Social Science - Blog Posts
Hell yes I'm disagreeing with my prof on this partner assignment.
Reasons why:
1. I disagree.
2. It's only my part of the project that disagrees.
3. Will I be thrown in jail for this? I think not.
4. If I wanted to agree with my prof I would have taken a goddamn physics class.
For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them. - Sir Thomas Moore
The main response by the authors in defense is that genetic diversity is a ‘proxy variable.’ This is a common assertion, but I find it really infuriating. I happen to drink coffee most days, which correlates with my happiness. So coffee consumption is a ‘proxy’ for my happiness. Therefore, I can put it in a regression and predict the relationship between my happiness and the amount of times I go to the bathroom. Ergo universal conclusions: ‘Relieving yourself improves mental well-being.’ New policy— you should relieve yourself at least two times per day in order to maintain high levels of emotional well-being.
Kyle Peyton Regarding this controversy.
How to dominate class politics?
Whether in class or workplace, it is inevitable that there will always be a struggle for power (specifically social dominance), regardless of whether you want it or not. Those who are unversed risk social isolation or marginalisation in their respective environments.
The problem of taking an apolitical stance is its potential to affect you, especially an impediment to your goals/achievements. Even if it isn’t the case, it needlessly increases your liability and competency, forcing yourself to be at the highest standard of conduct all the time. This is stressful and an unrealistic expectation because no human being is perfect.
1. Be fierce and firm
This is easier said than done. If you carry yourself wrongly, you may inadvertently portray yourself as something more unfavourable than expected.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to resort violence or act like a hooligan to create such perception.
First impression matters. This is scientific. Within the first 7-30 seconds, your appearance and actions are being fastidiously scrutinised to deduce your personality and characteristics. Whether it is accurate or not, we can always manipulate their presumptions to make them think the way we want them to… such as your strong eye contact, authoritarian voice and tall, open posture.
Cause a deterrence effect. Before anyone undermines you, take the first-mover advantage and unleash fury on them. Limit the scope of the victim(s) to the minimum and the audience to the maximum. It may seem pointless to just victimise 1 person, but its effect is far-reaching to the rest of the watching audience. This is human’s instinct to learn and adapt, to prevent such nasty incident from potentially happening on them in the future.
Exert your authority. Don’t stay quiet and give in. According to the broken window theory, for every compromise that you make, it diminishes the perceived fear you instilled and immediately expose yourself to subversion. Hence, eroding your dominance.
NB: Be as original as possible. It’s OK to re-use certain phrases/actions that you’ve picked up from elsewhere, but not re-applying them to the environment with the same audience.
2. Be charismatic
This is often overlooked when discussing this kind of topic. Charisma is power; leadership is authority.
Successful people are leaders; they have the ability to get people around them to help them achieve their ultimate goal. It’s not what you do; it’s why you do it -- that is what gets people behind you. They are able to articulate a compelling or captivating vision, and are able to arouse strong emotions in their followers.
Source: https://www.elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/charismatic-people-successful
I’ve seen people who are ostracised due to their stern moral high ground stance. Their heartless attitude lacks empathy, which makes them more hated and excluded than those who are anti-social.
When many people like you (from any spectrum), you gain enormous amount of soft power (leverage). The leverage that you have enable you to easily seek help whenever you need and a biased defence when you are provoked.
In fact, if your charisma is high enough, you don’t need any leadership at all. Because authority comes from power, if you’re charismatic enough, you automatically have the influence of authority to the person in-charge.
3. Do not tussle with the authority/superior/in-charge
This is common sense. It’s suicidal to mess up with your discipline master or your boss — generally anyone above you (seniors). Those people are in position to immediately act in reprisal, with guaranteed risk-free to retributions.
“A friend is better than a foe.”
Since so, it is worthwhile to make them your allies instead of adversaries, even if it is a need to be submissive/acquiescent to their unreasonable demands or unfair comments.
4. Pick the right side.
This is actually the least important, but it can be very effective if you’re affiliated with influential persons. It’s like a start boost, but you still have to build your image up from scratch, but you’ll have very high tolerance from the rest. They won’t pick on you often or as much as you would if you were alone.
Your initial affiliation is very important, and unfortunately, it’s very difficult to pick the best affiliation during the first encounter.
Remember, not everyone can dominate. There can only be 1 true dominant (can be shared) at any given time. If there’s already one, your best bet is to be the Second instead of having an endless conflict. Additionally, a defeat risks being shunned forever.
“War is expensive. Peace is priceless”
Disclaimer: This analysis is based on my personal experience in a harsh school environment. It may be different from yours and you need to apply the strategies wisely. Overuse or invalid use of strategies may have deleterious effects. You’re forewarned.
Humility pays off… but only in the long-term
Since young, all children are ingrained the common values of humility and integrity. What’s more virtuous than someone with inflated sense of self-esteem who constantly vies for recognition built with a wall of lies than a quiet, well-doing boy/girl?
“Sit down, be humble”
Unfortunately, such notion of true humility is mostly over especially in the Internet age. It’s so easy to “gain reputation” on social media nowadays. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the Likes/Loves/Views counter rapidly tickling upwards after every new post/video is made.
Thus, it fuels instant gratification and demands for more posts or fresh content to be made more regularly, which eventually erodes the value of humility in real life. (e.g. literal "updates" on Instagram) This is something unnoticeable that everyone overlooks when interacting on social media. This change of norm slowly aggravates into public request/demand for Likes/Loves on recent posts.
