HW #11

1.         There are so many things that could represent our culture, as I know it. America is a combination of so many different cultures it is impossible to have one artifact or photo to represent it. Technology and media usually define our culture, as a whole. We depend on our televisions to give us the news about our small part of the world, entertain us, and bring families together. Many people I know do not spend any family time together unless they are watching television or movies.

We do not have much personal contact with people anymore.  Most of our conversations take place through cell phones or computers. Walking around campus I see nearly every person with headphones in, texting, or talking on his or her cell phone. I rarely see many people talking to someone walking next to them. This has a lot to do with us being too consumed by time to slow down and get to know people on a personal face-to-face basis.

Speaking about time, our obsession with it is a representation of American culture. We go to places such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Burger King in order to get our food faster. We wear watches and constantly check our phones for the time to make sure we’re not late for anything. Many people have planners they carry around to organize their obligations to make sure they have enough time to get everywhere they need to go. People have scheduled routines they perform everyday. American’s, as a whole, are so consumed by time and the need to be on time that we forget how little time we leave for fun.

There are too many things that represent American culture, but there are some that can more accurately describe large groups of Americans. Time and technology are our biggest indicators that we are Americans. Images cannot describe American culture because there are not enough pictures to captivate everything about it.

2.         “Everywhere you look, you can write a book

On the trouble with a woman and a man

But you can not impose, you can’t stick your nose

Into something that you don’t understand

But still you wonder

Who’s cheatin’ who, who’s being true

Who don’t even care anymore

It makes you wonder

Who’s doing right with someone tonight

And who’s car is parked next door

I thought I knew her well, I really couldn’t tell

That she had another lover on her mind

You see it felt so right when she held me tight

How could I be so blind?”

The lyrics to Alan Jackson’s “Who’s Cheatin’ Who” represents me because it describes the type of life I lived growing up. I grew up in an extremely small town where everyone knows everyone else. If something happened earlier in the day by five o’clock everyone would know what happened. There were no secrets in my hometown and there still aren’t. When I’m home and I go out somewhere within minutes I know all the town gossip I missed.

It can be aggravating but it also taught me not to do something if I would be ashamed of it. In every decision I make I always think will the people back home be laughing at me behind my back because I know they are bound to find out from someone. I am more careful in my decisions because I do not want the people I care about to be disappointed in me and I do not want my family to be ashamed of me when they go out in town.

The song perfectly describes my small town and although it can get on my nerves I know living there made me a better person. My town is like a big family and each person has important things to tell you if you’re willing to listen. Growing up it wasn’t just my parents that taught me the difference between right and wrong or tried to stop me from making the wrong decision, it was the people in my town. When we would go out to eat there would be at least two or three people that would join us and tell me stories about when they were growing up. I took these people’s stories to heart and they helped me to make better decisions because I didn’t want to make the same mistakes. I knew I would make my fair share of mistakes but these people gave me important lessons that stuck with me. They helped me to make less mistakes than I may have if I didn’t have them in my life.

Cultural Assignment 1

Facebook is a social interaction that I have. I no longer have many people that I personally talk to. Most of conversations with friends and family, especially those that do not live in the same area, occur through Facebook. This is unique to American culture because we have lost most of the personal connection with others and replaced it with technology. Many people no longer talk to their friends face to face; everything is through Facebook or texting.

In most families people stop talking to hear what someone else is saying, but in my family that is not true. There are so many people talking at one time that it is hard to keep up with what they are saying. Then everyone yells above someone else to be heard. This is unique to my family. Most of the time when I go to visit my friend’s family they all take turns talking or telling stories. We feel it is perfectly all right to interrupt someone when they are talking, no matter how old that person it.

My family came in from out of town and although we are alike in many ways there are still differences. We may talk about the same things and have many acquaintances in common, but there are many things we disagree on. I have a different preference to music and I read books non-stop.

