Who Am I 2

Who I am today hasn't changed much from who I was from my first blog. My goals in life are still the same, but I may have added a few. I want to be the best I can be at what ever they may be. I feel if you are asked to do something and you accept then you should do the best job you can. Just by doing that you will most likely have few enemies. Life is short so I try to make the best out of what ever I have, sometimes it may not be much but you just have to do what you need to do. By making the best out of what you have it allows for a long happy life... hopefully!

Winners and Losers

I agree with the fact that our system depends on losers. Without the losers we would indeed fail. However what if it was possible for there to not be as many losers in this same system? For there to be fewer losers the “winners” would have to sacrifice some of what they have. The simple answer to this question is no one, no day everyone takes what that have and they don’t give. For someone to become the winner they have to be the greedy one, they take everything they can and give back little to none. It’s like Lawrence says “employees are the losers.” Employers will take every opportunity to pay their employees as little as possible, but just enough to stick around. Every employer knows that if they don’t pay enough they won’t get any help, but if they pay to much they will have too much flocking to them. This is exactly why they’re so many Americans that are paid in the $10 an hour range. If we were to try and fix the problem of there being so many losers we would most likely fail, unless it started from the top. If all of the winners gave the losers a break and let them win then it could give them a shot. It could only take the winners a small amount of their own profits to allow for a number of the losers to become their own winner. All it really takes to be the winner is to in some way have power over others. When Lawrence says “what would happen if all the people making $10 an hour or less quit working for a month”? The reason there would be such chaos is because almost everyone who does something works for that amount of money. Why should you get paid so little to do hard physical labor? It’s because the winners take for granted everything they have, and they know if their employees stop working, they have many more people who would love to work for them.

Flat Tax or Fair Tax

I believe that progressive tax is the way it should stay. With a progressive tax everyone pays in the same percent of the money they make. “If one person earned $50,000 a year and another earned $300,000 a year, both would pay 17 percent of their income to the federal government.” I one is making more money they should have to pay more taxes on that money. If someone making more money they shouldn’t get to pay less tax due to making more money. If we had a flat tax the people who get paid less could end up paying more taxes on less money. In a flat tax you would always pay the same amount so this means no deductions if you would qualify for one. The idea of changing the way we do taxes is so it could possibly be fairer for everyone. Honestly I don’t think a flat tax could be very fair. If you are making millions why should you have to pay the same amount of tax as someone making fewer than fifty thousand a year? If anything a flat tax is more unfair, especially to the many of people who don’t make very much money. If the government was to institute a flat tax they would have to find a way to make it fair for everyone. One way this would be possible is to split everyone in to different classes. Each class would have to be split into a group close to the next one. It could be split into groups by the tens of thousands. This would allow it to be me as fair as possible for everyone. Even with this some people would always get away with a little bit of an unfair amount of money compared to someone else in that bracket or class.

Catfish

A Catfish is someone who uses fake profiles or profile pictures to lead others to believe they are someone they are not. I believe it is necessary to have Catfish who live among the rest of the population. Although I don't believe everyone needs a Catfish some people need a little extra help to stay on their toes. I think not everyone has a one of theses people in there life but at some point in time you will run across one of them. Two things can happen from there: either you notice they are face right away, or you will talk and converse with them until something happens to you or you figure it out. At this point in time in my own life I feel as if I do not have a Catfish. There are a few people that have Catfish that is probably fairly common. The people I believe would have a Catfish are the ones that are active on many social networking sites. Those are the people who will always have a Catfish. Just due to there popularity and influence on other humans. The Catfish of the world will always be around its just a matter of when or where they will show up in your own life.

