the importance of social status, we most likely imagine the scenarios I just presented.  But those aren't the only ones.  Social status is important in the U.S. for deeper reasons.  In American, if you don’t have money, you pretty much don’t have anything.  There are many good public schools, but if you can’t afford supplies, books, tutors, and the many other expenses that come with education, you’re pretty much in trouble.  You need money to have education, to go to the doctor, to live.  Does social class matter in the U.S.?  Yes.  Unfortunately yes.  

Blog Post #6 - Technology is Our Friend. Lack of Education is Our Enemy

In my opinion, Americans today are way more isolated, but it is not exactly "due to" technology.  American teenagers now a days seem to be more social than ever... except for the fact that the social group they worry about the most is one of people they don't even know, such as Facebook "friend."  Teenagers are becoming so caught up on what happens in their cyber social life that they are forgetting to live real life.  I have had friends who pride themselves on the amount of Facebook friends they have, but give little attention to the real friends that participate in their lives every day, and I find that depressing.  I don't know if it is because on the internet you can shape yourself in a certain way that may hide your real self and please others, but the increase in popularity of social media and the lack of education about such is making Americans more and more isolated.   

It is not only the lack of educations about social media that is making Americans isolated, but the lack of education about technology in general, and how to use it in a functional way.  When I was a kid back in my country, there wasn't a single day (besides rainy days maybe) that I wasn't outside playing soccer, talking to other kids, playing cards (weird, I know, but I've always liked playing cards).  My house was on a hill, and I remember my friends and I playing dodge ball every weekend in my street.  I remember wanting to be on the team at the top, because that way I wouldn't have to run after the ball as it rolled to the busy road.  I also remember us just sitting at each other houses gates, talking about school, homework, soap operas, counting coins to see if we could go to the store and buy a cookie (to share between 2-4 of us).  We often went to different schools, but unlike in America, school wasn't out life.  In my culture, school is the place where you learn, and the outside world is where you make friends.  You don't have to go to the same school in order to be friends.  Why?  Because we stick our big heads outside once in a while and meet new people.  We didn't have iPods, and iPads, etc.  Some of us had video games, but we never became obsessed with them, like American kids do.  We all had TVs, but we also never allowed ourselves to become stuck on a couch watching TV.  There was quality indoor time with family, and quality outdoor time with friends.  When I arrived in america I was shocked.  I was jogging in the place where I live, in a Saturday morning, and there was no one outside.  I went to the grocery store, and came back in the afternoon, and there were only some kids, re-enacting horrible scenes from the ridiculously violent games American children are so fond of.  I was disappointed.  

To me, this is something we should be concerned about.  We have never lived in an era with so much technology so readily available to the public as we do now.  The adults that we know today were once kids who also played outside, and didn't have imaginary cyber friends.  We don't know how our children will turn out to be, and how this isolation with affect them in the future.  Don't get me wrong. technology is amazing and extremely necessary.  Our society would not be functional without it, and it makes our lives much easier.  I love technology, and I do own a smart phone and have a Facebook account.  It would be stupid of anyone today to be opposed to technology, as it contributes to our economy, medicine, education and more.  However, children are not being properly educated about technology, and they are becoming caught up on a cyber world.  The solution is to educate our children to value their lives, like themselves, increase their self-esteem, so that they won't feel the necessity to please people who live in other continents and that they have never met.  We need to educate them so that out society won't become even more isolated.  

Americans are way more isolated than they ever were.  But it is not "due to technology".  It is due to the lack of education about technology.  

Technology is awesome!

Blog Post #5

This blog post to me is quite simple.  I was born and grew up in the rough city of Rio de Janeiro, a city filled with criminals.  Here in the U.S. things are different.  In Brazil, criminals are treated better than they should be.  The Brazilian government spends more money in criminals then they do in student, and that is revolting.  Here things are different.  I think the U.S. deals with the issue quite well.  I am not fit to propose solutions.  I honestly don't know.  In my eyes, I don't think there is much that should be changed regarding criminals.  Things seem to be going well enough.  For me, who came from such a rough environment, I see the way the U.S. treats criminals is much better than in my country.  In my country, even the police is made up of mostly criminals.  It is shameful.  Here the situation is much better, so I would rather be satisfied with that.  