Individualism Homework #9

1. I believe it is rude for American’s to talk about religion, marriage or relationships and money. There are so many different religions in America and some people are not openly accepting of other religions so it brings about many arguments and fights. Marriage and relationships should not be talked about since it’s too personal for many situations. Money causes so many problems in the world that I should not be spoken about in most conversations. It is what powers our world and many people envy others for the money they make. It is what gives us social classes and separates our society.
2. In the United States people are not expected to drop what they are doing to take care of an elderly family member. Most people hire nurses to come in or place their family members in an elderly care facility. In Thailand families are expected to take care of older family members. They have them move in and care for them 24 hours a day by taking turns.
3. Ever since I turned 14 I was expected to help do chores around the house or babysit for people in order to earn money to go out. I learned early on not to depend on my parents to give me money; that I had to earn it for myself.

Homework #7

Learning from Ladakh

1. Nowadays we can receive any item we want with a swipe of a card or a press of a button. A money-based economy has put up a barrier between our resources and us. We do not think of were most of this stuff is coming from or how much land is needed for it. We just automatically assume that it will be there if we want it. Before people survived on what they grew or found around their area and if they needed something they traded for it. Now we can choose from any number of exotic foods or foreign products and we are dependent on these imported things. There is so much international trading going on in the world that if one country fails to produce something the entire world is effected by it.

2. This incident has shown that the villagers have grown apart. It was once a tight knit community and now it is each for his own. Everyone is trying to make enough money for his family to survive and not caring about his fellow villagers or friends. There is a competitiveness between neighbors and friends now that was not there before.

The Global Village Finally Arrives

1. I found “But America may still, if only symbolically, be a model for the world. E Pluribus Unumm [Out of Many, is One], after all, is on the dollar bill.” to be an important sentence in this essay. It explains that although other countries will never be America, it is possibly an example that other countries follow. America is the beginning of creating as unified of a world as we can get without destroying the cultures of the people within the country.

2. There are both positives and negatives to a multi-cultural/ globalized world. It brings people from around the world together and makes us more accepting of different cultures. There are also times that cultures mix together to create a whole new one. Yet it also takes away the individuality of countries and cultures. Many people go on vacations to see a different culture or experience new things. Now that’s not always the case since many countries are very similar to each other. It also creates a gap between the cultures that are intermixing and the ones that are keeping isolated.

Eating Disorder and Masculinity Homework

Globalization of Eating Disorders

1.Many things have influenced the way I see body image. Everything from the comments people make about others to the magazines I see on the racks at stores. Although I know the models in these magazines have been air brushed and edited on the computer I still compare my body to those I see. My friends also shape the way I see my body and those around me. If they are saying something negative about someone’s body I will compare myself to that person to see if I consider my body better or worse than theirs.

2. I really don’t think there’s much a difference in the way American culture views men and women. When a woman looks at a guy, many look for someone fit with abs and strong arms. Then when men look at women, they tend to like thinner women. Each gender has different societal “norms” to fit themselves into and if they don’t succeed they are usually looked down upon.

Macho Men Visit the Doctor Less

1. Strong arms, lean abs, and muscular legs are the first things that come to my mind as masculine. Many people see larger arms as being stronger and a thing that should be seen with men not women and therefore masculine. Lean abs can be for both genders, but six-packs are considered a masculine aspect. Muscular legs are another show of strength for men.

2. In many movies the actors are usually muscular and have well defined bodies and this puts pressure on men to look a similar way in order to be desirable to women. It’s a harmful thing to males because it makes them feel bad about themselves if they’re not well built. There’s many different body types and society only tends to show a few of them on the big screen. If men don’t act masculine, like watch sports or lift weights, then they are looked at as sissies or homosexuals and are laughed at or isolated by other men. It is a harmful thing since many people are into different things. We tend to judge people on the hobbies they have and if they are what we expect then we tend to steer clear of them and label them negatively. There are so many different things in our society to be interested in and we shouldn’t have to be afraid to enjoy the things that we do in fear of being judged. Men in particular tend to hide the less masculine hobbies they have from their friends to save them from being judged.

