CH5: The Perfect Parent

I absolutely loved this chapter! I think mainly because it is stating what I already believe to be true. It always annoys me when parents try to be overprotective of their kids. Don't get me wrong, parents need to care for their child and protect them but there is a point where it becomes overkill. I had to laugh when he compared the dangers of a swimming pool to the dangers of a neighbor with a handgun. There are so many parents out there that this comparison applies to. I know my parents would be overly paranoid about things like this. They think that I'm going to get murdered if I drive through a big city, its so crazy.

Another thing I found to be interesting was the statistic on how little child car seats are. This one really gets me because people make a killing on baby stuff. You could be selling a pillow that is normally worth maybe 10$ but if you slap a teddy bear on it and call it a baby pillow you could probably make 30$. Overall, people make killings in the baby industry.

CH: 4 Where have all the criminals gone?

To me this was the most unusual connection that the author has made yet. I mean who honestly would think that the legalization of abortion could have an unintended side effect such as lowering crime rate. I found it interesting that many proffessionals attributed the lower crime rate to different things such as better policing. I could easily have realized that it wasn't that though because I feel like police officers fail because there are laws made that simply can't be enforced. Why make a law when you know that you will have no way to make people comply. I feel that the first step that anyone could take in lowering crime is to get lawmakers to make laws that make sense and can be enforced.

I found the debate on how many fetuses are worth one human life to be very controversial. I feel like you could ask 200 people that question and get 200 different answers. Thats probably why abortion is such a hot topic but when you look at it from that point of view I don't see the debate on abortion ever being solved. I feel the best way to prevent that argument is to educate kids about sex from a very early age. And not just the short 15 minute sex education video they show you in your 4th grade gym class. Kids need to be informed of what sex truely is and how to do it safely if they choose to. I feel like the mind set that many educators have is just to teach kids that sex is bad and they should stay away from it all together. This clearly doesn't work though. Also, contraceptives need to be cheap and available to people. This is not the case though. Last time I saw condoms for sale it was 4 dollars for 3 condoms. If they are trying to dicourage sex by making the prices of condoms more expensive it surely hasn't worked. Trying to get people to stop having sex is even harder than trying to convince people not to do drugs. People will simply just have unprotected sex because they can't afford condoms and that only leads to problems. Although sex is much more accepted and talked about now than it was 50 years ago, it is still seen as taboo for two teenagers to sex. We need to stop looking at sex as this sacred thing that can't be mentioned and see it for what it really is; our species means or reproduction. Almost any other living thing on earth has sex too and its probably not too sacred for them.

CH2: The Klan & Real Estate Agents

There were several things about this chapter that stuck out to me. I think the point I feel most strongly on is that people with knowledge have the power. Experts use the knowledge they have to the detriment of someone who is just an everyday consumer. I feel that so many people are blissfully unaware of everything that is going on around them because they choose to be. In America, everything is so specialized that most people can get by without knowing much about anything. If you can't cook you just eat out at a restaurant. If you can't change the oil in your car you pay a mechanic to do it for you. The problem with everything being specialized is that the people you get to do your work for you in all likelyhood know more about that specific trade than you do. You can hope that these people are honest with you but they are only human after all. And if you don't know what they know, there is a chance that you may be taken advantage of. That is why knowledge is so vital. It can change the balance of power.

I also have an interest in history. Recently I have been learning in detail about the Plessy v. Ferguson case which is why the KKK section caught my interest. I don't understand how the KKK can still be operational. Although racism is by no means gone from society it is strongly frowned upon and is deemed socially unacceptable. For someone to take part in a racial hate group like this in today's society,they would have to have pretty much zero concience. I also can't understand why local communities couldn't indentify the problem and stand up to get rid of them.

Chapter 1: Teachers & Sumo Wrestlers

This chapter wasn't really what I expected. I did however enjoy it a lot. I feel like it is very easy to underestimate incentives. Incentives however are virtually everywhere though so a better awareness of them will help people understand why people do things. I would have never expected a teacher to change a students answers on a standardized test but knowing what I know now it doesn't seem quite as far-fetched. After all, the student isn't the only one with an incentive for them to do well on the test. I think maybe we give teachers the benifit of the doubt because they have a teaching degree and they are good citizens. But in actuality they are merely human just like anyone else and being human they are not immune to the temptation of cheating to advance.

