Walking Out Of Sociology
We have all come to the moment in the quarter where we are posting our final thoughts. Some of us will walk out of Sociology 101 on the 14th and never think about the subject again. I am not going to be one of these people. My mom asked me if I had to describe my sociology class in one sentence what I would say, the biggest thing I took away from sociology and what I would have to say is that “America isn’t the greatest country in the world, but it can be”. Walking out of sociology I will hold that truth knowing that society is struggling but it doesn’t have to be. These treatments of being socialized and the ideologies that affect us all at both a conscious and unconscious level are bad, they are hurtful and oppressing, but they don’t have
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to be. Change is truly the answer if we are unhappy, and by the opinions I have read over the course of 8-weeks on the discussion forum, I can tell that many of you are unhappy with where the world has come today.
This last article by Johnson was, I believe, extremely eye opening, and helped me bring everything from class to a final thought.
Johnson opens up the article with something I personally am guilty of. I believed if I did not contribute to the oppression of people, if I did not openly do something to another individual than I was not part of the problem. I believe most of society thinks like this and Johnson calls this out automatically by saying, “silence and invisibility allow the trouble to continue”. If we do not actively choose to change the situation, we are choosing to enable the oppression. By our silence we are actively choosing to be part of the problem. This was eye opening to me. I never realized that choosing not to say anything was choosing to agree with the problem. So I believe that Johnson really helps his audience make a decision, to be active, or to be passive. Like many of you, I am controlled by the myths that Johnson points out, of “It’s always been this way, and always will be” and “the myth of no effect”. I have always believed the problems of this society are too big and too permanent for me as one individual living in a world with billions, that I will have no effect, that I will not produce results, but this thought has only been created in my mind by the Ruling Elite in order to keep the oppressed, in a state of …show more content…
oppression.
Myth 1 in believing that “It’s always been this way and always will be” Johnson automatically argues at how people can believe this when nothing has always been this way or ever will be. Society is a fluid model that continues to change as people participate in it, but choosing how to participate in it, will determine the state of oppression the people are in. In the video that we watched earlier in the quarter about how “America isn’t the greatest country in the world” the person references that we used to be a country where neighbors would help neighbors, not for the rewards but just through an act of kindness. We as a society don’t have to stay in a selfish state of mind, and can choose how society develops by the small actions we take every day. If you see an elderly man walking with heavy bags, why not help him out? What were you doing in the next 2 minutes that would be life altering than helping this man out? Why as people do we think we need to be MLK Jr. to change the world? I am sure that just performing small acts of random kindness we can begin to change our world again.
Myth 2 is really the myth that affected me the most. This myth is about Gandhi’s paradox and the myth of no effect. I really liked how we as society were related to a tree. No individual leaf on a tree matters, whether it lives or dies does not matter to the tree as a whole, that leaf is replaceable with another leaf. However, the leaves as a unit are what keep the tree alive, so without the leaves, the tree will die. Without people, societies don’t exist, we the leaves help societies and oppressive systems survive. One of the most powerful things Johnson says in his article is that “Nothing we do as individuals matters, but that it’s vitally important to do it anyway.” If we have a lot of individuals that believe this, we can do something that is far from insignificant. We can act in ways that change our being; we can rise up and change the way society functions.
The next point that Johnson makes is the idea of traveling without knowing where we are going.
Our society today is lacking faith in the future. We need to choose to do what we think is right, even if we don’t know the long term effect. Taking the first step without seeing the whole staircase, we need to be active participants in change because if we don’t, who will? To have faith to begin traveling we need to ask the important questions, what is it ,that is bad, what needs change, what used to be good, what can be good again? We need to be inquisitive in our everyday lives and start recognizing and being aware of what socialized ideologies affect us on an unconscious level. The next idea that Johnson brought up to his audience is the idea of choosing the path less traveled so that others can also choose the path less traveled. Ralph Waldo Emerson really understood this idea when he said “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” If we as a society continue to follow the path of those people before us, the path that the ruling elite have made so easy to see and travel on, then we will never be able to rise up from our situations and come to a place where we are changing our lives, and changing our paths. And this act isn’t easy. To walk into the darkness, to have cut a new path is going to take effort and work, and we will face resistance, but the payoff is greater than we can even imagine even if we never get to experience the
payoff in our lifetime.