Other forms of inexplicit showing off include asking for advice/comments on the newly purchased accessory or item. Essentially, any action that calls for attention, whether deemed explicit or inexplicit, is sufficient to be labelled “showing off.”
It’s intrinsically recognisable, but unspoken
It seems to be widely misunderstood that just because someone doesn’t point that out, it means they don’t know or don’t notice. The reason why no one points out is because
It’s too miscellaneous. It’d backfire if the person is too picky on things that are too insignificant. And it’s hard to substantiate too.
Risk of social isolation. It’s quite foul to point out such thing to anybody. I’d personally also consider it as an act of hostility if anyone tries to point this to me, whether publicly or privately.
Friends' bias. (True) Friends will always respect and defend for one another. They would rather close an eye than pointing it out.
Generally, in most cases, they fall under (1). No one is that pernickety to point out such trivial matter.
Of course, it's possible that there are instances that go completely unnoticed. Nevertheless, they are still intrinsically recognised but can't be verbalised. That's the reason why ultimately real humble persons are recognised and commended as it's something rare.
So why should you be really humble?
Hmm, I can't thing of any practical benefit other than to gain even more reputation. 😆 This kind of reputation gain is actually more effective and prestigious, which means more enduring than the short-term, instant gratification.
The downsides of being silent about your achievements are…
You'll not receive any immediate flattery. It's all silent. Even though no one talks about it, but the positive image that you exhibit in their minds are cumulative. It's a kind of long-term investment. 😉
Your recognition may never be seen, forever. This is like gambling… becsuse there's no guarantee for the long-term "investment." You presume that they saw it, but they might not. They might be distracted or not be bothered to care about it at all. 😜
However, whenever anyone discovers your achievement by themselves, they would be more impressed and awed than you would show off to them personally.
So what should you do?
It's all about long-term and short-term reputation gain. If you choose humility, the best approach is be yourself. Don't carry any expectations in your mindset, just think it as your own characteristic and you'll eventually get used to resist the temptation of reward.
NB: However, at any point the mindset slips, and you try to vie for attention, no matter how inexplicit it seems to be, it's always intrinsically recognisable.
Radicalisation, Hate, and the Great Die Out.
I didn’t write for a while, it is hard work using my brain to the extent that I do so time off is necessary, as any hyper vigilant person may already know... and for the record, I am playing with this “great die out” in the title. You should know that I classify those using phrases like “the great reset, the great bla bla, etc” as radicalised people.
I want to write about our ongoing, and in my view, dangerous journey that is deepening into the world of single mindedness.
By single mindedness, what I mean is the one track, intolerant, anti diversity that our brains appear to be being trained into, by what often traces back to source as social media.
It doesn't only track back to social media, it also tracks back to certain public speakers, those of which who rightly so, hold their own beliefs and value set in the world, but instead of keeping those various laundries at home on the drying rail amongst friends and family sharing a cup of tea and a biscuit, they are taken out in front of great audiences both in person and online, with the intention of letting people know that their view is the only one that matters.
The problem with that is where some people in the audience have a tendency towards hate, and in many ways would like to act out that hate as a form of completion in their lives to please a specific person, being, or god. They really just want to please themselves.
Beliefs of people are one thing, but when they are pushed upon others as the “right” way above others personal will, then what we are dealing with is a person who wants to radicalise others into their own ideas about how life is to be lived.
Most of the obvious people who do this in the public eye are acting under the guise of religion. They are permitted to be there because they tout the religion as the reasoning behind their thinking, but looking at them all it is easy to see they are simply incredibly old fashioned. They, powerless in a rapidly changed, and still changing world, are struggling to grasp with the realities that they now find themselves in and perhaps have deep, survival based needs to make the modern world that they now find themselves in even more evil than it ever has been.. even though we come from a time where the iron age was probably as gruesome as it gets, and open incest is catalogued in their written histories.
Despite all of our efforts to be beautiful in the world, inclusive and if we like, engaging in of all of our individual, creative worlds, hate will preside both in the overground and the underground, but at least in one projection I can see high potential for the old fashioned overground to simply die out as the arrow of time continues to direct us all ever onward, and onward’s :)
Public speakers who preach hate trickle down their one track ideas to the next generations, but the beauty is that each generation waters it down before the hate it becomes nothing, non existent.
May you all be beautifully blessed, and sending extra massive love to the trans community and all those creating with genders, non genders, roles, and identities right now.
The ‘Goodness’ Mask of Controlling Behaviour.
I feel like were in a sort of new era of controlling behaviour, an era that acts in a deeply masked way making it difficult to see the original cause for what it really is.
Sure, activism is fantastic, but as someone who is looking for it, I cannot help but spot the bits in activism that seek to change things, claiming to be for the best, natural outcomes, when really there is a high stake of control involved where things ‘should’ be done in the way that they say, because the other way is entirely evil, substandard, or plain old wrong when it is just not necessary.
This type of behaviour is often seen in mental health diagnostics, where others are wrong and they are right, that everybody else is wrong and should be doing things in only the way that the ‘dictator’ for lack of a better word, see’s things as correctly being done.
I don’t think any of us needs much of a pointer on what that means for society as a whole.
Controlling behaviour can show up as something ‘good’ being put out, for the benefit of mankind and it’s fellow nature, but in this way it is simple pretentiousness for the masses toward some internal process of purpose, one that is masked and is originally called control.
