drugs anyone?

The proposal to switch the opium trade from drug trafficking to medical purposes is possible, but not practical. The article even admits this towards the end, but I don’t believe it’s as light a problem as they treat it. The article states that politics is the main focus of the issue and by aiding the country, we could win over the government. What I don’t think is taken into account is weakness of government, its ties to drug lords, and farmers ties to the drug lords. In some cases I doubt they’re all running around and taking drugs by force, business partnerships probably plays a major roll in the whole business. This isn’t as simple as switching the supplies from one buyer to another without upsetting an entire system. Statistically the numbers argue the point affectively and it sounds great, but realistically there are a lot of what ifs that could throw off the whole idea. What could and probably should  be stated is the fact that it’s worth a shot. Saving the extra 178 million for a year and purchasing a hefty supply of opium wouldn’t exactly kill anyone. It’d make friendly ties and mix things up just to see what happens. It doesn’t have to be a permanent thing.

Ellis

            I think Ellis’s solution is the most practical and realistic solution there is. Only by meeting people eye to eye and finding similarities and characteristics that humanize them in your view will you be able to over come stereotypes and prejudgments. The main issue with something like this, is allowing your preconceived notions to get in the way and not let you meet these people first hand. On a large scale I believe you’d encounter more and more problems. In my opinion it’s easier to get a town of 15,000 blacks and 17,000 whites to mix as opposed to clusters of 75,000 blacks and 90,0000 whites. The larger the groups the less safe and easy it is to step out of your habits and break the stereotype. It loses the personal touch and ties to people and becomes to complicated to try and completely alter a system and neighborhoods that have developed over 100’s of years. Even in the case of Ellis you can only learn by acting yourself. His klansmen would not follow his words down such a radically different path even though he slowly transitioned there. It is a journey that everyone has to make on their own.

mainstream

Yoshino means that the idea of being “mainstream” or completely a part of the norm is impossible. It is not possible to be a part of every single little technicality and detail to be in every majority group. As he says it would be abnormal to fit into all of these normal groups and in this sense it is necessary to move on and forget about the notion all together. His reasoning is somewhat brief, but I believe its simplicity is half the argument in itself. By having such a diverse variety of identities and groups you can associate with in one way or another you’re not tied to that one group, and there isn’t just one group to cover yourself up to look like. There is a large fraction of grey area that exists and is growing bigger as populations change and become even more mixed. It should become easier to blend in as part of a mixture than as trying to be the exact same sample no matter where you draw the person. Mainstream is simple whatever possibility is found in the majority among a list of options within a certain environment. 

the end"

Linda’s freedom is not what she had hoped for. By fleeing to the North, she only realized how widespread injustice had become through government/institutional support. Not only did legislation cause her to fear for her life, but through education and conversation she began to resent the whole idea of not being in control of her liberties and of the attitudes of some blacks accepting their place and of whites driven mind set to control them. She finally attains her freedom by having one of her many loyal and kind white patrons (or matron is probably more appropriate) paying for her freedom when the Flints (now the Drugdes or something like that) turned up in a time of economic need. Her response to this is mixed because she’s glad to finally have that weight and fear lifted from her shoulders and yet she resents needing to have her freedom purchased. She hated  the fact that she was born into an institution that limited her rights below those of another demographic even though in many cases blacks were productive and intelligent members of society in the North. She began to realize and understand the futility and stupidity of the institution by the end of the book and hated being a part of it.

chap 19

            I think the most emotional passage we read is probably in the last sections of chapter 19. The entire story and information thus far has been about the injustice and sad perseverance of slaves trying to survive in a culture stacked up against them. By the end of tonight’s reading you have the first actual victory of a slave against the system in which they were never supposed to get ahead. Linda was able to out last Dr. Flint and get enough aid within the system to free her family and metaphorically slap the Flint’s in the face. Although Linda is still locked up in a friend’s house in order to hide, the pride and joy she experiences upon finding out they’ve been freed is almost as intense as if she’d finally reached freedom herself. At first she’s extremely nervous and scared to believe that they made it and bites her own lip to the point of bleeding, but the way it builds up to finally outfox Flint ends on a note that is subtly different than the rest of the book. 19 finishes with insults and threats, but they seem more pathetic and empty without the same menace now that some hope of a future has been achieved. 

