The one big taboo.... Social Classes

In learning about the difference between classes it is tough to overlook how hard it is to change social classes. Yet, that is all we seek. The poor seek to become middle class, possibly going off to college. The biggest class in America seek to become part of the wealthy class, including some "higher" tastes. And the wealthy classes' goal is just to put down the other classes to make sure they are still superior. However, the most surprising part is how others of the same group mock those trying to change social classes. The key example that I've seen and that was highlighted in the movie is with African Americans. Those who try to act with some class, or try to make their lives better are called names including being "white". This is awful because usually the true motive of this person is to better their own life, yet they are being ridiculed. Similarly, the boy we saw in the movie that lives in a trailer in rural Ohio is embarrassed because he tries hard in school. Furthermore, his mother is embarrassed because he has potential and is not just ok with taking welfare checks like his relatives and friends. At the end of the day it is extremely hard to change social classes, but sometimes half the battle is against your family and friends.

The Number 1 Threat to Middle East Stability is..... Pirates!

Arrrrrrrr.... Ye Mate, come a board mi vessel and yo ho ho ho... Ok i'm done with that. Pirates are pretty cool, I guess. The American preception of pirates are guys with eye patches and a wooden peg or it's Jonny Depp swinging across his vessel. However, the problem with pirates today is they like to take over oil tankers. Somalian pirates have a nasty habit of taking over ships with in Pirate Alley (Southern portion of Gulf of Aden).

While the world is looking at this problem in economic terms, we need to look at this at this through a humanitarian lens. People are dwelling on the fact that the pirates took over a ship with reportedly 100 million dollars worth of oil, but how bout focusing on why they did that. Time magizine has ranked Somaila as the worst country in the world. In order to see why the pirates are such a nuisance today, we have to go back some years. Once Somalia gained their independence civil war broke out between Christians and Muslims. Fast foward 30 years to the late 80's and 90's, Muslim factions began all out war on the public. Shelling cities, stockpiles of weapons, and a weak government became the norm in Somalia. Then comes Black Hawk down. American intervention in a gang run nation fails. And terrorist organizations gain a foothold in the country including Osama Bin Laden in the 90's. They instill a very anti-American/development mentality. With this mentality the social dynamics collapse, and violence erupted. Fast forward to now, and the whole world has given up on this country. Somalia is overshadowed by the Darfur crisis, the Iraq situation, and even to some extent the destabilizaiton of Saudi Arabia. Somalia has one of the lowest GDP's and have tons of weapons. Hm... What are we gonna do with weapons and no money? How bout holding parts of the developed world hostage! This can be seen with the acts of piracy. However, the pirates are only the tip of the iceberg. In Mogidishu alone, it is run by drug, religious, and other types of gangs. There is no real industry in Somalia, and no real hope. The first thing that the U.S. and world can do for this coutry is give it aid in the form of food. More importantly make sure this food is getting to the people and not to the gangs. If this occurs, the citizens of Somalia will have enough food and water to survive without the help of the government. Additionally, the U.S. needs to either help or even (cough cough Guatamala, Bolivia, 1960-80's) install a pro-U.S./pro-World governemnt. The people of Somalia need help, and as global citizens it's our duty to help them. Piracy must be taken seriously and needs to be stopped, but once we look at the reason why the piracy started, we can clearly see that this country needs help, food, and hope.

Perception is key

The other day I heard the quote, "It is impossible to fail out of school, if you sit in class and shut up." At first I thought this was a crude way to look at things. However, this quote goes back to the idea of deviance. Deviance is perceived, so basically if a student gets on the teachers bad side, regardless if the student did anything, he will therefore not do as well in class. This idea can clearly be seen at SHS. The students that don't get in trouble, dress normally, and act respectfully, will usually get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to homework, and will have their grades rounded up when it is close. However, the student that arrives late, dressed differently then the average student, and inturrupts class, will never get the same benefits as the respectful student. This is assuming the students do the same amount and quality of work. Perceiving that someone is a "roughneck" means that people act differently towards them. This is not neccessarily stereotyping, but it is in all aspects of our society. It's all about perception. SO at the end of the day do I believe that quote, I guess so, as long as you look, dress, and act respectable, people will believe you to be respectable, regardless of what you do.

A round on me!