There are many things that we cannot, and should not control and have control over, one of those in my eyes are some parts of nature.. all life forms included.
The shaping and landscaping of Earth is part of what we do as creators, and our mere existence plays a role in how the surrounding life changes, evolves, and shapes itself, but should we be having a hand in it all?
I don’t think so. Not all of it.
Deserts are dry and arid for a reason, altering them to contain lakes and water spaces seems an irrational placement that would change our ecosphere with unsavoury effects.
Activists wish to change the current cycles of land which are in their not so pretty phase into a forced cycle of forestation, and people are crashing their space junk into the moon just to make a bit of history in their name for future times, which may not be in any books.
We are messing with things beyond our scope, sometimes with good intention, not realising that most natural cycles really can and should be left alone. In many cases, some things just cannot be forced without terrible consequence.
Perhaps one day we will learn to leave some things be.
Be vigilant, and be your own boss on things :-)
Controlling Behaviour: The Internet, Personal Boundaries and Self Development.
Spotting controlling behaviour in people has never been as transparent to the general public as it is at the moment.
At the risk of sounding like one of those dodgy one tip to lose tummy fat web ad’s, the one big sign that gives people away is this: if a person has any thing to say about another person having had a Covid-19 vaccine or not.
Anyone (other than authorities such as the government, scientists, etc) that has an opinion about another persons vaccination status is openly displaying some fairly controlling behaviour.
Another persons vaccine status and decision on their body is really nobody else’s business but the individuals, and when I see people coming out with terms like “un-vaccinated people are selfish”, “un-vaccinated people should lose their right to healthcare”, I realise that I feel so uncomfortable about it due to how dreadful pushing an opinion on others really is. It is akin to extremism, but has another air to it that I cannot quite pin down yet.
Questioning helped get me through.
Did we have this sort of attitude with other vaccinations?
In the unfortunate divide that has been created, what is different?
I’ll tell ya what I think at least. The difference is, social media / internet use.
People do not seem to understand how the information that we take in, scrolling through feeds and streams of it, shapes our own realities drastically more than the every day user would like to think. Yes we can curate things but we only have to take a quick glance at how politics and even BTS seeped into the lives of those who otherwise would not be interested.
Many people also do not have knowledge of things like Social Contagion, Collective Behaviour and the quietly insidious effects that these can wield on our own free agency.
Boundary busting, isn't it?
Plenty of us either mindful of, just learning, or adept at keeping personal boundaries intact can remain oblivious to those boundaries that we allow to be crossed online. Just by logging into an open text messaging service to the entire globe, such as Twitter, we gladly expose ourselves to the world of almost everything, trolling, hate crime, and other shitty stuff included. Many of us are already angry about being burned by companies like Facebook, a place where almost the entire content of lives and families were uploaded without question.
They were trusted. None of us knew.
Luckily, boundaries can be reinstated, but that almost always takes a bit of a shock to the system in realising that very quietly, without our realising, our boundaries were being crossed, and we may have been taking that into our everyday lives, with some being taught that boundary evasion is okay on both sides of the coin, being the crosser or the crossed.
The question we all have to ask ourselves is exactly that, is it ever okay to cross boundaries either way, both offline and online?. Asking ourselves this question can help us see where we are in terms of personal growth and whether we really are working towards a better society all round for humanity.
Keep being amazing :-)
Narcissistic Trait lists: A Dangerous Corner of the Web.
The popularity of narcissistic traits on the web looks like it is at it’s peak right now, comments all over sites like Quora and Reddit, forums, websites and even Twitter “specialists” are everywhere, but not all of the information given is accurate. Although some information is completely valid for an experiencer of narcissistic abuse who is writing of exactly that, their own experience, some people are just there to suck up a loyal following who will pay them for advice, follow them on social media, and provide them with the public likes, re-tweets, and adulation that they need. Notice anything here?
Narcissistic behaviour is not something that can be diagnosed by the general public, in fact, it should never be so, but spotting a narcissist is a great way to keep ourselves safe from their careless behaviour, so what is the work around? How can we, as individuals, not get caught up in the programmed behaviour that is being set out by people posting information that may not apply to all, whilst also keeping ourselves safe from unnecessary crap?
There are a few basic things about narcissistic behaviour that can be pointed out as fact for many of them, although these will be interchangeable, and and entire context should be applied for the individual in question. Additionally, nobody can escape the fact that many narcissists do scour information on the web to train themselves into known passive, submissive, readily acceptable, or caring body language and behaviours, but be assured that this is not to self improve their own narcissism and become more compassionate towards others, it is just another way for the narcissistic person to net people in and “take them for fools” - that’s their words not mine by the way heh.
If you, the reader, have had trouble with many narcissists before, you will be a little more equipped because it is likely that you may have noticed some narcissistic patterns or other repeating across the board already. I have noticed some in my own experiences, which is why I can post you the following short few things which I call a The Skeleton. I call it The Skeleton because this is the framework that the narcissist is operating on in basic terms across the board, and it is where many of their further behaviours spring from. Noticing a skeleton has helped me get to the real reasons for a persons woes on many occasion, so here goes.. but remember, not everybody who does one of these things is narcissistic, there is always a wider context and individuality that must be taken into account.
Intense Staring
Narcissists do this, but in a way that is bare faced odd. It will be uncomfortable for you, and strange. This is because you are two things; prey, and someone that they are trying to work out so that they can get in.
