Crash (movie)

Question #1: The racism exhibited by the cop (Matt Dillon) with the TV show producer’s wife was incredibly sickening because he took advantage of her, and was basically mocking her, for she did not do anything wrong or worth being checked for. But because of her race, he felt it was okay, or necessary for himself to behave the way he did. The cops intentions were also just be to cruel, because he accused the TV show producer of drinking, when in fact he had no proof at all, and then for the wife, even though she had been drinking, still had to check her even though she wasn’t driving.

Question #2: When the store owner and his daughter were trying to buy bullets, the main behind the counter was simply mocking them and their culture. And because the store owner couldn’t speak English very well, the man behind the counter was making fun of him and getting angry. And even when the daughter decided on a box, he assumed she didn’t know what she was doing. Also, when the white cop was in the car with the black man who was hitchhiking, he assumed he was going to pull out a gun, so he shot the black man. And the black man was only going to pull out the same figurine.

Question #3: When the TV show producer said to the young man in his car, “You embarrass me; you embarrass yourself,” what he meant by this was that if Ludacris acts the way he does, which is stealing and crime, then he is just making a worse image for all African Americans, because the TV show producer understands that they are living in a racist society. And this statement affected Ludacris because he even understood that he was discriminated against in the beginning when he was talking to his pal about Jean who inched closer to her husband when they walked by them. But he still attacked them and stole their car, which was making their accusations true (even though not all of the African Americans behaved this way).

Question #4: People that look at others and see their whole race instead of that specific individual could be because they may have had bad experiences with more than one of that certain race, so they assume that they all are the same. But It does not even give that individual a chance to show who they really are. It could be because they are just scared, like in the movie Crash, when Jean (Sandra Bullock) had a gun held to her head by a black man and then got her car stolen. So I could see why she would be scared of him, but it is completely wrong to generalize a whole race based on his only actions. And besides, she was just racist as a person because she even thought the man, whom was Hispanic/Latino, was going to steal a key to the lock he was fixing on the door.

Question #5: Is it natural (within our genes) to be racist? I highly disagree with this, because I feel that it’s natural for anyone who they have grown up with or lived with to feel safe around them, meaning if it is the same race or not, but it is not natural to be born and have hatred towards other races, just because of their skin color. Our genes are what make us look the way we are, it does not affect the way we think of others.

Question #6: Race is learned by defining what the color of one’s skin. It is nothing more than one pair of genes. And the types of racial messages that people get from their family would depend on how one family’s viewpoints are of other races. But regardless, if you are born into a family that is racist, it is very easy for you to become the same way, or exactly the opposite, I feel. Because your family’s influence on your, as your growing up and maturing, can highly impact the way you think. Now, the media now-a-days have created an image of all types of beautiful races. Our society today in American is much less racist than it was 60 years ago.

Question #7: It is hard to tell in this world who is racist and who is not, because some people are racist, but are quiet about it. But this means that we are at a point in our generation where everyone is getting more along with everyone and not judging by the color of one’s skin. So personally, I think that here in America is it possible because we have lived through so many important times where African Americans, American Indians, and even women, have fought for the freedom of being only one thing. Equal. But I have to say, it is easier for America to become less racist every year, every day, because our country is filled with different races that we live with each day. But as for the rest of the world, I believe the only way for everyone to be non-racist is for races to be mixed and living together.

Sociological Factors Causing Diversity

In America, the rates of different races are different in marriage, but what sociological factors might be causing this diversity It is statistically stated that in 2001, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women in America had never been married, in contrast to 27.4 percent and 20.7 percent for whites. So, all in all, this comes to the question, how have we gotten here? I thought that perhaps religion could have played into this, because certain religions require you to stay in your marriage for the sake of showing your loyalty to God. But another social factor that plays into this is having support from your peers, meaning everyone that is included in your life. So by this, it means that you are more likely to stay in a marriage if you are happier and have people around you supporting you. But the last social factor that could play a huge role in marriage is money. You need money in order to have a safer and better-off marriage, and this can change the difference in marriage rates for anyone.

