Media Vs. Real Life Crime & Privitation of Prisons

Question #1: In certain shows such as "Blue Bloods" and "Cops" you can compare and contrast how cops act on TV and how they do in real life. Some similar things is both cops were dealing with scary and strong criminals. On the other hand, Blue Blood was dealing with criminals who were killers and really smart. On Cops, most of these people were dealing with drug busts, trying to put dealers behind bars.

Question #2: I think the privitation of prisons does more harm than good. Since it's a business, they need prisoners to do work for them. They need to keep up the amount of people in these prisons. If people are starting to get out of jail faster than people are coming in, this could harm their business so they'll want to wrongfully keep these people in. I would never consider owning a prison because I would not want to deal with the scary criminals in jail. To make these prisons better, they would just have to be fair to those people who deserved to get out when their supposed to.

"Radio" and Socialization

Throughout the whole movie, you see the progress and change that radio goes through. In the beginning of the movie, it is clear that he has a complete lack socialization. He goes to the football field and watches the practices, but does not interact with anyone. When the coach first talks to him, he seems to hide. When the coach asks him what his name is, he does not respond. In the middle of the movie, you can see him starting to grow socially. By the end, you can see that thanks to the coach for helping him interact, he was going to have a successful life.
I thought that this was a very good movie. I did not get to see the middle, but this is a movie I would want to go back and watch the whole thing. Radio seemed like a genuinely nice and caring person. Coach Jones seemed like an inspiring and loving person. At first, the people of Hanna and the football team seemed judgmental, but as the movie progressed, their opinions of Radio changed.

Election 2012 & Political Thoughts

1. I think I could connect more with the Democratic party because I believe in order to progress, you need to change. Although sometimes it seems hard, things do need to change.

2. I think socialized health care is a good thing. I remember reading a story in a magazine about a girl who had a mother who continued to get sick, but because she didn't have health care she never went to the doctors. Eventually she went and found out if she had cancer. Had she been able to see a doctor without worrying about paying for it, she would have been able to catch it sooner and it may not have ended her life. There are cons to this, though. Since more people could be able to go doctors, there would be less available. But then again, since there would be more of a demand, more jobs could be created whether its doctors, nurses, or people to build machines to create the things needed for medical care.

3. In regards to abortion, I am pro-choice. It is better for women to legally be allowed to choose what they want to do with their bodies. Whether or not women could get abortions, it wouldn't stop the ones who felt they needed it. It's better for them to have professionals and the best medical care in order to protect the health of the woman.
4. I believe gays should have the right to marry and receive the full legal rights that a man and woman receives when they get married. Who someone loves shouldn't determine the benefits those people do and do not receive.

You As A Sociologist

Of the three theories, I think the one that best applies to my way of thinking is symbolic interactions. I think this is because this theory follows the social norm. There are certain things you accept and realize, such as blue is a color for boys and pink is a color for girls. Most things seem to follow a set path.
I believe it is good to follow authority because that keeps things in order, but I also believe if that authoritative figure is making you do something you think is wrong or makes you uncomfortable, it is okay to stand up for yourself and so no. In the Milgram Experiment, a lot of people wanted to stop shocking the person because they thought it was hurting the "student". I would have stopped because even though the authoritative person said to continue, someone else was being harmed. In regards to legal matters, I think people would be more likely to listen for the fear of the consequences, but if there is something corrupt going on, it's better to try and stop it.

9/11

9/11 to me is a very hard, sad day. I lost my uncle who worked in the first tower on the 104th floor. I remember that day pretty clearly considering how young I was. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew it wasn't good. A couple days after the attack, my parents sat me down and told me what has happened. It has been very hard on my family, but luckily we all have the love and support of one another to make it easier. America has been affected greatly both politically and socially. Socially, I can see Muslims in this country are discriminated against even though they are Americans, and could've been affected by the terrorist attacks as well. Politically, there are constant debate about the war that began for us to get our revenge. We now face challenges on whether or not to stay in the countries we invaded and how to pay for war due to our bad economy. Life in America continue to evolve and change, especially when it comes to security. Airports have a lot of technologies to prevent something like this from happening again. In the city, there are cameras everywhere and it seem like it has become much safer. Life in America would be much different if 9/11 never happened. Many people have a fear of flying while others wouldn't want to work in a tall building. I think "102 Minutes That Changed America" was a very good documentary showing what it was like being in the city and not knowing what was going on while witnessing the attacks.

My name is Alexis Carp and I made this blog for my sociology class. I just finished my second day as a senior at New Milford High School. My class seem like they are going to be good and i hope to have an amazing last year here at NMHS.