Inferiority and Superiority Imbalance
Either one will be out on display, although usually it is superiority. Superiority is an attempt to cover the painfully inferior feeling person beneath, although if you are seasoned you may see the inferiority first.
Lies and Dishonesty
Lies will be obvious, repeated, and quite courageous.. too courageous in fact, as if they even believe in what they are saying themselves. Dishonesty and lies will occur in just about anything, although it usually always serves a narcissists self protection, greater plot, or protecting such a plot from being exposed.
Unreciprocated Use of People
Narcissists must find a beneficial use for each person, or else they are useless and to be discarded. This is wildly different from a healthy relationship where people get their needs met because narcissists are in for what they can get alone and get nothing from reciprocating, unless it is still early days and they are trying to win you over.
Stupified Eye Response and Facial Expression
If you catch it, there will be times where the narcissist (and also a psychopath whilst we’re here) will have a look on their face that looks like they have just had a few swift blows to the head with a baseball bat. It usually occurs when they are incensed about something, which more is often that their current plot is not working out or has not worked out entirely.
So that’s The Skeleton from my perspective, although remember, there is always a wider context and individuality that must be taken into account when noticing these signs.
Many people read similar trait lists and find something in everyone, like a one size fits all, and to me that is quite a dangerous corner that we have been programming ourselves to sit in. The truth is that narcissism is a scale, anyone can become one given the correct surroundings and experiences, and that there is such a thing as healthy narcissism which we all must have a little of in the world.
I will be posting again about The Skeleton, breaking down some interesting points about it so if you're interested, keep a look out for that.
Stay awesome :)
© Thursday 10th Feb 2022
★If you feel comfortable★ Please consider leaving a comment with your answer and the general location of where you're from in the world. Or for those in the US, which area of the country you live in. I'm really curious if this is a simply a regional phenomenon or what.
For those of you who don't know what this frozen treat is, well there's an option for you too. Can't have guesses messing with the data right?
No judgement based on your answer. Just pure, unsated curiosity. Spread the word! Tell your friends! this is something I have wondered about for years!
The Inconsistencies of Race and Class
NO. 1
Class is primarily an economic measure, of course, based on wealth and income. This is explained more in Karl Marx’s and Max Weber’s ‘The Communist Manifesto, where Marx touches on Capitalism, an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than the state's need to expand throughout Markets. The three main groups in class society are 1) The Aristocracy, 2) the bourgeoisie, which owns most of society’s wealth and production. And 3) the proletariats, or the working-class people. These terms are even more present today than during the Industrial Revolution. The bourgeoisie thrives off alienation and false consciousness, which is the way of thinking that prevents a person from understanding the true nature of their social or economic status.
NO. 2
Patricia Hill-Collins writes in Toward a New Vision, ‘’Each group identifies the type of oppression with which it feels most comfortable as being fundamental and classifies all other types as lesser importance. Oppression is full of such contradictions. Errors in political judgment that we make concerning how we teach our courses, what we tell our children, and which organizations are worthy.’’ (Collins, 1993). Oppression of education and fundamental voting rights happened exclusively to minorities, especially black people. During the ’50s and the ’60s, Brown vs. The Board of Education was one of the most iconic moments in history when the U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled that the segregation of public schools between blacks and whites was unconstitutional.
NO. 3
Basically, proving that separate is not equal. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, and of course, the Civil Rights Movement that led up to it, was a landmark civil rights and U.S. labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Now, with the Civil Rights Movement passed, it makes it seem that all people have rights, but it’s not true. Minorities alike do not have the same rights, no matter the changed laws and how much we think we’ve changed. White privilege is the societal belief that benefits white people over non-white people. It makes it almost impossible for all minorities to overcome the system. White privilege is the belief that there’s nothing wrong with being a white nationalist and that the removal of our nation’s past physical examples of racism, ex. The erasure of Confederate statues, affirmative action, and other such policies is an attack on white heritage.
NO. 4
Whether they want to admit it or not, the overlap between race and class has a great impact on society, and it intersects in complex ways, and simply focusing on one aspect alone may not lead to comprehensive solutions. Affirmative action was used to bridge the gap between racial and class disparities, and now that it is being threatened and taken away, we must carefully consider the impact that it has had and continues to have on marginalized communities. Carol Anderson, the author of White Rage, talks about the definition of white rage, which is how their anger fuels hatred, and that hatred fuels violence which has caused the deaths of black people, men, and women alike, ever since the first boat brought the slaves. It touches on white privilege and the indifference white people feel for black people, sort of like colorblind racism, a ‘toilet assumption’, the naivety that all people are created equal, when that’s far from the case.
The Banning of Books
NO. 1
Books are intellectual properties that are increasingly challenged and criticized for their particular contents on race, sexuality, class, and gender, even fiction! Books aren’t just educational tools but forms of shaping individual experiences and values, and to be able to share the public is an essential part of our democratic society. The opposition claims that parents of young children have the right to keep their minds free and innocent of what is ‘controversial.’ A list of the books banned during this year is here if you wish to check it out.
