Reflective Essay

Affective Method:

Terrorism, globalization and social justice were just words to me at the beginning of this semester. After completing this class I feel like I have an understanding of these core ideas in depth in comparison to before taking this course. We all have a certain perception of worldly issues, especially when it comes to terrorism; however, this class has taught me that there is more than what meets the eye, we must understand that different society’s have multiple norms and one must not judge. With this being said, there is no justification in the acts that terrorist groups commit as they do harm innocent civilians. At the beginning of the semester we were exposed to term- ignorance; prior to this course I automatically assumed that ignorant people were those who were just stuck in their ways and narrow minded. However, my understanding of the term has evolved my perception of the world; those who perceived as being ignorant are not dumb or narrow minded, they are just individuals who have not been exposed to certain issues or have knowledge about certain society’s. The video we watched in class about the girl from Nigeria who moved to the United States of America opened my eyes. She was writing stories when she was younger about a place she never had been exposed too and just wrote about stereotyped Americans which she gained from the media. After moving to the United States of America, citizens in the country were surprised that she spoke such good English and was educated. These individuals can be labelled as ignorant, however, they are not dumb it is just that they had thought certain things about certain societies because they were not taught or told otherwise.

There were several case studied that were shared in class in regards to globalization and social justice. I believe these presentations made the students of the class more aware of what was occurring and we were able to not critic or judge countries that were undergoing issues, we were able to understand perspectives and point of views I do not think we would be able to understand at the beginning of the semester. My understanding on different countries that do not have the same norms as what I have been exposed to have broadened in a sense where I can understand and analyze different ongoing issues that countries are undergoing. Terrorism is a concept that is very sensitive in our society, however, in class, we were able to share and express ourselves without being judged and were able to understand and evaluate different point of views that our other classmates had about the topic.

I would recommend this course for all students of any faculty because I believe it expands our knowledge about issues that are occurring around the world and gives us a better understanding and perspectives on various sensitive topics we face in our society. Also, this class has changed my point of view in a sense where I do not critique other societies, rather I try to understand from the other side, why they think the way they do or act on certain issues.

Sterortyping groups

Affective Method:

Individual’s perceptions of religious groups may change due to religious terrorist attacks. Religious terrorism is the type of political violence motivated by an absolute belief that another-worldly power has sanctioned and commanded terrorist violence for the greater glory of the faith. Also, religious terrorist groups believe that their actions may grant them heaven as they are committing the act in the name of god. Nevertheless, individuals may not agree with these terrorist acts as it harms and dangers society in a negative manner. Religious terrorist groups cannot justify their actions in the majority of society because it harms, kills and hurts individuals; not to mention is also causes pollutions. However, we must understand that not every individual with the same beliefs as religious terrorists agree or believe in the harmful acts; many of those individuals disagree and are hurt by their acts, therefore, one must not stereotype the entire group based on a minority groups negative actions. We must not be ignorant and must understand that not one bad apple indicates that the entire tree of apples are bad as well.

Water Crisis

Affective Method:

The water crisis is astonishing; it is a scary thought to think that if we do not conserve our water supply that one day we might run out, and there will be no clean water for future generations. Not only for human beings, but to think that will animals and species that depend on water as well have an insignificant amount of supply. The water supply crisis needs to stop and individuals should take responsibility in order to help maintain this issue. We must be able to conserve our water supplies and perhaps develop a technique that can assist in conserving the water supply. For example, reusing water or saving the glacier water would allow us to store and provide more drink water for individuals. Nevertheless, not only one person can make a difference, it will have to be a team effort.

The world will not be fixed through one person- we all have to do our share in conserving the water supply for the world. Not only for future generations but we need to help animals and species that also depend on water. Without water, humans nor animals will be able to live therefore we must take action now to help this growing crisis.

India and Poverty

Affective Method:

Poverty in India is increasing franticly and their government is not doing much to help develop the country. The Finance Minster of India presented the government’s budget which was not the best interest of the majority of the population.  The rural and urban poor have gotten worse and the gap between the poor and wealthy only got wider and deeper. Life expectancy in India has also gotten worse; according to the United Nations Human Development Index, life expectancy in India is seven years less than in China. Mortality rate of children under five years old is almost three times China’s rate. The government of India is less interested in helping the poor; however, military spending has increased.