Lastly and most important point that Johnson makes is that, we as individuals have the power within ourselves to create change, if only we have the ability to recognize it and act on it. As Marianne Williamson said, “As we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others”. Having the faith to be able to go where there is no path and believing that even though we are only a small leaf on a large tree of society we can begin to lay a trail for others, and maybe as people see our faith and our strength, they will feel the power to liberate themselves from fear. The power of the domino effect is extreme. We have seen the Ruling Elite use the domino effect time after time in negative ways to contribute to oppression. But what happens when we use the domino effect to create a positive change, to live a life we are proud of that we actively live, and do not just passively live?
So the choice is ours, and we have to understand that it won’t happen today or tomorrow. When I leave sociology I will do it with an understanding that small acts change the future, and that large acts only matter because of the small changes made over time. Sitting on a seat of the bus, didn’t change Rosa Parks life for the better at the time as she was taken off to jail, but she had an incredible understanding that one day her children, or her children’s children would not be subjected to the same treatment. We need to get past the idea of instant gratification (getting something this minute) and understand that big changes come with delayed gratification. We may not, and probably won’t see these positive changes, but we need to fight for a world that will be able to. We need to fight for a world where people will not be judged by the color of the skin, but the content of their character, or a homosexual couple can walk down the street without being openly criticized or harassed, where women are not controlled by a beauty myth, where how much power you hold in life is not determined by what you have between the legs. I will fight and stand up for the future generations even if it means standing alone. Over the 8 weeks we have seen how society is, but what we have also learned is that it doesn’t have to be this way. What we have to ask ourselves now, is how will we become active members of this change today? How will we be subjects of history?
What is one sentence that describes everything you learned in sociology over the 8 weeks? What was your initial reaction to this article? What myth do you believe most controls your life? Do you believe you are walking out of class with a new perspective? How will you become an active member? Do you believe change is possible? Where will the path that you create lead?
to be. Change is truly the answer if we are unhappy, and by the opinions I have read over the course of 8-weeks on the discussion forum, I can tell that many of you are unhappy with where the world has come today.
This last article by Johnson was, I believe, extremely eye opening, and helped me bring everything from class to a final thought.
Johnson opens up the article with something I personally am guilty of. I believed if I did not contribute to the oppression of people, if I did not openly do something to another individual than I was not part of the problem. I believe most of society thinks like this and Johnson calls this out automatically by saying, “silence and invisibility allow the trouble to continue”. If we do not actively choose to change the situation, we are choosing to enable the oppression. By our silence we are actively choosing to be part of the problem. This was eye opening to me. I never realized that choosing not to say anything was choosing to agree with the problem. So I believe that Johnson really helps his audience make a decision, to be active, or to be passive. Like many of you, I am controlled by the myths that Johnson points out, of “It’s always been this way, and always will be” and “the myth of no effect”. I have always believed the problems of this society are too big and too permanent for me as one individual living in a world with billions, that I will have no effect, that I will not produce results, but this thought has only been created in my mind by the Ruling Elite in order to keep the oppressed, in a state of …show more content…
oppression.
Myth 1 in believing that “It’s always been this way and always will be” Johnson automatically argues at how people can believe this when nothing has always been this way or ever will be. Society is a fluid model that continues to change as people participate in it, but choosing how to participate in it, will determine the state of oppression the people are in. In the video that we watched earlier in the quarter about how “America isn’t the greatest country in the world” the person references that we used to be a country where neighbors would help neighbors, not for the rewards but just through an act of kindness. We as a society don’t have to stay in a selfish state of mind, and can choose how society develops by the small actions we take every day. If you see an elderly man walking with heavy bags, why not help him out? What were you doing in the next 2 minutes that would be life altering than helping this man out? Why as people do we think we need to be MLK Jr. to change the world? I am sure that just performing small acts of random kindness we can begin to change our world again.