NO. 2
Freedom of expression is one of our fundamental rights. Banning or censoring books violates individual rights, but how will children learn to express those individual ideas and thoughts if we suppress diverse perspectives? How will society move forward and evolve if we continue to shelter and limit knowledge? From Precocious Knowledge: Using Banned Books to Engage in a Youth Lens’, ‘‘The quest to protect the imagined innocence of ‘the young and inexperienced’ has endured and is today bolstered by differing organizations—Attempts to control language have a long history with youth; The implicit fear seems to be less about what language might do to teens and more about what teens might do with language. Obscenities can be used to wield power over adults or at least unsettle them. When we balk at a text because of its use of profanity, a racial slur, a homophobic remark, or any other language that might be deemed objectionable, we should consider if we are protecting our students or ourselves from feeling uncomfortable. Language that can be at times unnerving often feels reveals charged topics that demand messy and uneasy conversations.’’
NO. 3
In conclusion, this censorship is not only damaging our intellectual growth but another form of suppressing diverse perspectives, in turn trying to make a return to puritan society. Banning books is going to have the opposite reaction conservative politicians, groups, and parents are hoping for—instead of protecting young minds, it will only narrow their understanding of the world and deprive them of valuable opportunities for critical thinking. And no, I am not liberal, nor am I conservative (republican or democrat.) I am a citizen deeply concerned about the vast changes happening extremely quickly to limit and oppress the free flow of information, ideas, and expression. Children learn by example, and they express more than you give them credit for. They deserve the right to learn and explore freely.
Read all of the books on the so-called "banned list;" I myself have yet to read Fahrenheit 451, but I know what's on my to do list.
Warrior Women!
NO. 1
Many women were able to fight in battles, defend their kingdoms, and take up leadership roles, titled ‘warrior women,’ throughout the centuries. Their stories are inspiring and motivational for women everywhere to continue to be independent, strong, and courageous. The Dahomey Amazons were a real-life all-female warrior militia that existed from the 17th century to the 19th in the kingdom of Dahomey, today Benin of West Africa. They resulted from the male population facing high casualties from war and frequent violence from neighboring West African states, and the king at the time, King Houegbadja, implemented them. They called themselves the Mino, meaning ‘Our Mothers,’ in the Fon language, and were recruited as young as eight. Some voluntarily enrolled, while others involuntarily by their fathers or fathers. The Dahomey women warriors earned their reputation as fierce warriors, often earning the praise of enemies that they defeated in battle.
NO. 2
For the Greeks, they had the Amazonians; several tales from Greek mythology have been written about them. They were raised to fight from birth, where they would defeat and kidnap male warriors and keep them as enslaved peoples, mated with them, and kept their daughters raised as Amazons while having their sons be returned to their fathers. In one tale, the fight against the mythical Heracles, where one of his labors was to obtain the girdle from queen Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons. They weren’t just mythical though; they were just real as well. Many burial sites revealed that ‘‘In the grasslands of inner Asia, from the Black Sea to western China, Scythian women had the same skills as their men: wielding bows, riding and herding animals, fighting – and dying from their injuries. Their remains have been found in tomb mounds from Crimea to western China.’’
NO. 3
The Valkyries were the Norse equivalent of female warriors, who, in mythology, guide the souls of the noblest of the dead to Valhall. Many famous poems and Eddas are centered around these famous warriors of Odin, king of the gods. Still, we’re not talking about mythology but actual female Viking warriors. In 2019, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a decorated female warrior from the 10th century, proving women held high-status positions in Viking culture. ‘‘Several weapons were buried alongside the body, including a sword, armor-piercing arrows, a battle knife, an axe, a spear, and two shields, indicating that the skeleton was likely that of a warrior. Accompanying the wide array of weapons were two horses, a full set of game pieces, and a gaming board. The gaming pieces suggest that the person buried was a high-ranking combatant who was knowledgeable of strategies and tactics.’’
The Train Derailment in Ohio
NO. 1
On February 3rd, dozens of cars belonging to Norfolk Southern train went off track in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling gigantic amounts of toxic chemicals into the soil, water, and air, killing over 3500 fish have died; locals of the town affected are experiencing nausea, headaches, burning eye sensations and more. Residents have also reported that foxes, chickens, cows, and house pets are dying as a result of the toxin chemical release. The chemical released from the crash, vinyl chloride, is extremely toxic and can severely affect an individual’s liver, kidney, lung, nervous system, and blood. It is highly dangerous and can lead to cancer.
NO. 2
The government-controlled burned the hazardous chemicals, since left untouched could cause an even bigger explosion, and residents were asked to leave at first on February 6th. On February 8th, residents were asked to come back, with officials claiming the area was safe to come back to. Except, residents are claiming that this is not only a government and corporation issue but a massive ecological disaster from which we might not return. The derailment has caused massive environmental problems because scientists and scholars fear that the toxin waste will spread throughout the Ohio River, as it is connected to rivers and basins in 14 states, providing drinking water to over 5 million Americans. The smell of chlorine was reportedly lingering in the air days after the controlled burn and when residents were returning. When vinyl chloride burns, it decomposes into hydrogen chloride and phosgene, with the latter highly poisonous, used in WW1 as a choking agent. Hydrogen chloride is irritating and corrosive to any tissue with which it comes to contact. The viral video of a local news reporter quietly talking about the event and being arrested for doing his job has sparked state outrage.