Basketball

Not everyone can be good at everything, especially basketball. Basketball takes skills, theses skills don't depend on your race, religion, or where you grew up. I believe if you work hard enough and set your mind to it you can be good at anything. In the NBA you will find some of the best basketball players in the US and even the world. In the early 1900s the NBA was dominated by the Jews, but now it is mainly dominated by African Americans. The difference between now and then is only a couple differences, speed and height. The Jews were thought to be good because of there speed, and the African Americans are thought to be good due to there height. In the early 1900s it was thought to be an advantage to be short and fast, but now its an advantage to be tall. My personal opinion is if you are good at something it doesn't matter if you are tall or short, but looking if you look at it, it does matter. If you look at the players in the NBA most of the players are tall, but there are a few players that are on the shorter side. If you are one of the "short people" you just have to work that much harder to out play the ones who are taller. By having the short people amongst the tall it goes to prove that if you work hard enough you can achieve your goals.

Alien Commute

I think that it is a good thing they are willing to come over here and work the jobs most Americans wouldn't. They are willing to travel across the border and work for less then minimum wage. Most of them will spend three to four hours standing in line just so they can get a job for the day. Once in line they cannot leave or their spot will be taken. If they need to use the restroom the have to go where they stand. Women that stand in line are often touched and even raped. They go through all this for jobs such as picking lettuce and other foods. Many people may say they are against the Mexicans coming and working in the United States but they are the ones doing the jobs no one else will do. I think they should have safer trips through the tunnels that bring then to the US. With women getting raped there should be higher security and even better sanitation. Most of theses men and women are touching our food so the least we could do is make sure they have proper sanitation.  I also think they should be allowed to get visas that allow them to get another job once there current job is over.

Animal Farm

I believe that the bourgeoisie is the farmer in the beginning of the book. He was in control of all the animals and they had to do as he said. In the end of the book the bourgeoisie was the pigs. They acted like men and forced the animals to listen to everything they had told them to do. The proletariats were all of the animals who had to follow the orders of someone else. In the beginning it was all of the animals including the pigs, but in the end it was all of the animals besides the pigs. In the end of the book the pigs ended up winning the struggle for power. This all follows the conflict theory. There was conflict over who could have the power of the farm. Without the conflict no power would have been gained.
Someone needs to have a small amount of control over the rest of the people, that is one role that needs to be carried out. If someone has a little more power over the rest of the people they will be able to make a deciding vote if there is a tie. This also allows them to stop arguments and other disagreements that take place. The people that carried this out in the book were the pigs. If you risked your life for another you were rewarded. Animals that saved someone in a battle were rewarded a metal. I believe at the end of the book the animals were not at a healthy balance. The pigs abused there powers, controlled everything that happened, and started acting as humans do. Do to them all of the animals were miserable once again. Having the pigs control everything was just as bad as having the farmer control it all.

Fight Club

I believe that this could be a permanent fix for these kids. The club is teaching them to work hard for something that they want. By them working hard it is also teaching them responsibility, confidence, and maturity. In the workforce these things are very important, and can lead you to success. If in time it gets hard for them, they can look back on what they had accomplished in the club. They can us this as motivation to look for a job or create there own work so they can make an honest living. If things still don't workout for them, the hard work they put it will still not be for nothing. The gained maturity this is something that will help them throughout there lives. If someone can see that they are a mature man the will want to see what they can handle. All it takes is a little hard work and it could change there lives forever. The fight club offers everything that these kids need to succeed.

