30 Days Deviance

Today in class we watched the show 30 Days where Morgan Spurlock went to a local penitentiary for 30 days. I found this extremely interesting because I have always wondered what its really like to live in jail. After seeing this show I realized how terrible it is to be stripped of all your basic freedoms basically overnight. The fact that a fourth of all the prisoners in the world are from the U.S. and 1% of the U.S. adult population is in jail is extremely alarming to me. Its also shocking that 50% of the people in jail are there for drug related reasons. I think that our society needs to change these statistics by sending more people to rehabilitation centers or institutions to help them change their lives and learn from the mistakes that got them in trouble in the first place. Before the War on Drugs, drug abuse was seen as a problem that people needed to get help for. However, since then certain drugs and drug abuse in general has become deviant and seen as a crime rather than a health issue. Therefore, people involved with these deviant drugs are getting punished by serving jail time instead of having the chance to get help and turn their lives around like they should.

Masculinity

This week in class we watched a few videos depicting what our society considers a "real man." The video by Lajoie about stay at home dads was espeically funny to me, since my dad is currently a stay at home dad. When we moved to Illinois 6 years ago for my mom's job, my dad had to leave his business in Cleveland. He is still able to run his business from our home in Illinois, and he goes to Ohio almost every other weekend to maintain it. Therefore, he is at home most of the time while my mom is in Chicago working. My dad is the one who takes my sister and I to school when we need a ride, and he sometimes takes us out to dinner or even makes dinner for my sister and I, and has it ready for my mom when she gets home from work. In our society, many people think that it is the woman's job to stay at home and take care of the kids, while the man goes out and makes money. This morning on my way to school I was listening to the radio and I was shocked to hear the talk show people supporting this idea. They were having women call in to say how they plan to have a good relationship if they can't cook for their man. They also said that after a woman has a baby and goes on maturnity league, they are expected to stay home with the baby and cook for it and their man. After they said this, an angry woman called in to argue that men can stay at home too and that it is ok if a man knows how to cook better than his girlfriend or wife does. The talk show hosts refuted that idea and said that if a woman doesn't know how to cook, then she will end up alone because no man will want to be with a woman who can't cook for him. This whole discussion made me very uncomfortable and upset, because the talk show hosts were extremely WRONG to say that it is a woman's job to cook and clean, and that it wouldn't make sense if a guy took on that role. My dad can cook, and he does a pretty good job of it. That fact shouldn't make him any less of a "man", at least not in my opinion.

The Media's Influence on Girls

This week in class we discussed the negative influence that the media has specifically on girls.

When girls read magazines such as Seventeen, or watch TV shows such as America's Next Top Model, they often feel pressure to look as beautiful as the models appear to look, even though they are often airbrushed to look "perfect." Girl's desires to look as skinny and pretty as girls portrayed by the media often go so far as to damage their body from eating disorders. This is proven from the statistic that one in every five college-age females has some type of disordered eating (The Media).

I love the Dove Self-Esteem Fund because it promotes girls loving themselves for who they are, not by how they look. The picture above was used by Dove as an advertisment for the Self-Esteem Fund. I saw this picture on a billboard in Chicago a few months ago, and I remember thinking to myself, "wow how unusual...normal sized models!" I believe that if more companies used healthy, normal looking women to represent their products like Dove does, then young girls would have more self-confidence and eating disorders wouldn't be as common.

I know first hand that the media negatively influences girls everyday, since my sister is 13 and sometimes struggles with self-esteem issues, like most girls her age tend to do. I always try my best to make her feel beautiful in her own way by complimenting her and taking her shopping to find clothes that make her feel good when she wears them. I honestly believe that if companies today didn't always use dangerously thin, airbrushed models, and instead actually showed women in their natural state, then girls today would have more self-confidence and be happier overall.

Un-TV

Last week we were given the Un-TV assignment, which was almost as dificult as "doing nothing." I did the Un-TV assignment while my grandpa was staying with us this weekend. First I watched Hannah Montana without any sound, which was almost impossible for me to do since I got extremely frusterated because I didn't understand what was going on in the episode. When watching TV without sound, I realized that I pay much closer attention to the little details of the show, such as body momvent and camera angles, than I do when there is sound. The next thing I did was watch the TV with the power turned off. This part of the assignment reminded me of the "doing nothing" activity since I had to focus all of my attention to one thing, in this case it was the blank TV screen, which was extremely boring. Then I went downstairs and sat on the couch with my grandpa who thought I just wanted to watch the old black and white movie he was watching. However, instead of watching the movie, I observed HIM as he watched the TV screen. He was extremely concentrated, so much that it looked like he was in a different world. He was also very calm and barely moved. From this assignment I've realized how much humans today are impacted by TV and that when we watch it, we become distant from our surroundings, and become consumed by the world on the screen.

