Riots

When the riots in took place in 2011 in London, I didn’t really understand what sparked it. There were so many different explanations that is just left me confused. After reading the article, “Reading the Riots,” I’m still left confused! I see all the facts are there but I just have difficulty wrapping the idea around my head. How can people think by causing such a riot it would help anything? What did they really expect when doing the riot? My cousin had family living in London during that time and it was such a scary experience for them. They could not leave their house or do anything. I just don’t understand. They started the riot because they considered the shooting of Mark Duggan as the most brutal and unjust treatment. But causing chaos to an entire country is not brutal and unjust? I’m just not a believer of fighting fire with fire, or maybe I’m just missing the whole point. In any case, riots can occur anywhere. If the people are angry enough I suppose it just happens, even though I don’t understand how it helps anything. 

Poverty

After reading, “Drawing Blood: Being a Poor Person in America,” I thought it was really sad that the author was so ashamed to talk about his parents and his financial situation. This blog is a perfect example that we may think we know a person, but really we know nothing about them. Everyone is faced with their own tragedy, so we should never judge a person. It is so unfortunate that people have to face such poverty, but I liked how he still put a positive spin on things. Although he’s ashamed, he accepts that he is poor. He knows he grew up in poverty, but that is also what motivates him to do better. I’m sure he will continue to work hard just to end his cycle of poverty.

anti-abortion crusade

In the chapter of Deviance, Definitions and the Medical Profession, I was actually very surprised that abortion was not always considered deviant. Presently, abortion is a really sensitive subject to debate about, so I will try not to get into it too much, however all opinions are welcome. To be honest, I’m not even completely sure how I feel about it. There’s so many different angles to look at it, and I respect all. In most cases, I would say not to do it, but you never know a person’s situation in life. Anyway, going back to the article, I was really surprised that the religious leaders tried to keep their opinions out of it. I would have expected them to be anti-abortion, but I guess they knew from the beginning that it was a touchy subject. Just like in the 1900s, abortion isn’t illegal, but it is still considered deviant and immoral by a lot of people. Personally, I don’t think this will change. There are way too many opinions for a final decision to be made. If it remains illegal, there will always be people who think it is immoral. 

Mental illnesses

While I was reading the chapter of Deviance, Definitions and the Medical Profession, the first thing to pop into my head was this play I read in high school, The Crucible. It’s basically about the Salem witch trials that took place in Providence, Massachusetts during the 1690s. Although the play probably isn’t historically accurate, it gives a good idea of what life was like for them. There’s also a movie based on the play so if anyone is interested, they can check it out. Back then, people who had mental illnesses, or any illness for that matter were basically isolated. Every time I hear or read something about this time period, it still amazes me. They were really uneducated about such things, and it’s good that we have improved tremendously since. Even though we are much more educated about these illnesses today, there is still a lot of stigmatization. But again, I guess it is from the people who are unaware and uneducated about the illnesses. I know a few people who just assume that every mental illness can be cured based on your state of mind, but they do not realize that a lot of it cannot be helped. It’s based on more factors than just a person’s state of mind. There are always genetic and environmental factors we need to take into account. We also need to keep in mind that each individual is different, so they will heal differently and respond to certain treatments differently. I hope people can continue to educate others on mental illnesses so the stigmatization can stop. No one asks to have a mental illness, so they shouldn’t be treated differently. 

Stigmatization

Amir Marvasti’s article held great significance to me because I have family that are Muslims, my mom being one of them and I have witnessed the stigmatization they face. Even though my family is from the Caribbean, because of our appearance and/or skin complexion we are sometimes mistaken to be from the Middle East. My mom’s maiden name is “Mohammed” and she was raised as a Muslim. She dresses normally, English is her first language so she is fluent, people often mistake her for being Hispanic, and I look like a younger version of her. From my description, it is obvious my mom poses no threat or harm to anyone, but whenever we are traveling, she is always pulled aside and searched thoroughly, while my dad, brother and I just walk through with no problem. Why is it, if I look just like my mom, I have never been subjected to that sort of treatment in the airport? Clearly, because of her last name.

I understand and agree completely with this article because after 9/11 occurred, everything did change. It really bothers me that Muslims are stigmatized so much because not all are bad. I strongly believe that every culture/religion/race is made up of both bad and good people, so why single out Muslims? I have a cousin who dresses in Muslim attire and she feels so traumatized every time she travels to the United States because of all the questions they ask her, and extra scanning she has to go through; they make it so tough for her and I don’t think it’s fair at all. I understand that we have to take precautions who come and go through our country, but, again, why single out the Muslims? If we are taking precautions, shouldn’t everyone be treated the same?

There have been many, many incidents which my parents were subjected to stigmatization and I expect that I, too, will have to face it someday. My dad is not Muslim, English is the first and only language he speaks, and he isn’t Middle Eastern, but he has had his share of discrimination and prejudice because of his skin color. I don’t know if the stigmatization of minorities will ever completely stop, but I think it will ease up in the future. It reminds me of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” It is sad that after so many years, we are still hoping for the same thing. I am confident that if we continue to bring awareness of the unjust treatment people are faced with, we will be able to decrease stigmatization because it is still not as bad as it once was, and someday soon we will be judged by our character, not the color of our skin or our religious preferences. 

Career Deviance

Deviant behavior is most likely to be determined if the person is caught in public behaving in a deviant manner. The person could also label themselves a deviant if they feel their acts have qualified them as one, even if no one else thinks they are one. In these cases, which are not that common, the person might just want to punish themselves. In other cases, they want to be caught and labeled. In any case though, being labeled has high consequences because the person will start being treated differently from the way s/he would normally be treated.

In Hughes description, the way I perceived master status traits was it depended on your career, and/or place in society. A doctor was used as an example; they are certified and licensed to practice medicine. Auxiliary traits are the, “informally expected characteristics” that we may have for people. Going back to the example of that doctor, we might expect the doctor to be a white, Protestant male, when in reality it is an African American female. From what I understood, the master status traits are what they really are and the auxiliary ones are what we expect them to be. I agree with this because people do not turn out to be the way we might expect. It reminds me of the common saying “don’t judge a book by its cover.” He relates these concepts to deviance in a way that made it easy for me to understand. A person might commit one crime, but they will end up carrying that deviant label for the rest of their life.

My understanding of this reading was, we judge people based on their actions, even if we deny doing so, but to some extent, we do. The person may possess a good character and have wonderful traits, but the moment they commit a deviant act, we will naturally see them in a different light. I agree with this because I feel as though I see it happening every day. It’s not like we are condemning them, but we do view people differently, depending on the things they do.