Deviance

The correct sociologists’ definition of deviance is an act (or actions) that seriously or repeatedly violate, or goes against, social norms. And this can either be positive or negative. Deviance is relative to time, place, and perception, creating an impact on every single person and our society. In class, we were to read this article on a man named Julio Diaz and his influence he had on deviance. Basically, this man daily rode the subway, just so he could go to his favorite restaurant. But one day he erratically got a knife pulled on him and was threatened if he didn’t give up his money. And while Julio was giving up his wallet, he questioned the boy and instead invited him to eat dinner with him. Usually, people who are being mugged do not invite their “mugger” to have dinner with them. But what was really surprising as well was the boy accepted the invitation. This act of positive deviance definitely had a twist on society, and shows the other sides of people that are more moral and respectable. Another topic of deviance that we discussed was the article on the “Saints and Roughnecks.” Essentially, both of the groups had few qualities that were in common, but and effects from society were pretty opposite. For example, the saints vandalize, drink alcohol, ditch class, violate driving laws, are dangerous to others, and have more money. And they overall get away with all of these things. The roughnecks, however, do not vandalize, drink alcohol, ditch class. They also are not a danger to others and have less money, but they do steal and fight, resulting in heavy consequences from the law (society is not kind/nice to them). I believe that deviance can change everyone’s perspective on life and it plays a huge role in our society today.

Nature versus Nurture

In class we discussed the different between nature and nurture. We were given a list of people (For example: NBA player, abusive spouse/parent, alcoholic, A/F student, and an accountant) and it was up to us to determine which one they fit into. And for a majority of the people selected, it was difficult to tell which category was correct. For the alcoholic, which was my groups topic, we said that it was nurture because it is something you do, an activity with influences around you. It is your choice to drink. But then we had a rebuttal that it was nature, because if you have an addictive personality, that is how the way you are/born with. But my opinion overall is that both in fact, meaning nature and nurture, play into everyone’s lives and both are what create who you are as in individual. It also relates to socialization, which is the process and factors that create the social animal in existence at this moment. Humans were made to be social and to learn (our cerebral cortex gives us that power), so therefore everything we do, such as even eye-contact or talking to one another influences every characteristic of our own lives.

Seeing The Water...

The phrase, “water to a fish” is meant that fish swim in it, basically every single moment of their lives that it is invisible to them what it really is. The water that is surrounded in everyday American life is difficult to see, considering we live it to the point where it’s completely natural for us. For example, the use of cell phones. In mainly our generation, cell phones are completely necessary for us to communicate with everyone around us. And it is also safer for us to be able to commune instantly. Also, another ordinary habit in my life is learning every day, by getting an education and having responsibilities to complete assignments on time.
When people navigate what is the norm and ordinary around them, it is because they are comfortable with their surroundings and adjust themselves to the point where they are comfortable with their environment. Most people everyday use the internet to find out information, but rarely you find people looking up info. in libraries. It all has to do with how they were brought up and what is most secure for their natural habits and boundaries. Many elders that I know of prefer not to use recent technology because it is unfamiliar with them and they don’t find the need to live their life in an updated state.
The American values that are most significant to me today are being able to have a choice in education and in general my individual freedom. With my individual freedom, I get to choose who I hang out with, what I do for fun, like hobbies and such. Adjusting my values in my life now to what I think is morally right is basically just doing what I am comfortable with and knowing what is best for myself in the long run, towards the future.

Culture

Last week, we had an assignment to present to the class, given different topics. Our presentation was based on values, norms, and sanctions. We demonstrated these three subjects into skits. Basically, on values we created a bathroom scene, where one person goes to a stall, and it is a hidden rule to not go to the stall right next to theirs. For norms, we had two people eating a banana, except one of the was eating it upside-down (which not many people do). And lastly, for sanctions we made the roles of a teacher and a student, and when the student received an A+, the teacher did the appropriate act and high-fived him (rather than hitting the rear-end like in football (-_-)’. The other presentations that my fellow classmates did were based on culture, material culture, nonmaterial culture, culture shock, culture relativism, etc. But the one that sparked my interest the most was ‘culture shock’. Culture shock is basically when there is intellectual discomfort when encountering a different environment. So let’s say you go into another country, and there is a different way to do many activities. It creates such an impact on you that you’re perplexed on how to act.

A Bronx Tale

In the film, A Bronx Tale, there was clearly much racial discrimination, and that was what the story was all about. It was demonstrating how both Italians and the African Americans differentiated themselves apart from each other, how serious the separation needed to be in their minds. It became so intense that it all led to violence, and this created numerous amounts of deaths. Collogero, the main character, was in the middle of both sides, and he had to make decisions that could change his social status. I think that at first he was in both Sonny’s crew group and his friends group. But towards the end, he starts to drift away from both as soon as he meets an African American girl, whom he falls for. His mental stability gets stronger and he makes decisions for himself. The reality of the neighborhood revolved around Sonny and his crew, due to the fact that he gained a lot of respect from creating himself as the image of fear. He wanted to be the higher authority, and this caused him to not trust anyone at all. The racist attitudes is unknown from where it started, but however it did, it increasingly got worse as the violence increased, creating more hatred towards each other. I thought this video did a good job demonstrating the ways each individual thinks, and how it can be changed by other people’s influence.