Vicious Cycles

I titled this week's post "vicious cycles" because that is what I feel is the theme for this week's readings. The cycles that are enforced by society truly are vicious.

In "The Cycle of Socialization", the author focuses on the way society has categorized people and the specific groups that everyone is placed in based on their race, gender, social class, religion, etc. This reading was very captivating to me because as I read I found myself in both groups: the "agent group" (middle-upper class, abled, heterosexual) and the "target group" (female, colored, younger). However, people (including myself) are more likely to automatically put me in the target group because those characteristics are the "first impressions" people have of me. And I'm definitely guilty of falling into the "norm" that the author spoke of as the person who for the most part "knows my place". In my position, I'm satisfied and happy with my place in society and have been privileged enough to not knowingly experience discrimination based on my target group characteristics. Many of the phrases and ideologies mentioned were exactly how I was raised and what I've embraced as a young adult. Granted, being raised as a Christian erased all of the hostility that is the major issue. I really liked what the author said when they mentioned how we aren't going to "just get along"- I liked the honesty in that statement. The author then throws the weight back on the readers in that it is our responsibility to make change happen.

"The Cycle of Cynicism" also emphasized how we, as a society, have once again become trapped in a cycle that we may very well not even realize we are in. Honestly, I agree with cynicism: I believe that naturally as human beings we care about ourselves. However, everyone expresses that "selfishness" in different ways. Some people are blatantly selfish to where they don't care how they get there or who is hurt in the process as long as they get exactly what they want. Others help people because it makes them feel good about themselves and they get a "high" from giving to others. What I liked about this article was the distinction between the Cycle of Cynicism and the Cycle of Hope and how the cycle of hope is when people do more than just feel bad about what's going on but actually go out and make a difference. I guess that is maybe also why I feel as though people are naturally selfish because when it is a cause they truly care about then go to great lengths to find a way to help out. So when natural disasters and other things happen that people feel bad about but don't do anything to contribute it makes me question how bad they TRULY feel. I also like the "9 Traps that Stop People from Making a Difference". To be quite honest, I feel as though it should be labeled the "9 COP-OUTS that Stop People from Making a Difference" because if we are honest with ourselves we realize that that is what the vast majority of these things are. They are things that we tell ourselves that make us feel better about not actually going and doing work. "That's just the way the world is" is one that you hear all the time and one that I'm guilty of myself, especially when it comes to Christianity. I know that there will never be a time when the whole world believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior but that doesn't release me from my responsibility to tell people about Him. Many of the other "traps" just re-enforce how cynical people are/can be: "I don't have the time or energy", "It's not my responsibility", "I'm not a saint", "I'm not an activist". The common denominator in those phrases is "I"! You can't tell me that people aren't naturally selfish when we use the word "I" more then we use "they, he or she". I think the author of this article is trying to open our eyes to the fact that we CAN make a difference once we get our eyes off ourselves and open to sacrificing for the good of others.

In the Salsa, Soul, and Spirit book there are even more examples of people realizing that everyone has a role to play in being a leader and changing. People all over the world are responsible for the change in their communities: one women, after realizing how much Hispanic women lack leadership training, took the opportunity to head up a National Hispana Leadership Institute. The association Dr. Joseph made between black leaders and religious tradition, morals, and ethics and what is good for the whole not just the individual was also insightful for me. The common denominator in cultural leadership is that because minorities have been oppressed for so long, their values and morales are founded on better the community as oppose to themselves alone. It once again shows the differences between leadership in races and genders. Ultimately, the major theme underlying all of the stories in this section was that they all promote activism in the midst of oppression as oppose to just whining.

Taking the Implicit Association Test and the tests on the marriage website was very insightful because it put reality into tests. For instance, one of the tests that I took was on "age" and how my mind automatically associates being old with bad things such as agony, hurt, etc. I feel as though I unconsciously associate specific groups with either positive or negative views on life. Same thing was made evident in another game/test where I created my "perfect baby" and had to pay more for a white child that isn't gay and is athletic and smart. I really liked the games because it really opened my eyes to how I view things. Honestly- my results weren't off at all and they showed how much society dictates my view of groups.