The sumo wrestling doesn't come as much of a shock to me because knowing that the band of wrestlers is pretty close makes it seem like they may just be helping a friend out. If I was in a similar situation, having the ability to let a friend beat me knowing that it would help him and not hurt me, I would surely do it. After all what are friends for?

Gender Conflict

I probably could write a 10 page paper on all my thoughts on gender equality, double standards for women, and feminism but I don't have that kind of time. I feel that the expectations for men to live up to masculine ideals and women to live up to feminine ideals seriously diminishes the freedom of an individual. In addition it also hinders them from reaching their full potential. So many individuals do things that they don't neccessarily agree with just because that is what has been presented to them as normal for their gender. They also may not do many things that they have a desire to do because it would be breaking the gender line and exposing them to ridicule from others. This is sad because for many people this could cause a lot of unwanted stress and other personal complications.

FEMINISM. I think feminism has gone away from its true meaning in many ways. Feminism is supposed to be a view shared by both men and women (although majority probably are women) that both genders should be set equal to one another. SOME (not all) feminists have taken feminism to such an extreme though that they have actually become sexist. I have read two feminism books in my life. The one book in my opinion demonstrated feminism as a truely equal divide between genders. The other was very offensive to me as it basically was 200 pages of bashing men and everything they do. This is very unfortunate because the "radical" feminists make up only a small majority of the total feminists but they often attract the most attention. In many cases this attention comes off as sexist wheather they mean to or not.

Reading a Movie

Sitting back and watching a film for sheer entertainment value is fun but even if I am not focusing on the film-making I catch myself noticing these things anyways. Last year at Alvernia I had a roommate that was a huge film buff. In fact, he is majoring in cinema and aspires to be a producer or director one day. I hadn't really given thought into how a movie was made until I started watching films with him. He took films that I would simply classify as good or bad and analyzed them in a completely different context. After a whole school year of doing this, I found that I was actually quite good at picking out different aspects of the production itself. Now, even when I am watching a movie for simple entertainment, I still find myself analyzing concepts such as the realism and subliminal messaging that goes on throughout the movie. I do however find it hard to be completely non biased when I am presented with a film I'm very familiar with. Especially if the film is one of my favorite entertainment films. Nevertheless the typical hollywood blockbuster is pretty easy to read.

The Cafeteria

In the first part of the reading on "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria" I found it profoundly interesting that children can almost completely disreguard race. I wouldn't say it surprises me though because it is the nature of a child to be carefree and playful. What changes though when you grow older? I don't know what its like to be a minority in this world and I won't ever know; at least not first hand anyways. But I can see why many white teens and adults for that matter separate themselves from their minority counterparts. It's simple: fear. People fear what they do not understand. In my case, I grew up in a very rural, mostly white community. Many people there were what I considered racist. I believe this was because they weren't exposed to anything except for a white persons world. And many learned racist behavior from their parents who also weren't exposed to any kind of culture. When you put these together it mixes for extreme ideas. Mainly fear of other races overtaking them in some way. It sounds rediculous but I feel its the truth. The point that most people miss is that we are all part of an even bigger community.. the human race.

Race & Ethnicity

I am going to start off with the first couple of sentences when the author refers to there being few absolutes when discussing race and ethnicity. Although this is very true, there are very few absolutes with anything! Next time your bored try to find an absolute in politics and let me know how it works out for you. Even the idea of fact can be twisted and manipulated to favor one sides view of something. It's incredible how complex everything is. When people argue whether a film was good or bad you will receive arguments from both sides of the spectrum. It basically comes down to personal opinion as do so many other things.

Back to the topic of discussion though.. I find racism in many different places today. Although people may clame not to be racist, if you get to know them better you will find an occasional instance where they might like their real feelings slip. Racism in my opinion is such a hinderance to so many aspects of life. We as people could acheive so much more and learn so much more if we could rid ourselves or the racial and cultural barriers that stop us.

Television, The Simpson, & MTV

I have to say my favorite reading and the text that shocked me the most was the introduction 5 pages. I new that tv shows were skewed from reality and built to get the highest ratings possible but I couldn't believe to that extent. I have always wished to have a choice in what kind of tv shows they put on the air. I mean, every third channel I flick through has some sort of crime scene shit. And me personally, I hate the whole ferensic crime deal they have going on at almost every major network. One of the reasons I don't watch much tv is because there are so many shows that are uniteresting to me. Sure I'll turn on the tv to see if there's a good movie with not too many commercials on or maybe get a laugh or two in with That 70's Show or the Office but it pretty much stops there.

