Capital Economies Pg. 426

The United States has been a country of immigrants since the beginning. We are a country of outsiders trying to live together in this “land of the free”. Each one of our ancestors left their homeland in search of freedoms; the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, and the freedom to make their own money how they best see fit. The impact of each separate ethnic and immigrant group has contributed to our American economy today.

            Some argue that immigration (legal or illegal) is harming our economy but where would be without the original immigrants of America who contributed their hard-work in to building their new life in America? Each culture - African Americans, Koreans, Italians, Irish, etc – brought their values and work ethic to the new country and instilled those in to our current generation. Stereotyping these cultures that lead us to where we are today is a huge insult. It is upsetting to realize that so many of these ethnic sub-groups are being negatively stereotyped while their ancestors helped build this economy and nation. 

To Buy or Not to Buy?

Page 418 - #1

Materialism is a central quality to our American culture today. We buy and sell in a relentless cycle – and why? Many argue that this “hunter/gatherer” trait has been around since the beginning when humans first started acquiring food, tools and other goods. In his article, “Two Cheers for Materialism”, James Twitchell brings up some very good points about our need for materialism as a culture.

Twitchell suggests a few positive outcomes from our materialistic nature that cannot be overlooked. Materialism is a way of showing our capitalistic freedom. As Americans we have established this capitalistic socioeconomic structure and flaunting our materialism is actually a way of flaunting that we are ABLE to be materialistic. By establishing one’s self in this capitalistic society, they can also show their new-found wealth through material items like BMW’s and expensive clothes and accessories. Materialism gives us the individual freedom to buy what we want (despite how necessary the item may be), and also gives us the freedom to choose which service we would like – restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, etc. We live through our material good and services and use them as an identity (Twitchell, 389-391).

To have a fully-rounded opinion of materialism, we also have to discuss the negative qualities of such a materialistic culture. Materialism can lead to immense personal debt, depression, anxiety, etc. It is all an endless cycle, one stresses about paying a credit card bill and uses a different credit card to pay that bill and the cycle continues down a terrifying road. Our views of materialism have also led to gender-specific stereotypes claiming that women are the ones spending the money. While this can be true, Twitchell states that men were the first ones to materialistic in the dynamic and it only shifted to women after the men had bought the “necessities”. Now women are branded with a “shop till I drop” stereotype that will probably never be erased.

These “pros and cons” of materialism are simply a rough framework for an introduction into materialism but I feel that from Twitchell’s article, I better understand Americans need for material items. Whereas before I just felt as though we were spending leisurely, I can now see that there are two sides to every story.

Week 10 Blog Reviews

Amity:

Tragic Events of Recall – 10/19

First off, I would like to say I’m looking forward to being in your group for this unit and I hope I can offer some support. I really loved this post, your voice and flare for writing really shines through. I agree with Hilary in the sense that, I was a little confused also when reading who Jane – whether she was the mother or daughter. Other than that, the post was simple and to the point and was beautifully written. You were able to take a personal experience and twirl it into a sad story about recalls, good job!

Sing It – 10/21

I’m fascinated in how you are able to get to your point so precisely without seeming rushed. Your posts are well-written and clearly lay out your point without an extra (unnecessary) fluff. This article has a great introduction, overlaying what you’ll be talking about and then you quickly cut to your point and bring about the important part that even though women are stereotyped in the music industry – women artists do the same thing to men. Each party is to blame and that is a very valid point to include in this post. I have no suggestions, this post was awesome and I’m a little intimidated about being in your group, haha!

Hilary:

The Joys of a Consumer – 10/19

Firstly, I would like to say that I’m looking forward to being in this unit 3 peer group with you. I hope I can offer some support and criticism throughout this unit. I loved this post (great job on the images!) because you seem to layer the story very nicely. As a reader it was easy to follow and understand your frustration. The last paragraph seemed to wrap up very quickly – maybe it would strengthen your point with a little bit more of a conclusion. However, this was more of a narrative piece anyway so maybe my suggestion isn’t necessary haha. Other than that, this post was very interesting to read and you did great finding real life examples for consumerism.

Women in Music – 10/21

Likewise, I also enjoyed this post. Your point comes out very clearly and you pulled from the text to explain and support your writing. It was easy to read and understand why you felt this way versus another way. My only suggestion would be to add a little bit more of an introduction – maybe just a sentence or two about the music industry, it’s not necessary but it may give more organizational support to your post. Great job!

What Happens In Vegas...

Many of us enjoy taking vacations from our everyday lives, even if it’s just a weekend trip. I recently had a weekend road-trip planned to Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday and my sister’s birthday. The travel and tourist industry is huge, especially in one of the most talked about American cities like Las Vegas. I was more than ecstatic when the five of us had arrived at our hotel and excited to start my vacation.

We stayed in a hotel that was off the main strip of Vegas and although we knew the hotels on the strip were more luxurious than ours, we were willing to sacrifice some extravagance to save a few bucks (which we ended up using to pay for cabs anyway). When I use the term “sacrifice”, I really had no idea what I was getting in to. Our hotel was absolutely terrible. We had the worst customer service when trying to check in and we were told that one of our rooms was still not ready. We waited for about an hour in our other room and were told to check back in later. The second room was finally ready and I was ready to get settled in and rest for a minute before leaving for a night on the town. After entering the second room, which was intended for my best friend and I, we were completely disgusted with the cleanliness and upkeep of our room. The sprinkler in the bathroom was being held in place by some electrical tape and the fire alarm was hanging from the wall by its wires! Clearly I wasn’t expecting extravagant amenities but I also was not expecting blatant fire hazards either.