NO. 3
So, how did this happen, and who is responsible? The horrible disaster is nicknamed Chernobyl 2.0 as residents feel fear and anger over Norfolk Southern and the government’s response to the devastation, which they feel is inadequate. Rail workers tried to strike over unsafe conditions but were forced back to work by the government back in 2011. Norfolk Southern announced a $10 billion stock in March last year while cutting their workforce down to the bones rather than investing in better equipment, more workers, and allowing sick days. Stricter environmental laws and regulations should be at the forefront, instead of the allowance of corporate greed, not to mention the blatant disregard for public safety. More attention should be devoted to this topic, not only for public awareness but to shed light on the role big business plays in increasing pollution and environmental degradation.
This famed author deserves to have her writings continuously celebrated.
These events I feel do not differ, and are in fact intersectional. They tie between race, gender and our environment with grass roots activism. It's up to us to continue to fight against those who are actively trying to dismantle and take away our freedoms for civil disobedience.
The tale of the Kuchisake-onna
The tale of the Kuchisake-onna dates back to the 17th to 19th century in Japan and is described as a woman mutilated, with her mouth split from ear to ear. The tale has various origins, claiming that she either was the adulterous wife or mistress of a great samurai that he became so outraged at hearing his wife was unfaithful that he slashed his wife’s mouth from ear to ear as punishment. Other tales claimed that she was once a great beauty and a jealous woman cut her; or that she had a dental procedure gone wrong. Either way, she died of the blood loss, and she came back as a malevolent spirit who appears to you and asks, ‘Am I pretty?’ Or, ‘Am I beautiful.’
She appears on a usually foggy night to a stranger, according to Kuchisake-Onna | Creepypasta Wiki | Fandom, haunting different places, wearing a mask that hides her face. She will stop a person and ask you directly, ‘‘Do you think I’m beautiful?’’ The person will usually answer, ‘‘Yes,’’ causing her to lower the mask to show off the hideous bloodied scars and ask, ‘‘What about now?’’ If you say no, scissors will appear in her hand, and she will slash you to death. If you still say yes, she will give you the same markings that show on her face, leaving you with the same fate. ‘‘There are several ways to prevent this terrible fate. One, to confuse Kuchisake-Onna by saying: "You are average." Two, present her with hard amber candy, which she'll take much delight in and let you go. Three, say ‘Pomade’ six times, and she will flee. Four, ask her if you are beautiful, which will confuse her hopefully long enough to escape. But be wary. She is said to be incredibly fast and will be unlikely to stop.‘‘
So if you see a strange woman on the street wearing a mask to stop you and ask the words, ‘Am I pretty/Do you think I’m beautiful?’’ I suggest that you adopt an NYC attitude (I can say this, I am from New York) and drop some candies before walking or sprinting away!
Research on the Elongated Skulls
There is evidence of elongated skulls in many different places around the world. In Egypt, these skulls are often found in graves from the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. They are also found in Peru and have been used in religious ceremonies for centuries. In North America, many Native communities have traditionally worn these types of headdresses and jewelry. The presence of elongated skulls in ancient history proves that human anatomy has been changing for thousands of years.
The Egyptians appear to have used the elongated skulls as ornaments for their tombs. ‘‘The priests of the time believed that the gods would transfer their souls to the bodies of their ancestors after they died, so it was important to provide the deceased with nice things to help them reach the afterlife. They also may have had practical uses. They believed they used them to drain water from their underground temples, prone to flooding. The Indigenous people’s of Peru also used the elongated skulls as grave goods. Because they believed that the spirits of their dead ancestors resided inside the skulls, they were buried with these artifacts near the head of the body to aid their passage into the afterlife. According to the Inca civilization, it was up to the priests to pass judgment on whether or not a person was worthy enough to enter the afterlife. They also used the skulls for divination and a good luck charm to protect them from harm.’’
There are many theories about how elongated skulls came to exist. One theory is that they are the remains of an extinct race of people that lived on Earth thousands of years ago. These "giants" may have lived alongside the Native Americans or descended from an earlier human civilization during the Ice Age. Another theory is that they were created artificially using clay, metal, or wood molds. ‘‘As the Spanish colonized the Americas, many different cultures were exposed to new ideas about science and medicine. As a result, many of these people began experimenting with new ways to create artificial body parts. Besides tattooing, intentional scarring, piercing, and teeth sharpening, intentional cranial deformation is another form of mutilation of the human body and is associated with the cultural background of society. It has been related to religion, aestheticism, beauty, or facilitating tribal identity.’’
Ra, the Sun Deity
There are many versions of Ra. ‘Ra’ is the Egyptian word for the sun, and since we are talking of the Egyptian pantheon of gods, he was the oldest of them all and later merged with others such as Horus, becoming Ra-Horakhty (the morning sun), Amun (as noonday sun), and Atum (the evening sun) associated with primal life-giving energy. As a solar deity, he was the sun riding in his ship during the day and descending into the underworld come night.
In Egyptian mythology, it is said he battles the giant serpent Apophis every time he goes to the underworld to start the end of the world and prevent the sun from ever-rising and destroying life on Earth forever. Ra was the most important god of Egypt and the most popular one, as he emphasized 'life-giving/bearing.' Worship of Ra was established in the Old Kingdom with the development of funerary rituals dedicated to the god. His image appeared on all royal monuments since the First Dynasty. Later emperors adopted the name “Ramses” as a religious title after the king's grandfather, who was also known as Ramesses I.