Blog Post #4 - Nature Vs. Nurture

When talking about the subject of Nature vs. Nurture, people tend to get very divided.  Some people believe that we were born the way we are, and there is nothing we can do about it.  Well, that has been proven wrong (Refer to experiments on conformity by Zimbardo, Bendura, Asch, etc).  Our behavior is influenced by psychological conditions, some of which we are born with, but assume a psychologically healthy person was born with a certain kind of behavior, that behavior could well be changed by the environment around that person.
      
Many other people believe that we are born as a blank slate, and that everything we believe, like, desire, find important, and do is a result of being influenced by our environment.  This has also been proven to be wrong.  Let me point out a case that has caught my attention.  In Switzerland, there has been a huge discussion regarding whether our sexuality is innate or learned.  In the following video, you will see that, unlike what we would expect, scientists are not curious about that.  Much for the opposite.  They think it is an unimportant question.  Many people who defend gay rights in Switzerland believe that saying that our sexuality (and consequently homosexuality) is innate is the same as saying it is undesirable.  I found that quite odd.  In my opinion (as as the American scientist points out), seeing our sexuality as innate encourages people to be more sympathetic towards it.   

(WARNING:  This video contains images which may not be suitable for some audiences.  Its also in Swedish, which English subtitles)

So, what makes us good or evil?  Is a psychopath born a psychopath, or is there such thing as "The Lucifer effect"?  Well...  a little bit of both.  Some people are in fact born with genes that make them more likely to have some sort of personality, such as psychopathy, but without the environment to pull the trigger, those personality traits may never come to surface.  
Many researchers have explored the topic.  As the researcher in the BBC documentary below tells us, if  our pre-disposition to be moral or immoral depends on a chemical, than that makes it easier not just to measure how evil someone is, but also to predict how likely, lets say, a child is to become a 

psychopath as an adult.  The tests performed in the video below are amazing.  From the very first test, we can see that the discussion of whether people may be born instinctively good (or evil) is a complex one.  


(Fast video forward to 31:00) This is mid blowing.  There are actual physical signs of psychopathy.  Researcher Jim Fallon analyzed a group of brain scans, those of patients of depression, schizophrenia, normal people, and killers.  He noticed a pattern.  The group he separated as those with a defective orbital cortex and the front part of the temporal lobe.  This group, amazingly, was made up of the killers.  This finding is amazing in its own.  It, as the narrator says, is a step closer to finding the signature brain profile of a psychopath.  But this isn't the most surprising finding.  

From where do these differences in the psychopaths' brain come from?  The answer is:  Their genes.   The MAOA gene (also known as the warrior gene) became a vital player in this research.  Just being born with this gene can pre-dispose you to violent behavior.  The very fact that one is born with that gene makes them much more likely to be a killer than a person without it.  So, everyone that is born with that gene is deemed to become a killer, which proves that nature is stronger than nurture, right?  Wrong.

(Fast forward to 36:35) The researcher himself finds that he has a family history of serial killers.  After further research, he finds that he possesses the warrior gene.  So why didn't he become a murderer?  Because his environment hadn't allow him to do so.  As he points out, he had an amazing childhood, and that allowed the psychopath gene to not be triggered.  Fascinating!

And that raises a question.  Is our genetic make up enough to control who we are?  Or is the environmental trigger necessary?  In my opinion, there is no "Nature vs. Nurture" but rather a "Nature and Nurture".  Both nature and nurture work together in making who we are.  We are neither born evil, nor born as a blank slate.  Our genetics can have great influence on our behavior, however without our environment to (again) "pull the trigger", those genetic traits may never come to surface.