Slave Girl

This book is important to the honesty and passage of truths from a time that we may not otherwise understand or appreciate. Around the time of slavery, and now for that matter, it could easily be taken as a Northern view on bashing and damning slavery and its practices sharing all of the injustices and cruelties. What it does apart from evoking passionate feelings and going against moral codes is provide an account and narration of human nature/justification, and why we should remember and understand such episodes and cruelties. The editor wants it to be known that nothing was changed from author to page. This is a first hand account of a former slave and wasn’t conjured up or drastically altered. The idea that a former slave could write so eloquently and preach of the injustices that she underwent is a testimony to the equality and intelligence of slaves and they’re being humans too. This book does a lot to portray slaves as ordinary people like whites who are only distinct by the color of their skin and try to get along in the unjust society they’re thrust in. There is very little and next to nothing of unique slave culture or traditions mentioned. You are left with a people just like us.

magic map... SHOW ME MINORITIES!!!

I watched CNN’s pre-poll closing count down. What I find interesting is their approach to this. They pulled up a map of the country and showed how it voted in the last election, but then they started pulling up battle ground states. This all seems good and logical as they move forward showing typical voting history of counties within these states. What was interesting was they then addressed factors that may change the voting within theses states and pulled up a blank map. Within this map they began to highlight important demographic changes. First they showed a dark map then with a flick of the touch screen the “latino lens” was flicked on and all of our nations Hispanics appeared not all too differently than a topographical map. This magical lens was then used to portray the poor white back country counties where they typically voted republican, but various issues like loss of healthcare or jobs may alter their opinions. As I sit watching this map it just strikes me as amusing how they can show where all the poor whites, blacks, Hispanics or any other demographic is located. 

racism = bad

Growing up I’ve attended schools with either diverse groups or a high emphasis on cultural and ethnic understanding. What I’ve also witnessed growing within these open-minded groups, is a paralleled annoyance and cavalier attitude towards race. To me there is no difference between the educated and uneducated prejudices and attitudes. A large public school black kid will crack racist jokes at a white kid as nothing more than entertaining himself or others around him, while that same white kid may make racist jokes about blacks behind closed doors the minute his school presents something on tolerance. I wouldn’t consider either of these instances as racist, but I would agree that they are both ignorantly indifferent and fed up with an attitude that tells them they cannot be racist and it’s bad. Both of these kids harbor prejudices developed from the systems they grew up in, but these were learned by their places in life. The scenario I’m most familiar with, being a white kid, is the latter. It is frustrating to think about because in many cases it doesn’t necessarily bother me. Unless it’s completely unnecessary and racist, I’ve sat in on my fair share of jokes and comments that were just meant as side comments and in my opinion you can try and understand them as much as you want, but to some extent they will always exist.

prejudice

The socialization process is the process in which individuals acquire values, beliefs, attitudes, etc… of their culture or subculture. I believe it happens on a much smaller scale than culture as a whole, but within family units or close social ties to communities you’re at home with these things may perpetuate. Furthering your education, expanding your social circles, and other practices can break or make these trends. If you expand your education and learn new information and aspects you may develop your own personal values, as you may with individuals by interacting with new and different groups. In the same way, you may have these negative attitudes reinforced and made concrete if you’re surrounded and preached the same beliefs and cannot expand or move forward. There are things of this nature which I am positive have existed and permeated within me. The personal values of my parents exist in me to this day and are difficult to break away from since I was in fact brought up with those in mind. To this day I still get all of my work done on or ahead of time. The more prejudiced notions are picked up through social interactions where it may be “safe,” and unfortunately as much as I’d like to say they dissipated over time when the kids group up, these kids are just bigger and typically just as stupid on some things as they were when they were small and repeat the same offensive ignorant behavior. Now the only difference is that it bothers me.