Patriotism Pains

Every morning, we have to stand and say the pledge, well actually that's not completely true, we don't have to stand and say it, but almost everyone does every morning anyways.  I want to say that we do it to be patriotic and show our love of America, but honestly that's not why most of us stand and say it; we stand up and recite the pledge because everyone else does and that's what is accepted.  I'm not saying that we aren't patriotic, because I know that I am patriotic, it's just that blindly reciting something that we learned in pre-k shouldn't be considered patriotic.  

Some people believe that patriotism is always good and no one can be too patriotic, which is ok because everyone is entitled to their own views, but personally I disagree.  There are times when being too patriotic is a bad thing. Is it ok to kill innocent people just because their country's views oppose yours or their country hates yours? I don't think that violence should be the first response to anything, because violence just breeds hate.  

Malcolm X said "You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it."  This quote basically states that you can be patriotic but also a good person, but it depends on how far you are willing to go in the name of your country. There are things that everyone can do to support their country and show off their pride, but how far is too far? 

Feminism = Equality

It's not a secret that women didn't share the same basic human rights as men until very recently and are still fighting for them in many places around the World.  It's obvious throughout history that men were given more importance and women were treated as property. It seems ridiculous that women would not be able to share the same rights as men especially in this day and age, but women are still treated like they were in the 1600's.  While watching The Crucible, I noticed how the female actors portrayed their characters and how they treated the male characters; they always sought approval and asked for permission to do anything, like speak freely in the courts.

I realized that women in some developing nations are still treated like this, they still have to ask for permission to speak or even to go out.  That, to me, is insane, why are women seen as inferior to men? Why do males throughout history believe that they're the most important to the survival of our race? Why wouldn't people want equal rights and opportunities without bias on gender? 

There is no one answer to each of these questions.  Women have been treated unfairly for hundreds of years and it probably won't stop anytime soon, especially with the attitude that we currently have which depicts the movement for women's rights, Feminism, as stupid and annoying.  When people think of feminism they think of a bunch of men hating, crazy women who demand ridiculous things, but the truth is that feminism isn't that at all.  Feminism equals equality.  Feminis
m is the movement for gender equality, it's not a group of women who hate men and want to watch the world burn.  When people say "what you don't know, you fear" that's true, because people get annoyed or have horrible reactions when talking about feminism, but most of the time they have absolutely no idea of what feminism really is.  There is no possible way that anyone could ever be against feminism because all the movement is about is equal rights without gender discrimination. Don't fear what you don't know, learn about what you don't know, so that there won't be anything to fear. Women should not have to ask for permission to go outside of the house, they should not have to ask for permission to speak, they should not have to get married at young ages against their will, they should not have to be with a male relative at all times, they should not be treated as property because of their gender, which they cannot help.  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written and signed by the states that make up the United Nations, states in Article 2 that people cannot be discriminated against due to gender. That is considered a basic human right, the right not to be discriminated because of gender. Why is there still a fear of women's equal rights not only in the developing world, but also in 1st world countries? 

Mob Madness

When you hear the words "mass hysteria," what do you think of?  The reaction is probably along the lines of something bad happening in society like the Salem Witch Trials, the Mayan Apocalypse, or even the Red Scare.  Most of the time mass hysteria hurts the idea of a perfect world, but sometimes mass hysteria is good.  

You're probably trying to think of times when mass hysteria is actually good, well there are many times, like the release of the original iPhone.  The release signified the beginning of a new wave of technology, the smart phone era.  Another time that mass hysteria didn't lead to violence or didn't help hurt anyone was the formation and release of boy bands like *NSYNC and BSB (Backstreet Boys). These boy bands linked teenage girls from all over the world because of their mutual love of BSB or *NSYNC.  While on the more political side of things, the Arab Spring was an extremely important example of mass hysteria, because it symbolizes the desire for freedom against oppressive regimes in Middle Eastern countries.  

There are many more times that mass hysteria was used to better the world and that shouldn't dampen our perspective on what we think mass hysteria to be.  

Society's Stereotypes

Mean Girls, Madea's Big Happy Family, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and White Chicks. Those are all well-known and loved movies, but they're all similar in a bad way, all of those movies portray hardcore stereotypes.

