Extra Credit Assignment- Fully Automatic America

Fully Automatic America

In this video I learned that there are two sides to owning a weapon, one is good and the other is bad. This video that I have watched relates to identity because it really shows how we love our guns. For example, the gun show that was held in Kentucky is great to have. It brings people from all over the country to interact with guns. I feel like this is a good  way to express our love for guns instead of shooting innocent people on the street. Another example would be it is also educational in a way, a dad in the video was interviewed and he said that he was using this gun show to show his son the proper techniques on how to hold, shoot, and even safety. By using guns in this way can be a positive thing ,but if you guns to harm someone then that will be the wrong way.

As expressed in this video Camden, New Jersey is the most dangerous city in America because of gang wars and crimes. Most of the people of that town have become one with the gun and can’t be spilt from it. Generation after generation will continue to carry on this tradition of using guns the wrong way. That’s why U.S. Marshals, and Camden Police are stepping in to reduce and maybe finally stop the violence that roams in Camden. It is probably easier to find a gun in Camden than it is a job. People are fearing for their safety everyday in that city and it shouldn’t be like that at all.

Guns will always be a part of American society bad and good. Even though it would be better who people who use guns in a bad way to maybe start using it in a recreational way just like the people at the gun show in Kentucky. Guns are a good thing cause if we didn’t have guns where do you think we would be right now? On the other side though they are bad because they can kill people very easily. I learned from this video that if a gun can’t be used in a recreational way then it shouldn’t be used at all. There is no reason to shoot someone over something stupid. If I ever own a gun it will be used for recreational use just like the people use it at Kentucky’s gun show.

HW #11 Cultural Assignment #2

1. This artifact gets straight to the point about our culture. Money is everyone’s friend because we strive to get this to spend it on anything they want or need. Our culture is very determined to get money anyway possible either from working to stealing it. This explains our culture so good because Americans are usually greedy and want that money right away. The lottery is the perfect example because Americans play the lottery to try and win a bunch of money for themselves. When they do win they tend to spend it on nice cars, a new house, a iPad, iPhone and vacations. There are exceptions to this because not everyone who wins the lottery spends it on that. They are people that donate some to charity and do other nice deeds with that money. So money is definitely a artifact that distinguishes us from others.

Another thing that shows our culture would be technology because we are so technological advanced that we love all of the “cool” things that come out. We loved it when the Nintendo 64 came out and we love it even more now with the iPad out. Americans love technology so much that instead of donating some extra money to charity they would probably go out and buy a Xbox 360. Its sad to say, but it’s the truth. For example, I had money in my bank account and I chose to buy an iPhone instead of doing something to help out our country. Our culture will always be defined as being in love with technology. Another example would be the social networking sites such as, Facebook and Twitter. Those social websites have drawn billions of people to sign up for it and tweet or post what they are doing every minute of the day. So you can see that technology has big say in our culture.

The last thing that represents our culture is our love for sports. Sports are so big in the United States that if you look through the channels you will find that sport channels outnumber the rest of the channels. Our culture loves sports so much that there are people in Las Vegas making bets on the NCAA Championship game, the Super Bowl, and the Stanley Cup finals. When the Super Bowl comes on everyone stops to watch the entire game. Another example would be I saw on the news that guys were getting surgery done on purpose before March Madness so they could sit at home and watch every basketball game. People will do anything to watch their sports. Sports definitely show representation about our culture.

 

2. Poem- The ball swerves into the goal, I run to celebrate. The passion of the game, Maybe it isn’t too late. Holding on to hope, The fans support you all through. The scoreline, it seems, Is completely against you. You realize you have to go on, Teammates urge you on. A renewed trust, a breath of life, The moment isn’t gone. And when the second one goes in, You feel a surge of energy, What you’d been waiting for, Soccer is a maniacs game.

Explanation-

2. This poem represents me the best because I have played soccer all of my life and I have tons of respect for it. I have had so many great memories from playing soccer for about fifteen years and they will stay with me forever. The friends I have made are countless and I will never forget them. The last day of high school soccer was the worst, realizing that it would be the last game of my career and knowing that I wasn’t going to put on that jersey one more time. The games were always close and my teammates and I were always determined to beat the other team. Sometimes we would fall short but we keep our heads up high and stay focused for the next game to come. I won an indoor championship with my team and it felt so good to be the best team there. It took so much work to get to that point and once you finally do it the feeling is so great. I sometimes wish to go back and play another team game to get to have that experience again but I can’t. It sucks but when I do get the time to play I take it because you never know when the next opportunity will come around. This type of respect that I have for soccer sets me apart from anyone else because many just play to play but I play to win and to be the best I can be. Soccer will be a part of me as long as I live and will never forget what I have learned, accomplished, and succeeded in as a player.

HW #10 Cultural Assignment #1

Shane Pirl

Cultural Assignment #1

Dr. Dories

4-8-12

Cultures all around the world have their ways of doing things. The differences between cultures really sets us apart fromother ones. This is very important because if you plan to travel to a different part of the world you should better know thedifferences between your culture and someone else’s.

I’m a witness to social networking sites that really shows our American culture. This makes it unique to our culture becausemany other cultures are really technological in the ways we are. Other cultures can’t even afford a computer or cell phone toexperience what we experience and that is what separates American culture from other ones. As a American social networkingsites really take control of our lives. For example, if you’re sitting in class and you look around for a minute or so and look atpeople’s computer screen and you see social networking sites. The American culture is very addicted to these websites and wouldprobably die if they deactivated it for one day. Our culture loves being on the computer looking at these sites so therefore I feellike social networking makes us unique.

