Spoke about with professor about Xenocentrism in class and how the United States has made a habit of borrowing things from other cultures and claiming it as their own.
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The coolest concept I feel from last class was “Conflict Theory”. Something to which I’ve unknowingly subscribed to for years, Conflict Theory is simply the idea that society is about inequality and competition over dwindling and scarce resources. Class warfare at it’s finest. Geopolitics and more specifically natural resources in relation to Conflict Theory that is something that I’ve always kept an eye on, especially when it comes to the United States and their foreign policy within the middle east. Picking and choosing which areas to “liberate” and which areas to seemingly let lie in an endless cycle of its own violence (e.g. Syria) is about one thing; MONEY. Does that country have natural resources, does it make fiscal sense for us to go into that country, what do we stand to gain are all questions any government will ask it’s self. I expect that. It’s just that right now the United States is just so overtly blatant that it disgusts me. Using the media to try to convince the public of their views is an unfortunate reality and in their mind’s the “unwashed masses” will take it hook, line and sinker. I look forward to seeing future events and applying conflict theory to them, as more than ever it is the most relevant of the theories we have discussed so far.
What is the reading about?
- Chapter 3 details the deplorable trade of human beings in human trafficking in areas such as military bondage, forced labor– a Stalin-era throwback –, and obviously the most common one, prostitution/sex slavery. It details the thriving industry and the depths to which men will go for money and power.
How do i FEEL about the reading i just finished?
- I’ve always felt like i had a high level of empathy and just trying to imagine and feel what these individuals who are sold like dogs is almost too much to even think about. The level of hopelessness they must feel on a day to day level is just too much to ponder about for more than a short period. Anger and exasperation are a few other things that immediately creep into mind after reading this chapter.
What do i THINK about the reading i just finished?
- I think what I’ve always thought in regards to the men and women who knowingly do these things to others, there is no hole dark enough, no prison term long enough, and no circle of hell that would be terrible enough for them to go to. They are a blight on mankind and represent all the worst qualities we are capable of. Greed, narcissism, apathy and an excuse for any act are all that they are and all that they have.
What do i BELIEVE about the reading i just finished?
- We as a society need to not compartmentalize and store away these issues, like i do when it comes to thinking about these victim’s everyday lives. We need to document these acts, we need to severely punish those responsible, and we need to give it the attention it deserves. Although the area in which I live does not as much deal with this arena of servitude thankfully, it is still around here, because it is a global problem and only globally can we hope to solve it.
What do i KNOW about the reading i just finished?
- Unfortunately i know that human nature, desperation, and poverty will lead to human trafficking wherever it can be had. Disgusting? Yes. Wrong on so many levels? Absolutely. An inevitable truth? Most definitely. We are inherently flawed as a species and there will always be those who sacrifice a small part of themselves for a small payday.
| What question did this text/chapter raise? | How did the text answer this question? | How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences? |
| This chapter raised the question of, what kind of different types of discrimination does the LGBT community have to deal with? | The authors answered that question with a flurry of reasons, some of them being employment and housing discrimination, the “importance” of sexual identification and gender roles, religion, and marriage rights to name a few. | Growing up, I was raised in a community that had a “laissez-faire“ attitude towards same sex relationships and sexuality in general. Now while i do not want to exaggerate the open-mindedness of my community, it was essentially that. Do what makes you happy and keep it to yourself. I am basically of the same belief. With a few friends who are gay and bi-sexual I feel like I know a little about the community and the challenges they face, but living in an area like Vancouver with a large gay and transgender population I feel like it is difficult to gauge the discrimination that community may face in other areas around the world. With that said, I hope that as a society in general we can move past many of the old discriminatory paths we have taken towards a future where everyone has the right to be what they want to be and do what they want to do, without discrimination. |
What is the reading about?
- Chapter 1 discusses how specific religions were created from other religions– Christianity as a Jewish sect –and how the differing “branched off” religions have risen in power in the United States, specifically Protestant Christianity. It also discusses the examples of countries merging Church with State or the separation of Church and State and how that fared for different nations
- The centuries-old resistance and even outright hatred of homosexuality in relation to most religions throughout the world
How do i FEEL about the reading i just finished?
- Enlightened is the word that comes to mind. Although i felt i knew a lot about how religion controls and maintains it’s power, the section “State Power and Organized Religion” was particularly educational, especially when it came to discussing how, “if the State cannot enforce it’s own laws/tenents then credibility and legitimacy is comprised.” I immediately thought of Egypt and how they are having control issues in certain areas. –edit– This was written before the Egypt soccer riots, a perfect example of the people in control not controlling their own population.