Social Classes

I believe that anyone can achieve there goals and dreams if they put there mind to. However after seeing this film I don't believe that Tammy and her family will achieve their goals. I think what holds them back is that they lack the motivation to succeed in following there dreams. I believe that there life chances are not very high because they are short on the funds they need to get there. Tammy's son dressed preppy to try and act like he is not in the lower class so he doesn't seem like he is in that class. I think that if he was really to set his mind to it he could leave the lower class and move up in his life. this is something that can happen with a little effort, finding a good job, and working hard at it. If he continues to follow his dreams he will have a good chance at succeeding in the American Dream.
I think that social classes in high school play a large role in were you are placed. even if someone is in the same social class but is not as high up in that class they are treated with less respect by the other students. Anyone can see who is lower in the social class just by the way they dress. Even in a small school like mine the people lower in the class aren't talked to much, or are left out of things other people do. If a person were to move down a class they would be treated with less respect as they are if they stayed the same. In a smaller setting like my school this probably wouldn't happen but in a large setting no one would think twice about it. On the other hand if someone moved up everyone would look at them like they were higher up no matter if it were a large or small setting. We don't just see this in a high school setting but it carries in to our adult lives also. If I were to put myself into a class I would say I would be in the middle class. I'd put myself there because I have more then what a lower class person would have but not near what an upper class person would have or there money.
 Social classes can be seen by what someone has. My family can be seen as a middle class family by a few different things. We have used cars, don't have an updated house. and anything were have we work hard for and if we want something we save up to get it. I think that if you are in a certain class it affects what you have and how much you have. If you are in an upper class you can just go and buy something if you want it, but if you are not upper class you don't have that kind of money so you either save so you can get it or you say "I don't need that" so you don't by it. This is not always true though. These days there are so many brand that are trying to compete with other brand to bring prices down. So if you cannot afford the name brand item you may be able to get the off brand item to fill that spot. This is how the classes can compete in a way so that they don't always feel like they are in a lower class.

A mans luck

I was asked whether or not I believe in the conflict theory or the functionalist theory.  Having looked at what each one means  I would say that I believe in the functionalist theory. I believe in this because, if you work as hard job you should be regarded with more money for doing that job. If you work an easy job or a job with less responsibility you should be paid less for that job. What I do not like about the conflict theory is that it is like communism. You are born into a class and no matter how hard you work you stay I'm that class. On the other hand what I like about the functionalist theory is that if you are born poor you can work and gain money and social status. In class we also watched a video on whether or not mans luck is created or given to him. I was asked what I thought about mans luck. I don't necessarily agree with that but I don't disagree with it either. If a man or woman puts themselves in a bad situation there luck may change. If you are in with bad people doing bad things you are more likely to have something bad happen to you. On the other hand if you are in with good people doing good you are more likely to have good things happen to you.

Requiem of a dream

At the beginning of the movie it thought he was threatening he’s mom. I later found out he needed money for drugs so he was selling her television for the money. She would not give her own son money for drugs but she would buy the television back after he had just sold it.

After I learned he and his friends were trying to make it big in drug marketing, I thought they would never make it. It is hard to be in the distribution of drugs and not get caught or killed. Despite what I thought they stated to make plenty of money and were saving their money to buy better and better drugs. With the better drugs they could sell for more money and make a bigger profit to save more. When this all started to happen what I thought all changed. I thought they actually could make it big, get rich, and possibly get out.  At one time they had more money than they knew what to do with. They met with a guy that would finally help them get big, and everything was looking good. With a huge shock to me the guy was killed.

After the guy was killed drugs became harder and harder to find. With drugs harder to find they were paying more money for a lesser quality of drug. At this point things were starting to take a turn for the worst. I was still thinking they had a chance to make it, with such a high demand for drugs someone had to supply them soon.  Well I was wrong, drugs were getting so hard to find and they could hardly get any. There stash of money had run dry.

With no money and no drugs they began to get dope sick. Now my outlook had changed, I was thinking they were going to all die from the lack of drugs. Not only this, but Harrys mother was getting sick from the pills she was taking. To try and get more drugs Harry had his friend went California to get more drugs. On the way Harry’s friend saw they Harry had a really bad infection form a needle, so he took him to a hospital. Because it was drug related he and Harry went to jail. Harry did receive medical treatment but lost is arm do to the infection.

Everyone lived but not without a price they had to pay. Harry lost his arm and went to jail, and his friend went to jail. His girlfriend was alone selling her body for drugs, and his mother was in rehab from the pills she was prescribed by a doctor. At the beginning of the movie I would have never thought that they would have returned to a worse state then they started at the beginning of the movie.

Heroin

I believe that a line cannot really be drawn on this topic. To say it is going too far to help them out by giving them clean needles do use when they shoot up is wrong. Like they were saying in the show, it’s not a choice for all of them to be a junkie. So by giving them the opportunity to have a clean needle and a safe place to use the drug could be saving a life. By doing this it also helps prevent an outbreak of STD and other infections.