During high school I was part of the soccer team and every year the seniors would host a game show for the freshman tobasically embarrass them in front of the team. I find it unique to that group because the upperclassmen basically started atradition and it stuck with us. It’s a fun time and you get to know your teammates more. So I feel like that social interactionamongst my soccer team makes it unique.

An event that took place that expresses individuality would be the scandal that took place last year with the New OrleansSaints. It was made public like a couple of weeks ago. Some of the coaches were suspended and fined because they were playingplayers to hurt other players from different teams on purpose. This type of event shows individuality because it sets those coachesout from other people in a bad way. Now they aren’t going to be trusted and people will not like them as much as before it wasmade public.

The American culture is very unique and different and can be describe in many different ways. Also individuality in aperson can be either good or bad but it shows the truth about the person.

HW #9 Individualism as a Cultural Value

1. One topic that Americans think that is rude would be one’s personal life because it is considered private. Second topic would be one’s income because that is also private and could be a emotional or awkward position to be asked that. The third topic would be also asking a lot of questions when first meeting them because you would be overwhelmed and not prepared.

2. In Thailand when the elderly get sick they usually move in with their grandchildren so that they can take turns in tending to the sick elder. This builds moral, economic, and social support for the family. In America daughters or sons of the elderly tend not to help their parents out because they “have their own life.” They are individual and aren’t obligated to help the elderly out at all.

3. One experience in my own life that other cultures would find strange would be how we joke around with each other. They would find that strange because other cultures might take it as we are being serious towards another but really we are just joking around. Also that other cultures tend to be more serious and might not find the humor.

HW #8 Introduction to American Life

1. An international student coming to IUP would find that our lifestyle here is a lot different from where they live at and also they would find that everything that looks perfect on TV or in the movies aren’t really like that in the real world. They portray things different than in reality because they know if they put portray reality in the movies no one would like it. So they just make it look better to attract people.

2. The Americans view on time is that it can be saved, spent, used wisely, and wasted. They view it in that manner because Americans find time to be very important because wasting time could be losing money.

3. They argue that because having interruptions could put a business behind schedule and could loss money. In my type of group I feel like interruptions are accepted and aren’t considered rude because they are just trying to put in their input about the topic we are talking about. Plus my friends are very outspoken so no one can stop them.

4. The sentence is: The style of interaction in the United States tends to be informal. I find it interesting because growing up I thought addressing people by Dr., Mr. Mrs., and etc was being formal and appropriate but I guess not. I guess if you study different etiquette ours is very informal and then you can see we have it easy compare to other countries.

The Globalization of Eating Disorders and Macho Man – HW #6

1. There have been many influences that have shaped my views of my body the way it is today. Being involved in sports all my life have definately influenced my view of a body image.  Just being around other athletic people has really motivated me to keep my body image up. I’m friends with a lot of different people and no matter what weight they are it doesn’t change anything at all.  Also my parents have influenced me to stay active. While I was growing up my parents always told me to accept people for who they are, what they look like, and anything really. I have stuck with that everyday of my life.

2. I really think that the American culture has different views for men and women. Our culture expects women to be dressed nice, wear makeup, and be proper a good bit of the time. As for men our culture doesn’t really expect much from us. For example, if a girl shows up to class wearing sweatpants and a hoodie all the girls would be attacking her by thinking that she isn’t dressed nice and she isn’t as good as us. And a example for a guy would be if we show up to class in sweatpants and a hoodie no body would say anything because no one cares about how guys dress to be honest. Our culture expects a lot out of women in body image instead of men.

Macho Men Questions:

1. Strong- because men are perceived to be strong and tough. Brave- because men are supposed to protect women and to stand up and defend. Athletic- men are usually good in sports.

2. One way that males are pressured are by being as good as someone else on a sports team. This is healthy because its exercise and they could make something of themselves. Another way would be getting into drinking to be as cool as your other male friends. This is unhealthy because you are killing your liver and other organs by being cool.

HW #4 The New Politics of Consumption

1. Schor has a good point here buying material goods that we don’t really need would cause “alienation” or “isolation” from our society. The ways that our society could alienate ourselves would be buying large TV’s. Consumers that buy a large TV will just rather stay at home to watch a football game instead of going to a bar and hanging out with friends to watch it. Also with computers these days no one will go to a actual store to shop instead just stay home and order everything online and get it shipped to their house. These are some ways our society could possibly isolate themselves.

2. If average incomes would increase it would not solve the problems I listed in my first answer. If they increased that means more people would have more money and go out and buy other material goods and it would increase the isolation of our society.

3. Examples of “competitive consumption” are commercials and and media. Commercials can persuade people sometimes very easy and if they see something they want on TV they will go out and get it to stay up with what is in. As for the media, they are always saying things on TV to get people to buy things that they wouldn’t buy. Commercials and the media are some societal factors that encourage “competitive consumption.” (I didn’t really understand this question but I gave it a shot).

4. “Competitive consumption” does influence my identity because seeing something that someone has that you don’t or seeing something on TV that you want makes me a greedy  person. Its like getting jealous so you just go out and buy it. For example, my early years in high school one of my good friends got the Xbox 360 and I was totally jealous so to stay up with the everyone my parents bought me one. I believe it does affect family and friends. I feel like it comes down to how jealous someone gets so they can just go out to get something to stay up with the social norms. For example, my brother was the first one to get a smartphone and I was jealous and I felt like I was left out so I went out and bought an iPhone.