The drinking age and driving age are as controversial in "these parts" as the Roe V. Wade in Southern Texas.
The drinking age must be lowered or altered in some way. It is an outdated way for the national government to control the states. They do this by revoking federal money intended for states to use for their high way systems. If the state of say Wisconsin chose to lower their drinking age from 21 to 18 then the federal government would not give them millions of dollars in federal grants. While the federal government decided the age of 21, look who decided this law. The drinking age was finalized in the 1980's and was decided by a bunch of old congressmen who were afraid of the radical backlash of the 1960's and early 70's. They acted out of fear. IN CONTRAST, every other MDC's (more developed country) drinking age is lower than the U.S. Given that many MDC's are in Europe and most don't have enforced drinking ages, still the U.S.'s is higher than countries like Australia, China, Algeria, Morocco, and Canada. These countries have similar amounts of crime, yet their drinking age is still less than the U.S. There is no correlation between alcohol and crime. Then the legislators claim that there's more drunk driving in those countries. Well that is not totally true (some of the countries are LDC's and cannot afford cars). In the news nearly everyday I hear, 19 drives off the road and kills 3, alcohol suspicions. Or I hear famous star (cough cough shia labouf) pulled over and blows a 1.3 BAL. The U.S.'s level is not that much lower, and the accidents are often more deadly.
The people that are dying in these accidents are not 30 something year olds, but rather they are usually teens. Teens are statistically more likely to drink and drive than other age groups. Of course I've heard many stories of underage drinking, and it is a true epidemic. Underage drinking is terrible, and is the most often cited for why the drinking age is 21. However, if teens are getting alcohol at an unprecendented rate, how can they claim the law is working. At a school near by a teen drove drunk coming home from a prom after party and crashed into a tree, killing his three passangers. This is not a problem in one city, region, or state. This outdated law needs to be changed.
While the law is a problem and i'll address it a little later, the American culture glamorizes alcohol. Beer comercials are on constantly, at all hours. I saw a beer comercial on during a kids show on ABC. Alcohol is treated as a right of way for Americans. Also, it is looked at like it's the holy grail. Something that teens cannot have, yet it makes them a "real man". Something that will make you have a great time, yet teens cannot have it. American cultures creates this aloof attitude making bored teens want it.
Now for some assessment. The drinking age needs to be lowered. Most likely to 18. However, more importantly the American culture needs to stop glamorizing this drug. Another aspect of this situation is that alcohol needs to stop being a taboo family topic. Families need to teach teens and kids how to drink in an acceptable manner (for example not to binge). When this happens and the laws are changed, Americans will begin to see a different.

No place to Go

Teenage years are confusing. Society has no clue how to deal with teens. Teenage years are supposed to be the learning and molding years, but everyone has no idea how to treat you. At the beginning of every school year, the teacher says something along these lines, "You're Practically adults, so I'm going to treat you like one". Yet the teenage years are the years where a person goes from having no responsibility (0-12 yrs) to suddenly having all the responsibility of an adult. Some states try teens like adults, others send them to regular prisons, and even worse is teens can be sent to war but cannot vote on the politicians that are sending them to war. When a teen acts out in class, say he decides to act very "immature" and throws something across the classroom, the teachers catches him and says "You're almost an adult act like one". If a 8 year old tosses that same harmless paper airplane, the teacher would laugh, O he doesn't know better. The teacher doesn't say "Shape up, you're almost a teenager!"
Society doesn't know how to treat teenagers. Look at the laws. Smoking, adult literature, lottery tickets, and going off to war can be obtained at 18 years old. Yet school prohibits all of these (on campus and off), they treat 18 year olds like their 11 years old (except they allow recruiters, b/c that's American way). I'm not saying I want smoking to be allowed on campus or that I agree with the law at all, but SHS treats it like a huge sin, even though it's legal for those students. SHS doens't allow those 18 year olds to call themselves out of school, even though they are legal adults. SHS treats their students like 4th graders.
When a teenager acts like an adult, society looks highly upon them ("look how grown up LITTLE Billy is). However, when a teen acts their own age it's viewed as immature. Especially for the younger teens. When I was 12, just barerly a teen, I remembered a time when I was goofing around running around in class or something along those lines. My teacher caught me (I guess I wasn't fast enough) and repremanded me by saying, "I'm trying to prepare you for High School, so start acting like an adult". I was twelve. I still occasionally watched the disney channel. Yet society treats teens like adults.
The government doesn't know what to do with the teenage population. They send em' off to war, they tax the heck out of them, but then they don't give them the right to vote. They say they can't work until their 16 or 17 yet some families need that extra money, so why should the government say that 16 year can't work. They treat older teens like they have no idea what's going on.
Teens are at a very pivotal time in their lives, and the world around them doesn't know what do with them. Do we treat them like kids or adults? I say treat them like adults, but with the key realization that 2 years ago these kids were watching disney and playing at the local park. We must realize that it is important to teach them to be model citizens and responsible adults, but must keep in mind that they are still kids. We must praise and give more opportunities, rather than take them away out of fear.