The Simpsons essay did not hit me quite as hard. I attribute this to the fact that I have never watched more than 2 minutes of any Simpsons show in my life. The only thing that I know about the Simpson outside of a couple main characters is that the show sometimes caused controversy. I like the idea of the tshirts though. I found some of them to be very unique.

As far as the MTV Next show, I couldn't agree more with the author. MTV has gotten so far away from its origins that it really isnt even music television anymore. I would say that pop culture fashion and reality tv is more of what it actually is. You might see music on that station for 2 hours out of the day. Besides that fact that I think every part of the Next show is staged, I agree that it degrades the way people view women. If I were the author I would have taken it yet a step further and made the claim the it is a misrepresentation of men too. It gives off the image that guys are supposed to disregard personality and just look for a hott chick with nice tits. I mean yes, some if not a majority of men think this but it is just reinforcing the ridiculous.

Pondering the Intro

I'll be honest, I'm pretty bored right now. It's a Thursday night and I've been blown off not once but twice. Also, nothing of interest is on tv right now. Chris Rock's stand up comedy was by far the most entertaining thing there was to watch. That guy says some pretty funny shit! Anyways, this set of circumstances led me to rely on reading as my source of entertainment. Why I picked up my writing text book to read is a good question. I'm still not completely sure why. But since I've already browsed through the first 20 pages I'll leave my thoughts.

One thing that caught my attention over everything else I read was the manner in which the author chose to write about Starbucks. By writing down observations in the coffee shop the writer was able to have a first hand account of what he was writing about. Sure he probably could have written about Starbucks from his home computer and I'm sure it would have turned out just fine but a first hand account can only help a writer write about his or her subject.

Another topic that was of interest to me was the word as being a giant text. Some of the examples the author gave I found to be quite true. As a psychology major I find myself trying to analyze and interpret situations and personalities all the time. I also do a great deal of reading books and I agree with the concept of forming and reforming opinions upon new information you obtain through reading. Watching the documentary "Food Inc." made me look at fast food in a completely different manner. Before I watched it I was aware that McDonald's was far from an ideal choice of food and that animals were inevitably treated as inhumanly as possible in order to make the american dream of a greasy, carb-filled double cheeseburger super sized with an order of fries and a coke possible. However by watching the film I was able to "rethink" the way I eat and I explored the moral issues as well. Now I don't think that the satisfaction of eating at McDonald's is worth the moral guilt I would have once I was finished.

My "Roots"

A name is often overlooked. After all, there is nothing worldly that you can receive in your life that has more importance than your name. It is how you identify yourself when in the presence of other people. It's something that noone can take away from you. It has meaning so many people fail to appreciate the uniqueness of their own name. I recently read a book by the title Roots by Alex Hailey. The book traces the history of an African American family back to its origins in an African village in the 1700's. After the child was born the father took seven days to think of the appropriate name. On the seventh day there was a whole ceremony devoted to giving the child its name. It was treated as if giving the child a name was a sacred process.

My full name is Zachary Quinn Troutman.. I never really thought too much about how my name was chosen. I assume I was always too preoccupied with other thoughts or circumstances in my life to ever ponder my own name. When asked why my name is Zachary I couldn't even explain. It was kind of embarrassing actually.

I like the name Zach. Yes several people go by Zach but my name has no less importance. It sounds powerful and confident; at least I think it does. Also, the letter z is one of the least used letters in the alphabet so what better way to start a name than with a rare and unique letter. It turns out my parents simply picked the name Zachary out of a book of names. They claim it caught their attention more than most of the other names.

My middle name is Quinn. I didn't like the nam when I was younger. Most people used to call me "Quinny" or "Quinton", which always frustrated me. As I became older I grew more fond of the unique middle name I had. When I was asked to put my middle initial on a document or something like that I remember thinking about how many people that would see my name and then would attempt to guess what it was. My parents gave me the name Quinn after a person my father knew very well. Coincidingly, Quinn was the name of a character in a romance novel my mom had read that was popular at the time.

My full name always gave me a lot of opportunities for nicknames as well. It's cool because I can identify which groups of people are addressing me without even making eye contact with them. My lifeguarding friends know me as ZT so when they address me as such I know immediately it's them. My best friend in high school called me ZQ. It was awesome because she was the only person who ever called me by the nickname.