The most famous representations of Ra are is found on the Narmer Palette, a ‘‘hieroglyph of King Menes, which established Egypt’s first state religion around 3100 BC. The earliest known depiction of the god appears on one of the oldest surviving mummy masks, dating to the Middle Kingdom. This mask portrays the King wearing the headdress and chest ornaments that were worn by high priests of the temple of Ra during the Middle Kingdom period. Over time, the ram’s head symbol of Ra became widespread in Egypt, including appearing on the King’s banners and on temples as well as royal palaces.’’
Ra is a solar deity that is associated with light and rebirth. Throughout the history of mankind, the Sun has been considered the source of life for humanity, and therefore it has been used as a symbol by many religions to signify divinity. The Sun is associated with Ra because it is at his temple that the rays of sunlight would be most intense, shining on the statue of the god as if inviting him to shine on mankind. The ancient Egyptians believed that their civilization was founded by the gods of the sun. They associated the rising Sun with life and creation and used it to represent the passage of time – between each day and each month, the Egyptians measured the passing of time by counting the hours and minutes until the rising of the Sun again.
Norma McCorvey and the story of 'Roe vs. Wade'
It’s been a few weeks since Roe vs. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. It’s been the ideal goal for conservative lawmakers and groups. The case that got it overturned, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, focused on Mississippi’s appeal of a lower court ruling that struck the state’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy as unconstitutional. In Mississippi’s appeal to the Supreme Court, the state’s district attorney asked the court not only to uphold its abortion ban but to overturn Roe vs. Wade. This marks the first time that the U.S has taken away a constitutional right entirely. The overturning got me wondering: Who was the woman who accomplished Roe vs. Wade in the first place?
Norma McCorvey, the woman ‘Jane Roe’ at the crucial center of abortion rights, had flaws, as everyone does. In 1969 she became pregnant a third time and simply wanted an abortion. According to the NY Times, ‘‘‘McCorvey, a young single woman in Dallas, gave no thought to the fight for reproductive rights. She was barely getting by as a waitress, had twice given birth to children placed for adoption, and simply wanted an abortion. She later lied about getting pregnant, saying she had been raped. When, more than a decade later, she came clean and wished to join the movement she had come to represent in earnest, its leaders denied her a meaningful part in their protests and rallies. ‘I think they’re embarrassed,” McCorvey told Texas Monthly in 1993, ‘They would like me to be college-educated, with poise and little white gloves.’’
Because of the fall of Roe, over 13 states in the United States have trigger laws that were put in place to go into effect, and it marks the first time in the country’s history that the Court has taken away a constitutional right, not to mention many abortion clinics across the country have closed down. But this isn’t the end: large companies like Disney, Meta, Apple Zillow, Buzzfeed, Amazon, Levi’s, etc., have offered compensation for their employees who seek abortion procedures. Dozens of elected prosecutors from over 29 states, territories, and Washington D.C, have released a statement, ‘‘We decline to use our office’s resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions….Criminalizing and prosecuting individuals who seek or provide abortion care makes a mockery of justice; prosecutions should not be a part of that.’’
This video occurred in March, and I think it’s important to hear from an actual doctor. When studying anthropology in school, I was taught to be unbiased and objective, which I tried to do in my past articles. But I cannot keep my objectivity, knowing many women across the states cannot get a safe abortion, especially as this doctor explains in the video, will continue to happen whether or not they are considered legal. Norma McCorvey may not have meant to start the fight for abortion rights when she decided to find lawyers, it is important to know that she started the fight, and it will continue to pave historically on!
The Birth of Unions through the Black Gaze
NO. 1
During the 1940s, the past three decades beforehand for Black Americans have been life-changing: The Harlem Renaissance in the 20s, the Great Depression in the 30s, and then the inauguration of President FDR, who would eventually lead America into WWII, at the beginning of the 40s. Then came the Great Depression, and with it, economic downfall and loss. It devasted the economy, and millions in the country could not find jobs, nor could they keep it. Black Americans suffered harsher during this time since they couldn’t make ends meet; even those who still had jobs, labored in unskilled and service fields, regardless of their actual skills. And whether from the South or the North, these economic pressures made a significant decline in incomes to a third of what they had been in before the Depression.
NO. 2
‘’Wages had fallen to roughly 60 percent of their pre-Depression level. Declining demand followed the decline in earnings, speeding the downward spiral. The economic crisis affected everyone, black and white, rural and urban, skilled and unskilled. The federal government in 1930 estimated that 17 percent of the white population and 38 percent of the black population could not support themselves without assistance. White men took jobs held by black men, and white women took jobs held by black women, while privileged black folk who were financially stable toward their businesses and homes, lost them.’’ To Ask for an Equal Chance, Greenburg, pg.1-3
NO. 3
The ideas of President F.D.R helped, called New Deal programs increased the number of public jobs. Because these new agencies had nondiscrimination provisions, black workers at all levels of skill had a better chance to obtain these jobs than those in private sectors where racial discrimination remained. And even though black workers still worked in the same menial jobs they found in private employment, many government programs—particularly in northern and western cities—also hired black skilled, clerical, and professional workers, like black social workers, nurses, teachers, office managers, architects, engineers, and administrations, which they all benefited, and had a tremendous impact on black employment. And for the first time, 1932 Section 7A of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) guaranteed workers the right to organize unions, but when the Supreme Court declared it was ‘unconstitutional’, Congress passed the Wagner National Labor Relations Act, which extended 7A’s scope.