Aside from these safety issues, our room had obvious sanitary issues also. There seemed to be long, black hair EVERYWHERE; on the floor, in the beds, in the bathroom sink, everywhere. At the foot of one of the beds it looked like there was, what I can only assume, a blood stain. Seriously, how disgusting is that? Not only was I paying to stay in this hotel for 2 nights but the entire staff was rude about my issues and neglected my requests for a maid service.

I was not let down by a single product but by a hotel in the service and travel industry that was working toward the “American Dream” in corporate, capitalist America.

Week 8 Blog Reviews

Amber:

After All, Maybe It’s Biology

This post was really well-written and easy to read. You use real-life examples about pheromones to support your ideas. My only suggestion would be to elaborate more on your specific points and maybe eventually write which view you support – love as a chemical or biological function or love is too complex for science. I really love the introduction of this post, “Thinking about love and courtship in a chemical and a biological standpoint doesn’t seem romantic at all” – your opinion comes through but isn’t too strong or wordy.

Directed Freewrite – Natural Behavior in Animals

This was also a very reader-friendly post; your viewpoints come across clearly and in an academic manner. You also did a very thorough job in using the text to support your claims. The third paragraph gets a little confusing – organization wise. I would just clean that up a little bit, otherwise this post was great.

Jordan:

What’s Chemistry Got to Do with It?

I really enjoyed reading this post. Your ideas are clear and although you didn’t necessarily “pick a side”, you were able to explain the chemical/biological actions and also explain why love cannot be explained by these sciences. My only suggestion would be to expand on your ideas and use some more textual support but this would be a really great start to a full essay.

No blog post for 10/7

What is Natural?

Ideas about what is “natural” are completely subjective to almost every single person on this planet. Even the term “natural” is so vague that it should be thrown out as a descriptive quality. Natural could mean without human interference, occurring independently or we could be really specific and say that natural means solely a component of nature like grass, flowers, sunshine, etc. Because natural is such an ambiguous term, it is shocking to learn that it is used in discussions of homosexuality and other human behaviors.

Both supporting and opposing sides of homosexuality use the term natural to support their argument. Supporters of homosexuality may believe that homosexual behavior is a natural human behavior and argue on the basis that what is natural should be accepted among our society. The arguments against homosexuality may state that sexual behavior between a man and a woman is what is natural for humans and by engaging in homosexual behavior, people are being unnatural. Ideas of what is natural can be twisted and manipulated in to whatever the speaker wants you to believe. 

All You Need Is Biology?

For the sake of argument, I will be writing from the perspective that love and relationships are based on chemistry and biology. Personally, I believe love is beyond the realm of science even though there are some scientific components related to loving feelings (hormones, pheromones, etc.). The articles we read this week are asking us to adopt the viewpoint that love and relationships are formed because of chemical and biological aspects of life.

If love were solely a matter of chemistry and biology, we as humans would not care about finding our “true” love or our “soul mate”. We would view love as a situation “for the moment”, we would date others without intention of marriage or life-long monogamy. We would view physical attraction as a type of natural order and sexual intercourse would be mostly for procreation. Having children would only be for populating the Earth, not for the joy and happiness that a child brings to a family. Courtship would only be for obtaining another mate, not for finding a life-long partner.

Changes in our beliefs about love would not only affect our behavior but it would drastically affect our institution of marriage. Marriage would be obsolete – why get married if biology dictates our lives and biology tells us to have many partners? Living in a world without marriage is a hard concept to wrap my brain around and it almost seems like a scary though. The institution of marriage is so deep-seeded in to our culture and is one the strongest traditions in the United States. Without marriage, our current beliefs about love and relationships would become naïve.

Our culture would observe a drastic change if love and relationships were matters of chemistry and biology. We are a culture that values love – so much so that almost every single song ever made has to do with some type of love (and of those, mostly romantic love). My generation values love as the one thing that can make you truly happy; we’re seeing more and more younger couples getting married without having a set career or plan in life because “love it all that matters”. If our beliefs about love changed, our entire culture would change.

         I believe it would a sad world if we believed that love was biologically based. Everything would be very black and white or right and wrong. If everyone gave up on finding their true love, I think a lot of us would feel empty and that is something that science cannot explain.

Week 7 Blog Reviews

Jordan

Love, Homo Sapien Style

This post contained a lot of strong ideas about marriage and you expressed your thoughts clearly and effectively. You started by stating why you believe in marriage and why it should not be abolished and this is a good topic which you seemed to be passionate about. However, in the third paragraph you introduce an entirely separate branch of marriage by talking about gay marriage. Although the paragraph is organized, opening up a new topic is misleading to the reader. And because you have opened two topics, the conclusion of your post does not sum up the necessary ideas. I would suggest sticking to one main idea and topic and concluding it thoroughly before starting another one.

No blog post for 9/28

Amber

Marrying to Get Divorced

Firstly, I admire you for supporting your belief so strongly because it is definitely different than the traditional norm. This blog post was very clear and your voice and tone made it easy to read. My only suggestion would be to add some more textual support – by adding more quotes your thoughts and opinions can be supported by an outside source. Other than that, this post was intriguing and you able to express your beliefs clearly.

Sex, Lies and Conversation Directed Freewrite

This was a fantastic real-life example bases on the readings from our textbook. You did a great job describing the situation and what specific actions made you upset. Then you were able to relate it to a specific quote and area in the related article. This was a great post and I don’t have any suggestions.