In Mean Girls, there is the popular group of girls, who are all mean, slutty, and overly body conscious. The plot line for any Tyler Perry movie revolves around African-American stereotypes, while every Harold and Kumar indulges the stereotypes placed on Asians and Indians, and then of course White Chicks focuses on the rich Caucasian woman.  

When Americans watch movies like these they don't even recognize that what they are seeing is not the truth. Stereotypes have become apart of the culture, but there should be no reason for them.  There are hardly any movies or TV shows that combat the rampant use of stereotypes.  Although, Legally Blonde is an example of how incorrect stereotypes are, because in the movie a blonde sorority girl gets into Harvard Law and becomes successful, according to stereotypes that would never happen, because Elle is both a blonde and she pledged a sorority.  An example of a show that combats stereotypes is a child's show: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.  In The Suite Life, many stereotypes are broken down, such as the dumb blonde stereotype because Maddy, who is blonde, is the smartest one, whereas her foil, London is Asian, but she's an idiot. 

The sad reality is that stereotypes are now socially accepted and have become a huge part of the film industry due to the changing minds of the American public and their views of humor.  There aren't enough movies like Legally Blonde or shows like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, because most movies that come out today have the same stereotypes. By choosing to accept and believe stereotypes, we are letting the youth of America know that it's ok to separate everyone because of their skin, hair, or ethnicity.  There is no way that stereotypes will ever be gone from our society; the only thing we can do now is educated people on the falsehood of stereotypes.

America's Own Kind of Racism

The American Civil Rights Movement happened in the late 50's and carried on into the early 60's. It was 1964 when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 got passed and African-American's enjoyed the same rights as their Caucasian neighbors. Fast-forward 49 years in the future and although everyone has equal rights, racism still exists and it affects everyone through stereotypes.  How can society judge an individual based on what it believes are characteristics that everyone of the same ethnicity face? We see stereotypes everyday and most of us just accept them. Why are stereotypes so common in today's society?

In the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, the author comes to terms with the stereotype of a Native American.  It is widely believed that Native Americans are all alcoholics; Alexie brings this to light and acknowledges this problem, while relating it to his own life and battle with alcoholism.  The difference between Alexie and other authors is that he combats stereotypes by using humor. On page 183 of Alexie's book, he recalls the time a police officer pulled him over and racially profiled him, later telling him that he didn't "fit the profile of the neighborhood." You think to yourself, that this could not happen in today's society and that no cop would ever say something like that to a citizen, but you are wrong because racial profiling is common throughout the US especially in states such as Arizona.  If we want to be the "melting pot" of the world, then the people of America need to stop stereotyping people.

Sherman Alexie poses a question for us all in his writing; he asks if racism is worth it, because every single person has faced a stereotype in their life at some point.  Is the stereotype you think someone fits under really worth saying out loud? It's not.

Separated Genes

Genes are passed from parent to child, but does that mean that we turn out like our parents?  Even though we inherit many things from our parents, that does not have a huge impact on how we turn out.  The environment that you grow up in and the conditions you were raised in ultimately determines what type of person you will become; genes do not determine personality.  The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls explores the idea of how children and their parents are different.  After suffering through a painful childhood, where she was loved but neglected Walls expresses her anxiety in raising her daughter the way her parents raised her.  Walls constantly moved her whole childhood and when her family settled down it was never in a nice place and it was never permanent.  In one of the chapters near the end of her novel, Walls shows her concern of becoming like her parents while talking about how she does not want to raise her daughter the way she was raised.  Just because Jeannette Walls shares her genes with her parents, it does not mean that she is the same as them or that she shares her parents personalities.  Unlike the constant moving she faced when she was a kid, her daughter doesn't have this problem because they live in a more permanent home with little to no troubles, proving that she is a better parent.  The link between Walls and her parents stops at physical properties.  Since the late 1980's the APA (American Psychological Association) has yet to determine whether genes can carry important personality traits or whether they develop during childhood.  This is another reason proving that heritage has little effect on the type of person one becomes.