NO. 4
Industrial union organizers sought to engage all possible workers in the struggle for union recognition; when racist whites excluded black workers, organizers pointed out that employers hired the latter as strike bearers (scabs). Only by offering union membership to all, regardless of race, could unskilled and industrial unions succeed. Therefore, unions or their leaderships sought to actively recruit African American workers alongside whites. Among these workers? Socialists and Communists. Drawn to this movement, believing that the working class was the victim of an exploitative capitalist system, which the Depression made their arguments even more convincing. Only unity among all workers could overthrow the tyranny of their bosses, the parties insisted, and bring about economic change. They considered racism a tool the wealthy used to divide the workers and dilute their power, which drew in black Americans, welcoming them in through politics and the realities of organizing unskilled workers.
NO. 5
Some unions had already begun organizing around the principles that interracial unions advanced the interests of all workers, something the elite, racists like the Southern Klans and the police were fearful of. Black and white built the United Mineworkers Union, which from its inception in 1890. Since James Ford, a black Communist leader argued that union benefited and helped desperately, and unemployed black Americans, while including them improved the chance for successful organizing, and to better achieve their goals. Ford writes, ‘‘the organization of the people’s immediate needs, better wages, unemployment, and social insurance, better wages, civil and economic, and equal rights, the Communist Party worked on a Popular Front strategy of working with liberal groups when doing so advance its common goals. Therefore, Communists embraced all progressive union activists as coalition partners.’’
NO. 6
Unfortunately, the elite, wealthy, and racists in any work, but especially the police, disliked integration. Police beat, arrested, and even on occasion shot protesters and organizers, often assisted by other angry whites. The Georgia Klan, unhappy at the advancement of black textile workers as a result of a union drive, responded with a violent anti-CIO campaign in 1939, convinced that the communist agitators they were convinced, interpreting the Communists interracial union organizing as a Soviet plot to destroy the United States by undermining traditional race relations and stirring up otherwise ‘contented black Americans to demand equality they did not deserve and even worse—sought to bring down the white race by granting black men readily access to white women. Such rhetoric was used to preserve the economic advantages for white-middle and upper, and middle-class brought anti-union violence to disastrous new heights and bringing an end to what would have been the beginning of economic equity to all.
Conspiracies: Anthropology lenses
Discovering the dreaded conspiracy theory through an anthropological lens, these notes basically ask the question of where and how people created theories based on their mistrust of systemic agencies, or unexplainable events.
Mass Media and Society
How does mass media affect our society? Is entertainment what drives our society moving forward, and if it is, what type of entertainment are we really pushing out there? These notes discuss how media relates and corresponds pre-existing themes, like ageism, racism, sexism, and the term ‘other-ism’ and explains the origin of the ‘mean world syndrome’ from a sociologist’s point of view.
Eugenics, and how it leads to gender
NO.1
What is eugenics? Better yet, what was the eugenics movement about? Wikipedia states that ‘'it’s a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population, historically by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or promoting those judged to be superior. In recent years, the term has seen a revival in bioethical discussions on the usage of new technologies such as CRISPR and genetic screening, with a heated debate on whether these technologies should be called eugenics or not.’’
NO.2
The concept was created by Plato, where he suggested the concept of selective breeding; but the term was invented by a cousin of Darwin, Francis Galton, who launched the movement to ‘improve the human race, or at least, to halt its perceived decline. His ideas spread quickly, and by the 1920s eugenics movements existed all over the world. Eugenics, a movement for social betterment clothed in the mantle of modern science, claimed the allegiance of most genetic scientists and drew supporters from the political right, left, and center. The movement was embraced by Hitler and the rise of Nazism, which thankfully lost most of its power at the fall of the Third Reich in Europe and America, but some of its ideas still linger in the States. Like the notion of gender and marriage; strictly speaking, of white heterosexual couples.
NO.3
In the 1920’s eugenicist, Paul Popenoe brought marriage counseling to the U.S, where he sought to protect ‘family values’ since there was widespread concern over the declining white birth rates and created the American Institute of Family Relations (AIFR) where they popularized pseudoscientific sexual differences to the masses. Back then, everything in pop culture had little trails leading back to eugenics, including in schools, taught to their children, plastered as ads to their buildings, like pamphlets and books, all on advocating for the white female students to produce more children. Popenoe argued that the ‘male-female difference transcended all other human differences and was the ‘greatest that can exist between the two normal human beings.’ He felt that was this sex binary was essential to the survival of the family, nation, and western civilization, and therefore must be protected from the decadence of modern society.
NO.4
Post-war eugenicists were threatened by the higher education women which they felt decreased ‘natural birthrates and called for traditional marriage with defined sex-gender roles arguing that ‘men and women were made for marriage, biologically and psychologically.’ Patricia Hill Collins explains in her book, “It’s All in the Family: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Nation that ‘‘stationed in the center of ‘family values’ debates is an imagined traditional family ideal. Formed through a combination of marital and bloody ties, ideal families consist of heterosexual couples that produce their own biological family. Defined as a natural or biological arrangement based on heterosexual attraction, this monolithic family type articulates with governmental structures. Because family constitutes a fundamental principle of social organization, the significance of the traditional family ideal transcends ideology. In the United States, understandings of social institutions and social policies are often constructed through family rhetoric. Families constitute primary sites of belonging to various groups: to the family as an assumed biological entity; to geographically identifiable, racially segregated neighborhoods conceptualized as imagined families; to so-called racial families codified in science and law, and to the U.S nation-state conceptualized as a national family.’’
