Just Enough Medicine….

In Little Scarlet, by Walter Mosley the idea of temporary cure is spoken about in a conversation that Jackson is having with Easy Rawlings a black Los Angeles Police detective investigating the 1965 Watts riot. The discussions follows as a police investigation but as social problems such as poverty, crime, unemployment and drugs (alcohol). Jackson says to easy “Easy, when you only give enough medicine to keep the disease down, it gets stronger down there and comes back with a vengeance” (Mosley 171). When I read this line, I analyzed its meaning and saw the fascinating truth on reality. When the sentence is narrowed down to a few key words it speaks the voice of a million human beings. I will begin with “enough medicine.” When I analyzed this word it occurred to me that distractions are the number one temporary cure of racism, anger, sadness and reality. TV shows, drugs, clubs, sex all of which are used to manipulate the minds of humans to escape reality, escape sadness. A drug user chronically injects drugs into himself over and over just to escape reality because in just that high time, he actually feels good about himself and doesn’t worry but once it wears off, he does it again and again. He’s really just using “enough medicine” to keep himself down but it will reach a boiling point and the water will just evaporate just like his life will. The main idea is that whether the man knows it or not his problem is only getting worse and will get worse and worse until he gets burned out or fed up. What Jackson is telling Easy is that the problem was held down for so long and it got stronger and stronger and came back with a vengeance (the riot). He’s hinting that this will occur again if equality, happiness and employment aren’t established.

Blog #4. Hate, natural or constructed?

Is hate a natural trace embedded in our genes or are constructed by society and it’s manufactured? This questions raises up a bunch of different arguments but however I argue that it’s a natural trait that isn’t brought up on its own but by society. So I argue it’s a combination of both natural and constructed. It isn’t evident to announce that it is a natural trait because there’s no scientific study on a hate gene. But dating back to violence and evolutionary period, what cause violence is hate and fear. I mean people who love and smiling at each other don’t beat each other up, it’s when people are mad, angry, fearful that takes place during the pre-violence period. For example in a mixed urban school with a bunch of pre-k and kindergarten children, do these kids understand race, gender and hate? Do you hear a 5 year say he hates a kid because he’s black or because he won’t give him the red crayon? Most likely because he won’t share the red crayon, now do you see this playing with another black kid saying he hates him because the other kid who was black didn’t give him the crayon and your same kind. Absolutely not, it is the adults that feed these kids hate. Now I give you this to think about, hate is a natural trait but the way it manifests, is on the construction of society. preschool kids don’t know race and don’t bother themselves about it, it is when they start their grade school years and are constructed by the media, friends, family and parents that they manifest this social constructed illness.

Blog #3. Race and class as a science?

Every now and then you hear about this ridiculous scientific
study of differences between the minds of blacks, Hispanics, whites etc. why is
it that we feel the need to individualize ourselves based on the color of our
skin or where we come from? it’s a actually quiet extensive to find that
throughout history we’ve always found a reason to exclude ourselves from
another group either using morals or culture. But the use of science? That’s relatively
new; I find that we can’t constantly use the same reason over and over again.
it starts to grow old and lose interest so we come up with other reasons such
as something taken so serious both in social and institutionalized worlds. Now not
only can you approach the public with idea that race comes with scientific
difference but also the school, colleges and medical industry. But what is the
need to exclude yourself from being from a group that is outside of yours because
you would feel better about yourself and be superior. Everyone’s wants to be
race class that is superior because you have all the power and hold higher
standards. But superior classes just don’t come by themselves in merry ways,
there always has to be a struggle not only outside your race but also within
your race to narrow it down to small group or one individual who holds the
highest standard.

Blog #2 Lynching

Lynching as we know it, is an unethical act. The idea of it disgusts us and makes us feel so upset. But there was a time in history that people didn’t feel the way we do. But this didn’t just exist 100 years but how about 2500 years in ancient Rome when they had arenas with gladiators killing each other and battling vicious animals and then the audience cheering them on. This idea of entertainment is also embedded in us that we get amuse by violence. To be a realist, when there’s a movie with a terrific fight scene we get amused, biologically our eyes dilate, our heart rate increases, blood flow increases, neurological activity increases. We can barely stay still. The longer the scene the more amused we are. Can you argue that violence is a part of human nature? Well we aren’t the only mammals who share this nature. But like I said in an earlier post, we like to have and group identity among us, in society people like to stick together. Rich among rich, poor among poor, whites among whites and blacks among blacks. There’s this group psychology behind humans, we need to find what identifies ourselves and what differences we have society. Then those people should stick together and those people should stick together. But here your not only talking about that, but there’s this deadly idea of retaliation of the blacks and harms that punishment was the only cure. That’s another problem we don’t go behind the idea why people do the things they do. We don’t analyze the cause, we just focus on the punishment. But in order to induce punishment you just need words, no action, no crime just words. This was how they were able to lynch blacks and not feel an ounce of guilt and wrongdoing. when you feed words backed by no proof but just pure hate and domination this is when you go beyond your natural morals and are molded into this.

Blog #1 Free Write

The first day of class was a very interesting one. I’m really into the reason of conflicts and control and I believe this class will analyze these ideas. As well as analyzing social forces such as religion and culture. What I thought was really interesting was to see that the declaration was backed by a Christian philosophy. The use of God was used in every other sentence. It made me think that as a society we have mutated along the ideas of religion and culture to identify ourselves. Nowadays it isn’t as big to identify yourself as Christian, Jew or Muslim. Its more of identity of where you come from. You come from this certain country in Asia for example. You don’t sign on a form such as the census that you’re a Christian but if you’re white, black, Hispanic etc. These ideas all have something in common and I believe the social psychology behind it is that humans that can identify themselves as being similar like to stay together. But then that’s when the morals, values and culture come in. I think in an evolutionary theory humans who are different wouldn’t be able to get along, therefore creating violence. I strongly believe that the social forces such as religious leaders, mass media and educational institutions have to socially construct the human mind to get along. If you analyze this idea and explain it bluntly, you can argue that we are puppets who are molded from the learning age of a baby until the end of life. However the only reason we share certain ideas is because deep within ourselves we have natural laws and morals embedded in us. But ideas outside of this perimeter are molded into us through social forces.