In rural areas there are many farmers who live very hard lives. Farmer suicide rates continue to increase as they do not have the financial means to support their farms nor their families. For example, Ganesh Thakre, a small farmer in Vidharbha had a very hard life. His daughter had gotten cholera, his wife had an eye operation and his son was forced to drop out of college because of financial reasons. Ganesh was unable to get a loan; therefore, he pooled his money with other farmers trying to win a monthly jackpot. However, he lost and hung himself. Thousands of individuals in the country side struggle and many farmers result to suicide. The average income in the country side is approximately $650 annually.

According to the UN Development Report, inequality in India has grown faster in the last 15 years than in the last 50 years. Medical care is the second most common cause of rural debt, close to 25% of the population does not seek medical attention because they are unable to afford it. It is also common for rural family members to alternate days when they eat. This result in 46.7% of Indian children being underweight and 44.9% of them are growth stunted.

Social justice in India is lacking as individuals are not receiving their bare minimal of essential needs such as clean water and food. The government is not attending to the poor and are focussed more in military improvements as that is where a lot of their funding is going towards. Children in India are starving and are not receiving their nutritional values therefore mortality rates continue to increase. The government needs to focus on these stats of their citizens who are not receiving their essential needs instead of allotting funds towards the military when these citizens are in great need of food and water.

In Class Discussion of Religious Terrorism:

Religious terrorism seems to be a very sensitive topic; some individuals believe that it is just plain wrong and others try to look at it from a different perspective, these individuals committing the crime obviously think what they are doing is correct. Freedom fighters, suicide bombers and those affiliated with terrorist groups believe that they are doing these “crimes” because they are doing right and are fulfilling god’s tasks and would eventually be granted heaven.

Outsider’s looking in to these groups of people do not understand how they are unable to see what they are doing is wrong. However, we must understand that they grew up in a society where such actions were rewarded and were seen as good, therefore, how can we expect them to think or see what we see? It is obviously not good, but children were socialized to believe that religious terrorist attacks were done for god and for a bigger purpose than what a lot of individuals see or understand.

We must understand that every society has different norms, which are not always morally correct. However, we must try to understand the issue from different perspectives in order to form our own opinion.  We must also understand that not all individuals in a certain group agree with what the leader emphasizes on, and they should not be stereotyped as a whole.

The Change of a single Story: in class video

Paraphase Method:

The female in this video was very inspiring as she grew up and gave society a better perspective of stereotypes of what normal was to little girls. As a child, she wrote stories about white, blue eyed characters as that were what she was exposed to and did not know any better. Although, she lived in Nigeria surrounded by coloured individuals, she did not want to write about them. Her perception of beauty was stereotyped by what she saw on television, were white females with specific features.  Soon after she finished high school, she moved to the United States and was exposed to a different world, where she learned that people perceived her to be a certain way because she was from Nigeria. People were surprised that she spoke English and knew about issues around the world; is this ignorance?

Ignorance is not knowing, or to ignore as we learnt in class. Individuals are just unaware about people from around the world, not because they are stupid or dumb it is because they are not exposed to that part of the world. This individual from Nigeria grew up and was exposed to the western world, however, individuals like us, live in the western world and sometimes we are not intact with what occurs in other countries such as in Africa because we are not exposed to these things.

Chapter four: The Sociology of Human Rights and Social Justice

Affective Reading Method:

After reading this chapter, my understanding of socialization has evolved. I understand that individuals are socialized through their primary and secondary socializations. Socialization is the “process by which we learn to be human makes us who we are or who we become. It also makes us flexible and unpredictable. Humans are capable of both good and evil” (61). After reflecting on this statement, my understanding evolved in a sense that I realized that I have been socialized to think the way I do by society.

As children, we go to school and learn about math, science, social studies and such subjects, but we are also socialized to act a certain way. For example, we are disciplined if we do something “bad” such as interrupting the teacher while they are speaking or not doing what the teacher has asked us to complete. These punishments socialize us in knowing the difference between right and wrong, and if we do wrong we are seen as being deviant and are punished. This concept is used in the real world, we punish criminals who do “bad” things and they are labelled as deviant individuals in society.