Doing Nothing

Last Sunday I completed the assignment to "do nothing", which was a lot more difficult than one would think. While at dinner with my friends, I got up and stood next to the table for almost ten minutes, doing nothing. It was extremely difficult to think about absolutely nothing, because my mind kept wandering as I saw my friends around me eating and talking, and asking me what I was doing and if I was okay. It was also very difficult to break a social norm by doing nothing, when everyone around me was doing something. Breaking a social norm by doing nothing is similar to what the group Improveverywhere does. I watched some of their videos and they are hilarious....especially the foodcourt musical. It must be very difficult for all of the people who participate in those skits to break social norms so obviously! While I was doing nothing, my friends, and even strangers were staring at me, trying to figure out what I was doing, or if I needed help with something. It was embarassing to have so much attention drawn to me, but that is to be expected from everyone who steps out of the box and breaks a social norm.

Work in Tuesdays With Morrie

In the movie, Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch clearly values his job and considers himself successful. Mitch recieved a good education, works hard, long, hours, and earns a decent salary. In America today, these are accomplishments that most people link to success. However, success does not always mean making a lot of money and having a job. I'm sure that success has many other meanings and interpretations in different cultures. Americans today believe that poor or homeless people are unsuccessful just because they dont have expensive material possessions. In reality, these people could actually be very successful in their own mind. They could be in love, or have a family that they care about. Therefore, success is different for everyone. For example, Mitch may be successful in the business world, but for awhile, he was not successful with having a wife and a family to take care of. To people in other cultures, Mitch might not seem to be as successful as Americans believe that he is, because he did not have many other things going for him other than making money and working long hours. The idea that a person can only be successful if they make a lot of money and buy expensive things, is installed in Americans at a very young age. This idea of success follows young Americans through high school and college, when they desperately strive to find a good career with a high salary. If they do not find these things, then they will probbaly consider themselves unsuccessful, when actually, they can find success in many other forms, such as love, personal growth, or helping other people.

The Norms in Greece

Last week we discussed the norms different from the ones we are used to, in countries such as Japan, and how it is very difficult to go to a different country and adapt to their culture since they may have norms that are different from the ones here in America. I have never been to another country to experience a completely different culture with different norms, but my best friend is Greek and goes to Greece every summer for over a month. When she comes home she always tells me how difficult it was for her to adjust once she got to Greece, and how hard it is for her to go back to living her normal life in America.
On the first night she got home from Greece this past summer, she picked me up in her car. She was freaking out because she "forgot" how to drive over the summer since she did not drive once while she was in Greece. Most people in Greee walk everywhere or ride their bikes. Its not uncommon to see people walking or biking around here, but they are usually just trying to get some exercise and it is unusual if someone doesn't own a car. So, that first car ride with her was pretty scary, but eventually her driving improved. She told me that in Greece whenever you say hello or goodbye to someone you are expected to kiss them on both cheeks, and its not weird for guys to do this to other guys. In America, if people did that on a daily basis, that would be considered inappropriate and creepy. But in Greece, its just being polite.
Also in Greece, it is expected that everyone, even older people, go out at night to clubs, bars, or restaurants to socialize, and stay out until morning. In America, people do this but not on a daily basis. According to my friend, people would think you were antisocial if you stayed in your house for too many hours during the day. At night it is also unacceptable in Greece to wear casual clothes such as jeans and a tshirt, since everyone there "dresses to impress" and wears their nicest clothes, even out to run errands. It would be awkward if someone showed up to a club wearing a typical American outfit (jeans, a tshirt, tennis shoes, and a baseball cap) and the Greek people would probably wonder why that person is dressed so weird. In America, underage drinking is looked down upon by parents and law enforcements, but in Greece, parents dont hesitate to provide their kids with alcohol and it is common for families to drink together, since drinking is a big part of their culture. My friend also told me that swear words are not as big of a deal in Greece as they are here. In America, if a teacher hears a student sware, the student would probably get into trouble or the teacher would tell him to watch his mouth. In Greece, a teacher wouldn't even flinch if they heard a student use a cus word, and neither would the kid's parents.
Life in Greece seems to be a lot more laid back than life in America, but both cultures have their own specific norms that people learn to follow. I hope that someday I can go to a different country and experience culture shock and discover norms different from the ones that I am used to.