I'm not saying I agree with or justify the usage of drugs, but that it's unhealthy to let them reuse everything. What can be done? Well I think that what can be done is being done for the most part. The government cannot afford to put every drug user in to jail or to put them through rehab, so giving them supplies to stay healthy is a cheaper alternative.

Can anything be done, well that is up to the people? With the cost of living so high not many people can afford to house the people on the streets. Sure some nights some of them can get into a shelter, but what about the other nights where there is no room left. Many of these people are forced to sleep on the streets, and this is not healthy or safe. I honesty cannot say there is anything that can be done to help these people out, but to hope they don't start an outbreak of some plague.

Trashed

I find it strange that the white man ended up in a normally black neighborhood. Yes he appeared to be a junkie, but if most feared to go there why would he? Maybe he was trying to get his drugs and get out but something went wrong with the deal. He could have been suspicious so he got killed for it. If the suspects didn't want to get caught they dumped him there to make it seem like it was someone in this black community. This man could have avoided death by just one simple task, and just by not doing drugs. drugs lead to deaths like this more often they most people think. The dealers will do what ever it takes to not get caught and if that means killing then they are going to kill. The dealers also do not want to get caught so they have to ditch the evidence in anyway possible, and doing it in a dark ally usually seems like a good idea. These people have had a lot of experience dealing with situations like this, but the technology today makes it very hard for them to get away with anything. One of the only ways they could get away with anything is with a dirty cop. The dirty cop will do something like get the evidence to point to someone else or something like that. Another way is if their in a gang that is very powerful the cops may just leave them and not deal with the arrests. This is why you should not do drugs at all, and it could save your life.

Crime Rate

Experts say there are many reasons for the increase and decrease in crimes. It can be due to video games, lead in the gas, or because of immigrants. The experts are saying that all of these play some role in the effect of the crime rate.

Since the increase in violent video games experts say that the crime rate has dropped. This is due to more time spent inside the house and less time spent on the streets. As this may not be a healthy way to spend your time, because you are not active, it could be saving your life. It is also thought to lower crime because people will take their anger out on the game and not on someone else.

Lead in gas is also believed to have greatly affected the crime rate in the United State. High amounts of lead affects the brain leading to lower IQ levels. When we switched to unleaded gas the crime rates dropped dramatically. The less we have exposure to lead the smarter humans tend to be. Due to this we no longer use leaded gas, but only unleaded gases.

Another reason experts say crime can be raised is by the large number of immigrants in the country. This has been proven true and false at the same time. The original immigrants that come have the highest crime rate out of all of them. With each generation the crime rate drops significantly each time.

I believe all this to be true because of many of the facts. The crime rate now is not the highest it has ever been, but this doesn’t mean we will not face a time when we will need to do something about it. One day crime could be uncontrollable and we will need to find a quick easy fix.

podcast link

http://barkman51.podomatic.com/entry/2014-01-21T11_52_00-08_00
Here is a link to my first podcast that I have recently made about the movie "The Breakfast Club."

Deviance

In class we watched a video on snack man. There were two people fighting on a subway, and this man stepped in front of them eating a bag of chips. This is an example of a positive deviance, because he did something positive for everyone on that subway including the couple fighting.
I also read an article about a man that was robbed as he got off the subway to go eat at his favorite place. When the boy asked for his wallet he gave it to him and the told the kid he could have his coat because it was cold outside. He explained to the kid that if he was hungry he could join him for dinner. The boy joined him for dinner and realized the man was nice to everyone even the dishwasher. When they were done with dinner the man go his wallet back and gave the boy $20 to help him out. This is example of a positive deviance because he went out of his way to help the boy out.
Finally we were assigned to go out and do a positive deviance on our own. When a friend and I were eating at a local Burger King I kindly filled up a drink and emptied a tray for this girl. In the end I was thanked and we went on with our night.