Consumption Homework

1. Money isolates different classes of people. We as a society tend to judge people by the types of clothes they wear, where they are purchased, and who the designer is. When you watch the pre shows to events, such as the Grammys, one question that is always asked by the interviewer is “Who are you wearing?” They compete against each other to wear the most expensive or exclusive designers. This creates alienation between people within the same business. We also isolate ourselves with where we live. Many people judge families based on the location and condition of their homes. As a society those that live in apartments or trailers are judged to be lower income and those that live in condos or mansions are at the top of the list. People that own multiple homes are also alienated from others because many people judge them to be stuck up or too good to talk to other people.
2. If income would increase then people would have more money to spend on material items. This would help to lessen the gap between certain social classes. At the same time it could also make no difference since everyone’s income would be increasing. Then it could also cause clothes and accessories to be more expensive and less people would be able to purchase designer items. There are ways the increase in income could help people’s social statuses or hurt them.
3. We are expected to dress a certain way by buying clothes from the same stores. Everyone has certain expectations for a person within their social group and if they don’t live up to it that person is alienated from everyone else. Each social group is supposed to have a certain level of technology, and when we can’t afford it you’re considered an outcast.
4. Competitive consumption influences my identity by the clothes I wear and the technology I use. I am expected to dress a certain way and to be up to date on the technology I use in order to be accepted by some of my friends. It is not always fair to think about it that way, but that is the truth. Our society focuses outwardly and judges people based on their looks more than the person within.

Moral Machines Homework

1. The catastrophic event described in the text seems a little far-fetched, but there is always a possibility. Especially if we begin to depend on more on machines than we already do. There are many things we do now that we use machines for, but there are always people there to monitor what’s going on. In this situation or one similar to it there seems to be a lack of people involved in the running of the programs. The public reaction would more than likely be chaotic. We don’t understand how to deal with something like this. We expect machines not to make mistakes like this, or for the people around the machines not to let something of this magnitude happen.
2. I’m sure that there will be robots that are able to do more things than I realize right now, but I’m not convinced we will find a way to create artificial intelligence. I am a fan of science fiction and fairly open-minded but I still don’t see it happening, at least not in my lifetime. If we do develop artificial intelligence then humans will depend on them to make decisions for them. They would not be so easily swayed by emotions as humans are which would make them ideal for courts.
3. Some positive things about artificial intelligence it that it can help with some of the redundant jobs, which can also be a negative thing. Seeing as we have a job shortage as it is. Another positive would be training to do the same thing. It is easier to have multiple robots copy something than it is to have multiple people. Humans also take their emotions into account when making decisions and with artificial intelligence that would no longer be a problem. Some negative things about artificial intelligence, besides taking away jobs, would be it could the cost to create it and the cost of the maintenance of keeping it’s knowledge up to date. There is also the fact that with artificial intelligence there is no way for it to judge things in another context. Humans say or do things that are usually meant a certain way, but in some situations mean something else. It would be difficult if not impossible for artificial intelligence to be able to make that distinction.
4. I have never had a computer or machine fail me that caused any memorable problems.

Morality Homework

1. At the beginning I thought that Mother Teresa was the most admirable, but after reading the facts my opinion changed to Norman Boralug. He helped with hunger around the world but yet I have heard of him. He didn’t want the publicity of something like that and I admire him for being so humble about it.

2. Criss Angel and Ian Somerhalder are two people I consider admirable. Criss Angel spends much of his time giving to charities and spending time volunteering at them. Ian Somerhalder has a foundation that strives to help the environment and the animals on this planet. I don’t believe admiring these two men tells me something about how I make moral judgments. I believe it shows that I respect people that care enough about other people or things to give their time and/or money to these causes.

3. I believe that there are certain morals, such as the difference between right and wrong, that are universal, but the environment a person is exposed to plays a role in how strictly they view the difference. There are so many differences between cultures things acceptable in one may not be in others, yet there is still the known difference between right and wrong. This makes it hard to say whether morals can be universal or not.

4. The five themes are harm, fairness, community, authority, and purity. Americans tend to rank community first. We condemn people that come from other cultures since we don’t deem them to be American, even if they were in America for generations.