Myth 2 is really the myth that affected me the most. This myth is about Gandhi’s paradox and the myth of no effect. I really liked how we as society were related to a tree. No individual leaf on a tree matters, whether it lives or dies does not matter to the tree as a whole, that leaf is replaceable with another leaf. However, the leaves as a unit are what keep the tree alive, so without the leaves, the tree will die. Without people, societies don’t exist, we the leaves help societies and oppressive systems survive. One of the most powerful things Johnson says in his article is that “Nothing we do as individuals matters, but that it’s vitally important to do it anyway.” If we have a lot of individuals that believe this, we can do something that is far from insignificant. We can act in ways that change our being; we can rise up and change the way society functions.
The next point that Johnson makes is the idea of traveling without knowing where we are going.
Our society today is lacking faith in the future. We need to choose to do what we think is right, even if we don’t know the long term effect. Taking the first step without seeing the whole staircase, we need to be active participants in change because if we don’t, who will? To have faith to begin traveling we need to ask the important questions, what is it ,that is bad, what needs change, what used to be good, what can be good again? We need to be inquisitive in our everyday lives and start recognizing and being aware of what socialized ideologies affect us on an unconscious level. The next idea that Johnson brought up to his audience is the idea of choosing the path less traveled so that others can also choose the path less traveled. Ralph Waldo Emerson really understood this idea when he said “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” If we as a society continue to follow the path of those people before us, the path that the ruling elite have made so easy to see and travel on, then we will never be able to rise up from our situations and come to a place where we are changing our lives, and changing our paths. And this act isn’t easy. To walk into the darkness, to have cut a new path is going to take effort and work, and we will face resistance, but the payoff is greater than we can even imagine even if we never get to experience the
payoff in our lifetime.
Lastly and most important point that Johnson makes is that, we as individuals have the power within ourselves to create change, if only we have the ability to recognize it and act on it. As Marianne Williamson said, “As we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others”. Having the faith to be able to go where there is no path and believing that even though we are only a small leaf on a large tree of society we can begin to lay a trail for others, and maybe as people see our faith and our strength, they will feel the power to liberate themselves from fear. The power of the domino effect is extreme. We have seen the Ruling Elite use the domino effect time after time in negative ways to contribute to oppression. But what happens when we use the domino effect to create a positive change, to live a life we are proud of that we actively live, and do not just passively live?
So the choice is ours, and we have to understand that it won’t happen today or tomorrow. When I leave sociology I will do it with an understanding that small acts change the future, and that large acts only matter because of the small changes made over time. Sitting on a seat of the bus, didn’t change Rosa Parks life for the better at the time as she was taken off to jail, but she had an incredible understanding that one day her children, or her children’s children would not be subjected to the same treatment. We need to get past the idea of instant gratification (getting something this minute) and understand that big changes come with delayed gratification. We may not, and probably won’t see these positive changes, but we need to fight for a world that will be able to. We need to fight for a world where people will not be judged by the color of the skin, but the content of their character, or a homosexual couple can walk down the street without being openly criticized or harassed, where women are not controlled by a beauty myth, where how much power you hold in life is not determined by what you have between the legs. I will fight and stand up for the future generations even if it means standing alone. Over the 8 weeks we have seen how society is, but what we have also learned is that it doesn’t have to be this way. What we have to ask ourselves now, is how will we become active members of this change today? How will we be subjects of history?
What is one sentence that describes everything you learned in sociology over the 8 weeks? What was your initial reaction to this article? What myth do you believe most controls your life? Do you believe you are walking out of class with a new perspective? How will you become an active member? Do you believe change is possible? Where will the path that you create lead?