Lottery and Harrison

1.) Bystanders will do what everyone else does. They just watch and accept things as they are because it's always been that way. And people are brainwashed to think that that way is the best way, and that change would only make things worse.

2.) I think "The Lottery" is almost like our draft. It isn't being used right now, but it still wasn't necessarily fair. Those people didn't want to be chosen. Same for Mrs. Hutchinson, she didn't want to be chosen, but she was literally stoned to death (at least that's what I assumed happened to her). Our draft did some what of the same thing, putting people on the line to potentially die.

3.) I think fear represses society because we are often times afraid of change. Like how Mr. Warner brought up that they had always done the lottery, so why stop now. I think that sort of mentality was in everyone at the town square. Why didn't they say it was bad idea? Because none of them wanted change? Were they afraid of consequences from change? Sometimes we get so stuck in our old ways.

4.) In the actual story itself, he breaks through by being strong and smart. In today's age, it is really hard to break free from controlling communities. Even if you escape your controlling community of judgmental people, you will more than likely end up in the same situation, only in a different part of the world. There are so many stigmas, stereotypes, rules, regulations, standards, and chains that keep us down from being who we are. I think the only way to get over all of those things, is to just pretend they don't exist and get on with your life. You can't actually escape it, but maybe in your mind you can.

5.) It suggests that we are threatened easily. We don't like being overpowered, but we also can't really defend ourselves when that happen. We are forced into feeling belittled by others. In "Harrison Bergeron" they were threatened and forced into something they didn't want to be, but they didn't know that didn't want to be how they were. They were brainwashed into thinking that who they were was perfect. Everything was "equal". The handicap general controlled their lives, and they didn't care because they didn't know any different. And when Harrison finally decided to try to change things, he was punished for in anyways. So why try to change things if you will be punished for it.

6.) We define right and wrong through a court system. But in average society, we define right and wrong based on what we do. There might be something that I don't do, that other people do do, and so I think it's wrong. But they probably think it's wrong that I don't do that thing. So I think we base what's right and wrong based on our morals, or what the government tells us.

7.) Society and the norms ultimately decide it. I wish I could say that I can decide if my own decisions are right or wrong, but it isn't. I can think whatever I want, but if it's not society wants, than my opinion is probably irrelevant.

Questions:
"Harrison Bergeron"
     1.) Are we brainwashed into thinking we are on the top end of society? Or are we actually?
     2.) Should we all be equal, or would that technically make things less equal, like in this story?
     3.) Do you think that the government hinders us in ways that we aren't aware of in order to possibly slow us down?

"The Lottery"
     1.) What do you think the purpose behind the lottery in that story was for? Why did they play it?
     2.) Why do you think some of the villages stopped? Did they finally come to their senses, or maybe it just became a faded tradition?
     3.) Is Mr. Warner similar to some people today, and do you think that the community was afraid of him, or did they actually think the lottery was a good idea? Did he maybe brainwash them into thinking it was a good idea?

LOTF

I believe that that statement is true. Our society does know how to kill a man subtler than death. We can kill someone just by getting into their minds and making them believe that they are not worth life. We can make people feel so bad about themselves that they eventually commit suicide. And this process can be a very slow and drawn out process. Of course, there are physical things we can do as well, such as neglecting children or other dependents. It would be very subtle, but it could eventually lead to death. But I think this statement was mainly leaning towards the emotional side of things. We can kill a person’s will to live, their enjoyment, their creativity, all without using death.

I definitely think that if our civilized self and our savage self can’t be separated, the savage side of will take over. The savage in anyone has one main goal, and that is to survive. Civilized people want what is best of the group, and usually not what is best for themselves, personally. But savage will win in this department because savage only cares about itself. A savage person will do what is the best for him/her self. Our savage side is just that, savage. It will always win, in almost every situation. I think that if you believe that your civilized self will take over, you need to rethink some people’s motives.

This is a difficult question. I can see the reasoning behind both of the options. I think that people are controlled by society. We all try to follow norms and fit in with other people. We don’t want to stick out because that causes attention to be pulled toward us. But yet we like attention. But only positive attention. Why is this? Because society has made it like that. We want to be like everyone else. I don’t expect this theory to ever change. We tell people to be themselves and stand up for what we want, but that rarely happens, because society shuts us down. We always say we are different, but are we, really?

·         The Lord of the Flies isn’t talking about a whole lot in particular. I think it’s more geared towards Simon’s inner thoughts.

·        

        The LOTF is not mad about anything, honestly. It’s just making fun of Simon. The only thing it’s maybe mad about is that the boys thought they could kill it.

·        

        Simon is the one hearing this because he’s delusional. He’s not thinking straight because he’s dehydrated and hungry. None of the other boys are physically and/or mentally delusional.

·         

       Simon still has some of his own thoughts. His own thoughts are the angel, and his devil thoughts are from the LOTF. But really the LOTF thoughts is just his own really deep personal thoughts.

Refugee

1.) 18-24 months
2.) 110,000
3.) Democratic Republic and Congo
4.) 39,000
5.) California, Texas, New York
6.) I didn't realize how many Asian Refugees there were. A lot of refugees were taken in 1980. We didn't take in very many last year.
7.) We take in a lot of Christians, at least more than I thought. Also, a lot of them are unaffiliated, which is also surprises me.
8.) I think it's because we've become more accepting of other cultures. And they're white.
9.) Yes, but not much. Bhutan.
10.) Wyoming doesn't have any refugees. There a lot of African refugees. There used to be a lot more Asian refugees.
11.) 50,000
12.) It has been dropping. But lately it has been slowly increasing.
13.) 1 in 100
14.) 6 in 10
15.) Norway and Switzerland

I think we do have a responsibility to take in refugees. But if we do take them in, we also have the responsibility to take care of them while they are here. America should feel obligated, but so should other first world countries.