- Knowing a decent amount about religion in terms to it’s views on homosexuality and the current rise of “conservative” ideals in the southern United States, i found other parts of this chapter fairly mundane and redundant. I could lie and feign surprise at the medieval-type beliefs and attitudes towards homosexuals throughout the ages and even now, but that would be a lie.
What do i THINK about the reading i just finished?
- Well, as stated above, my thoughts are definitely not surprise but I did enjoy the comically perfect example of hypocrisy at it’s finest in the Pastor Ted Haggard section of the chapter. The fact that we as a society are hilariously barraged with stories like this yet still try to justify the people whom these things are found out about says a lot about our forgiven nature, and yet says even more about close-mindedness when it comes to issues like homosexuality.
What do i BELIEVE about the reading i just finished?
- Well, after reading the first parts of this post it is fairly clear that I am anti-religion. However i am most definitely pro-Faith. Terrible things done in the name of religion, such as rape, murder, genocide, forced female genital mutilation, and many, many other things have been done on almost every single place on the planet, and yet the morals and beliefs within most religions usually tend to be good, it is man’s fallacy to misinterpret readings to or to interject his own beliefs and do terrible things to further his or her own personal end.
- Reading this chapter and the examples used only reaffirms my own beliefs.
What do i KNOW about the reading i just finished?
- Traditional American Christianity and it’s views will not come to and end anytime soon and are still a massive tool to be exploited by the powers that be.
- The decline in American educational values and the rise of far-right religious and xenophobic ideals is not a coincidence. The educated, (college and university) youth typically are not anti-homosexual, they realize that everyone just wants to be happy and if that is what makes a person happy, who are they to tell them otherwise. Ignorance invites hatred and religious extremes prey upon the stupid and fearful.
February 1st. Spoke for group on “Conflict Theory” and how we discussed that essentially any group that comes into power or control will inevitably be corrupted by the power in their control. Referenced Russian Labor Party, Tunisia and Egypt and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” and what is happening now in those countries without the authoritarian regimes that were in control.
January 30th. Questioned and discussed the idea of cultural relativism and the subconscious level within which all biases and stereotypes still lie within no matter how hard we try to achieve true “cultural relativism”.
January 23rd or 25th. Spoke for my group in the class discussion on “Nacerima”. Basically we realized what the author was trying to do fairly quickly and deduced after reading the entire thing all the similarities he used in comparison to 1950′s image based culture. Spoke about how I personally found it a fun, satirical look at his own culture at that time and their ethnocentric attitude.
January 23, Spoke about oil or freedom debate with Dr. Adade and the reasons for being in the Middle East in relation to strategic resources. Discussed how other countries are essentially being forgotten based on the fact they have no natural resources to garner control of. Side note: finally got back internet yesterday so here comes a flurry of posts that i’ve written down but couldn’t post :/.
Immediately upon reading the title of said essay by Horace Miner my eyes were drawn to the tribe’s name. Whether it is my love of word play or me and my girlfriend’s unhealthy Jeopardy obsession, I noticed quickly that Nacerima was American backwards. With that in mind, I enjoyed reading the rest of the article. It is a fun, satirical, look at American society in the fifties from an anthropological perspective and holds up shockingly well. Miner chose not to reveal that this was written about Americans to make a point about his own country’s ethnocentric attitude that had developed since the end of World War II.
The “Nacerima” is a society obsessed with appearence and will go to great lengths to maintain or improve that appearance. Whether it be the daily scrubbing with hog hair and magical powders to maintain the good health of their teeth, or visits to the medicine-men with any ill, no matter how minor, they are constantly worried about their class level, their romantic prospects, and their livelihood all stemming from their outword appearance. If they are having issues mentally they will meet with a “listener” who will listen to them and will ask them questions about their past and how it may relate to their current predicament. Of course, as we all know, the shrine chest is a medicine cabinet, hog hair and magical powder is a toothbrush, medicine men and holy mouth-men are doctors and dentists and vestal maidens are nurses.
Obvious though it may be, Miner’s article was a humorous look at how ridiculous to others the western culture’s “norms” may be. Ritual fasts, to LOSE weight and scrubbing of one’s own child’s mouth with soap to improve their moral fiber would be laughable to someone not familiar with our customs. Most people on the planet are raised with a belief that their society and their culture is best, however after reading this it did bring a bit of perspective to me personally to not be so quick to judge something that i may find ludicrous.
