Mike Tyson and Freddie Gray: Failed by Society or Themselves

I believe that they both failed themselves. Starting with Mike, I know that he grew up in a bad neighborhood where he was expected to do things. Or was he because the person that asked him what he was doing was not a part of the gun shooting. By this I believe that Mr. Tyson did have a choice and that he did not say that in the article so that he could look like a victim. Then he went on to be a great success within boxing so I guess you could say that he was not failed by society which again leaves that fact that he failed himself. He has to live with what he said in the article and no amount of fame is going to change that. Just because you say you grow up in a horrible environment doesn’t mean you have to be horrible yourself. I know that this just sounds horrible and that Mike Tyson was a victim but was he. He, just like everyone else, had choices and he just made those choices out of, more than likely, fear.

Now, Freddie Gray definitely failed himself. The article is very clear about that. You can’t expect to get a job when you have a huge criminal record. Seriously he was a big time criminal and he tried to get a job and he even expected the person to say yes. Just like Mike Tyson and everyone else, Mr. Gray had choices and he didn’t make bad ones out of fear, he probably made them out of knowledge. What he did is probably all he knew how to do. This does not mean that people should take pity on him and hire him. The amount of trouble he could have caused may be unimaginable and you can’t blame them for not hiring him. He was even known to the police so what he did was one huge thing or a lot of multiple little, but bad, things. So I don’t think society failed Freddie Gray. He definitely failed himself.

Both of these men failed themselves. 

Racism: Western or Universal

Race and Racism (Western Colonialism)

So, if racism was supposedly started in the 15^th century, then the founding of America was right along with it since that also happened in the 15^th century. America was discovered in 1492 and the 15^th century was the 1400's. One of the lines I read in the article was about how powerful societies will always look at lesser people as inferior and the reason I liked it was because it shows that history will repeat itself. Also, I do believe that they may be right in the article when they explain how Africans were not Christians and that because of this they were treated like heathens, and that this was the start of racism. Then as I touched on before with America, colonization of the world began. Columbus set out on his voyages and the Portuguese imitated. For colonization, these explorers believed they needed free labor so this is where slavery came in. Then revolutions began and soon it came to the 20^th century. This is where racism takes off again because there is no longer slavery so all every one believed was that they had to be prejudice. This is where civil rights movements started and how we ended up where we are today.

How Racist Are We?

Everyone is racist and some may not know it yet. Everyone is racist but racism doesn’t have to be bad. You can be racist against a group because it is the truth and may make some things more efficient. Anyways, there is racism everywhere and the article states this fact. There is no escape so why not make it better instead of viewing it as an awful thing. Then it moves on to telling the difference between individualism and racism. With racism you judge a person by their skin color and maybe where they and/or their parents are from. With individualism you judge a person by their intelligence and capabilities. Then it moves on to explain how racism is not just a white people problem. The article also says that the human race has much more in common when you are an individual rather than being in a group. When in a group the majority rules and there is no swaying but when individual you make your own decisions. The only problem with this is that as an individual, your voice will not be heard.  This is all saying that racism is the perspective of a group and not of an individual like the world would want us to believe.

Cultural Bias for Racism

Researchers wanted to figure out why people would even be racist, sexist and ageist against their own people. They say that some studies have shown these things to be universal. Then they found out that media and literature could very well be contributing to these stereotypes. The reason they contribute is because they all show the very same things over and over again. By doing this, it just strengthens it in people’s heads about what is right and what is wrong. The research went on to study participants and the answers they gave over prejudice questions. The studied it both positively and negatively. Their response times were also taken into account with the study. They found that the work “black” was used more with words such as lazy and musical but not goofy. The word “white” was used more with words such as greedy and successful. This just went to show that people are now more acceptable of stereotypes than before. People have grown accustomed to sayings and act more upon gut reaction than behavior. A way they say to fix is not to put stereotypes out there as clearly or people are going to latch on to it and quickly.

Opinion

I personally believe that racism is a Western concept and not universal. I also believe that media has played a big part in escalating things very quickly. The third article states, “Literature, movies, TV, radio and the Internet all contribute to the problem by exhibiting the same stereotypes that others work so hard to snuff out.” I believe that racism started in the 15^th century which is the 1400's. During this time period, the mindset to go out and explore was huge. Europe wanted to colonize everywhere but they wanted more man power. The first article states, “In the Iberian cities of Seville and Lisbon, witnessing who labored for whom daily solidified the association between blackness and slavery.” With this the Europeans sought out Africans to enslave, not because they were racist against them but because it was what was accepted at the time. Over time they began to treat Africans badly because of their beliefs not because of their race. The Africans were not Christians so they were treated as heathen. Also, like I said, they were not enslaved because of racism they were enslaved because it would be more efficient. The second article states, “I discriminate in favor of people I think can hold down a job and do decently at it.” I don’t think that racism is everywhere just yet but it will be. Again, I believe it is a Western concept.

Lord of the Flies Blog

Prompt 1

Everyone knows that death is a part of life. Everybody also knows that this death can be brought on earlier by certain things such as storms, disease, and murder. Every single person on this earth can kill anyone they want because everyone knows how. Some people on this planet kill for sport and some kill in defense. Is there an in between? We may never know because we would first have to come to accept that sometimes killing in defense and for sport can sometimes be the same thing. It all depends on the savagery of the person. Some people would rather not give the luxury of death. These are the insane people that are on this earth.

Prompt 2                

If the separation between being civilized and savaged was no longer there, which would take over? This all depends on the person and their moral standings. It depends on which part of them is stronger. Most people would say that savagery would be the one to take over, but I don’t believe that to be true in all cases. Sometimes it may look like savagery when a person kills another person but it could also be fear.  Savagery just seems like it is the stronger of the two but really it is the weaker just disguising itself as the stronger through intimidation.

Prompt 3                

Civilization is created through the coming together of people. With civilization comes society. Now, are people controlling society or being controlled? I believe that people are controlled by society. This is why whenever there is someone who breaks off and rebels for his or her own cause, people immediately go against that person.  They are always thrown into the belief that they have rights and that the people are in charge when in fact they are doing exactly what society expects them to do. Say you have an apple and that the apple represents society and the seeds in the core are people. Now you cut the apple in half and expect the seeds to stay but every once in a while a seed will fall out and what do you do with it? You throw it away.