Bacha Bazi

I read the article about how grid girls are not going to be used anymore in Formula 1 races. Formula 1 racing has been using grid girls to stand in front of the cars before the race, and then they stand on the podium with the top three finishers after the race. Even though this has been a long-standing tradition in Formula 1, they have decided to stop doing this. They have realized that when they use grid girls it does not portray their brand values. They have also stated that it goes against society norms. Especially when it comes to the new sexual harassment movements. With these movements happening, it seemed like the right thing to do.

There are many shoes I can put myself into. If I were to put myself in the shoes of the racers, I would be a little confused as to why the grid girls stopped being there. I think after the situation was explained to me, I would understand. But I know that some of the racers will not see it that way and will probably angry with the decision. Through the eyes of the board who decided to make this change, I think it was a very smart idea. It may have even saved them from some trouble in the future. It was probably a difficult decision for them to make, since it has been a tradition for many years. Being put in the shoes of the girls, I am not for sure how I feel. On one hand, I would be proud of Formula 1 for advocating the movements. On the other hand, being a grid girl, they most likely decided to do that. I would probably be a little disappointed to be losing my job. But overall, I like this idea.

Barnga

1.) Chaos
2.) I just expected a normal card game
3.) I didn't realize anything was wrong until the end when people were looking confused and were making different shapes for the suits with their hands.
4.) Since I didn't realize that anything was wrong until the end, I just played the game like normal with the rules I knew.
5.) It was difficult to communicate. I was frustrated, that's for sure. I didn't get mad until other people started getting mad and confused at what was happening. But I was oblivious.
6.) No, I don't think it's appropriate for a culture. I think for the game itself you can call it "a game - or sort of". But I don't think culture is a game. It can be confusing and frustrating, but not a game?
7.) A universal language and currency would be very beneficial for this world. It would make things easier and more peaceful.
8.) It teaches us that all cultures are different and that we don't understand each other because we can't properly communicate with each other. 

Freaks and Geeks

1.)What are the groups and what functions do they serve? Are there negative influences from any of the groups (dysfunctions)?  There are two different groups in this show. The freaks and the geeks, as the title might suggest. They both serve as main roles in the episodes. The freaks are your stereotypical bullies. They push the geeks around make them feel belittled. The geeks are also very go with the flow and they follow the rules because they try to avoid trouble.

2.)Who has power in the episode? How or why do they have power? How do they use it? The freaks definitely have the power in this episode. The have the power because they're "stronger" and "cooler". They use their power in negative manners. They try to persuade the other kids to do bad things throughout the episode, like smoking and skipping school.

3.)What are the important symbols in the episode? Note that the symbols might be an object, but also might be an idea, an event or something else. How do the characters act based on the symbols they find important?  The drum set was the biggest symbol in the whole thing. He seemed so ecstatic when he was talking about makeshift drum set and cow bells. He just wanted Lindsay to find her true happiness in the world. I find it ironic that they ditched school after a movie that was talking about their future in professions. 

4.) Can you relate any of these theories to your own life? How can the things you do be interpreted through one of these theories? For example why do you wear what you wear or why are you going to college or why do you stress yourself out to get "good" grades?  I can relate to these things in my own life, yes. I see this in my siblings and through the younger kids in school. I am who I am because I want to be it. I compete against myself, that's for sure. But my role models have also helped me shape myself throughout the years as well.

Radical Experiment

The video we watched in sociology was an interesting one to say the least. At first it was kind of confusing and hard to follow, but eventually it started to make sense. He used a lot of big and confusing words, which made it difficult to understand. His first analogy of the United States being controlled because of our coal really got me confused. At first, I didn't know what he was leading to. But as he went on and explained that that's how some other countries feel, then it started to make sense. The real eye opener for me, however, was not the coal analogy, but when he said to imagine being an Arab-Muslim. That is when it really hit me. The people from Iraq have such a different point of view than we do. The sentence "One country's terrorist is another country's freedom fighter", really got me. They don't see it the same way we do. Their propaganda portrays it in a totally different manner than what we are actually trying to do. I wish they actually knew what we were trying to do. It makes me wonder how much is lost in translation when it comes to our communication and portrayal to them. The whole idea of his speech was to show that in order to start to understand sociology, we need to understand others. And in order to understand others, we need to show empathy. Empathy is putting yourself in someone else's shoes and looking at thing from that person's perspective. Everyone's perspective is different on everything. For instance, I wasn't too triggered from watching this video. But I do know that some people were rubbed the wrong way from this video. It's all about perspective. The thing I think our class agreed on, however, was that we are glad to be living in America. It might not be perfect, but at least it's not as bad as some countries. I know I often times get frustrated with my siblings, or my parents. But I know that if I slow down think if I were in the same position as them, I understand where they are coming from. And last but not least, I see myself fitting into the big picture of society because I am a positive role model. If I can even get one little girl or boy to look up to me, and for me to change their life in a positive way, then I will have done something worth living for.